I think all of us understand and feel your pain. And, you are exactly right about family not understanding. It’s a silent illness that greatly affects those suffering from it, but most people don’t understand it and don’t care about understanding it because it doesn’t affect them. My son stays in his room much of the day, but I do require him to take daily walks with me and we also go swimming. In the beginning, he was resistant to it, but now he looks forward to it. It not only helps his physical well being, I believe it helps him mentally as well. You may have to incentivize by buying them a soft drink or iced tea or food to get them out at first, but I believe you will find they actually look forward to it eventually. Just a suggestion.
4 Likes
You are not alone! I am in the same situation for almost 10 years now.
2 Likes
My son is 33. He was hospitalized February 2023 because he was in psychosis. He was prescibed meds and discharged after 48 hrs. He took the medicine and was good. Spring of this year, he started answering my calls less often and he stayed on less than 5 minutes. I found out at the end of April 2024 that he’d been off his meds for two months. He was living in another state and refused to come home. He stopped working after he stopped the meds and couldn’t pay his rent. He called me when he got the eviction notice. I let him get evicted to force him to return home.
I hadn’t seen him in six months. When he got here, he looked emaciated. I had him hospitalized again here. They kept him a week. He told me that they diagnosed him with schizoaffective disorder. He won’t tell me if he left with a prescription. He’s not a minor and won’t sign a release. So he’s with me untreated. Going days without sleep. Pacing and talking to himself. Making loud noises and speaking gibberish. At times he’s hostile and has angry outbursts, but he’s not suicidal and hasn’t threatened me, so there’s nothing legally I can do. He wants to return to where he was living and expects me to get him an apartment. I don’t want him to go back if he’s refusing treatment. I’m going to lie and tell him that I couldn’t get approved for an apartment so he has no choice but to stay.
Maybe someone has suggestions for how to get him to agree to treatment or if there’s a legal option, other than hospitalization. That was pointless. And if not, I’ve at least found some people who know what it’s like.
Hi Yolanda, Welcome to the forum. Searching old threads is a great way to get a lot of information. Enter “LEAP” and Dr Amador into the search area for a host of threads that can help you.
Would your son agree to take meds as part of an agreement for you to give him an apartment?
No. It made him angry when I said that. He said he’d just fly back and stay in a shelter. Even if he agreed, I don’t think he’d comply. He refuses to sign a release so I wouldn’t be able to keep track with his doctor. I’m in Texas. He’d be in California. It’s about a 4 hour flght so I couldn’t regularly check on him.
Hi Yolanda, I can totally relate to you, my 29 year old son had not been on his meds since April 2024 and he is really losing it. He is talking jibberish and refusing to go to his doctors appointments. He lives in a condo in my neighborhood and I pay some of his expenses with his SSI, that doesn’t cover much so I pay to keep him there. I have called the police recently when he was stealing from neighbors patios and just completely psychotic. They could not take him to hospital because he was not hurting himself or someone else. I am afraid he will lose his SS and then I can t support him anymore and he will be homeless. He is talking jibberish etc. I am at wits end.
The laws really need to change. I believe in protecting individual’s rights, but you shouldn’t have to wait for your loved one to be unsuccessful in killing themselves or someone else before they’ll treat them. There’s got to be a middle ground.
1 Like
So true! It is so frustrating for the families of the severely mentally ill because they are sick and deserve help, but it is not possible if they don t seek help. And usually they won’t because their brains are not working properly.
1 Like
Hi! Hope all is well with you and your LO. I want to say thank you for encouraging me to get him on Clozapine. My son had a recent baker act and I advocated for them to give him Clozapine and they did. I have seen improvements. Although the weekly blood draws are a challenge we are doing what we have to do. I found a pharmacy by Gods grace who will ship the medicine weekly and give us in home ANC monitoring machine. It’s called Golden Gate pharmaceutical. Thank you again for your encouragement and prayers.
1 Like