Hi so glad to find this group, have read about leap before. My 22 year old son is on his 7th admit in 12 months and often admitted to a different psych unit. We live near a big city and I often am notified when he is already admitted and always say no to transfer. Also each provider has meds they like and are comfortable with and change his meds, although in the last two years he almost always stops taking them. He broke his arm and needs surgery so I have time to work with him on a longer admission with somehow true stabilization. Thanks for listening, I do love him so much and do have hope but hopelessness is place a go sometimes anyway.
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Our son’s psychiatrist worked hard to try to get him to try the Invega long lasting injection. I hope the longer admission helps this time. We do love them and we want to help them manage their lives, tricky for them and tricky for us. Welcome!
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Your son is so fortunate to have such a caring parent. The frustrations and worry when my own son stopped taking his meds surely sent me into a hopeless place for a time. He did eventually re-start and has been consistent with his meds for several years now. Hopefully your son’s longer admission will be an opportunity to identify what meds are effective and perhaps to address his pattern of stopping them.
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My son has been om Invega Trenza every three months for the last 5 years. It was a long road to get to this. He’s doing quite well ,but still complaining once in a while that he can’t do anything because of the drugs. Never give up hope I know it’s easy to say right now. The people on this forum helped me when I was at my lowest. My thoughts and prayers are with you
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It’s so wonderful that you love your son. He’s so lucky to have you in his life! I agree in that a shot may be one of the best options for him since he stops taking his meds. My daughter was on a 1x/month shot called Abilify Maintena. It takes 2 weeks to reach peak effectiveness. After being on it for 3 months, we figured out that it did not help with her schizophrenia. So, she changed meds.
If it’s possible, I would offer that you keep a written log of all the meds your son has tried, along with start date, end date, and how well it worked. Have a great evening and take care!
Deb
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Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. Just thinking ability has not changed anything for my son and possibly even ramped him up a little. He is now on lithium and ability pills and it’s too early to tell for lithium, his moods are very labile. Can you share what meds work for your daughter and she is lucky to have you too!
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I’d be happy to!
Our journey together had plenty of ups and downs. Luckily, she was medication compliant most of the time. We have seen the same psychiatrist for years. The psychiatrist prescribes these meds. It took many years and plenty of patience, but ultimately we settled with these meds. She’s been taking these meds for about 2 years now.
- Morning: multivitamin, Clozapine 50mg, Ashwagandha
- Evening: Caplyta 42mg, Clozapine 350mg, Sertraline 150mg
- Take as needed for extreme anxiety: Clonazepam 0.25mg (rarely takes anymore)
Once a month, I take her for a blood CBC to monitor her Neutrophil levels, etc. The CBCs are required because she takes Clozapine. When we started clozapine, she had to do a weekly CBS for 6 months. Then, she did a CBC every 2 weeks for another 6 months. After a year, she has to do a monthly CBC.
She takes Ashwagandha (our choice) because I have seen it help with cognition skills. To me, it helps improve her disordered thinking (pretty common for schizophrenia). I take Ashwagandha too, and can validate the cognition and analyzation improvements.
Finally, she still hears voices. But these voices aren’t as criticizing/cruel as the used to be. She rarely gets upset at the voices anymore. She is unable to work and her medication makes her sleep 12 hours each day. She is happy and healthy which is all that matters! 
Take care,
Deb