I agree. Wholeheartedly. While your child is a minor @Bzhan , you have rights and controls that will all disappear the day he turns 18. Many studies exist on first event psychosis and early intervention.
Once your son turns 18, it will be almost impossible for you to get him onto medication through the courts unless he is dangerous to self or others. And, once he is released from a forced hospitalization (and subsequent hospitalizations), he can again stop taking the anti-psychotic if he wants to.
I believe also that the psychosis will only worsen with time. My own daughter was suffering from a psychosis for many months, perhaps years, that she was able to operate through and have a “normal” appearing life to outsiders. But, at age 32 it was so bad that others noticed her speaking to “voices”, her job ended and her life started crumbling. At age 34 she was unable to hold a job or even leave her room much. At 35 (and 4 prior forced hospitalizations), she was yelling psychotically daily in public at buildings and people if she left the house. She ended up court ordered onto meds after her 2nd arrest (5th hospitalization), and I thank God daily that she has continued with her injections monthly. She would NEVER have agreed to medication earlier.
Chances are that if you are thinking of hospitalizing your son, you already know in your heart that it is needed. You will only be able to keep him on meds, if prescribed, while he is under 18. After 18, it will be his choice only. If he refuses to medicate himself after 18, unless his life devolves into the legal system through criminal activity and he is court ordered onto meds, he will probably struggle with unmedicated psychosis for his whole adult life.
Many caregivers have loved ones that were never successfully medicated because the psychosis began after their family member was an adult. As a judge said in court, “It is NOT illegal to be psychotic.”
I urge you to take action before he turns 18.
It feels absolutely terrible to force hospitalize a loved one. BUT perhaps it is his only chance to overcome his psychosis and stop the downward spin into disabling mental illness.
From my direct observations the enforced hospitalisation and medication made my son a lot worse. He is now dead. www.oscarandersson.co.uk . From my research the best advise I can give is to ensure your son gets really good diet and vitamins, its certainly not a quick fix and I wish you good luck
I am really sorry for your loss. The only thing that we can blame is they don’t has good medicine for this horrible disease. I am feeling guilty everyday to give him this disease and not able to help much.
@Bzhan 50% of persons with SZ do not realize that they are sick, or have some degree of this (it’s called “lack of insight” or officially “anosognosia”. Their brains literally tell them that they are normal. It is NOT because they don’t like the meds, although that can contribute to a person not taking or stopping medication. MOST persons with SZ need medication to function in a way that allows them some quality of life. People with diabetes don’t get to decide whether or not they will take medication; they don’t have a choice if they want to survive. Brain disorders are not so different in that respect. Talk therapy can also help persons with SZ who hear voices to help “manage” the voices, as well as help in other aspects of living with this illness.
Your son’s health is more important than school at this point. Once his health is in a better place (hopefully, and with the right treatment…this might take a lot of time, perseverance, and patience), he can go back to school.
My recommendation is always to learn all you can (lots of information on this site but this site alone is not enough). The book “Surviving Schizophrenia: A Family Manual” by Dr. E. Fuller Torrey was helpful to me, and a MUST READ is the book “I’m Not Sick; I Don’t Need Help” (also mentioned above by @Elsa) by Dr. Xavier Amador and learn to use what it teaches. Also important is to get support through an organization like NAMI (National Association for Mental Illness)…NAMI.org. NAMI has information and resources on its website, but especially Family Support Groups (locate your state’s NAMI) in many parts of the country, and at certain times of the year they have a Family-to-Family class offered at no cost, that I highly recommend.
Medicines are good for emergency but for a young teenage it may not a long term solutions.
As we understand, schizophrenia auditory, hallucinations, psychosis, agitations and angry are all due excess dopamines inside the brain. Our brain only has few D2 receptors to deal with flooding dopamines. Some supplements can help increase numbers of D2 receptors. But it takes times. We don’t have effective medicines can lower the dopamines immediately. It always keep the patients back to hospitals. The symptoms scared the whole family members.
There are three major chemicals inside the brain dopamines, serotonin and norepinephrine. If dopamines are too high and out of control it will induce the chemicals imbalance inside the brain. The schizophrenia positive symptoms will appear. Since we can not control dopamines flooding. The only way is to rise the serotonin level to balance. The balance will calm patients down. Some prescription drugs like Prozac can increase the level of serotonin. But you may deal the side effects later. I think the most effective is 5-HTP supplement. You have to be very careful. Don’t overdose! 300 mg is the normal doses. Large doses over 1 gram may cause “serotonin symptoms”. You have to check your MD to decide the dosages. Schizophrenia is a complicated disease. It take time to recover. Good Luck!
I do go to nami support group and also taking the class. I am trying to prepare the worst case scenario. I have learned a lot about this disease. The only problem is he never open up to me. I don’t know what he is thinking. I know he is living in fear. I afraid sending him to hospital will make him more scare.
My son (diagnosis - Schizoaffective) has been hospitalized over 100 times!
I had to stop counting in the 90’s. He was very psychotic for 17 years and no meds helped him, many made him worse. Smoking pot landed him in the hospital every time, too and he wouldn’t give it up.
Did the hospitals help him? They kept him safe until the psychosis subsided some. But many actually hurt him because they wouldn’t listen to me when I’d tell him his he’s getting worse in some drugs and they’d give it to him and kept increasing the dosage when he’d get worse. It was so frustrating. One state hospital wanted to keep him for 2 years while giving him the worst meds for him. I practically had to bribe that Dr to discharge him into a mental health treatment center. I have been through the wringer as so many of us here have.
He is now on Clozaril for the past two years and it’s been a game changer. They couldn’t use it in the past as he had Lyme Dusease for years and it gave him very low white blood cells. But they have been normal for several years now. I was reluctant to use such a powerful Med on him but it’s worked beautifully and I have my sweet son back again. His memory is good - he’s back to composing music, playing the piano and guitar as he’s very talented.
I hope everyone finds a Med combo that works and all I can say is keep trying! Never Give Up!
He is applying at 31 for his learner’s permit soon. And there will be many work and social programs that he will be able to access once the virus fades. He’s cooking his meals, doing his laundry which I had to do for him before. And he gets exercise. I couldn’t be prouder of him! Best wishes to all in their struggles with their loved ones.
This is a testimony to Clozapine. I know each person is different but there is growing thought that Clozapine should NOT be a 3rd or later drug choice. I’m glad you got your sweet son back!
