Yeah, tell me about it, when your child is so sick it is hard to not be sad and not worry, which is very aging My son’s apartment is an improvement I guess, but I still go over every day to make sure he is eating and occasionally takes a shower and to drive him around on errands and sit and hang out. He spends most of his time watching you tube or movies and lately he hasn’t had the motivation to play video games. He never wants to open the blinds or windows in his apartment which really frustrates me as it so unhealthy to sit in the dark with no fresh air. It is a very bitter pill to swallow for us parents, and we worry about what will happen after we can t care for them any more. I am having a bad night… hopefully we will both have good days tomorrow and see a glimpse of our boys as they were.
Thinking of you Irene 
It’s not that his meds are losing their effectiveness. It’s the opposite. They are so effective that he seems completely ‘normal’. More ‘normal’ than most ‘normal’ people. Also, he may have encountered one of those medical personnel who think that psychosis is just ‘part of life’s rich tapestry’ and ‘manageable’. Or he might have overinterpreted a suggestion he doesn’t need to stay on the injectable form. He doesn’t show any signs of delusional thinking apart from this. So I need to talk to him. But honestly, I am at fault too here because I DID also welcome the ‘news’ and I DID think it was plausible until my friend read the riot act to me on the phone (the one who’s on the same meds and was diagnosed ten years earlier, is married with two kids and a successful career - so I listen to her.)
Hatty, just so we can hear a positive story about success, can you share a bit more about your friend who was diagnosed 10 years ago and now has a good life and a career?
How long was she ill before she started meds? Did she have anosognosia? Does she have negative symptoms? How does she manage having a successful career? I’m so curious.
Actually, I forgot when I posted but she was diagnosed about 18 years ago, after she was hospitalized. She says she has bipolar disorder but she on Abilify like my son, but tablet form. She went through some difficult phases in the beginning including that her second husband left her at one point. At that point I think she may have been having some anosognosia. To be honest, I knew her then but we were not friends. When I look back I know now that what I didn’t like about her was her grandiosity - which was actually a symptom of her illness. Since then she has stabilized, reconciled with her husband, had a second child and set up a successful business. She was very, very successful at school and university and work (she worked in banking at one time) before the onset of her illness. I think that kind of trajectory is quite typical for bipolar disorder. She never drinks alcohol or takes any drugs. Her mother and sister also have some kind of psychosis spectrum disorder, though her sister apparently is less well controlled. I’ve said before on this board that we don’t hear the success stories because they don’t feel the need to be here but they do exist.
I also spoke to my son today and apparently the medics didn’t say he can come off his meds. They said he can change them, possibly. But he does want to come off them do we had a discussion and I stressed my fears of what a relapse can do
Hatty, so very glad your friend warned you of the possibility. I think it’s interesting that in the world of kidney transplants, a percentage of normal folk start to feel so well with their new kidneys that they stop taking their immunosuppressives. Of course, once they stop taking their immunos their body begins to reject their new kidney.
You would think that after undergoing everything they do to get off dialysis and get a kidney, it would be different.
They have a typical problem as our family members, they don’t like the side effects of the immunos.