If I have double posted I’m so sorry
First time posting
My son suffers from schizophrenia, I have been taking care of him for 8 years. My question is - if he is on the correct medication and it’s working - how should he be acting?
Hi Amber, Everyone’s response to meds will be different. Has anything changed from before he started taking meds? Recovery (personally I think “coping” is a better word as our family members learn how to live with their neurodiverse challenges) is a process that also requires help from therapy. My son worked with a cognitive behavior therapist who helped him be able to do what he told her he wanted. Mike wanted to be able to grocery shop for himself again. He was concerned that I was poisoning him through his groceries. His psychiatrist told him that cognitive behavior would help him achieve that goal. He became able to shop for himself again and the CBT skills he learned helped him become more independent across the board.
What changes have you seen in your son?
My son was diagnosed with schizophrenia 8 years ago, it was the scariest and most traumatizing time for him, myself and my daughter. He was admitted to a hospital for 3 .months and came home a different person. I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that my son is gone and a very ill person has taken his place. The first year was shaky and scary but buy year 3 he was stable on meds, so much so that we would take turns cooking at night, we could carry on a conversation. He then got a job offer with family member in another country and although I was scared I was convinced if he stuck to his tablets he would be okay. But he resigned after 3 months and came home, he had extreme kidney pain and was different, I later realized he had swopped his antipsychotics and antidepressants around,I got him into a clinic but ever since then for at least the last 4 years the hospital keeps changing his meds and my son develops different reactions, can’t sleep, verbally abusive, high energy, in his own world and each time I book him in he comes home with medication and I’m just expected to know what’s coming my way. He hasnt been stable for a long time and everyone says I need to place him in a home that I can no longer cope, in a way I know they are right but s part of me keeps saying no, just find someone to balance his meds.
I am tired, I am traumatized and I just don’t know anymore what is the expected behaviour and what isnt. I don’t know what to do.
From what you describe he did benefit from meds initially, which is good. Since then he hasn’t been stable on a med regime and has struggled
I’m sorry that the job in another country didn’t work out. While there are people who function quite well on meds, there are an equal number who have to find out just how much stress they can take and still function. Our family members do not do well with stress and they often have a good deal of stress just trying to live with their neurodiverse issues.
For me, learning how to listen to my son was key. He would work towards things he wanted, I just had to be alert enough to hear those desires when they were voiced. And, I had to be the person to help keep his stress points reduced. When he began working as a hired driver, he would have worked nonstop. I put the limits on his drive time and he complied - that was the deal.
My Family to Family instructor’s son was finally started on Clozapine after trying many other meds and combinations. Slowly but surely he became able to function. When he voiced to her that he would like to return to university, she said “great”. They worked out a plan on how he would progress in that goal. Step one was dressing in the morning and putting shoes on. She would take him on errands to practice leaving the house and dealing with people. His journey didn’t start with a single step, his journey started with putting shoes on.
We do end up traumatized, I am sorry. Your son’s behavior and progress will be different from everyone else’s. What does he want to do or what does he feel is missing from his life?
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I am in a similar situation, but my daughter is about 5 years after her schizophrenia diagnosis. I think everyone is different. Hopefully, the hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking and behavior should be minimized with proper drug treatment.
I think an affect person’s ability to function or live a “normal” life is highly subjective. For example, I still give my daughter her meds 2x/day because she forgets. And the longest she was able to hold a job was 3 months. But it was a miserable existence because her meds make her sleep 11-12 hours per day. After working, she went straight to sleep and then woke again to go straight to work. She was fired (after 3 months). She cannot work because of disordered thinking and physical impairments due to her meds.
She is at 300mg/day clozapine, but the meds have serious side effects. To me, a satisfying treatment level means that the schizophrenic person is happy and healthy, to the highest degree possible.
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There is no one-size-fits-all answer for this. Symptoms should be significantly less. Able to function and live a meaningful life. This will look different for each person. Improvements in recovery can continue for many years even when it seems slow. I think talk therapy can help significantly with this if the person is stable otherwise. Others reach a plateau that seems to remain. Sometimes there is even one step back and then two steps forward. Never give up hope for a better future in a realistic way.