very interesting. That can’t work here in California. I have to risk taking her home. But i can take her back to the hospital too. I have a psychiatrist that said he would work with her.
It is very stressful for everyone. I can imagine state care at home has pros and cons.
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Thank you for your thoughts. I can always take her back to the hospital for the entire year of she falls out of compliance with her doctor while she is at home.
Wow, I am totally impressed that your daughter now realizes she has an illness. What kind of treatment made that happen? CBT? I would like to know more. I have been to a couple meetings and I hear really sad stories and no success. Even the hosts have personal sad stories no the family members having no recognition. It doesn’t give me much hope in using anti - psychotics since the sarcosine worked great and it is natural. I am hoping for recovery with recognition to she can have a full life. In the meantime this is ripping my family apart. Possible divorce as my husband had pulled away.
I dread this drugs already. My daughter was using Profrontal, a natural product you can find online and it worked perfectly, until she quit taking it. I have hope for natural products, although I know most people don’t. My daughter used them for 2 years without a break happening, then as soon as stopped she went into psychosis. She doesn’t make the connection at all and has excuses of why the break was not a break.
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My daughter, mid 30’s, will not see doctors or take prescriptions (not just psychiatric type but ANY type). She has anosognosia, and even after forced injection, she is so deluded that she doesn’t remember the shot, nor see how she was well for 5 weeks or so. I am in FL. Even with guardianship (if I got it and that’s a big IF as she is not dangerous to self or others) I could not force her meds. Just to get her Baker Acted and diagnosed, I lied or “bent the truth” to make her seem dangerous to the police. I agree NAMI’s meetings are not perfect, but they help to cope, at the very least, by knowing I am not alone in my sadness. This website has helped me greatly, but it took me 2 years to find out about the caregiver thread. I may move eventually, to where I could force her onto drugs, but for now, we have a sort of a broken yet working arrangement in my home. Maybe she will try Profrontal or Sarcosine IF I can talk her into supplements that aren’t made by Standard Process, which is all she will take. I was against forcing her onto a monthly shot, until I saw the result. Yes, the fear would be that it stops working, or we can’t afford it, or some side effect pops up, but nothing else has made her participate in life again, so I would do it again IF I could, however, her police team now considers her “non-dangerous”. She is my dependent for tax purposes, and got Obamacare which would pay for her medicine and appointments IF she would go. For all I know, she may have an actual physical problem or allergy, but she won’t treat at all. Her voices are her friends (with mental super powers) and she won’t listen to anyone else.
I am curious, why did your daughter stop with the natural supplements after 2 years?
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I am all in favor of natural supplements for all kinds of ailments but from everything I have read, it is unlikely that they will work for most persons with a brain disorder. It never hurts to try some things, but I would not treat my mother with breast cancer with a natural supplement alone. I also have read research that shows the sooner a brain disorder is treated, the better the long-term outcome. Because many of us have family members who are not medication-compliant (even when we want them to be), it will be interesting (to me) to continue to follow this post.
So now that she is one of the fortunate people whose anosognosia is suppressed by meds, when do you switch her to oral medications?
My son Jeb has worked part time for 4 months now successfully. He remains unmedicated and his psychosis remains constant and debilitating. He only works when his symptoms are somewhat lighter. Some weeks he may get out one day for 2-4 hours, then it may be a couple of weeks before he can work again.
I think its possible that the 3 years he spent here in the garage apartment not working, gave him some time to figure out how to handle his symptoms - to some degree. If he moves regularly and continues to work in a job where he rarely sees the same people, he may be able to continue to live on his own indefinitely. I suspect his work with a CBT professional has really helped him a good deal. He hadn’t grocery shopped for himself in years before CBT.
If he lives in one place too long, the delusions will build up and there will be problems again.
Our contact is quite limited. His delusions about his dad and I grew to be too much for him to handle. He did call my mom for her birthday and spoke to her, she was so pleased. I had texted him that she was facing open heart surgery and was frightened about being 86 and having such a surgery.
HIs doctor who convinced us that this may be possible for him has been correct - so far.
We know there are other shoes that will be dropping in the future. We are glad that he is now living in an area where we have a chance that a phone call can actually result in help for our son. We still hope he will be on meds someday and realize its more likely in his current location. If our thinking is correct, he has been suffering from insidious scz for 22 years. Too early to hope this is the residual stage.
Every day is still worrisome, but at least we aren’t being terrorized in our own home anymore.
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New here. Found this website because the father of my 10 month old has Schizoaffective Disorder and i’m not sure what to do at this point. He is currently homeless, because his family kicked him out in April, after my mother evicted him from her house in December '17 because of his illness, not staying on his medication after intervention, and violent actions. Currently he is on probation for 4 misdemeanor charges, and since bailing himself out has lost his backpack, bags of clothes, and cell phone, until recently replacing his phone with money his mom sent to him. For the past 3 weeks we have not lived together and i’ve begun to distance myself from him and refrain from constant communication (as he would have it) because he’s been making serious accusations based on delusions and/or hallucinations/voices that convince him i’ve “humiliated” him by acts of infidelity, or more serious accusations involving being drugged, and “that’s why you don’t remember.”, he says. These accusations all started last fall, but subsided when he took medication after an intervention for 2 weeks. However, recently they resurfaced while we were staying in a family homeless shelter, which was my effort to help him get shelter for himself and for us to be together again as a family, but all that quickly fell apart when he started accusing me of things i’ve never done, ordering me to admit to them, and started an argument in the middle of the night, whereby he was kicked out of the shelter. Now I’m living with my mom again, and contemplating moving across the nation to stay with family friends because depending on his illness, he will not respect boundaries and can get violent. I’ve called the police and made reports based on his threats to hurt others, but they didn’t do much to help. Although I have not seen him in over a week, I still am concerned for him and have love for him, but know that I cannot be alone with him or see him right now for our own safety. That being said, leaving him alone in a city without any family and my daughter and I moving across the country makes me fearful for his health. My family is telling me that i’ve done all I can to help him and need to lookout for myself and most importantly, my daughter’s safety, which I agree with. His family has already cut him off and he’s not allowed to stay or live with anyone he knows, including me at my mothers as previously mentioned. It’s difficult for him to find and keep a job right now because of what he’s going through and because he doesn’t have a mode of transportation or somewhere to live. He refuses to believe he is sick and does not trust anyone or will listen to any reason. The best I could do to get him to stop talking about these accusations and delusions when he called was to tell him that I love him and would love to be a family with him, but right now cannot for our safety, and the importance of him taking medication these last few days. These are the same words I told him the week before last, but he didn’t hear or act on them until this past Monday, when he visited the Crisis Care Center. There they gave a refill of Risperidone, told him to take care of himself and get rest, stay away from stress, and of course take his medication, but was not detained. I apologize for all the run ons or if the following questions seem random, i’m just trying to get in as much detail as I can. Just curious what anyone’s thoughts might be on the situation? We’re currently in Texas. Or are there any resources you can recommend for gaining the trust of someone suffering with schizophrenia? I was reading about the benefits of a ketogenic diet on schizoaffective disorder, but am unable to live with him at this time to even consider that an option. . . Both he and I grew up without or fathers, so being a family was always really important to us for our daughter’s sake, but that aside, I know that her safety and well being takes precedence, and hence why I’m strongly considering moving, even if it’s just temporarily.
@loveandcompassion I think you have done a lot and have a very good insight into what is best for him and for you and your child! It is hard, I know. The fact that he went to Crisis Care is encouraging and perhaps he will take the meds. Did he tell you that or do you have contact with that facility (to make sure you are getting accurate information)? The Crisis Center will surely help him find a place to stay if they can. If he does not stay on meds, chances are he will violate some part of his probation. I have been advised by others more experienced with this than I am that “hitting bottom” is sometimes the best thing that can happen for a person that is unable to help him or herself otherwise. You are not married to this man, so even though you love him and care about him, you are technically not responsible for him. He has other family. But many times families do not understand and do not care to do the work to try to. If there is anything proactive you or other family can do to be in contact with local facilities and police to inform that there is a mental illness involved or to ensure that he or someone who found him would know who to contact if things went downhill (such as if he violated his probation). Take care of yourself and your daughter first and perhaps you can help from a distance. You might also go to the NAMI.org website and look for information and resources, including support groups.
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I think your family is giving you good advice and support. In many parts of Texas we don’t have any more help from mental health services than he is already receiving. That you live somewhere in Texas that has a Crisis Care Center is amazing in itself. Their advice was sound, the less stress the better, take the meds and stay rested.
The more he is with you, the more the delusions will be centered on you, AND since he has already shown a tendency for violence, the more danger you and your child are in - unless he stays medicated.
It is important to understand that he is not refusing to believe he is sick. There is a symptom called anosognosia that makes it impossible for them to realize they are ill. He isn’t refusing meds to be difficult, he is refusing meds because he really doesn’t believe he needs them. To him, all of his thoughts are real. While the illness can cycle and there can seem to be times when they do realize things aren’t quite right, the cycling will continue and he will be right back where he doesn’t realize he is sick.
Many of our loved ones have been thrown out of their homes because their families believed they were “in denial” and “refusing to take meds”.
To help understand anosognosia, look for Dr Amador’s videos on line at youtube.
I don’t know where he is in Texas, but for services, Bexar County is the best county:
I am not joking around when I write to your boyfriend’s family, try to get him to Bexar County. Not writing this to you though since his delusions center on you and you need to take care of yourself and your daughter.
I think it’s right for you to prioritize yourself and your child in whatever ways you need to.
The help he needs is not something loved ones can provide. He needs professional treatment for a serious illness. If he is using alcohol or illicit substances, medication might not be as effective.
Don’t put yourself through this. The best thing you can do for him is raise your child. When he gets better, he will be grateful that you gave his little girl the best upbringing. Maybe he will someday reunite with her as a truly excellent father.
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This is a reply to users: hope, hope4us, and hereandhere. Because i’m a new user i’m not able to reference more than 2 users in a post, so i’m hoping you all will see this part of the comment first and be able to read your section of reply. Hope, i’m going to use a 
to help distinguish.
@hope4us Thank you for the link, i’ll be sure to check it out. I’ve reached out to his family repeatedly throughout the time we’ve been together to help us and only once did his mom come down with her boyfriend to help keep him in one location (since they live out of town), and stop him from getting violent while we waited for the mental health evaluation team to arrive (I made the call). - which all in all took over an hour. I actually had to guilt her into coming because all the time prior, she just said “I don’t know what there is I can do if he won’t help himself” , which made me feel even worse about it. Aside from that, his sister came to pick him up from 4 hours away when he was evicted but they did no work in trying to help with his mental health, enforcing medication, and allowed him to smoke and drink while there (he often binge drinks), and actually asked my mom and I not to communicate with them anymore. When we did communicate prior to that, they said they felt all he needed was rest and less stress. However, he eventually became tired of being away from me, the way they talked about me, he claims, fell into delusions about them there as well, and inevitably started arguments, which led to him no longer being able to live with them. So, they dropped him off with his mom (4-5 hours from where she lives) and he stayed with his aunt for 2 weeks until his mom dropped him off in Bexar county at a men’s shelter, where he was not able to make the curfew in time daily or have enough money to pay the shelter ($12) to have a safe place to sleep. As you mentioned, because we’re not married the Crisis Center will not release any information to me, and it seems any information I provide to any police officer during encounters regarding his behavior does nothing more than document the information i’m providing consistently on his mental health, which even then i’m not sure that they are. I address this later in a reply to user Hereandhere, actually
@ hope: That is really helpful information, I remember reading that in early replies of this thread, but forgot to look into that, so thank you! I’ll be sure to check that doctor out on YouTube. Sorry, i’m editing this after the fact because I realize my 3 replies in one share information that you may miss, such as that: because we’re not married, I can’t get any information on whether he actually went to the Crisis Center, etc.
@Hereandhere Thanks for the article. While that article sounds promising, the reality of it is that’s not the case. I live in Bexar county. That article was released in January of 2016, and at that time or year, rather, the only symptom I saw was depression, where he was sleeping a lot. His schizophrenia didn’t show until late 2017. We now have a different sheriff, his name is Javier Salazar, and already he’s made the news for mistreatment. In the 5 times or more that i’ve spoken to the police regarding my daughter’s father’s behavior, while some of them-I guess depending on their experience- seem to have some knowledge or have heard of schizoaffective disorder, they all have released him or put him in detention/jail, rather than sending him to the mental health center mentioned in that article. So then, as mentioned, I tried to get him into a homeless shelter, hoping they could intervene. And yet, when we were there and met with the caseworker as a family, she asked if he had any mental health issues, and of course he said “No.”, "and she documented that, even though I had told her privately before we met as a family, that he had schizoaffective disorder. The last form of intervention was when he was arrested the night of starting an argument there for traffic ticket warrants, and despite all the reports i’ve made, where i’ve consistently stated he has schizoaffective disorder, and literally telling the police officer the night he was arrested that he had schizoaffective disorder, he was still put in jail, again, not a mental health facility, and able to bail himself out.
So lovely people of this post, that’s why i’m here. I’m afraid to leave or move, because it seems i’m the only one trying to help him. And everyone, including his family that he cried to for help years ago, is somehow unable to help him. . or has even really tried to intervene for his mental health, it seems.
While I do believe in the power of hitting “rockbottom” as mentioned by @hope4us. . . i’m just afraid of what happens when i’m not in the same city he’s ordered to stay in by probation. Already, my fear of him being mentally ill and homeless is true. Who knows what else could come to. . . Sigh.
I forgot to mention in my previous reply, that article you posted states The Center for Health Care Services is where police will take people they arrest that are mentally ill. The Crisis Care Center IS where they took him, which is a faction of The Center of Health Care Services that is open 24/7 for those “experiencing a psychiatric crisis.” But regardless of his visits there (I believe twice, once in the fall of last year when we called the mental health evaluation team and apparently this past Monday), they still release him because he knows what to say and not say in order to be released.
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Yes, that is true. You cannot heal him, and it sounds like you cannot live with him You must raise her in a stable environment. I think that if your friends will help you out of state, that you should go. My opinion only, Good luck.
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Yes, thank you. We’re working on leaving asap. Just have to make sure the car’s in good working order first and make sure we have enough $ to make it there.
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My daughter stopped the supplements bc she prayed that she would be cured and said she had faith to be cured. Continuing the supplements meant that she didn’t have faith in the “cure”. She still thinks she is cured and does not associate her actions that ended up putting her into the hospital as an illness, she says she made a mistake. She insists she is not ill
I was thinking about this the other day. How is your daughter doing? @Kellyshayne I thought if she was still wanting to be free of clothing she may want to wear a sarong. They are super light and comfortable and more acceptable to a towel or nothing.
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Thank you DianeR for thinking of me and my daughter. She is still in the mental hospital, it had been 30 days so far and it will be another 14 at the least. Court hearing are coming up for her soon. It is out of character for her to streak as she is a very modest person. She said she was trying to communicate with heaven and she did it wrong. Now she says that Satan tricked her and that she should not have streaked. She had gone out of her way to toss all of her immodest clothes last year, so I don’t know how streaking came into her mind.
Was this for the lack of clothes or is she getting court ordered meds (you don’t have to say why). I hope it works out the way you want it to go! It seems a lot of our loved ones (including mine) have found themselves mixed up with the law because of their mixed up thoughts. Odd that she was so modest and then the lack of clothing. But it seems that’s the way it is these days - never not odd. Or rarely.
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