How many of you have an unmedicated family member and what's happening today?

Over the past decade my son has been medicated and unmedicated. He has done well in that while medicated he has some understanding of his illness, but does not like the side effects of the meds. And to be fair, the depressive side effects are harder on him than the paranoia/delusions. Currently he is unmedicated. After a bout of self medicating with alcohol, and plans of suicide, we had him involuntarily admitted. So he is safer, but still refusing meds and mad at his family. Not really sure what the future will hold, but for a certainty the son we had is gone and we are waiting for him to return.

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So,sorry we are similar, my son is on a cto, community treatment order in uk. I think it will be taken off him after the time period has lapsed another 4 months. I fear we,lol be back to square one.

What meds was he on and what side effects did he have.?

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Hi
We are in a similar situation, in Canada. The 6 month cto will expire in September or October. The Doctor at the hospital and the current nurse where we go for monthly shots have assured me, that in my daughteā€™s case, that the panel will keep her for the other 6 month, up to 3 years.
Once i have dealt with our appointment for financial support, i will start looking into how to prolong the cto.
I am guessing, i will have to put the emphasis on anosognosia and the history of years of refusing the prescriptionsā€¦ (?)

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Med were changed and put back on Risperdal with Zoloft added. He began to withdraw and sleep a lot the first few weeks. Then he stopped all meds and listening to dark music and talking about ending it all. He was still uncooperative as of yesterday, but did decide maybe he might talk to me in the near future. And it always seems like it is one step forward and two back, doesnā€™t it?

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I agree completely, we get a tiny bit of hope them boom all comes crash down when they go back. I,m thinking of you.

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I think thatā€™s what you have to do, i.e. Emphasis itā€™s better all round for hima son meds he,lol have your support. Also the anosognosia and refuses prescriptions.

Here in the Uk his doctor put emphasis on his n staying well is more likely if he has our sup and to have that he needs to be on meds.

My son has continued to see a therapist who specializes in CBT. I know this because its charged to my credit card and I looked up information on the therapist online. At first he was worried I was drugging his food, then he believed I was drugging his groceries. His latest thing is that he thinks I am drugging him through the immunosuppressive drugs he takes to maintain his transplant. He texted me he would be picking up his own immunos from now on.

I have to assume its the CBT helping him to buy his groceries and now, pick up his meds. He hasnā€™t been able to buy his own groceries in years. The last time he was picking up his own meds in 2009, he caused such a ruckus at the pharmacy they didnā€™t want him to return.

Interesting how he can use the CBT to get the results his paranoid delusions need.

When I saw him leave to get his meds I went outside to do some yard work around his place. Usually if I work near his place it will trigger the out of control psychosis, he has psychosis nearly constantly, -wildly psychotic is what we try to avoid.

He drove up while I was still out there. I am always torn about whether or not to address him. I donā€™t want to stress him out and I donā€™t want him to feel he is being ignored. So many sufferers of scz talk about the loneliness of being ignored But I know that his voices often start up if I talk to him. He came into the driveway way too fast and had to skid to a stop in front of his place. He drove up so fast I actually looked down the drive to see if he was being pursued.

He got out and without looking at me headed towards his place. I said ā€œHi Jeb, everything okay?ā€ He turned and looked at me so I made sure to be smiling and not looking directly at him. He nodded and went inside. I could tell from his expression he was all caught up in psychosis.

But hey, it was a nod. I canā€™t remember the last time he spoke to me. He rarely texts back to me any more, the last time was mid March.

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Hi, my son had his first episode right before he turned 25, heā€™ll be 29 soon. He only took meds briefly in the beginning. Most of the time he has good insight but he will only discuss the same occasionally with me. He was very suspicious and verbally aggressive towards me for a few days before we had any idea of exactly what was happening. His younger brother was home and made him leave the apartment. I left after a little while and saw my oldest creeping along the side of the road hiding between cars and bushes, he just appeared frightened. When I got home he was sitting outside the door so scared. He apologized but later (hours, day or two, not sure) he began questioning me suspiciously again and I just go so mad and yelled at him that Iā€™d been his mom his whole life and if he didnā€™t know me by then he could just go away. For some reason that got through to him and weā€™ve never had any real trust issues since thankfully. We had about a year of full blown psychosisā€¦he was so afraid our neighbors wanted to kill him, that they thought he was a pedophile. He slept on the floor of my room for almost 6 months, hiding under a blanket all day while I was at work because they were listening for him. It was the only place he felt safe. It gradually got better. I got him a dog which meant he had to get up and take care of her and we also moved. He rarely leaves the house by himself but we have a yard for the dogs and he goes out there. He sometimes has anger issues but the worst has been a hole in the wall and he knows I wonā€™t have that so heā€™s really been working on better self control. The worst I deal with now is depression. ā€¦heā€™s 28, unemployed and lives with his mom. The voices have never gone and heā€™s still mildly delusional but is pretty clear that itā€™s not ā€œrealā€. He wonā€™t go back to a Dr for meds at all at this time. And I have to choose carefully the times I bring it up as a possibility. Right now Iā€™m just very fortunate with him and our relationship but always in the back of my mind is that this can go in reverse quickly. He has a couple of good friends that come over on occasion and are very understanding. And sometimes heā€™ll go places with me too. He is able to joke about being ā€œcrazyā€. When heā€™s not super depressed he cleans and cooks and is a joy. Other days he stays on the couch under a blanket and floods me with negative, depressing emails and texts BUT he always tell me how canā€™t hurt himself because he knows it will destroy me and he worries about what would happen to his dog. Best thing I did was taking him to get that baby! But sometimes heā€™s so down I will stay home from work or his sister will come to the house instead so that heā€™s not alone.
When I read some of the others experiences I am reminded that no matter how hard it is I am right now very blessed. Thatā€™s good because it easy to get overwhelmed and not see the positive things. Gosh, that was long! Ty for reading.

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Today my daughter is still in the group home and Iā€™m praying she can stay there for months. As for her meds ā€“ she is taking the meds but they arenā€™t really working plus she is extremely hormonal around certain times of the month and it is when she is most symptomatic.

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Would you commit her to a hospital?
Might be not a bad idea.
You can separate yourself from her, but your children will be always affected for the rest of their lives.
My mom has sz, and i only wish I figured it out sooner and got her help. She is 76 now, and it is too late. But perhaps not too late for your children and their mother?

Sorry, I missed this one Mom2. Iā€™ve been lucky, while he loses his wallet frequently, he has not broken or lost a phone. We keep our old phones around just in case. My son lives in a garage apartment we built on our property for him. Its a separate building from our house. SSI and SSDI rules do allow us to pay for his phone service, its about $10.00 a month. I think you are right, we are all just learning here and usually waiting for the next shoe to drop.

I am envious that your son has such supportive friends. My sonā€™s friends abandoned him when he became heavily involved with marijuana in his last years of college. They were more conservative type people, as he was, before he began self medicating for his illness.

ā€œPedophileā€ was something my son heard other people calling him. He was 30 and still working when he reacted and called a co-worker a name back. He was fired for it. That was the last time he worked. He hasnā€™t been able to manage his illness well enough to work since that day.

Mine has two cats, he calls them his only friends. They are really good company for him. I like your decision to go with a dog - probably a much more rewarding relationship.

My response sounds so down - didnā€™t mean it to be, you have your son in a good coping spot also.

I had planned to work outside in my gardens today, change of plans now. My son is out there working on a demolition project I asked him to do. I try to always have something I need him to do, that he can do. We have some old small sheds that need tearing down, so I asked him if he would do it. Heā€™s been working on this project for over a year. Every couple of months he works on tearing them down for a couple of hours. He canā€™t use power tools making it an even slower process. I canā€™t work outside while he is out there, I donā€™t want to rock whatever boat is making it possible for him to be out there.

Thanks so very much for writing about your son!

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I really hope your prayers are answered. One of my friendā€™s daughters struggles with hormone issues each month. It was during one of those times that her dog saved her when her daughter was choking her.

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@Day-by-Day. ā€“ ā€œMedication worksā€. ā€“ yes and no. Itā€™s helped my daughter but it isnā€™t enough plus sheā€™s gained at least 150 lbs from the medication.

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My sonā€™s pdoc took him off the Invega shot in large part because he had gained 100lbs very quickly. The doctor felt he should not have all the potential health problems that come with obesity if that could be avoided. There ARE some weight-neutral APs, if they work for your daughter.

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Hoping my sonā€™s current hyper psychotic state ends soon.

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Me too. Isnā€™t it funny? In a twisted kind of way thatā€™s only funny to us.

We were just comparing notes on the other thread. Your son is unmedicated. Mine is way medicated & compliant. And, theyā€™re pretty much in the same place right now. Words canā€™t express how incredibly sad I am for all of us.

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Yes, I do get the funny part. When my son goes through one of the ā€œI have many injuriesā€ modes, he walks around with a variety of wraps on his arms, knees and ankles. I can look at him and cry about the tragedy, or I can see it as a little bit on the silly side. As long as I am compassionate with him and he doesnā€™t see me smiling, I can have some laughter in my life. I can look at him and smile with deep love from my window.

The first time I was able to really laugh in YEARS was during Family to Family talking with a parent in the same situation. I didnā€™t realize how much I had missed laughing.

Why I can only laugh with people in the same situation is a bit odd. I imagine if someone who didnā€™t have a relative with scz were to smile at my sonā€™s symptoms I would probably take great offense.

And mine just drove off either for a therapy appointment or to an exercise class. Sigh.

Why does he do more things when his psychosis is rampant?

Having asked that, I guess I do know the answer. He probably thinks the problem is here, that its my husband and I, if he goes somewhere, maybe he thinks it wonā€™t happen.

Going to be a long couple of hours. I always expect a call with bad news when heā€™s gone like this, hasnā€™t happened yet.

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They always say that eventually someone will get the meds right. I so hope its true for your son.

In the meantime, our sons seem to be on quite the similar track.

I just had the first real (non texting) conversation with my son - since, I donā€™t remember.

He slept 8 hours yesterday afternoon, instead of waking up calm, he woke up refreshed for some more psychosis.

I came home from an appointment today and he was startled by loud noises in the neighborhood that occurred when I arrived home, bad luck.

He came rushing out screaming in fear that something bad was happening. I just spoke calmly to him - he stayed about 15 yards away and I reassured him everything was fine. Just like always, when heā€™s in crisis, he listens to me. When he realized there wasnā€™t anything happening, he became angry.

His language stayed clean, that was refreshing. He told me he was taking me to court for stalking him. Said he was very disappointed in what horrible people his dad and I had turned out to be. He was shocked by how awful we are to him.

He had accused me of stalking him last week in a text. This is a new thing. When he stopped his rant, I asked him if there was anything I could do to help him.

I am paying every few days for him to see a therapist. It isnā€™t covered by medicaid because he had to pick one he wanted to see and this therapist is not covered. Is there a chance that the therapist is trying to get him into a courtroom?

I would love to have him in front of a judge, at least I think I would, right?

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