How to deal with symptoms

Hello , my brother has schizophrenia and I wanted to know does anyone else have a family member who has the disease that stares a lot. My brother and my parents are living with me, my husband and our kids and he does strange things like staring , he will just walk up and start staring you down. Idk what he’s thinking but it just seems very odd. He has a little bit of shaking because of the medication but I hate taking him out with me because I’m afraid he may make ppl feel uncomfortable with his staring. Any suggestions??

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Staring is pretty common. It can be due to the illness, itself or a variety of other reasons (like he is stuck in his mind temporarily, processing thoughts). I would want his doctor to be aware of this. Sometimes medication adjustments can be made that help.

As for what other people think, you can’t really be overly concerned about that because it hasn’t happened yet and by imagining it happening you are are just borrowing trouble that might not happen. I would be conscious of where you decide to go with your brother, quite often schizophrenics do not really care for crowded, busy, or loud places but often cannot clearly let you know that. My sz son tends to agree with anything and everything so I have to watch his mannerisms and body language to understand better when he is comfortable and when he is obviously not.

Sometimes my son will stare aimlessly. I ignore it or try to get his attention by talking to him and then he will look at me. He prefers to take long walks around the neighborhood or in the local parks because they are quiet and not so crowded. He also likes to go out to eat and that works because we can get a booth and no one bothers us. I noticed lately my son really likes to wear shades, sometimes it isn’t even that sunny out…so maybe he is doing it so people won’t see where his eyes are looking. That’s a thought I guess if it applies. Best of luck to you.

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Starring is common with people with Schz. My brother has been on medication for 20 years and he still stars at people sometimes and looks like he is in deep thought. this is may be a side effect of the illness or both illness and medicine.
my brother also does not like to be outside home for long time. He gets inpatient if we go for long trips. my Father tells me that he also sleeps a lot like 15+ hours. I have not seen him for few years since he is living oversees.
I would not make a big issue out of it. I would say avoid big crowd when taking him out with you.
God bless you by taking care of your brother and your parents…

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I think I meant to reply to @/Mybrotherskeeper

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I agree with other replies so far. And especially to let his med doctor know in case the medication could be tweaked. It is likely that your brother is not aware of this. Even if the doctor will not give you (or other family members) information due to HIPAA privacy laws, you are entitled to give the doctor information (phone, email, etc…whatever way that exists to give the doctor input that he might not otherwise have). Or you (or other family) could ask the doctor to have your brother sign a Release to be able to give you information (if your brother is willing to do that).

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My brother has some unique behaviours that can be embarrassing at first. He would order food in very large quantities and we are the ones who gets stared at. I started by taking him out to places nearby and for short period. It kind of work for me to not feel embarrassed. I stopped taking my brother out after he became threatening last year. I will take him out again in a month or so, but my comfort level so far is somewhere near where he lives and where there isn’t too many people around. We still get to enjoy the moments.