From a new poster / member - moved the message here because its more appropriate here:
Violet1h
Hello, my 19 year old son was in a hospital for 3 weeks due to psychotic symptoms. He has recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia. I realize now he has had symptoms for maybe a year. I have anxiety but I didn’t know much about schizophrenia.
I am trying to learn. Since he has been home from the hospital, I notice many changes in him. He no longer wants his bedroom door closed. He sometimes wants me to be in his room with him. He has much anxiety. Seems to have trouble relaxing. Forgetful. Sometimes goes from one task to another and changes mind a lot. Radio, his phone, tv shows, etc trigger him from what he tells me so he avoids these things. He only went outside by himself one time. And doesn’t want me to leave the house since the first time I did, he had a panic attack. I’m not working so I can be his caretaker.
However, this is all new to me and I’m not even sure what to do sometimes. I love my son dearly, and want to help him. Wish I can take all the anxiety, confusion away. Obviously I can’t but I would like to know how I can help him. He has an appoint tomorrow for an essesment and I think for his new therapist. His 16 year old brother Aldo loves him and is confused to what this mental illness is. I’m dedicating most of my attention to my 19 year old who seems to need me the most right now, however my 16 does also need me at times and I have a stable relationship with a man who is not their father.
We’ve been together for years and this affects all of us. My son seems to desire friendships as well. Many of his old friends are away at college or busy with their own lives that he has been sort of isolated for some months. I suggested he make some new friends maybe even online like on this website. He said to hear others talk about their schizophrenia is a trigger so he thought it may not be such a good idea. I’m hoping he will get better with time. How long does it usually take to get better? Is it a slow process?
Dear Violet, I am glad you wrote. Everything you describe is similar to what my family member went through. It took a few months after the hospital before symptoms starting calming down. It’s been about a year a half and there has been definite improvement.
Getting better is a slow process and there can be relapses. Time does help quite a bit.
I’m still learning how to deal with this myself. My daughter was diagnosed in January. She oftentimes will follow me around the house like a puppy dog because it helps with her anxiety. I’m trying to balance her needs with the needs of my other children as well. We have just tried to explain that it’s a family effort and we need to be there for each other.
It’s been up and down. Just when I start to think we have a handle on things, she has a setback. My husband read somewhere that it takes about two years after a schizophrenia diagnosis to really find equilibrium, so I’m just letting go of trying to figure it all out for now, and just taking it one day at a time.
Hi, I am new here as well. My 16 yr old son was recently put on medication to treat symptoms possibly due to schizophrenia. I feel lost. I am two weeks away from completing my degree in psychology and could never have guessed my own child would need me in this way. We noticed negative symptoms around Thanksgiving and visited the neurologist and psychiatrist almost immediately. I feel that I can breath now, for a few months this was very hard on our family. I guess I am reaching out to say hi, sometimes knowing you are not alone makes all the difference.
Its because you added your message to a very old thread/discussion - so it bumps the message to the top of the list. Usually the forum software warns people that they are responding to an old discussion before you post. The issue is that the people involved in the discussion may no longer be checking messages - so its better to just start a new thread if the existing thread is very old.
Ah - someone posted a new message (Jax) but it was held back by the system for us to review - so the message got bumped up, but the new message had not yet been posted. Thats why it seemed strange.
Hi Jax, and welcome to our forums. I think you’ll find everyone here is very understanding and supportive. It sounds like you moved quickly to get help, and got it, which is really a good thing. I’m sure other people will join in and welcome you.