My son has been going thru a rough patch. Yesterday morning was a bad one, with him shouting and cursing at the voices - even tho I think he knows it is not me speaking, he addresses me, which can be stressful!
He seemed to wind down and after a bit of a rest, he approached me and said, ‘I just keep thinking the same things over and over again, I can’t stop it! I can’t control the thoughts in my head - I think there is something wrong with my brain. I feel like I am a bear in a trap in a forest.’
Seems strange to feel so overjoyed about a son recognizing that he has a mental illness - but we know how hard it is to treat something that a person doesn’t think they have!
It is just a tiny step in the right direction, but it is a step.
That is kind-of huge actually that he was able to recognize that what was happening was his own thoughts.
I get what you mean about feeling joy about recognizing symptoms. Recently my son was experiencing tactile hallucinations… I was able to explain to him that it was a tactile hallucination and he seemed to believe me!
My son is on an anti-psychotic, and he has been med-compliant. Might need an adjustment tho. This seems to happen repeatedly - something works well for a while, and then loses its effectiveness.
How much melatonin do you recommend? I know part of my son’s recent increase in psychosis has been due to poor sleep. We just got his trazadone prescription refilled, and are hoping it helps.
He seems in better spirits today too. Maybe coming to this recognition is helping. He said something a little sad today, but he said it in a matter-of-fact way - ‘I wonder what I would be called if I wasn’t insane?’
I quickly told him that calling him insane is not really the right word. It was interesting to hear him wonder that. He has had goals to study any number of things. I think he would be a great physicist.
We found higher doses of melatonin did the opposite and kept us awake. Then we found above. L-theanine and 5-htp are both good for relaxation and relieving stress and anxiety. When my son takes it he says that it helps him to get to sleep. He also has trazadone but doesn’t take regularly as he says he doesn’t want to get dependent on them.
We had a setback, but I think the end result is going to be forward movement. I think the problem was a combination of my son’s meds not being quite right, and thus him getting psychotic, and then messing with his doses himself - resulting in further psychosis - you know the cycle. It resulted in a call for police assistance, a hospital visit, and a court date in Mental Health court. But it has also resulted in him recognizing that he was psychotic and confused, and further will result him having to engage with community services and be accountable to someone other than myself.
