My son diagnosed with sza is right now doing an online volunteer meeting and after that he will be doing an online course. So my question is, is it possible to appear almost normal for a few hours of the day and start his angry, delusional rant for about 3 hours every single day? And he also does fish keeping as a hobby and very focused on it. Has anyone experienced this unusual phenomenon in their MI family members? Being near normal for a few hours and then the total opposite in the evenings!
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My son is SZ and also very focused on fishing. But, once the fishing trip is over, he begins to go downward. I guess it keeps his mind and his hands busy but he has quit doing anything to help around the house. Just says “pay someone to do it” which I think is utterly ridiculous when there’s an able bodied person in the home (if not able minded) who could take an hour or so to mow. So frustrating.
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Absolutely @Pookey52 ! The key is to find something that they like and keep them busy. As you say, my son is never motivated to help out around the house. It’s always, “Not now”! Sigh!!
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@Terra its funny you mention online classes. My son actually signed up for an online Spanish class. He says it would only help him in the future. I’m hoping this is not temporary insanity and a delusion and I’m praying he sticks with this. This kind of thing makes me so happy but then he changes his mind the next day. Extremely wishy washy.
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Amazing good on him for trying …it so hard for my son to stay focused…but I’m always grateful for the small steps.as I seen intense psychosis for 8 months in a uk psychistist hospital. Not a great place for rehabilation.
Oh, he’d keep me busy 24/7 if I let him. He wants to be on the go …all the time. He likes to be spending money but I am always the chauffeur and after so many years, I would like to stay home and occasionally take a nap. I have tried games, puzzles, chess, yardwork, and books and don’t know what his attitude would be if I had him participate in a work-day that many non-profits have for helping those less fortunate. I’ve just run out of ideas… 
My son wakes up and expects me to drive him to places. He spends huge amount of money or fish tanks, fish and accessories. Never takes no for an answer. He calls me nasty names if I stood up to him. He’s a big guy and I’m constantly watching my back. I just need a couple of hours to myself everyday to recharge. Not happening! It’s getting me down. I’m starting to have stress related health problems. Last night he was up till 4 am! Turning on lights, midnight snacks and long shower…ranting through it all! Aaargh! I need a break!
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Oh wow, same here. My son would go a hundred places if I let him. I say we’re going to two spots, you pick, but then I’m coming home and resting. I drive him so much that I get stressed a bit because of how people get so angry on the road now. The way I see it, with the mass amount of expenses that come along with car, I save money taking him places (and it counts as talk time).
My son also expects me to take him for really long drives every day to spend money on take out when there’s plenty of food in the house.
I make deals with him. He has to do chores before we go - load and unload the DW, wash his clothes, etc. It helps me out and takes away the resentment. And I just convinced my ex to pay for someone to drive him for a few hours twice a week. Im’m using Care.com.
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My brother is bipolar and can do this with even shorter cycles if he has been drinking. Consider if this person may be self-medicating with alcohol or other drugs. It isn’t always the illness but related factors that cause such rants. Delusional content and hallucinations like voices can come and go for various reasons like certain stimuli, like light, sound, smells or thoughts. Consider if there may be unknown triggers you or they aren’t picking up on.
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At the Family to Family course they said such behavior was normal. We were told that there are days when our family members can suppress their symptoms for short periods. They said such suppression is difficult so we shouldn’t be surprised to see a breakout of symptoms after a period of suppression.
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I used to make chore lists for my son but his idea of washing his clothes is to cram as much as he can into the washer at at time - doesn’t matter if they can even agitate - and to him they are clean and good to go. Got to replace a new washer after that…two tvs, china cabinet, space heaters for the garage, dishes, brand new guitar, CD players, bookshelf, dresser mirror, etc., etc. Need some new “chore” ideas.
Sorry to jump in Pookey52 - but my son does this as well! After repairing his washer several times, I finally had to buy a washer that advertised it could handle any size load as long as you could close the door.
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Haha! Which washer is that? I was going to say that maybe buy him only enough clothes for a small load but that might not be practical.
I have a large LG steam washer/dryer so I haven’t had that problem but just the opposite.
My son will wash1-3 items at a time because he likes to wear the same clothes over and over. We’re going to buy him duplicates next.
There’s always a new challenge to overcome, isn’t there?
Today we are in bed all day after having the Covid vaccine Friday. It went very well except for the fatigue.
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I’m glad you were able to get the vaccine, I hope your fatigue goes away soon.
The LG stackable (about 3 years ago) made the claim that it could handle any size load if you could shut the door. My son damaged a lot of stuff in our guesthouse but he never damaged that washer/dryer combo. 
Like yours, he likes to wash his clothes and he is good about showering. He stuffs the washer full, towels and clothing, he’s not big into sorting.
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Thanks fir the good wishes. Actually, tonight I started feeling much better. We went out to get cigs for my son and I got a sparkling water, brought it in the house then lost it. I checked everywhere - even the freezer 
. It’s a mystery. I’m sure it will show up in the darnedest place. But I keep getting up checking for it. Just tried the bathroom. You really learn how to be flexible, don’t you?
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PS - He loaded AND unloaded the DW in order to get those cigs.
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Flexible is one word for what we become 
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My young man who I have assisted for almost 10 yrs. now is wonderful to other people, so polite and helpful. When they are not around he is rude, disrespectful and refuses to help with anything and will not unless somebody pays him. He is great at manipulating and trying to control people and situations. He tries to keep people apart so they dont compare what we know about him and he can keep up his niceness to others until they piss him off of course. Just recently a friend witnessed his disrespect to my mother and all along thought he was this wonderful person, he was appalled at his behavior and now does not want to be around him. He recently got a FT job and I arranged for a room to rent for him and during the ride there he insisted I have no contact with him and not be involved in his life or interfere in a very nasty way. The very next day got a call from lady who is renting to him saying he showed up with no money to rent the room and persuaded her to let him pay her on Thursday when he gets his check. She was very upset and called me pissed off that I did not tell her. I explained that he does not share financial stuff with me and I had no idea. Either way it shows how out of touch with reality he is as the night before he stayed at my moms and got drunk once again falling over in the bathroom. I know his current situation will be short lived and his behavior has truly been so hurtful as I have assisted him foryrs. even though he is not my biological son. He cussed at me all the way dropping him off and told me how awful I was. This illness devastates so many. Very painful for all involved. 
My spirit is broken.
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Be thankful. My LG dryer has a habit of burning out the heaters, overloading or underloading or not. Replaced them three times, although this is much preferable too buying a new one since the prices have really jumped in recent times. Last time it happened was in the early pandemic and a new one was easily twice what I paid for it originally, so I abandoned replacing it quickly.
It still makes that cheerful tune, so one of life’s simple pleasures continues. If you are handy with a screwdriver and know how to Google, washers and dryers aren’t particularly hard to fix if you invest scraped knuckles and a lot of swearing.
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