I am new to the group (Hi all you good people out there) after 16yrs of dealing with my sons diagnosis it does not get easier for either of us but I feel Im in need of help now as I’m always feeling like a lost soul🙈drained, upset & sad for my sons life…
I’m hoping by talking in these discussion groups I may get some kind of knowledge about dealing with this horrible mental illness that changes month by month😳
I’m not going to go years back but only last spring my son seemed settled, looked healthy, smiled quite a lot… Now he has lost 2stone looks extremely under weight & seems to have lost his loving nature. He always gave me a kiss hello/ goodbye, wanted me around but now doesn’t seem to be comfortable around me… he’s not seeing me as someone else by the way, 
been there & done that story a few times, he has just lost his personality… he’s currently interfering with all his electrical things in his flat, tire his metre out, pushing coins in between his fuse box, very dangerous things… I must annoy the the care coordinator he has as I’m always ringing him but my sons illness has changed ifckate & the only thing that has changed is he went from a depo injection to a tablet form …has anyone else had a change like that? We have been trying to get him on cloraril but he refuses 
wish he would take it but we can’t make him… can we???
My son who is also 30 has taken Clozapine for years now. Its a miracle drug for him. He was medicine resistant (meaning no medication would work) until 2011 when he went through 12 ECT treatments. It was brutal, but literally saved his life. He is currently living with me (his Mom)- and is getting certified to become a mentor for younger mentally ill patients - this is actually a paid position. Keep your hope alive- its hard, but I never dreamed we would come this far. I pray a lot as well…anything you can do to take care of yourself also seems to work wonders for our children- I believe somehow, someway there is a divine plan in all this- which I have to believe or I would have gone off the deep end years ago…hang in there.
My son started interfering with all the electrical things in his apartment this fall. The damage is a bit extensive. He dug in the wall around different outlets and somehow shorted them out. Took down ceiling light fixtures and took them apart. His psychiatrist told me he was looking for monitoring devices, he believed we were somehow monitoring him through the electricity.
My son is unmedicated, since this change occurred when your son switched to a tablet form - are you absolutely positively sure he is taking his med?
Aww thank you for your kind words 
my son is also treatment resistant & has tried clozaril once before, he was really well off it, then he started to smoke weed & stopped his medication which you can not do on that medication… he said his heart was pounding in his chest 
it was more likely the street drugs… now he is closed minded to it & says it’s too strong for him & he will never have it:cry: I know if he was given it in a few weeks his mind would be clearer & he would be less tormented but right now it’s not to be… I would put him on a section tomorrow & make him take it if I could but the doctors say he had to be compliant:disappointed:
Your son sounds like he has turned a huge corner… I am very happy for you x
We have nurses going in every morning & evening giving him his medication they watch him take it but for me that is not enough, he could be throwing them up again when the nurse leaves and this is why I have asked the doctor he goes back on a depo injection starting asap…its awful but trust goes out the window now…safety always comes first…
We just had the electric metre replaced and waiting for the council to come replace the fuse box…we have replaced all the plug/light sockets…my son says there was a buzzing noise in all of them so he was just fixing them…
his neighbours are constantly complaining about his ranting & shouting right now & I am seriously considering supported accommodation, can anyone advise how good that really is please?? its hard for me to see his independence go but I am so worried he may electrocute himself …
People have reported different experiences with supported accommodation. Some have very positive things to say, how does your son feel about it?
Mine does the shouting and ranting too, he just moved into a new apartment, something he desperately wanted to do. He just did a 6 month lease, I am wondering if he plans to move before the shouting and ranting starts up in his new location.
Like you, I worry a lot about the possibly of electrocution. One of the my friends couldn’t leave her son alone in their home. He would dismantle everything that was electrical if he was left alone.
Have you heard, will they switch him back to depo injection?
I would definitely be suspicious of the possibility of your son vomiting out his meds. It sounds as if he is no longer medicated properly.
My son lives in a stand-alone house, which helps with the ranting, etc. But the neighbors can still hear him.
Hi …My son would rather stay in his own place but I get constant complaints from his neighbours about his shouting and arguing with himself…I have spoken to social services and asked for a review of his needs, hopefully they can help with more visiting to check on his well being before we go to the extremes of supported care in another location.
I see him most days and have a carer who takes him out for a couple of hours a day for four days of the week which started great. They went to the gym etc but he has stopped enjoying that now…I figured the more we can keep him out of his flat the less he would want to destroy it but its the evenings when he is most distructive and I think thats when he is at his worst with the voices…
yes I spoke to his care coordinator this afternoon & he will be put back on his depo injection either tomorrow or Friday…phew! at least I will know he is taking it for sure…I also asked for a drug screen…
It has been a long journey so far with my son…it started when he was 15yrs old and smoked canabis, before that I had no problem with his mental illness, he was a normal lad…well what ever normal is 
That is the same pattern we see. My son has started to take some Xanax to help.
I wish I could move him but it is a council house and they don’t come along to easy…
I have explained to his electric supplier his condition and they replaced his metre and the council are in the process of arranging someone to replace his fuse box but Ideally I would like them put outside his property where he can’t get to them…not an option apparently!
Is your sons property a private rented accommodation? Do you think the ranting will ever stop for our kids?
What is Xanax? was it prescribed?
I was fortunate to find a house near where I work that I could afford to purchase for him to live in. He pays rent to me. Doesn’t cover all the expenses, but it is a good arrangement for now. Any other landlord would have evicted him by now - which happened several times in the past.
The ranting - I just don’t know. Two days he was super sweet and wonderful. Yesterday was more ranting.
Xanax is an anti-anxiety med. It is pretty fast acting. I’m not crazy about him taking it because it can be addictive, but if he remembers to take it BEFORE he is too far gone, it helps. It is prescribed by his psychiatrist.
My son is also on Clozaril. The psychiatrist has agreed he might do better at an increased dose, but my son won’t try that.
I will ask his care coordinator about Xanax sounds like a plan
I worry about the council evicting him but his illness can not be controlled and I am sure they can’t evict him on mental health grounds…no matter how much he rants!
My son’s evictions were based disturbance complaints and damage to property. They couldn’t use mental illness as a reason, even tho that is the root cause of the problem.
Oh no! they could possibly use the same then…well I’m not thinking the worst just yet…we live in hope don’t we