I’m sorry for the late reply. Thanks for caring! We are feeling alone in this! I was suffering silently till I found this forum. People, even friends and relatives are shy about broaching the subject of my son’s illness. How sad that if you have cancer you have so many shoulders to cry on!
I haven’t yet been able to check about NAMI in my area! My boy’s illness leaves me no time for anything. Over the last 6 years my health has deteriorated, my teenage daughter has had to grow up fast and my marriage is unraveling!
The advice I get is to start taking antidepressants! But why should I medicate myself??! My son broke our trust, and smoked weed and drank alcohol and lost his mind! Our family is falling apart because of him. But I love him😢 I can’t give up on him.
Thanks for listening to my rant🙏🏼 Today has been a bad, bad day!
Hi,
Thanks for your kind words! My son is 26 and will drive if allowed to. For now, we’ve made up the excuse that his car is out of commission! He is on Risperidone, Seroquel, lithium and epival. Nothing has had an effect on his raging symptoms. It is strange that his delusions start around 4 pm and then escalates to a full blown raging psychosis till late in the night. There’s so much anger, hatred and jealousy towards his friends who dropped out of his life one by one. Even his cousins don’t contact him anymore!
I don’t know what else I should be doing to help my beautiful boy. He studies a few hours a day, getting excellent grades, pursuing his aquarium hobby with neurotic obsession! The rest of the time he wanders around the house yelling and being angry at the Voices! I need any advice to get me out of the slump I’m in. Thank you all for your kind support!
Does he take meds in the evening? If he’s having a hard time at night maybe he needs them at staggered times. My son was taking meds 3 times a day. Now he’s twice a day. Mornings and before bed. It seems to be working. Recently he had been pacing soooo much in the evenings so the Dr said to try Benadryl. It works too. And it’s safe…
If you don’t mind sharing what meds is your son on? Just invega and lithium? How is his routine? Like with school, engaging with family and so on. I feel a trickle of hope reading about your boy! Best wishes to you and your child
I’m so sorry you had to go through another bad day … it can be so depressing when things seem to be going well. And when I say “going well”, our interpretation of that is never the same as those who don’t deal daily with loved ones with schizophrenia. My son has been going to the flea market on weekends, just to play the arcade games. Occasionally he’ll win a stuffed animal or a few dollars but while I understand many might think that’s pi$$ing money away, it occupies his mind as long as the quarters will last - and people seem to watch out for him while he’s there. They nicknamed him the “bicycle man” since he rides his bike up there and the exercise is good for him. I finally broke down and picked up a poncho he can keep in his pocket if it rains. So, as long as it makes him happy, I’m good with it. Last week, we bowled and because they have arcade games there as well, they knew him, too. So maybe they’re his angels along the way - and - we may start bowling once a week.
He’s ok. He takes Lithium twice a day, vitamin D3 in the morning and a half of a Mirtazapine at night. He doesn’t work or go to school. He’s very quiet when we visit with family. He loves to drink so we try to monitor him whenever we do stop and get him some beer. He neurotic/OCD about plugging things in and pulling it out like seat belts and charging cables. He does pace though. Luckily the voices are more friendly because he laughs now instead of screaming and yelling. I guess we’ve got the voices to quiet down.
I don’t either. My son just turned 22. He’s paranoid schizophrenic. he’s currently in his first mental health hospital second day. Was put on risperdal 1mg. Friday night I heard a loud noise and he was sitting on the commode with his pants to his knees and he had a pocket knife and I asked him if he hurt himself and he whispered that the neighbors boyfriend just said he didn’t like him he didn’t like him living next door and that he was going to decapitate him in the morning. I’m almost 55 years old standing in the doorway of my 6-foot 2-inch son sitting on the commode tears in his eyes terrified that he was going to get his head cut off in the morning. I had him call 911. I live in a very small town and we have lit literally made for attempts previously to have him sent to the hospital for help and they have talked him out of it. Friday night I said no more he has to go. I’m with you on this I’m lost. And more times than I could count I have felt like packing a bag and driving away and never looking back I’m becoming a missing person. I’m using my microphone so I’m sorry if there’s typos
Thank you for letting us know what’s going on. Glad you Called 911- they will likely up his risperidone and the voices will fade… praying for u been there.
I know how you feel Rhonda, our son has been hospitalized four times this year and the first three said there was nothing wrong with him. We pleaded with them to listen to us but he was able to hide his symptoms from the doctors at that time so there was nothing they could do. After the fourth hospitalization he pretended to take his meds every night for three months. I thought the medication wasn’t working but turns out he had been spitting them out. He now refuses any treatment whatsoever and has become homeless. It is an incredibly hopeless situation for us. I truly hope your son does better.
I am so sorry for your situation too.
I am so glad to have someone to talk to about this.
Thank you so much.
Rhonda Reyna
972-825-0744
What about the monthly shot. I read in the forum a woman got a court order to get the shot for her grown daughter because she wouldn’t take her meds. She said her daughter did so much better on the shot.
That was the plan. We waited 3 months for an appointment with a psychiatrist and he had agreed to ask about the shot. We get there and he refuses to get out of the car and see the doctor. He then set out to be homeless.
OMG.
The blood ran out of my heart reading your email.
I am so very sorry. Have you lost complete contact with him?
I’m just now dipping my toes in the paranoid shizophrenic pool so to speak as I said to the hospital social worker the other day.
I’m bipolar, but wasn’t diagnosed until my late 30’s.
I told my daughter “it’s crazy leading the crazy here!!!.” So sad.
My name is Rhonda. Feel free to text me if you’d like.
972-825-0744
Praying you are well.
Thank you for the offer to get in contact. I’ve kind of taken this time to “check out” on all things schizophrenia for a while. You are so kind to offer though.
Hi. I know what you and your family are going through. Your son sounds like my brother. He is 26 too. Unlike your son, my brother is unmedicated. I wish we could get him to try taking medication to, at least, try and help him. He refuses to get help. He wont even admit when he does something wrong. The only dignosis he has so far is 51/52. He checks himself out of Mental Health before they can give him a proper diagnosis. But we know he has this awful disease.
It is heartbreaking. As well as life shattering. My brother is really putting myself and my parents through it. We dont know what to do either. It’s so hard that nobody understands how sad and awful it is, unless they go through it themselves. My brother is effecting my life is so many negative ways. I never thought it was possible but he is ruining my life. Im scared and I have almost lost all hope. (tear) I dont know what else to say other than, I know how you feel (with a smile) 
It’s sad when the disease makes someone retreat into themselves (that’s what happened when I got it) but so much worse when it turns them against you (what’s happening with my brother now that he has it).
I wish someone would hold him down and give him a shot. Does that sound awful? I mean life is going to continue to decline for him and everyone around him until that happens. His refusal to take medicine is starting to destroy the lives of the people who care about him. He needs it forced on him.
I don’t know what else to say 
Zyprexa was the med that saved me, I’ve recommended it to him and his grandparents, who he lives with, but that recommendation is useless if he refuses to go in to see a psychiatrist.
Sorry to hear about your situation. Also welcome to the forum @SunnyDay . I spent my time solely on the diagnosed forum (this forum’s sister forum) for the last two years, but now that my brother is also sick I come to this one every now and then. I like to offer people hope in the form of my own recovery, which has allowed me to return to my old personality and share happy times with my family again. I just don’t know if my brother is gonna make the same recovery, it doesn’t seem common, but at least it’s good knowing that it’s possible. I got sick in 2014 and started returning to my old self around three years after that.