My 25 year old son has been involuntarily committed twice with very little follow up afterwards. With a diagnosis of schizophrenia. He of course disagrees. Each time he stays on medicine no more than six months. The last time he did better but after about the third month, he has really declined. He has been in trouble with law enforcement, his father and I are applying for guardianship for the second time. ( the first time was a disaster because the ad litem assigned to his case waited until two days before the final hearing to visit him at all, this was AFTER our son had been on meds for about three months, of course, our request was declined! ) We are trying to wait our ten+days until our first hearing but our son has started to experience odd uncontrollable jerking movements that totally engulf him. They scare me, he says he’s fine, of course he’s not. Can anyone tell me what they may be ? I’m afraid to wait until after we get interim guardianship, but he refuses to go to the doctor? Advice? Help?
Muscle spasms if he’s on prescription meds. If not, he’s on bad drugs. Either way, he needs to be taken to a hospitalized to be hydrated and given something to control them.
Thanks but he is not on meds or drugs. He is at home has not been out no access to drugs currently.
Then that’s not normal. He needs to go a to hospital and be seen by a neurologist.
I agree. But I can’t get him there without ivc. I’m trying to avoid this because it has not gone well before.
My son has some of that but he’s on anti-psychotics, and it’s the cause. Getting the dose lowered next time he goes in. But my son has also had a few seizures over the years and what you’re explaining could be something like that. How long has he been off anti-psychotics?
What does IVC stand for?
He has been off since October.
Involuntary commitment. IVC
It doesn’t seem like the meds would be the cause if he just started having these jerky movements, but I’m not a doctor, of course. I hope you can get him in somehow so you can get to the bottom of it. Wish you the best… (My son does it all the time and he’s fine, but again, I’m pretty sure it’s his meds. That said, I don’t like it at all. Scares me.)
Okay, that makes sense. What about a general doctor?
Thank you. Good luck to you as well.
He refuses. He says he’s fine. There is no reasoning with him, I’ve tried.
I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but there’s a book called I’m not sick, I don’t need help by Dr Amador that teaches a method to persuade people to get help even if they never acknowledge they’re sick.
Yes! I have that book. And I totally agree, it is a valuable tool, but because of the decline in his reasoning skills, I’m having difficulty implementing the leap method.
Tell him he needs the annual checkup and to get checked for prostate cancer. Might work.
I believe you can have involuntary movement and strange body postures with sz. This was one of the first things we saw in my son that alerted us that something was wrong. Catatonia includes strange body postures. My son also resists going to a Dr. Fortunately he is med compliant but it takes all kinds of prodding, threatening, and bribing to get him to the psychiatrist every 3 months. I would love to get him a check up with the GP but that’s a battle I cant fight right now. I hope that things improve for your son soon.
I had the same problem - he was too sick to reason with.
My son’s first hospitalization happened because he had just been to have an interview to see if he should have a case worker. They asked what hospital he wanted as primary. We asked what the local choices were and they went over them and said people liked a specific one because you could smoke there. We also talked about how the hospital was a safe place.
A few nights later, out of the blue, he said he wanted to go to the hospital. So we went. He thought he would hang out, smoke, and come home. They wouldn’t let him leave. He was so out of it they thought he was overdosing on drugs - he hadn’t taken anything, but had stopped taking all his meds cold turkey including benzos and suboxone.
The second time, he was desperate to talk to someone, so he wanted to go to our mental health center and wait until either his therapist or case worker could talk to him. I told him if they weren’t available, he should ask for crisis because they would have someone who could talk to him right away. Within 10 minutes, they had decided to do an involuntary hold and get him in the hospital.
He’s doing pretty well on an injection right now. He’s due for his first monthly shot outside the hospital next Friday, and I hope he doesn’t suddenly refuse. He still won’t take any pills that are prescribed, but we did have a short talk today about his hopes to get a CDL license & drive a truck. Maybe that’s possible, and maybe it’s not, but I did take the opportunity to say that would be a good reason not to do any drugs because drivers get tested. And, he said he knew that and it was a good reason to get on some good prescription drugs that work well. He also asked me if he could help me make dinner tonight, then wanted to make it all by himself. He did make two of the three dishes, even started the third before his motivation gave out & he said I could take over. You guys are the only ones who would understand how major that is compared to when he went into the hospital not even five weeks ago.
Just wanted to share because you never know what might get them to willingly go seek help. Keep your eyes and ears open for any opportunity. Also, if you eventually get him there for help, I would ask about the injection options. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea at first, even though everyone here, at my support group and at our mental health center said that’s what our son should have, but now I’m a big fan.
My son was diagnosed a few years ago with sz and is now 25. He, like your son, Anosognosia (www.nami.org ›Anosognosia. When someone rejects a diagnosis of mental illness). The illness prevents them from knowing or having insight that they are ill, so it is not denial. It is like if someone came along and tried to convince him that he was on Mars or that the sky was green and not blue. If you haven’t read the book, "I am not sick, I don’t need help, by Xavier Amador, I highly recommend it.
Regarding the involuntary movements, my so had that. It is a symptom of the illness. My son believes it is the people who are using neuro monitoring to target him. You have to arm yourself with research and data to present to the court before you go back. Find a doctor who specializes in SZ and mental illness to prepare a report for you. The dangerous thing about this disease is that it can if left unchecked, destroy the person and those around him or her, when the voices are heeded. Without treatment, everyone in the home can be in danger. Advocate for your son and yourself. You are doing a wonderful job. Don’t give up!! Help is on the way! My son was on Invega injections for about a year. He refused to continue them b/c of sexual side effects. He ended up back in the hospital until they found something w/out those side effects. He is on two meds now that seem to help. May 2017 bring light and hope to your home and may it be a BETTER year than the last.
Thank you, good luck to you as well.