Hello, I am new to the group hello, my name is Carol I guess I am a family member and a caregiver to my father who suffers with paranoid and schizophrenia. I don’t know where to begin. My father’s parents died May of this year and none of his brothers or sisters want to take care of him. So I was supposed to come down here to visit. My father comes to find out that he’s moving to Florida and I’m getting everything in line and we’re going on an airplane to Florida January 3rd and I am scared. I checked with his doctors to make sure that he will be okay to fly and I have the okay but some of his behaviors worry me. Some of the behaviors that I have seen is lying or he doesn’t remember. He has already heard voices and he had to sleep in the bed with me. He just barges in my room and just stands there and looks at me. I don’t know what else to do and or even how to handle his experiences that he’s having with all of these different behaviors, so I thought I would join this group
Apparently he has a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Untreated SZ, especially when psychosis is happening, is way bigger than you can handle. I know your intentions are good, but you need to put some physical distance between you and your father so that he can be helped more objectively.
I think you need more support. His family may not be wanting to take him in (which is understandable) but you might reach out to them about what to do – from your home. I don’t understand the Florida thing, but could one of them help you see him get there? Could they meet you at your house and go with you to accompany him?
At any rate, consider going back to where you were living. Call him on the phone and tell him you can’t help him until he is medication compliant and stable, which means not hearing voices.
If he’s not stabilized on meds, then maybe call the whole Florida thing off.
If he is in denial about having SZ, then you might be interested in reading this book to help him: I’m Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help
I’m sorry I forgot to mention that in my paragraph he is on meds and he sees psychiatrists at his therapist and all that good stuff . The family does not want to have anything to do with him . So I wish The psychiatrist said that he can fly and that I can give him Benadryl as a sedative . It’s a sad situation
Why is he going to Florida? Who’s going to look after him there?
When I got here my aunt told me that my dad has two choices to come with me to Florida or go into a nursing home who’s looking after him. Right now it’s me, his daughter
Are you and he going to live together in Florida? Some nursing homes are not so bad. My family put my mother in one after going around the area and evaluating several. I visited her in the home often and it was orderly and the attendants were friendly and helpful.
If he has the financial resources it’s no problem. If not, he has to use Medicaid, which means he can’t have any assets and he has to find a nursing home which has Medicaid beds.
Perhaps your aunt or his siblings can assist with getting him placed in a facility. IMO, if he didn’t have a SMI, it might be feasible for you to be a caretaker. But if he has paranoid schizophrenia then I’m not so sure.
Yeah that’s the thing I’m not going to put my dad in a nursing room . I just thought by joining this group I could get some support and how to deal with this illness so I don’t feel so alone in the journey with my dad I think he can live a happy normal life he just needs a little help how long away and so do I since I’m his caregiver right now
I mean I have done a lot of reading online about paranoid schizophrenic illness so I thought if I joined this group that I could get advice from other people that have the same illness or a caregiver or someone that has a family member that has the same illness that’s going to the same thing that I’m going through right now. Thanks for your time and help