I have a brother who has had this illness for over 8 years and is in and out of hospital. My brother also takes drugs thinking they make him better and the medication doctors give him make him worse. He is currently out of hospital and seems ill again. His delusions are back. We have told hospital who keep dismissing this and saying now he’s discharged they don’t deal with him. Does anyone else have this problem or have any advice?
Welcome to the group!
It might be that he isn’t being honest with the people to the hospital staff about his delusions… or that he lacking insight into the nature of his illness at the moment. He might be doing this to avoid more medication.
It seems odd to me that the hospital is saying they don’t deal with him after release… my experience is that there is follow up with the outpatient therapist and psychiatrist… but the situation might be different here… maybe because they are not acknowledging his current delusions they don’t see the need for follow up? I am assuming that he is not seeing a therapist at the moment.
Having been hospitalized 5 times I’m not surprised by their stance. The hospital is really only involved when a patient is there.
Drug use and resisting medication are a bad combination. Most likely he is or will be psychotic soon. I would urge him to join Schizophrenia.com - Schizophrenia Discussion Community for People Diagnosed
And get some perspective from other suffers with sz.
Drugs are BAD! I’m going through the same thing, my ex smokes marijuana and he refuses meds! He is worse , and thinks he is dependent on the marijuana just to stay calm! Worse part is his parents allow him to do this , so it seems like I’m a bad guy when I try and get him to take meds! It’s a never ending battle
For many people the side effects of APs make them want to avoid them, however it is often the case of trying different meds until a good solution is found. Try to urge him to try different meds, injectables. MJ use will usually make things worse despite having a relaxing effect, but psychological dependence can be hard to break when your sufffering
He gets an injection and tablets from doc at hospital and they ask how he is but he says he’s fine and don’t seem to acknowledge what we say or do anything about it. It takes for him to be totally be off rails before they step in which takes months.
Being secretive about symptoms is common. Sometimes there is paranoia involved or fear of medication. I know of a case where the man lost his disability payments cause he told the docs he was fine when he stairs of into space and talks to voices all day.
It might help to encourage him to write in a journal that the dr can read. Furthermore frequent pdoc visits like once a week could help him become friendly and open up.
This is very common. A hospitalization will not bring about recovery if the person refuses meds and/or has an addiction issue. The hospital should recommend something…addiction treatment program, A/P meds, therapy, residential or outpatient treatment. But will your brother do any of those things? It can be a very complicated journey to help a person acknowledge his need for help. I highly encourage you to read the book “I Am Not Sick; I Don’t Need Help”.
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