My daughter has clothing issues and shoe issues with contamination. No repeat wearing of clothing. I say, please wash the clothing. No, she explains, it is expired. It stays in her room, like your son, laid out. I want to take the clothes to shelters. I am trole no. They are already used. I just let go of it, but it is costly. This is who my child is today.
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Their strange behaviors just donā t stop. I am thinking my son might be better off on clozapine than zyprexa, but who knows. He has no interest in changing his meds. It makes me so sad, I canāt ever really get it out of my mind. I donāt know how my son can stand doing so little every day, but he doesnāt seem particularly unhappy lately, so I guess I should be glad, but it is so hard to see him doing so little and being so paranoid and I wonā t even get into those darn voices that plague him.
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Wow thatās interesting, Alwayshopeful, that both our children lay their dirty clothing out. Fortunately, our son doesnāt fight me when I collect them off the floor for washing.
Itās so strange what this illness does to people.
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My son who is 36 now and lives with me does the same thing.He goes thru paper towels like they are free. The past couple of years Iāve noticed more and more OCD behavior. Every blind in the house has to be tilted exactly the same. Everything on my counter has to be in the place he wants it. He has been on so many different Meds. That I am afraid to say anything for fear he will stop his Meds, It very well could be the Olanzepine. Ability worked the best as far as being more social etc. He gained 50 lbs on it and after years of taking this he stopped. Didnāt end well, he was hospitalized for a month. Sometimes itās hard for me to not become aggravated by his OCD,Iāve come to realize there is no fix, no normal for him. Sad thing is he doesnāt think he has s problem, I am all he has, his father passed away when he was 17. Just hang in there everyday is a new day, donāt know what the future holds.
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@ebp, yes. I forgot the paper towels. Same her for my daughter.
After looking st professional journals, I found one that recommended that if you have psychosis combined with OCD behavior, the drug recommended to treat the ocd was Prozac. This seems to have worked the best actually, combined with A iLife and other medications. Both the psychosis and OCD still exist, but are better. I have to remind myself always, one day at a time, that schizophrenia is a treated, not cured condition 
sadly.
How do you afford new clothes everyday?
Hi I so happy to found this group ,my son was diagnosed in February ,the episode was bad I felt so bad and I felt alone no one understands this.afect all family ,I felt afraid to leave the house and be with regular people or have any king the fun ,I try to found a chat with families with the same problem ,my son not have any ticks ,for now but eat a lot and felt depression also and bite and cut his arms ,I can faound a good doctor any recommendation will be grateful thank
Not to worry, we understand. Eventually, youāll be able to have fun again. It took me at least a month after my son was hospitalized to go out for lunch with anyone besides my boyfriend. What County /State are you in? Is your son on medication?
@diane R. We do not buy new clothes daily. My daughter wears her clothing for several days, another casualty of this illness. It is her money from my husbandās death. At first it was so very upsetting to me. Wasteful, unnecesssry. Then I learned to look st this through her eyes, it is her money, she is ill, and I let it go. I donāt like it, I dikike it so much, but to accept we do not have to like it. I just wish I didnāt have to do this journey by myself. But I do.
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My family member keeps a pile of dirty clothes, but I am allowed to wash some clothes, just not all of themā¦
Hi Cerium, I usually talk about my son when replying to these posts but I can relate to your daughter.
First of all I understand there is OCD and OCD Personality Disorder and they are two different things.
When I was young I would have been classified as one of OCDPD which they say is difficult to change. Issues were - germs everywhere,
walking back in the exact direction that I got to a spot (very tedious) I would imagine I had wires growing off my heels and I would have to avoid crossing those wires, tics, being very sloppy, very picky about eating, placing objects back in the same exact position, and on and on. My parents never even brought it up except to laugh about the wires. The family doctor said I must be feeling that my āworldā is out of control and it was my way of gaining control. Little did he know how right he was.
Our childrenās illness leaves them feeling that everyone else is controlling their lives - doctors, hospitals, parents, etc. They donāt have the independence that others their age has. I only bring this up because despite that she has OCD, not sitting with you seems more like an attempt at control and the same with refusing to recycle. An OCD person would recycle everything!
Contrary to the āprognosisā I eventually outgrew all these eccentricities and have channeled what became āperfectionisticā tendencies into art and design and gourmet cooking. Perhaps there is an outlet for your daughter such as those and they might lessen the OCD. MI people are very creative and need those outlets. I gave my son a large slab of clay and some clay tools to sculpt it. I leave watercolors on the coffee tables and drawing pads everywhere. I keep his musical instruments on stands in the dining room, living room, bedroom and family room so he can be spontaneous when he sees them. He can play a song endlessly. That could be considered OCD and drive anyone bonkers
but heās a self taught musician and canāt read music but plays by ear. So I believe heās memorizing the notes and will probably hear a Prince song soon. Lol
I, too, wish I didnāt have to do this journey by myself. Iām an attractive, intelligent, talented woman and no man wants me once they see what I go through with my son. Right now I have an older friend and we get together once a week for dinner. I know it wonāt go anywhere - heās 72, Iām 63, but itās nice to go out and have a break. Thatās the best I can hope for.
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My son does the same thing. He goes through so many solo cups!
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@Donna1, thanks for sharing your story. The OCD has gotten a little better. Still it is challenging. No, she will not drink out of the same paper cups. I save them for myself, unknown to her. Dr says to pick my battles. She is not violent, medication compliant, and letās me draw her blood for diabetes, so I am grateful.
It is what it is. I make a gratitude list every day to stay centered, as as positive as possible.
Cerium.
Thanks everyone!
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Our son will only drink from Solo cups and heāll only use plastic utensils. Some days heāll use a real plate, but most often he uses paper plates.
I donāt know if this is about OCD or general paranoia, or both.
We get accused of doing things to his food a lotā¦
Yes, my son has similar tendancies about the food, he thinks my skin falls off into the food he is trying to eat so he will only eat take out food, which is getting expensive every day. We also have the bathroom vents run constantly for the same reason.
Its exhausting and challenging every day.
Yes, these challenges can wear you out sometimes. Makes me think what would happen if you didnāt buy any plastic cups?
This is a different issue but still hard to live with and costs me a lot and I canāt figure a
way to deal with it. My son keeps putting refrigerator items in the freezer! Iāll find the darn fest things in there like iced tea bottles,
leftovers, grapes (Iām finding frozen grapes arenāt so bad), etc and heāll put ice cream in the frig - ooops, ice cream soup. Iāve had to throw out a lot of food. I keep pointing it out to him, what belongs where but it doesnāt seem to stick. I let it go but wondering if he could learn to do better. I have an upright freezer so that does make it confusing.
I have the same problem with man 27 yr old son. Heāll put somethings on the shelf that should be in the refrigerator. It helps to give him one thing at a time to put away.
Thatās a good idea. Plus, Iām letting him carry the groceries in and i put them away. But I can give save a few items for him and give them one at a time. Thanks so much for the tip!
WIth my daughter (age 20) things are a little bit different but similar. We still donāt know if the medication for the hallucinations is causing OCD or if the psychoses is caused by the anxiety of OCD. The type of OCD is called HarmOCD and she gets obsessie thoughts about harming her self or others. The voices she hears are giving her commands about hurting her self. She is on Zyprexa 20mg and Fluvoxamine and we havenāt seen any improvement. It started almost a year ago. Donāt dokters know that medication can cause this kind of obsessions? I am starting to doubt her psychiatristā¦