About eight or nine years ago my son had just been diagnosed with schizophrenia. They say he is schizoaffective, bi-polar type now. When he was first diagnosed he started with pot and then cocaine. Dealers were after him and long story short. I lost my house and ended up renting a room and him in another rented room. He has now started using again first pot and then now cocaine. I see him going down the same road. He owed money which I gave to him because it was his and now again more money which again I gave to him because he is paying it back. Now today he asked for more. I have put my foot down and he will not get a penny more. I warned him the last time I gave him money that it was the last time. I am at my wit’s end with the situation. He just refuses to stop and get help. The area he lives in does not help but with a felony drug record from 8 or 9 years ago it is hard to get a place for him. He also does not need to stay in the area during the day but he refuses to take a bus or go somewhere he just wants to hang around the area he lives in all day. The father is not in the picture washed his hands. Should I tell him what is going on?
Any suggestions?? I could use advise, maybe you have been through the same.
I know how frustrating this but our son’s doctor said that is one drug that he cannot use under any circumstance. I don’t know that you can help him until he is willing to give that up.
I think the father deserves to know what is happening. This is a serious mental illness and a lot have dual diagnosis/drug abuse issues. Good luck and you are definitely not alone. Many of us here have to watch the money as well as make sure we don’t enable our children.
Read through some posts and jot down some books that go into this illness in depth. Learn all you can, join NAMI and take advantage of the family to family class and support groups. God bless you both on this journey.
Also consider getting help with an ACT officer to check in on him and get him in treatment. Sometime having someone else tell them is better than us.
There’s a book called The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue.
He suffered from years of depression (he says Prozac saved his life), but he also spent years in drug-fueled psychosis. If he could get heroin, his drug of choice, he was a junky but mentally as OK as you can be as a non-mentally ill drug addict. If he couldn’t and resorted to using cocaine, he would get extremely paranoid & delusional - pretty much as bad as if he had a schizo-type disorder.
I’ve personally seen marijuana take psychosis from borderline to extreme within minutes.
Those drugs are a real problem for anyone who has psychosis.