My son was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia a couple of years ago and is now in his late 20’s. I have talked and continue talk with many Psychiatrists, Medical Professionals (Everything), however, I feel his illness is progressing and I have yet to seek help/input from others on a forum like this, who have a family member who they love and care for so much, with the same mental-illness. He usually is up all night screaming/crying/sending text messages to his contact which mainly just contain his thoughts and he is not necessarily looking for a response and if he does get a response he usually will not acknowledge it and text another paragraph of a time in his life in which he was mistreated. It is very sad and we are taking all the professional help/advice we can get. I am currently trying a new specialist who will meet with him next week, however, I fear this appointment will not change his acceptance to take medicine or acceptance of his mental-illness.
He will consistently yell at all of us (his family members) whenever we try to intervene him yelling to himself about everything that has ever gone wrong in his past. He will call us names, tell us how much he hates us but sometimes the day after he will say, “sorry I love you” (which is very hard for him to say). We all realize this is not his fault and he can not help it.
Also, he remembers EVERYTHING. For example, the color shirt he was wearing in high school when he “did poorly on a standardized test.”
When his symptoms were not as severe he would take his medication and it did help, A LOT! However, he became more and more paranoid and started refusing help. The nightly problems (above) eventually became too much for the neighbors to handle and my son was picked up by police and ended up in psych hospital. Now, a big portion of his crying and yelling to himself is that incident and I am afraid it will happen again and the cycle will restart itself. Mainly it has become more severe in his complete refusal to take meds, increased paranoia, very delusional (like everyone is out to get him and nobody wants to see him succeed) etc.
Everyone in this family loves him so much and its so sad to see him live like this… living through the portions of the past where he was treated in a negative way, failed a test or was called a name in grade school etc…
I hope the new specialist can help because it hurts so much to hear him cry very loudly all night; talking to himself.
If anyone has had a family member with this illness who refused to take his medication and denied his illness, please advise of any suggestions that can help with any of the above.
Have you tried getting your son on an injectible medicine? Some people on this forum even have court-ordered shots. The shots were not an option yet for my Sz loved one when he was first diagnosed. Now he’s used to his oral meds, but I wish the monthly shot was available for us at the time.
The history with my daughter and your son sounds similar. She was screaming to no one about her past injustices in life on a regular basis, hated on her family members, and refused meds (she can’t see her illness at all).
Nothing broke the cycle of her psychosis until she had her 4th hospitalization and 1st 30 day shot of haldol. Once released from the hospital though, she refused to see a therapist or receive other meds and slid back into paranoid psychosis yelling at her “people” 24/7.
Just 8 weeks ago, she was arrested downtown screaming at a building, and I went to the hearing and told the judge she needed medical help, was unmedicated and was diagnosed. He ordered her onto meds or stay in jail. She chose meds. She voluntarily (sort of) took her 2nd shot Jan 8th.
She is due for her third Feb 8th and I hope she takes it. The court order is over, however, I don’t think she understands that fact, and I have NOT explained that to her.
I am a totally different person now than I was 3 years ago, before I met schizophrenia. I used to be a big believer in natural remedies, and our whole family avoided doctors as much as possible. I used to believe that “mental illnesses” were a discipline problem. I used to avoid psychologists and psychiatrists and believed that my religion would solve most problems. HOWEVER, now I firmly believe that if natural remedies and religion don’t handle psychosis pretty quickly, that nothing, nothing, will except for meds. There are varying levels of psychosis, varying levels of ability to live life despite the illness and varying levels of insight with each afflicted person. Some can learn to adjust to psychosis and live life, but a 24/7 psychosis like my daughter had was never going to get better without anti-psychotics. And in particular 30 day haldol shots.
@KM211 - My son was dz paranoid sz a few years back. He is now on invega (not voluntarily) and working, clearer than I’ve seen him in years. I do know what you are going through (no yelling however).
The blaming went on for years. For about a year he would text me what a terrible mother I had been (of course I was not - I supported him in all his sports, team mom, etc), I made him stay in his room all the time which was abusive (I did not make him stay in his room). These were all delusions - the beginning of sz and I had no idea what was going on. I told him he had to stop texting me or I would block him. The texts were loooong and often.
He had a full blown psychotic break 8/2016. We still didn’t quite get it and got him to counselors and a psych doc but never the hospital. He refused meds. Long story - he isolated for about 10 months. He was not a yeller, just kept to himself often laughing. He will “take to the grave” that he does not need meds. He has been on the shot for 9 ish months.
My take on this is something has to happen to change your sons situation. Something eventually will happen. For me, it was coming home from a trip and my son started barricading me out of the home. Luckily, when he finally did, I had left my purse etc in my car. I called the cops but they said since he lived there, they couldn’t break in unless - - I got a emergency mental health hold, which I got from the County Attorney (for free) and then all 12 cops came and got him and he went to the Behavioral Health Unit which started his restoration. The doctor had to take my son to court to get court ordered meds and I pushed for the injectable. He is still on the meds because he got a ticket for running from the cops (they were fake) and is now on probation and has to stay on the shot until next Oct.
Can you have someone come and evaluate your son? Is he living with you? Is he a danger to himself or others? Is he driving? (Very dangerous) I am so sorry you are going through this. I’ve been to hell and back and hope to not revisit.
It looks like @KM211 that you never came back to this forum after your first post. I am sad that you never came back after finding it, and hope that somehow you found a way to help your son. The road from schizophrenia’s constant psychosis to the new life of a person living with and managing schizophrenia is possible. It is a long road full of potholes and detours. With help from loved ones, little improvements are very possible, and sometimes miraculously things come together from different sources to create a big improvement.
This site has an ongoing effect of helping others now and into the future, someone just read and liked my post above from Feb 2019 and that made me go back to re-read this thread 2 years later. My daughter has stayed on her shot all this time, and is now doing sooooo much better. I am grateful for everyone on this site whose posts helped me to make the right decisions when I was in desperate times, and I hope that I have helped others with my posts.