It’s frustrating.
Every step is a step sideways.
Or a step backwards.
Every push forces you further back.
Past even from where you first started.
Watching is hard.
And holding yourself back even harder.
It’s frustrating.
Knowing you can only wait until they are ready.
I can’t agree more - it is very frustrating. Sadly I get thrilled when I know he has eaten or has slept.
I’m the same way: yay! we ate and slept. Those are genuine accomplishments some days.
It is a frustrating illness please do not give up hope. Every day is New. We all do the best we can. I send you a big hug. Alwayshopeful
It is definitely frustrating especially in the beginning. My daughter was hallucinating starting at the age of three or four. No doctor took it seriously despite me saying I was worried. She was diagnosed with just about everything but schizophrenia until she was 32 years old despite having two hospitalizations for psychosis when she was 12 and 13. Very frustrating indeed. Lots and lots of problems with impulsiveness and bad decisions and in trouble with the law several times.
She says that since she had to live with the hallucinations since such an early age, she learned how to cope with them and did extremely well in school. She has been working with a psychiatrist and therapist for almost two years now and things slowing started to improve. A lot of medication changes and side effects though. Her doctors say she makes them laugh sometimes because she has a sense of humor about illness despite that it is so serious. She is not nearly as impulsive and has been out of trouble for awhile now.
When people make fun of people with mental illness, I can feel the hair on my back rise up. My daughter was finally able to say goodbye to her grandmother recently. My mother passed away 17 years ago. She had hallucinations about her but they was always comforting. She worked with her therapist to be able to say her goodbye after resisting for a long time. She was trying to think of a family recipe my mother used to make and I asked if she could make it. She said no, she would need her grandmother to make it with her. I said, “Oh, man, and you just said goodbye to her.” We both laughed over that. So, sometimes we laugh and sometimes we cry.