Undiagnosed mom (that doesn’t think she’s ill or is in denial)

Ok I’m terrible at getting to the point since I suffer from ADD…but let me try to give you a LiL background and then get to my question. So All red flags point toward, yes on my families’ self-diagnosis of Schizophrenia for my mother. she on the other hand claims she has bipolar (her excuse for anything and everything). Even after sitting her down and explaining that some of what she’s been encountering recently may be for a reason—but she ignored that even after being taken to the hospital after an eventful day of laying on the floor at a gas station for an unknown reason which got the cops attention first then she went back to where she’s been staying and took scissors and chopped off a big chunk of her hair, because she said one of the cops told her she needed to change her identity so they couldn’t find her cuz she robbed a bank in some other state. So A few family members were trying to talk to her and she wouldn’t let any of us near so she took off and ran down the street to some apartments where she randomly got in someone’s car and used an article of their clothing to wrap around her face and ducked down to hide which they of course reported which an ambulance came and at first she was refusing treatment which is her right to do. But I somehow talked her into at least going. Which is when the fam tried to take matters into our own hands and get her involuntarily commited which resulted in a mission impossible. So she was let out the following day since they couldn’t hold her any longer for no reason - which is when she then acted like none of that happened and swore she was gonna get into a new physiatrist and dropped it. Which she did stick to her word there. -Sooo she is currently seeing a local psychiatrist that accepts medical card, and he put her on Abilify ab a month ago. Which i will say that I’ve noticed a diff in her paranoia, because she has not constantly been thinking she was being watched by spy cams etc. But what It doesn’t seem to be helping with is all the other things like being able to have a conversation or a functioning relationship with anyone in her life which is causing her to burn a lot of bridges for various diff reasons. And it’s to the point that (I’m going to sound awful for saying this) but i can’t hardly stand to be around her cuz of how bad she’s gotten. She not my “mom” it’s just frustrating that inCan’t have an actual convo with her. Or talk to her about something going on cuz she just doesn’t get it like it just goes right over her head. Idk. But Between her cuttting you off or changing subjects or just flat out saying random stuff that doesn’t not making any sense on top of complaining 24/7. SOOOO I’ve hit my threshold which is why I’m here. .cuz I hate that Ive been thinking ab having to cut her out of my life if she keeps being this way. but then I stop cuz I can’t just do that like others have been cuz deep down I know she can’t help it. she’s ill and just needs help. .But idk how to do that because it’s hard finding drs who accept medical card to begin with let alone ones that are good in this specific area which is where we are on her current Dr. situation - If anyone has any suggestions, ideas, or anything to help somehow get her in the right direction or at least help in finding a dr that accepts Medicade or Medicare - I’d greatly appreciate it. Sorry for the long post :confused:

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If it is at all possible try to get her to continue to take the abilify long term. Abilify is an antipsychotic and antidepressant. I was on abilify for five years and my sister is currently taking it and it kept our schizophrenia under control so far. Abilify is helpful for both bipolar and schizophrenia. I had to take 40 mg a day of abilify to keep from halluncinating but my sister only needs like 5 mg a day. I’m on vraylar now because it has less side effects for me than the abilify but if she can deal with the side effects then encourage her to continue taking it. It takes about a month to start fully taking effect and she may need to increase the dosage slowly if it is helpful and she is responding positively to it. My mom has schizophrenia too but she is on latuda. It’s really hard to watch a parent devolve into schizophrenia. My mom was unmedicated for a very long time and it was very difficult time for the family.

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In the county where we live is a clinic that takes medicare/medicaid as well as Obamacare insurance. It is a big building and there are always people entering and leaving (very busy). Perhaps your state has something like a Department of Children and Families that can help you find a clinic that would be able to help. There is a pharmacy, therapists, nurses and psychiatrists all under one roof.

" i can’t hardly stand to be around her cuz of how bad she’s gotten. " I understand, this is very hard, dealing with psychosis is very hard on everyone in the family.

Part of schizophrenia is the affected not believing they have any illnesses… That is my mom’s current situation as well. The good thing is I somehow got her to continue to get her to see her psych doc, and we increased her abilify dose from 5mg to 10mg… Still waiting on the effects so that her psychosis improves… If there is someway for you to get her to get on abilify and continue it in someway. My mom was furious when the psych doc increased her dose and even questioned it, but we gave her an ultimatum to take it or that we leave her.

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