Not all problems can be solved. Paranoid schizophrenia is particularly troublesome because the sufferers are not physically impaired and quite capable of violence in "protecting" themselves.
A friend awoke last winter to the "sound of a door slamming" only to find her husband had shot himself in their bed. Her sister and their father were…
Not all problems can be solved. Paranoid schizophrenia is particularly troublesome because the sufferers are not physically impaired and quite capable of violence in "protecting" themselves.
A friend awoke last winter to the "sound of a door slamming" only to find her husband had shot himself in their bed. Her sister and their father were also living in the house; when they ran to get Dad, they found him dead as well. Her husband had begun having delusions in late adulthood but wasn't taking his meds; instead rattling the pill bottle and making swallowing sounds in the bathroom. The police found multiple unused bottles of antipsychotic medications.
A thousand years ago I had a psych professor who encouraged us to try out some of the antipsychotics we were giving to our patients. My study mate, Tom, decided to give it a go; he stayed with me all day to protect him if necessary. His reaction to the Very Small Dose was that he felt the worst he'd ever felt in his life. As with Tom, antipsychotics very often "shoot down" patients, and they don't take their meds. Case in point, above.
I cannot "like" this. Your story is heart-breaking and I agree with your first sentence. There are tests now which assess the metabolism of the individual and thus are useful to predict which meds will likely work or not work for that individual. The one I am familiar with is called Gene X but there are others. I have known many mentally ill people who resist their meds. I have also known some that said finding the right med was life-changing and nothing will keep them from their meds. One guy said it took 8 years.
Your first sentence is where we need to start. We need to accept this and approach this level of mental illness differently. I have a student who was finally pulled, by his mother, and sent to a residential facility. I know she couldn't protect herself, physically, from his attacks. As teachers, we were expected to cope with his violent outbursts and the impact on his peers did not matter to the "system". He is not even High School age. There are so few options and so much naive denial about treatment. In Maryland, there was the mother whose 2 children are still missing, years later. I was casually acquainted with a long time friend of their father. She would post about the missing children, when the world's attention moved on. It seemed as if the mother's rights were more important than her missing or, likely killed, innocent children.
Got a son who is clearly an Aspie - unfortunately over thirty years old. Doing what I can; reading and dosing, sending him for psych consults, etc..
Interestingly, Vitamin D seems to have a salutary effect for many; I just finished a book by John J. Cannell, MD - an old acquaintance, actually - suggesting about 10,000 IU of Vitamin D often has a good effect. Not sure how much it is helping his Spectrum disorder. Psoriasis is often an accompaniment to Spectrum disorders, and my son is getting remarkable benefit with his cutaneous psoriasis - me, too, with some scalp psoriasis.
I damn sure wish we had a better handle on this thing....
Not all problems can be solved. Paranoid schizophrenia is particularly troublesome because the sufferers are not physically impaired and quite capable of violence in "protecting" themselves.
A friend awoke last winter to the "sound of a door slamming" only to find her husband had shot himself in their bed. Her sister and their father were also living in the house; when they ran to get Dad, they found him dead as well. Her husband had begun having delusions in late adulthood but wasn't taking his meds; instead rattling the pill bottle and making swallowing sounds in the bathroom. The police found multiple unused bottles of antipsychotic medications.
A thousand years ago I had a psych professor who encouraged us to try out some of the antipsychotics we were giving to our patients. My study mate, Tom, decided to give it a go; he stayed with me all day to protect him if necessary. His reaction to the Very Small Dose was that he felt the worst he'd ever felt in his life. As with Tom, antipsychotics very often "shoot down" patients, and they don't take their meds. Case in point, above.
I cannot "like" this. Your story is heart-breaking and I agree with your first sentence. There are tests now which assess the metabolism of the individual and thus are useful to predict which meds will likely work or not work for that individual. The one I am familiar with is called Gene X but there are others. I have known many mentally ill people who resist their meds. I have also known some that said finding the right med was life-changing and nothing will keep them from their meds. One guy said it took 8 years.
Your first sentence is where we need to start. We need to accept this and approach this level of mental illness differently. I have a student who was finally pulled, by his mother, and sent to a residential facility. I know she couldn't protect herself, physically, from his attacks. As teachers, we were expected to cope with his violent outbursts and the impact on his peers did not matter to the "system". He is not even High School age. There are so few options and so much naive denial about treatment. In Maryland, there was the mother whose 2 children are still missing, years later. I was casually acquainted with a long time friend of their father. She would post about the missing children, when the world's attention moved on. It seemed as if the mother's rights were more important than her missing or, likely killed, innocent children.
Got a son who is clearly an Aspie - unfortunately over thirty years old. Doing what I can; reading and dosing, sending him for psych consults, etc..
Interestingly, Vitamin D seems to have a salutary effect for many; I just finished a book by John J. Cannell, MD - an old acquaintance, actually - suggesting about 10,000 IU of Vitamin D often has a good effect. Not sure how much it is helping his Spectrum disorder. Psoriasis is often an accompaniment to Spectrum disorders, and my son is getting remarkable benefit with his cutaneous psoriasis - me, too, with some scalp psoriasis.
I damn sure wish we had a better handle on this thing....