Schizophrenia

[kellygrrrrrl]

I am highly disturbed.

My little baby cousin Nikki 21 y.o, has been slowly declining for about 5 years now.

She was sort of a disturbed child, needy, couldn't speak until about 9-10, cried alot, was a big follower....etc....

At about 15-16 she was writing beautiful poetry that she would let me read that made sense and was logical.

Graduated High school, was working at a fast food place....

Over the years I have started to notice weird things, conversations....

She would tell me things of how she got raped, how she was on Heroin.....etc....however, there was never any evidence that she was doing these things, or that this ever happened.

I seldomly talk to her anymore.....she has been hospitalized, in homes, on a variety of cocktails of meds, anything from valium to lithium.....and even harsher.

Seems like things are getting worse.

She tells me she works for the government, the president, secret service, how she is dating Famous people, ....she'll be talking on the phone....to no one. Talking to invisible people......

And then today.

Heres the latest of her dillusions.....

She is dating the guy from Miami Ink....she works doing tattoos now.....travels the world with him doing tattoos.

She has several new tattoos that no one can see....there is a special potion that she needs to pick up from the tattoo parlor so that will make them appear.

She works out of Orange County and Miami FL.....

She is a ghost....no one can see her..... she says that the angels are trying to get her to come up to heavan.....but she isn't ready to go yet.....

She saying satan and the angels talk to her....

and she kept referring to her mom as Margaret....istead of Mom.....

Very eerie.....I am so sad for her......

I think she has lost it to a piont to where there is no return.

=(

I have never in my life actually witnessed THIS sort of disorder.....to such an extent.

The things that ocme out of her mouth are just so random, and so scattered.

It is so disturbing.....

I just don't understand it......

It just seems like it gradually took place....over a few years.

She seemed OK few years back...I mean I always knew there was something not completely right, but now it is very clear.

I don't know how to respond to her most of the time.

I just feel very sad for her is all.

Has anyone else had to deal with this kind of a thing???

Is there any way to help these kind of people? Magic words? Counsel? Prayer?

Seems like the drugs have made things worse....IMO.

I don't know, sometimes I feel like I can talk sense in to her, but its so much deeper than that.

[BrassFusion]

Magic words and prayer won't help. And it seems like drugs always make EVERYTHING worse... bleh.

But is she safe and happy? That's the most important thing.

[Homicidalheathen]

My dad got kinda wierd when he was at the end of his alcholic period. He started hearing people talking to him that were not there and answering them too.....sometimes he would yell at them.

It was scary....he became totally disfunctional and left us for a year.......we were very poor and afraid.

I read that alcohol is one of the worst things you can do if you have a predisposition towards this metal disorder...and that it brings it on.

Amphetamines too.

Some things mess with brain chemistry big time over the long run.

Is she partying too much or on anything?

[kellygrrrrrl]

she seems ok...I know her mom is taking care of her, but she is a little on the "lite" side herself...so that concerns me.

As far as being happy?

I haven't seen a REAL smile on her face since 1998....when I remember her being halfway normal....

She is seriously like a lump of flesh that sits there and spews out bizarre things from her mouth.

I don't think she is even aware of her self-conscience....or awareness...you know?

I don't know.....it was just very disturbing to me.

Just wanted to talk about it.

I know there isn't anything I can raelly do.....

But sometimes I do feel like If I agree with her, it would contribute to her illnesses or delusions.

But at the same time, its like maybe If I take a stand and tell her she's talking nonsense, would that too harm her little precious brain?

Talking with her on the phone is unnerving and scarey. I never know what to say.

[Homicidalheathen]

Its so hard and painful having a loved one with severe mental illness. If it were a physical illness you could just help them until it went away.

But this just goes on and on until they get proper help....and sometimes they refuse it thinking there is a conspiracy to 'change' them...and they think they are ok the way they are.

I know it sucks. But at least you ARE still one of the one's that has not totally deserted her.

[kellygrrrrrl]

OMG heathen, she is on so many different things....

they keep doing trial cocktails, trying to find the right combo. of meds.....

Lithium, Valium, handfulls of anti-depressants.....who knows.

She does have a hist of drinking, weed, she SAYS she did heroin, but there was never any evedence of that.....and I would think it would be obvious....?

Could be wrong....

However, she has supervised living situations so it's almost impossible for her to be into that.

[phee]

In all truth my uncle was very much in this state for most of his life... he would come up with very strange theories about why animals look the way they look.... thought spies were after him... etc....

[Homicidalheathen]

Then there really is nothing they can do except the cocktails until they find out what works best....

But some people seem to outgrow it in there mid 20's.

[Guest Megalicious]

Then there really is nothing they can do except the cocktails until they find out what works best....

But some people seem to outgrow it in there mid 20's.

Actually most ppl only get worse in there 20- 30, especially women.

I'm truly sorry Kelly, but there is nothing you can do. Just try to be supportive and encourage her to continue taking her meds, because as bad as she may on meds, if she stops taking them it will only get worse.

Just try and be there for her, to listen to her ramblings. Isolation is the worse thing you can do, causing her to be even more socially out of wack and paranoid.

Once again I am truly sorry.

[bean]

Schizophrenia is the most difficult mental disorder to treat. It's also the most difficult to handle. A schizophrenic person believes all the things they see/hear/think to be true. You can't convince them otherwise. It takes the right combination of medication and therapy to help these people. Even then they may never fully recover.

To compound that, every time a schizophrenic stops taking their medication, they will remain at the functioning level that they were at when they stopped taking their meds. If they begin medication again, they will not improve past that point. Once the mental state has begun deteriorating, it can't be recovered.

The older you are when you are diagnosed, the worse it is. Most schizophrenics are diagnosed when they are teenagers.

My ex husband has paranoid schizophrenia. He was diagnosed when he was 30. Here's what he did.

He crawled down the sidewalk and down the street in pouring rain, saying he had to hand pamphlets out to everyone, that "they" told him he had to do it.

He jumped out our bedroom window and was crawling the back yard like an animal.

He choked me until I passed out because he thought I was with the CIA and that I was lying when I said I wasn't.

He held a knife to my throat so hard that he drew blood because I was with the CIA and our entire relationship was a lie.

He crashed his car in a suicide attempt.

He jumped into a river in a suicide attempt.

Had vivid visual and auditory hallucinations.

Talked to himself.

He had periods of catatonia.

He was very paranoid and thought there were conspiracies against him and accused me of all kinds of horrible things that I did not do.

I eventually had him committed. He was there for 2 weeks.

Once he was on the right medication he was ok, but it took almost a year for him to get to "ok." He didn't always take his medication, and after a day without, you could tell he didn't take his meds. His symptoms would return.

I really tried to deal with it and work with it in the beginning. I did, but I couldn't do it. I rarely slept, I was drinking all the time, I could barely function. What was the worst for me is that he was doing really well on his medication and could have improved more, but he chose not to. His therapist, who was a good one, even said he could eventually go back to work part time and function, though he would never be the same.

He never was the same. Once he had his initial breakdown, he became another person. The man that I had met and married was gone, never to return. I couldn't deal with the person that he became. Maybe that makes me a rotten person, but I couldn't do it anymore.

I left out the details, but it was a very stressful and awful time.

If you've read all this, thanks for sticking it out.

[Head Wreck]

o good friend of mine was allready bad enough with it to halucinate when they put her on drugs that just werent right. pushed her over the edge and police had to get a knife off her and send her to a max security asylum. for the most part she knew rationaly about her condition and dismissed most of the halucinations or played music out to drown out voices, just some of them really got "inside her" if you get me and the wrong meds and those ones made her loose it

schits drugs can make you worse or make you better, its all a matter of finding the right one for that person.

my friend was released ages back now and moved to cardiff, to get away from old saroundings (that and labour govt belives in care in the community, or rather spending less on social issues and more on pay rises and trips to disneyland to decide on a lew logo motto for a local council).

[JaneDead]

bean, i am so sorry to hear all that :( i can't even imagine living a life like that. for you or him.

kelly, i am sorry to hear this too about your cousin. i know 2 people who suffer from it. as far as i can tell they are never "going to be the same" again. it's the worst mental illness i have been exposed to in someone. it is so sad and confusing.

[bean]

bean, i am so sorry to hear all that :( i can't even imagine living a life like that. for you or him.

kelly, i am sorry to hear this too about your cousin. i know 2 people who suffer from it. as far as i can tell they are never "going to be the same" again. it's the worst mental illness i have been exposed to in someone. it is so sad and confusing.

Thank you. Even though I don't love him anymore, I still care about him as a human being, and once in a while I wonder if he's gotten better, or worse. I saw him at City Club a few months ago, and he drank quite a bit. He seemed to act ok, but it made me a little sad, no, disappointed, that he was drinking so much.

[GreggZero]

Wow that sounds like my exGF.

[Rayne]

I know someone who exhibits a lot of early signs ... it scares me. Hopefully someone notices and gets them help.

[phee]

I know someone who exhibits a lot of early signs ... it scares me. Hopefully someone notices and gets them help.

:fear

[Medea]

@Bean- I know you've told me small parts of that before, but damn. I'm so sorry dear.

@Rayne- You said you hope someone notices, but someone has. YOU have. Is it someone not close enough to you where you feel you can speak up about it?

@Kelly- Along with all her other problems, she may BE using heroin. Despite the popular view of heroin, MOST junkies snort it, rather than inject it into their veins. Even if she were injecting it, it wouldn't be obvious for quite a long time, and it's easy enough to inject someplace like between the fingers and toes, or even sometimes in the eyeball.

I have a friend who's been addicted for several years now. You think you'd be able to 'tell' but it's not as easy as you would think. Also, with all the other problems she has, it would make it even harder to notice the little signs that -do- show up.

[Rayne]

@Rayne- You said you hope someone notices, but someone has. YOU have. Is it someone not close enough to you where you feel you can speak up about it?

Exactly. I have noticed and I have done what I can from here ... but anything else would be extremely out of line.

[Rayne]

This is a list complied by friends and family members with it. It is not a doctor's list. One or more of the symptoms indicates you should encourage the person or guardian of the person to seek professional help and opinions. I've actually had my daughter evaluated for it (she doesn't have it, but exhibits a few of the symptoms).

Early Warning Signs

The following list of warning signs was developed by people whose family members have schizophrenia. Many behaviours described are within the range of normal responses to situations. Yet families sense -- even when symptoms are mild -- that behaviour is "unusual"; that the person is "not the same."

The number and severity of these symptoms differ with age and from person to person.

Bizarre behaviour

Irrational statements

Shift in basic personality

Deterioration of social relationships

Hyperactivity or inactivity -- or alternating between the two

States opinion and/or imagination as fact

Inability to concentrate or to cope with minor problems

Extreme preoccupation with religion or with the occult

Excessive writing without meaning

Indifference

Forgetting things

Losing possessions

Extreme reactions to criticism

Inability to cry, or excessive crying

Unusual sensitivity to stimuli (noise, light, colours, textures)

Believes things are true that are not

Lives outside of reality

Unable to cope with normal life situations

Drug or alcohol abuse

Strange posturing

Refusal to touch persons or objects; wearing gloves, etc.

Cutting oneself; threats of self-mutilation

Staring without blinking -- or blinking incessantly

Rigid stubbornness

Peculiar use of words or odd language structures

[BrassFusion]

Bizarre behaviour

Irrational statements

Shift in basic personality

Deterioration of social relationships

Hyperactivity or inactivity -- or alternating between the two

States opinion and/or imagination as fact

Inability to concentrate or to cope with minor problems

Extreme preoccupation with religion or with the occult

*****Excessive writing without meaning*****

Indifference

Forgetting things

Losing possessions

Extreme reactions to criticism

Inability to cry, or excessive crying

Unusual sensitivity to stimuli (noise, light, colours, textures)

Believes things are true that are not

Lives outside of reality

Unable to cope with normal life situations

Drug or alcohol abuse

Strange posturing

Refusal to touch persons or objects; wearing gloves, etc.

Cutting oneself; threats of self-mutilation

Staring without blinking -- or blinking incessantly

Rigid stubbornness

Peculiar use of words or odd language structures

so you're trying to say that everyone on dgn is pre-schizophrenic?

[Rayne]

so you're trying to say that everyone on dgn is pre-schizophrenic?

LOL, nope ... just that most should be checked.

Seriously, my daughter met a few of the symptoms, so I had her checked along with for some other stuff ... she wasn't diagnosed with it, but she was diagnosed with some other psychological disorders.

In some, it's just a phase, in some it's just a personality trait, for others it's the sign of something very serious.

[Scary Guy]

X Bizarre behaviour

Irrational statements

Shift in basic personality

Deterioration of social relationships

X Hyperactivity or inactivity -- or alternating between the two

X States opinion and/or imagination as fact

X Inability to concentrate or to cope with minor problems

X Extreme preoccupation with religion or with the occult (does antireligion count?)

X Excessive writing without meaning (not like anyone reads what I write here anyway)

X Indifference

X Forgetting things

X Losing possessions

X Extreme reactions to criticism

Inability to cry, or excessive crying

X Unusual sensitivity to stimuli (noise, light, colors, textures)

Believes things are true that are not

Lives outside of reality

X Unable to cope with normal life situations

Drug or alcohol abuse

Strange posturing

X Refusal to touch persons or objects; wearing gloves, etc. (I won't go into city club cause it's filthy)

Cutting oneself; threats of self-mutilation

Staring without blinking -- or blinking incessantly

X Rigid stubbornness (mules envy my stubornness)

X Peculiar use of words or odd language structures (I blame the English language for this)

[BrassFusion]

X Refusal to touch persons or objects; wearing gloves, etc. (I won't go into city club cause it's filthy)

That one don't count, babe.

[Scary Guy]

That one don't count, babe.

Fine, to a degree I'm a hypochondriac, but I think any smart person is to a degree.

[pomba gira]

I am highly disturbed.

My little baby cousin Nikki 21 y.o, has been slowly declining for about 5 years now.

She was sort of a disturbed child, needy, couldn't speak until about 9-10, cried alot, was a big follower....etc....

At about 15-16 she was writing beautiful poetry that she would let me read that made sense and was logical.

Graduated High school, was working at a fast food place....

Over the years I have started to notice weird things, conversations....

She would tell me things of how she got raped, how she was on Heroin.....etc....however, there was never any evidence that she was doing these things, or that this ever happened.

I seldomly talk to her anymore.....she has been hospitalized, in homes, on a variety of cocktails of meds, anything from valium to lithium.....and even harsher.

Seems like things are getting worse.

She tells me she works for the government, the president, secret service, how she is dating Famous people, ....she'll be talking on the phone....to no one. Talking to invisible people......

And then today.

Heres the latest of her dillusions.....

She is dating the guy from Miami Ink....she works doing tattoos now.....travels the world with him doing tattoos.

She has several new tattoos that no one can see....there is a special potion that she needs to pick up from the tattoo parlor so that will make them appear.

She works out of Orange County and Miami FL.....

She is a ghost....no one can see her..... she says that the angels are trying to get her to come up to heavan.....but she isn't ready to go yet.....

She saying satan and the angels talk to her....

and she kept referring to her mom as Margaret....istead of Mom.....

Very eerie.....I am so sad for her......

I think she has lost it to a piont to where there is no return.

=(

I have never in my life actually witnessed THIS sort of disorder.....to such an extent.

The things that ocme out of her mouth are just so random, and so scattered.

It is so disturbing.....

I just don't understand it......

It just seems like it gradually took place....over a few years.

She seemed OK few years back...I mean I always knew there was something not completely right, but now it is very clear.

I don't know how to respond to her most of the time.

I just feel very sad for her is all.

Has anyone else had to deal with this kind of a thing???

Is there any way to help these kind of people? Magic words? Counsel? Prayer?

Seems like the drugs have made things worse....IMO.

I don't know, sometimes I feel like I can talk sense in to her, but its so much deeper than that.

Sounds like a pretty straightforward, textbook case of schizophrenia.

Most important: You CANNOT "talk sense into her", anymore than you could talk a diabetic into normalizing their insulin levels. Usually the only way to treat this kind of mental illness is a combination of antipsychotic meds (like Haldol) and long-term psychotherapy. As with other psychiatric conditions, it can take a while to work out the right medication, dosage, and/or combination of meds for an individual. This would be even more true in your cousin's case since it sounds like her history of mental/emotional distrubances goes back to early childhood. It gets more complicated because it can be very hard to get these patients to be compliant with their meds regimen- since when they are in a decompensated or delusional state, they don't believe there's anything wrong with them. In fact they're likely to work the people trying to help them into their delusional system as enemies. This is where family support can be the key in successful treatment- once a person has been stabilized on meds in an inpatient setting, her chances are much better if there's someone close to her who can make sure she takes her meds, report any changes in behavior or mental status to her treatment team, and so forth. Patients who are in some kind of day treatment program or assisted living program also have a better chance to maintain stability in the long run... anything that provides a structured daily routine and keeps them from being isolated.

Wish I had better advice to give you but about the best I can do is point you to some resources for family/friends of people with mental illnesses. At the very least you need to inform yourself about your cousin's illness... there are so many misconceptions about schizophrenia and some of them can be downright harmful.

Very good basic information here- what schizophrenia is and is not.

Canadian Mental Health Assn.- resources for family members, including links to online articles & book lists.

This article is specifically for caregivers of mental patients, but the site has some excellent general info about schizophrenia & related disorders.

Hope some of this is helpful... dealing with this kind of mental illness is both scary and heartbreaking but "knowledge is power"!