My Dear Son

[Guest]

My son who is schizophrenic was released from the hospital today. This is like his 7th hospitalization in 7 months. He's been suffering about a year now. He seems to finally understand he MUST take his medication to stay normal. He came by and said he'd been in the same clothes for a week so i let him take a shower.

Thank god for a foster son who lived with my family for about 5 years, who has his own apartment, he took my son in for $50 a week. It was that or a homeless shelter. My foster son has schizophrenia also and was diagnosed when he was 15, but he lives a pretty high functioning life.

It's funny how things work out, if J (my foster son) had not been in our lives, I think as a family we would have had a far more difficult time dealing with my son's illness.

My son can't stay with me anymore because he becomes violent and irrational but I told him I will always be there for him. It's also interesting that J was more than willing to help my son T, and yet my three other sons I gave birth too have done little to help their brother :cry:

 

[Dixie]

Sorry to hear this Philly. Your J is probably much more understanding because he has the same illness, As for the other three, one reason may be because by nature we humans are scared of the unknown, or what we don't understand.
I hope everything works out for him.

 

[Guest]

Sorry to hear this Philly. Your J is probably much more understanding because he has the same illness, As for the other three, one reason may be because by nature we humans are scared of the unknown, or what we don't understand.
I hope everything works out for him.

Dixie, J is a godsend, he goes to a maintenance program every day where they make sure he's on his meds, do blood test and he sees a social worker and psychiatrist. One year when there was a bad snow storm, they even sent out a van to make sure he was okay.

J sometimes asks irrational questions, like one time the radio was advertising that a well know rap artist was giving a big birthday bash, and J called me at 2am to ask if I thought this rapper was circling the block looking for him. I just assured him that he'd probably heard the advertisements on the radio, and no, the rapper was NOT circling the block.

J told me, my son will start to learn to filter true and untrue thoughts. When I talked to my son today he finally admitted that he was feeling that the television was sending him "signals"...and he now is coming to the realization that there is something the matter with his mind. That is a huge first step.

 

[krissy]

wow, i am sorry to hear your family is having so much trouble. i hope that your ds stays on his meds and can become safe and functioning enought to be safe.

 

[Tabitha]

my three other sons I gave birth too have done little to help their brother

Try not to blame the other boys, they may have tried helping & you may not be aware of it, then again they may not be strong enough to help and keep themselves mentally safe/strong. If you are very close to the problem & try to help you can easily either A) get sucked in & become imbalanced yourself through stress or depession or B) become an enabler. I am sure they are not standing back out of spite or ill regard.

Schizophrenia is rough. My college roommate's mom suffered from it. She thought aliens were spying on her through electrical cords & outlets, etc. If she was properly medicated she was a doll but if not she would have total flip outs. One night she decided I was conspiring to kill my roommate & she attacked me w/ a pair of scissors.

I know why you can't have him around your daycare kids. The foster brother & other similarly affected persons, support groups sound like steps in the right direction.

 

[Guest]

{{hugs}} Phillysoaps
I am sorry you are going through this .It sometimes takes something or someone make them realize the meds are their best friend for life . My brother had trouble with this concept for many years, we lived through hell and back. He met a girl that was a volunteer during one of his hospital stays, they are married and he has been on his meds and fine since. One day at a time .

Kitn

 

[artisan soaps]

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[jarvan]

Without spilling all the woes that have enveloped my life, I will say to Philly, I know some of the pains you deal with regarding the foster situation and the mental illness that comes as a part of it. PTSD becomes us and I need to engage with people and crafts to divert my mind in a creative positive way. It's either that or I will rot in my mind.