Seeking advice from parents with a child diagnosed with Schizophrenia

@andreaharrell
You are welcome. Hope you find the support that you need to take care of yourself first.
Hang in there!
VJ

@johnbishop
Hello, and not to me. Was your son has episodes in between taking medication?

@andreaharrell, My son hasn't really had any episodes in between taking medications. Early on in his diagnosis, there were times when he didn't take his medications and that was a problem.

Glad to hear that

My heart goes out to you. My love goes out to you. My tears of joy and pain go out to you. My hugs go out to you. I have an only adult son with schizophrenia, and I live his journey with him for 35 years so far. All I can say is be strong, patient and keep yourself healthy with a lot of stamina. Get different opinions from different doctors. The newer medications of today work better than the older ones ( like lithium, risperdone). Be sure the diagnosis is correct. I could go on and on and on. And ask what long-term side affects can happen to your child. Lithium ruined my son's kidneys after very many years on it. I wish you all the patience and love it takes to help a child/teen/adult with schizophrenia. After many many challenges you will see light at the end of the tunnel, but always be on guard for the next episode. It can be very changeable at times. Keep the faith. Seek as much help as you can but stay healthy, exercise, eat right to maintain your stamina. How old is your child?

@pta thank you for sharing your story. I have a 32 year old adult son with bipolar 1 who takes Lithium, Depakote and Abilify. I worry about the side effects especially Lithium on his kidneys and Depakote on his liver. Did your son get off the Lithium and switch to something else? Does your son have to have kidney dialysis? I worry about all these effects.

My daughter is 30 and took some of the medication and stopped it because the side effects was bad and she switched it to a newer one. She does has kidney problems and worry about that too. Sadly every medication has a side effect in a long run but it is the only thing that helps at the moment to keep her job

@bewildered yes my son recently got off lithium. He takes Olanzepine only now (it's the generic of zyprexa). Zyprexa is way too expensive. But he has stage 3 kidney failure from the lithium. There are 5 stages so he is safe so far on a low salt diet. It's still very disheartening.

I think my daughter tried that too and now she choose Caplyta. She started this about 2 months ago so will see how it works. Low dose. She had bad episode on the higher dose.

@pta I think Zyprexa is a good medication. My son was hospitalized again last year for 2.5 months and they tried it along with various other anti-psychotics but nothing would bring down the mania except eventually haloperidol (Haldol) worked! We are all very careful now since his drastic decrease from Invega caused his relapse. His psychiatrist changed him from Haldol to the newer Abillify and is doing better now, less side effects. Maybe in a month or two she will decrease the Lithium, as it does seem to cause him that god awful shaking but he also takes something now for that which helps. So many meds! He is doing better now so I am grateful for that. It could always be worse. I still grieve for him though, what he used to be as a child/teen and what he could have been😢It’s been a very long 10 year, roller coaster ride for us all. I’ve started therapy to help me deal with everything and to be more positive and worry less, and focus on the things he can do. I will pray for your son as well. It’s so very hard and most don’t understand including our outdated, not so nice, extended family.