Mental illness
By lucy02
@lucy02 (5015)
United States
June 19, 2007 2:43pm CST
I want to apologize to my friends for not being on here as much lately. My mother has a mental illness (bipolar schizoid affective disorder with paranoia is the official diagnosis). She had been on meds for 20yrs and her heart surgeon took her off them a few months ago. She did okay for awhile but she is hearing voices again and has stopped taking all her meds. She lives with us and we are really having a hard time. She's 80 yrs old and had a small stroke, heart surgery, high blood pressure, mild diabetes, so we have to keep her as calm as possible but she refuses to get help or take any of her meds. Her doctor gave me some new meds for her mental illness to slip to her in her food thinking this would get her calm and rational enough to take all her meds. So far it hasn't worked. She is still hearing voices and follows me everywhere, won't hardly go to bed. She thinks someone is trying to kill me. Does anybody have any experience with this sort of situation?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@zed_k4 (17589)
• Singapore
24 Apr 08
lucy, I am sorry to hear about the plight of your mother, and I do hope that things will start improving for her, though a bit. It is very sad to hear elderly suffering from these, and there's really too much for someone her age to bear. And you are such a good and filial daughter and I'm sure God will repay your kindness for taking good care of her. I'm not sure whether this is categorized as "senile", but it is common amongst elderly people. Have faith in God and yourself and go through it one day at a time.
Take care of your health too, lucy, don't forget.
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@patrice7 (1191)
• United States
12 Dec 07
hey lucy. i commend you for your toughness. i could never have comprehended such situation. its hard to be sane and watch someone close to your heart, someone like your mother suffering a mental illness. however these things do really happen and your mother considering her disorder has an increased risk of causing danger to herself. i suggest that you watch her all the time or you hire someone to be able to cater to the needs of your mother. About the voices and stuff, she is hallucinating and that is one of the characteristic sign of her mental illness. unless she takes her meds she will be having difficulty maintaining a reality-conscious perspective. anyways i will include her in my prayer as i believe that faith heals even the deepest wounds. godbless to you and your mom.
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@lucy02 (5015)
• United States
12 Dec 07
Thank you patrice. since I posted this she has been to the hospital and is back on meds. However she is on Risperdal, a newer med, and she is still having problems. I am going to try to get her back to a doctor. She has an appt. with a mental health professional in Jan. but she needs one sooner so I am going to try to get her to a regular M.D. sooner.
@Dolcerina (3376)
• Hungary
20 Jun 07
No, I have not experiences in it. And I can imagine how hard your days. I wish a lot energy, strength, and patience to you, and well-being to you mother.
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