Family member in crisis

My younger sister has the same diagnosis as me (as some of you may know). She doesn't live in the same country as me and it sounds like she is getting no support from anyone.

Yesterday she expressed suicidal thoughts. She is young enough that both the medications she is on could be causing the suicidal thoughts. She could also just be suicidal because she is in a terrible situation right now.

I don't know what to do. I can only get hold of her sporadically on Facebook. I'm not talking to my mother at the moment. I'm not even doing so great at the moment and I'm considering phoning my mother just to get some clarification on some serious issues. It sounds like my sister isn't even receiving any medical help at the moment.

But my sister is very open with me and I don't want to close that channel of communication because it could be one of the only ways she has to express her feelings.

Still, suicidal thoughts should never be ignored.

I'm just refreshing facebook hoping to see something.

It is going to be a long night:/

I phoned her now. She stopped taking all of her medication cold turkey. No tapering. She had taken an overdose (or too much) of her remaining meds and doesn't have anymore.

Lamotrigine has some serious side effects for stopping rapidly:(

I sucked up my pride and phoned my mother to tell her that we need to discuss my sister's health. But I just got the voice mail.

I wish my mother would just step up to the plate and at the very least take my sister to the doctor so she can stay on medication. But apparently just driving her there is too much of a hassle for her.

I hope I can at least have a civil conversation with my mother and talk some sense into her. But I don't know how there won't be some confrontation since my mother is failing on every level right now.

Thanks for your thoughts Jamie.

She is 20, but she is under a court order to stay under my mother's protection (oh the irony!) because of her previous drug addiction.

Her psychiatrist recommended she go on disability. I'm not sure how much money you get with disability and what sort of services she would have access to. They live in a developing country and government services are very limited. The majority of the population don't even have money for food, basic health care and primary school. So mental health care isn't exactly a priority there.

I am in contact with another family member there who might be able to clarify some of the things I'm not sure of because it's been a while since I moved to Canada.

I also told my sister I would save up some money for her to study the course she wants to do. My mother was putting pressure on her by saying she had to keep a job for at least 6 months before she would even consider paying for further education. My sister is in a similar mental state to me right now but with no support. She can't work.

And a string of waitressing jobs will do nothing for her future. Her job right now is to get healthy and happy. No conditions.

Another crapty thing is my mother does have the money to get her some treatment. Maybe not weekly therapy, I'm not sure. But she needs to get back on her meds and keep checking in with a psychiatrist.

I'm just worried about her withdrawal symptoms and she is drinking quite heavily on a regular basis. So that doesn't help with her emotional regulation problems.

History repeating itself again...:(