Worried about son

It’s good that you reached out for help.

Has he ever seen a psychiatrist for any of this? In my view as a bipolar, he really needs to see a psychiatrist.

You mentioned 1. anxiety and 2. schizophrenia, and you came to the 3. bipolar forum

Looking up the symptoms for those on the net, by typing in the name of each of those conditions in the search engine, as you might want to do, under the mayoclinic.org website, it said:

1. BIPOLAR: “Bipolar disorder, formerly called manic depression, is a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs (mania or hypomania) and lows (depression).
“When you become depressed, you may feel sad or hopeless and lose interest or pleasure in most
activities. When your mood shifts to mania or hypomania (less extreme than mania), you may feel euphoric, full of energy or unusually irritable. These mood swings can affect sleep, energy, activity, judgment, behavior and the ability to think clearly.

"Symptoms for the manic side of bipolar may include:

Abnormally upbeat, jumpy or wired
• Increased activity, energy or agitation
• Exaggerated sense of well-being and self-confidence (euphoria)
• Decreased need for sleep
• Unusual talkativeness

Major depressive episode will include some of these symptoms:
• Depressed mood, such as feeling sad, empty, hopeless or tearful
• Marked loss of interest or feeling no pleasure in all — or almost all — activities
• Significant weight loss when not dieting, weight gain, or decrease or increase in appetite
• Either insomnia or sleeping too much
• Either restlessness or slowed behavior
• Fatigue or loss of energy
• Thinking about, planning or attempting suicide

2. ANXIETY DISORDER
symptoms may include:

• Persistent worrying or anxiety about a number of areas that are out of proportion to the impact of the events
• Overthinking plans and solutions to all possible worst-case outcomes
• Perceiving situations and events as threatening, even when they aren't
• Difficulty handling uncertainty
• Indecisiveness and fear of making the wrong decision
• Inability to set aside or let go of a worry
• Inability to relax, feeling restless, and feeling keyed up or on edge
• Difficulty concentrating, or the feeling that your mind "goes blank"
• -------------------------------

3. SCHIZOPHRENIA

“is a severe mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling."

Symptoms may include:

• Delusions. These are false beliefs that are not based in reality. For example, you think that you're being harmed or harassed; certain gestures or comments are directed at you; you have exceptional ability or fame; another person is in love with you; or a major catastrophe is about to occur. Delusions occur in most people with schizophrenia.
• Hallucinations. These usually involve seeing or hearing things that don't exist. Yet for the person with schizophrenia, they have the full force and impact of a normal experience. Hallucinations can be in any of the senses, but hearing voices is the most common hallucination.
• Disorganized thinking (speech). Disorganized thinking is inferred from disorganized speech. Effective communication can be impaired, and answers to questions may be partially or completely unrelated. Rarely, speech may include putting together meaningless words that can't be understood, sometimes known as word salad.
• Extremely disorganized or abnormal motor behavior. This may show in a number of ways, from childlike silliness to unpredictable agitation. Behavior isn't focused on a goal, so it's hard to do tasks. Behavior can include resistance to instructions, inappropriate or bizarre posture, a complete lack of response, or useless and excessive movement.
• Negative symptoms. This refers to reduced or lack of ability to function normally. For example, the person may neglect personal hygiene or appear to lack emotion (doesn't make eye contact, doesn't change facial expressions or speaks in a monotone). Also, the person may have lose interest in everyday activities, socially withdraw or lack the ability to experience pleasure.
In men, schizophrenia symptoms typically start in the early to mid-20s.

hi. sounds familiar to a schizo- affective disorder.

how is ya son debbie?

Hey -

First off, thanks to everyone who responded, it's just been hard to get back here - so much going on.

Right now, my son is on 4 meds but has yet to see a psychiatrist, or get a diagnosis! (It takes something like 4 weeks to get into the only clinic in town that takes Medicaid.) All these were prescribed by am internal medicine PA.

He's on Buspar, Prozac, Olanzapine, and just recently Ativan. He's seemed somewhat better to us since he's been on the first 3 (less tortured) but he says the Ativan is the only one that's really helped.

I don't know whether the PA will continue to give it to him (he only prescribed 5!) but I sure hope so. His sisters were amazed that he actually hung out with the family at Christmas, even ate with us, though he still barely talked. He says he feels more normal, and it looks like he's drinking a lot less.

So - who knows?

I hope everyone had a good Christmas.

Debbie

Happy Holidays Debbie! Hope you and your family had a good Christmas

I hope your son will get into the clinic soon and be able to see the psychiatrist. Hope all the meds are helping until he can get an app. Hope his state is better than before, now that he is using some meds.

How are you doing and handling things now?

Know that we are thinking of you.

UA