Is there any type of medication that will stop my mothers delusions?
My mother was diagnosed with Schizophrenia back when I was three years old. I am now 28, and am trying to help my mother get the help she needs. She has been clean for two months- she did whatever drug she could get her hands on in the last sixteen years or so. She has been in and out of hospitals since I can remember, however, her level of functioning has rapidly deminished in the past three years or so. About two to three months ago, she started staying with me and had had two stays in a psych-ward about eight days each about amonth and a half in between each other. My question is about her delusions. She is so delusional, most of the time she is tring to figure out if I am me(her daughter) or if I a clone of her daughter. She is delusional 90% of the time. I go with her to see her new doctor so that we can make sure that everything is going well, but I just wonder if there is some other type of medican that will stop or slow the delusions up some.
Hello handslewis,
I hope your mother is able to find some peace of mind, and taking psychotropic medication could possibly help her delusions. The atypicals used in the U.S. are Quetiapine (Seroquel), Risperidone (Risperdal), Olanzapine (Zyprexa) Aripiprazole (Abilify), Ziprasidone (Geodon) and Clozapine (Clozaril).
I'm surprised your mother's doctor hasn't tried her on any of these, if her diagnosis is schizophrenia, or maybe she's not taking her meds. Sometimes, the longer a person goes without medication, it's harder for the medication to alleviate the symptoms once he or she is placed on medication. In mid-Decmeber, after my Working Life blog series is finished, I'll be quoting information from the November 2008 Hard Mental Health Letter which talks about the benefits of early intervention.
So, if your mother is taking her meds and they're not working, she should still take them and work with the doctor to find the appropriate meds that alleviate her symptoms and her pain. As I've suggested, she has a number of medications to choose from.
If at all your mother has anosognosia, the lack of awareness that she has an illness, I suggest you read Xavier Amador's book, I Am Not Sick, I Don't Need Help which couches family members on what to say and how to say it when you try to influence a loved one to get and stay in treatment. A person doesn't have to believe she's sick to be able to take meds, she just has to perceive that taking them will enable her to achieve a life goal. And if your mother commits to staying clean, she can have a good life. And if she's on the path to staying clean, she's probably in a good enough place where you can devlop a relationship of trust with her, and use some of the techniques outlined in Amador's book to help her get treatment.
I wish you and your mother some comfort now.
Regards,
Christina
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