My child has psychosis will she become schizophrenic?

09/10/09

Mum

Since the age of 12 my daughter she started having psychotic like symptoms and was prescribed Olanzapine from the hospital. Starting from 0.25 mg and is now on 10 mg. Her hands shake a lot though the Dr said it has nothing to do with medication.

She has improved a lot over the years, every couple of months she has a relapse for 3-4 weeks, and sometimes around the time of periods or when she is stressed She becomes withdrawn, angry, gets fixated on something usually a movie or famous person. At night she won’t sleep and would stay up all night mumbling, listening to loud music, pacing and shaking hands we need to give her sleeping tables. I can’t tell if she is having a psychotic episode or going through depression.

I really worry as she has turned 18 and has mild mental retardation. I even hope that she would recover.But I feel so shattered when I heard that women have a higher tendency of becoming schizophrenic if they had psychosis at a young age. Would any vitamins help her? I feel so anxious and helpless. As a parent what can I do in terms of the law (low IQ) she is not capable of looking after herself or making any major decisions.

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Answers (1)

Friday, September 11, 2009

Christina Bruni

Hello Mum,

You have a lot going on with your daughter and I understand you want to provide for her in the best possible way.

I would not be frightened by a possible schizophrenia diagnosis.

One thing I can say: you will need to have in place a living option for when you are no longer alive. I would even say it's not to early to do this. I have been trying to find a way to list a directory of group homes at this web site and so far it has been challenging. A person from Indiana had a similar concern and I'm still researchiing it. You will want to find a good group home where the staff is professional and caring. I would not recommend an adult home where 100s of people are warehoused to live. I would recommend a small group home with maybe 10 residents or 20 residents at the most, or a manageable amount.

Some people take vitamins like Super B Complex, however, the vitamins are to be taken in addition to the antipsychotic medication, not instead of it.

It often takes time to find the right dose of drug or combination of drugs that works to most effectively treat the psychosis. As a person gets older and her chemistry changes, a change in medication will possibly be warranted.

So I would maintain close ties with your daughter's psychiatrist and any other professionals on her treatment team. You can certainly let the doctor and other staff know what kinds of symptoms you're observing in your daughter. They cannot break confidentiality; however, you can certainly give them this information.

I wish your you and your daughter the best.

Regards,

Christina