Cirrhosis and schizophrenia

[kaz86]

Hi ya.
My mum has schizophrenia has years And is also a alcoholic.
Her schizophrenia has been manageable, recently however she is getting very paranoid and hearing voices. She also has cirrhosis (I'm guessing nearer to end stage, jaundice, skin rashes, had fluid around belly for years it's gone now but I think she may take medication, sleeps for 4pm-3am, has had blood from both ends, always constipated). She had stopped drinking and symptoms improved however she is drinking again not as much as she use to (rather than spirits now 3 Guinness's a day, along with co codomol) . I'm not sure whether the paranoia is the schizophrenia or the liver disease. Not sure what to do, quite worried. We also visit with our young children and just feeling anxious about them seeing her like that.

The paranoia could well be both. It certainly does sound like she's at end stage/stage 4 cirrhosis, and a side effect of that is hepatic encephalopathy, which causes disorientation, mood swings, memory loss and a whole host of other psychiatric symptoms.

Is she under a hepatologist? If so, it's worth discussing it with them - they may be able to prescribe rifaximine or a similar medication

Also, if she's always constipated, she really should be taking lactulose to soften her stools - the toxin build-up needs to be expelled, as this can also lead to HE.

Haven't you posted about this before?
Keep the kids away.
It's up to her to seek help and you can't make that happen.