ADult DD with psychosis, in denial

[holdingtheline]

My DD (late 20’s) left home 4-5yrs ago, was living overseas with her lovely DP. I don’t know the full Story but she met someone else, it was a disaster, she clearly was unwell, we got her home to find she was “receiving messages from aliens”, full on psychotic episode and was sectioned as she believed she needed to die to save the world. Terrifying stuff. That was 6 months ago.
She lives with me, has limited resources as she spent recklessly while ill overseas but has just managed to get a small job, I felt things were getting back on track. She has never been happy taking the meds but has done reluctantly, continues to believe that she is receiving transmissions, last night admitted she’d stopped taking them again.

I know it’s her decision, but I was gutted, had just begun to relax again and think we were making progress. I lost it I’m afraid, we’d been out for drinks with friends of mine, lovely evening, she was chatting away. Came home and she went back into her mysterious transmissions.

Has anyone gone through this with an adult child and come out the other side?

Hi, I had a full on psychotic episode in 2012 where I felt I was being watched by mi6 & that everyone at work was plotting against me & that the govt etc wanted me dead.

I was lucky in that although I believed those things I did tell a psychiatrist who put me on Aripiprazole.
I happily took it as I had some insight left & wanted to feel less agitated.
I gradually got better but it took months to shake the belief that I was being watched.

Now I've been diagnosed with schizo affective disorder as I still get Psychosis symptoms (I now take a high dose of Aripiprazole) with bipolar symptoms.

The only thing that cures Psychosis (or that makes it less bad) is taking the meds.
But when you are well you can believe that you don't need meds' anymore & of course this leads to illness.

That's probably what's happened to your daughter.
You need to contact the crisis team or her community mental health team to let them know.

Will she get better? Probably if she takes her meds. It depends on her eventual diagnosis too. She does need to accept it & learn to live with it though.
But at present it sounds as if she's lost insight so you need to get help for her.

My brother does this, he's had psychotic episodes every so often so goes on meds (when we step in and get him to the doctor) then after a few months he stops them, he's fine for a period of time then it starts again. Sadly there's nothing we can do other than be there to pick up the pieces.

I also have bipolar but have been stable on meds for a few years now.

I have bipolar and was convinced I'd committed a serious crime and people were conspiring to put me in prison. It was terrifying.
Meds help. A lot. However I had CBT which helped me predict the trajectory of those thought patters because psychosis doesn't just 'happen', there is a catalogue of thinking which descends into a total loss of reality. Ideally, she needs to get intervention when she still knows something isn't right.
@TierraJ
Were you diagnosed with bipolar first? My Psych said the weak association between mood made them question schizo but for now I'm under the diagnosis of bipolar.

Steakandkidney I was diagnosed with Borderline first but this turned out to be wrong. I have 'some traits' but not the full blown disorder.

I was also diagnosed with Psychosis & depression but because the Psychosis symptoms were separate from the depression I was diagnosed with Schizo Affective Disorder.

The psychiatrist thinks it's actually the bipolar type rather than the depressive type now not quite sure why but I do overspend, binge on food etc etc & get obsessive easily, also not depressed all the time.

Ok thanks TJ. You were 'lucky' to shake off the BPD diagnosis, usually most other conditions are 'overshadowed' because all they see is the PD.
Do you constantly have low level psychosis? I've felt rough recently.

I do get strange thoughts like recently I was worried that someone might try & shoot me through my kitchen window when it gets dark so I have to shut the blind quickly.
Also feel I can control traffic lights at times.

& I get quite paranoid still. But it's not as bad as it would be without the meds.
The Psychosis gets worse when I feel stressed so I can only work pt.

That's funny Tierra I have just given up work. My thoughts escalate a lot when I'm stressed. What meds do you take?

Aripiprazole 25mg & Venlafaxine MR 300 mg

Thanks for the replies, yes her team know. Watching and waiting ATM. Just feel very helpless.

I think its normal for mums to feel helpless when their child (of any age) is ill.
You sound like a lovely & caring mum, your daughter will appreciate you being there for her when she is a bit better.

I hope all is as well as it can be

Just an update.
She’s doing brilliantly. Pretty much back to her pre psychosis self. Holding down the job, increased hours, socialising, doing hobbies, exercise, Still off the meds. As they upped her dose she seemed to be getting worse, I was told her body needed to adjust and get to a stable level and it would take weeks. She hated how they made her feel. I don’t know what the truth of the situation is, whether the meds were making things worse? A friend who’s a psychologist said tgat psychiatric medicine was as much an art as a science as people react very differently to the same drug.

Her team are happy to support her off meds, suggesting lots of activities for her to join - though tbh she’s so busy with her own regime that she’s not engaged with any of theirs.

I’ve not relaxed totally yet, but I do feel like I’ve got her back right now, no difficult conversations about turned off TVs giving off signals since she stopped the meds.

I take Aripiprazole as an anti psychotic & it can make you feel very rough for several months to begin with.

That's why lots of people with Schizophrenia, Bipolar & Schizo Affective Disorder (which I have) don't take meds.

But be prepared for your daughter to still have some strange thoughts & ideas.
All the unmedicated people I've met have either odd beliefs, believe in conspiracy theories & spirituality more than people who are medicated or who don't have these illnesses.

It's good that the mental health team are still supporting your daughter & amazing that she's still got a good routine.

I don't really cope well with life as I'm always tired taking meds that are high doses of anti depressants & anti epileptic as well as the Aripiprazole.
I still work part time though.

Glad to hear your daughter is well right now anyway.

After 4 months off meds, doing well, lots of interests, lovely new boyfriend - she’s relapsing - as some of you predicted. Her team know, but of course it gets worse at the weekend 🙁. Very disordered thoughts, texts from her throughout the night (she went out with friends and stayed over). This time she knows she needs the meds though. Feeling very much alone in this right now - her siblings are now overseas working and her dad lives a long drive away. The friend Who was my biggest support has also moved overseas ....

I have a step son with schizophrenia and also work in mental health (with schizophrenics). My step son became ill when he was 18, he’s now 25 and goes longer periods without relapsing but when he does relapse it’s pretty bad (full blown psychosis and paranoia which resaults in being sectioned), at the moment he’s off of medication. I work with people that can not come off of medication and people that are still pretty poorly whilst medicated, each person is different and what may work for one person may not work for another.

Thank you for that lovemusic it’s really helpful to hear that there is not an inevitable trajectory. She has never been neurotypical in many ways, very much her own person, but we didn’t see this coming. She was the one always proving support for friends and family who were struggling.