Mum with Paranoid Schizophrenia

[Petals17]

Hi all,
a bit of brief background for context. My mum was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia over 20 years ago. She was sectioned 20 years ago for two months, I was 13 at the time. I was aware even as a very young child that something was very wrong with my Mum and it obviously caused a lot of difficulties.

Since coming out of the hospital, she has been able to live a reasonably normal life, although she never worked again, she mostly just worries quite a bit and lacks confidence but has quite a firm grasp on reality.
around 6 years ago she lost her dog (who served as a sort of accidental therapy dog) and this coincided with her starting to hear voices again. If I’m not mistaken I think they had also lowered her Risperidone from 3mg to 2mg. I think we resolved this ‘episode’ by them increasing it back to 3mg.

Fast forward to February this year she had a health check up and they decided to lower her Respiridone to 2mg again, but I wasn’t made aware of this at the time.

In the past two weeks she is now back to hearing voices and not being able to sleep properly as they keep her awake. I am trying to remind her it isn’t real but she has varying levels of understanding. Some days she says she thinks they aren’t real, others she is dead certain they are.

I wondered if it is likely that this decrease was due to the Respiridone being lowered? It was in February and she was fine until a few weeks ago, could it take that long to start affecting her?
I really want her to be okay again. It has brought a childhood of trauma flooding back and it has unfortunately timed badly with my DH going through his own health issue.

I guess I’m just looking for a bit of guidance and reassurance hopefully. I actually don’t know as much about this illness as so much of it unfolded when I was very young, and my Mum has been fortunate that the drugs have worked very well for her for the most part.

I meant to add… we have been to see her GP twice in the past week, although this was more me insisting rather than her wanting to go. She should hear from the mental health team next week and the GP did increase her Respiridone to 2.5mg a few days ago but it hasn’t had any effect yet.

It could be linked to the change in dosage, but it's not uncommon for people to relapse after being perfectly well and stable for years, decades even, without any changes in their routine or treatment either.

Does she have any ongoing contact with CMHT, a CPN, or see a psychiatrist? If there's someone she has a good relationship it might be worth trying to prompt a conversation about perhaps trying an increased dose again to see if the symptoms relent.

There's no reason why, if she is absolutely determined to cut down the Respiridone, that she couldn't try again a bit further down the line once she's well again. It's unlikely doctors would approve of it because they tend to stray too far to seeing past consequences as a predictor of future, but she'd be within her rights to at least bring it up again and discuss it.

With Schizophrenic diagnoses many people report that the older they get and the longer they have to become familiar with their symptoms, they get better at recognising and managing their own condition. It's not unheard of for older people to be able to live perfectly well without medicating at all, and some of the drugs do have horrible side-effects, so I can understand if she is keen to try and wean herself off of them.