Posts by ironbison23

Jerry Lee2 said:Just checking in to let you know I'm here, looking for answers alongside all of you.
My brother is sick. We don't have a formal diagnosis yet, but it looks like it might be SCH.
Your posts are helping me learn. I haven't read everything yet, but I'll have questions soon.
The unknown is intimidating, but I'm open to learning and offering support.
I don't have any prejudices, just a lack of knowledge.
I hope to gain a lot of insight here.
Thanks to everyone for being so kind and helpful.
A worried sister.😕

I've posted about my brother's struggles before—back then, I was deeply depressed and certain things would end badly.
However, today he is... well... normal? We can talk about anything; there aren't any wild delusions, he helps out around the house, and he stays consistent with his medication.
My only concern now is how lonely he is—he's bored because he's unemployed, even though he wants to work. I'm hoping we can help him find some stability and a way to improve his social standing; maybe that will make him feel better.
By the way, the diagnosis is F23. I miswrote it as F21 earlier—it's F23. He doesn't care much for clinical codes, though; he simply tells himself he has schizophrenia and is willing to follow whatever his psychiatrist prescribes to prevent those terrifying hallucinations from returning. And they were truly horrific. When he describes them, I get chills.

Just stay by your brother's side—that's really all I can tell you.

I did a little digging online, and this seems to be what we're looking at: http://www.mentalhealth.com/icd/p22-pe03.html
Still—it’s not entirely clear to me. Is this officially classified as schizophrenia or not? And is it a lifelong diagnosis?
A member of my family was recently diagnosed and they've been prescribed Risperdal twice a day, along with Akineton and Ativan.
Is anyone else here on these specific medications? I'd be interested to hear about your experiences.

Can someone explain what F21 actually entails? Specifically, I'm looking for the distinction between F20, F21, F22, and so on...

A few days ago, my brother was admitted to the hospital. He spent his time scrawling all over the walls of his room—it was all about how everyone is blaming him, how they’re trying to make him look indecent, and how people keep telling him to just give up on life. He refuses to quit. He kept insisting someone is coming for him, and then the forensics team will show up, and so on...
Basically, the room looks like something out of a horror movie. He wrote through the entire night, and then this morning he told Mom to call Dad to bring him guns and candy because "they" are arriving in ten days to kill us all. We need to protect ourselves. Then, he started smashing things around the house.
The police and paramedics were called.

I was reading that thread where people share their experiences living with schizophrenia. They seem so... normal. I'm terrified that my brother might never reach that stage.
There's also this massive issue with my mother; she simply cannot admit to herself that he actually has schizophrenia. She insists it's just a "schizophrenic phase." Now she wants to get him out of the hospital as soon as possible because she thinks the people around him are complete lunatics, while he—in her eyes—is perfectly fine compared to them.
With that kind of mindset from the person most vital to his recovery—since she's always by his side—I am genuinely scared for his future.

The doctors also mentioned that his high intelligence is actually a complicating factor. Because of it, he's constructed this incredibly deep, complex world that is notoriously difficult to break through.

My family is dealing with the exact same thing. Only, my brother hasn't even been officially diagnosed because getting him to see a psychiatrist is an impossible task.
He spends all day holed up in his room, then paces the house at night—banging on things, mumbling short, repetitive phrases like "living tree" over and over again.
Personal hygiene is non-existent; he doesn't shower, shave, or eat much of anything. There's also the aggression—we all have to walk on eggshells in our own home. He’s already trashed the lighting in our apartment building, knocked out part of a terrace wall, and ripped every single picture off the walls inside.
Sometimes he doesn't even seem to recognize me. He keeps his windows shut and lives in near-total darkness.
He's terrified of things on Jupiter—or something along those lines. He's always been "different," but these hallucinations started about six months ago, and it's spiraling daily.
I finally hit my breaking point—the constant anxiety and waiting for the next disaster was too much—so I moved out. Now it's just him and my mom. She barely sleeps.
The second she mentions a doctor, he starts practically screaming.

For context, my uncle has lived with schizophrenia for thirty years; he takes his meds and manages to function reasonably well.
But my brother? He's just wasting away. And he used to be the sharpest kid I knew—a total little genius.

How can I help him? How do we actually get him to a professional?