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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 13 of 13. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by mrm12333601 on August 28, 2009, at 12:38:42
My wife and I have been married for 3 years. She is originally from Romania and became an American citizen in 2004. She was discharged from the psychiatric unit of a hospital near to us in May. She then returned to her family in Romania and she comes back to me on October 1st.
She suffers from schizophrenia and she refuses to take medications for it. Of course, when she was in the hospital she HAD to be on medication (she was put on Invega). After she was discharged she stopped taking it.
I'm afraid that she will have yet another breakdown should she continue to refuse psychiatric medication and this has happened before. I know that medications are not the entire answer but I think that they are helpful to her.
In fact, she has told me that she will NEVER take psychiatric medications again. Again, she comes back to me on October 1st.
Any comments will be appreciated.
Posted by Phillipa on August 28, 2009, at 13:23:17
In reply to My Wife, posted by mrm12333601 on August 28, 2009, at 12:38:42
Hi MRM welcome to babble. Yes it's very important for you wife to continue her meds. It's hard sometimes to convince a person they need meds. Is there a long acting injection that could be administered? Also you might want to post this on the medication board. So many informed people. Good luck Phillipa
Posted by mrm12333601 on August 28, 2009, at 16:00:48
In reply to Re: My Wife » mrm12333601, posted by Phillipa on August 28, 2009, at 13:23:17
Yes, there is a long acting injection but she refuses to take it.
Posted by Sigismund on August 28, 2009, at 17:58:08
In reply to Re: My Wife, posted by mrm12333601 on August 28, 2009, at 16:00:48
Which long acting drug?
fluphenazine, Haldol?
I can understand people refusing to live with such medication. (I'd rather be dead myself.)
There are better drugs around these days. Perhaps that offers some hope of effective treatment?
Posted by Phillipa on August 28, 2009, at 20:28:14
In reply to Re: My Wife, posted by Sigismund on August 28, 2009, at 17:58:08
Seriously the meds for scizophrenia come with so many side effects. Prolixin is the one I was thinking of. I've seen miracles with Clozaril. Used to work in a psch hospital private. Evidently she can refuse the med. Here when symtoms back that show danger to self or others or psychosis a court can order a patient to take meds. Phillipa
Posted by ColumbiaU on August 29, 2009, at 1:36:59
In reply to Re: My Wife, posted by Sigismund on August 28, 2009, at 17:58:08
I believe that one of the newest antipsychotic meds, Invega, is now in an injectable form. But whether it's a long acting injection or pills, if a person refuses to take medications then that person simply refuses.
I have had, and I have, a similar situation with my wife. She also suffers from schizophrenia. Her symptoms are CYCLICAL: she is fine for months and then her symptoms begin to bubble up which typically leads to a full-scale psychosis, which has required psych hospitalization. The last time I had to call the police, and believe it or not, they put her in handcuffs, put her in their police car, and took her to the psych unit. This only made her even more terrified.
She's had several psychiatric hospitalizations, each against her will. The result has been that she refuses to take psychiatric medications. I've tried to reason with her but to no avail.
I'm on psychiatric medications too (antidepressants) and I know of the sometimes debilitating side effects of medications. But I think that she DOES need to be on a low dose of an antipsychotic (she was taking Risperdal at one time which was replaced by Zyprexa).
We have a loving relationship but when her symptoms come up she becomes COMPLETELY irrational.
Posted by Kath on August 31, 2009, at 20:38:45
In reply to My Wife, posted by mrm12333601 on August 28, 2009, at 12:38:42
Hi, I'm very sorry you're going through this sad, upsetting, stressful situation.
My son has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. I sometimes go to a family support group of other parents.
At present, my son is not taking medications. He is doing pretty well most of the time.
I have a couple of things to mention. I wonder if your wife would be willing to try any non-pharmaceutical things to help herself. I have read that people who have schizophrenia are very low in magnesium. (I do wonder if this is true, because 2 other conditions affected by low magnesium are cramping in legs etc and kidney stones.....my son has had problems with both of these things as well as schiz.)
Orthomolecular Psychiatry is something that might be of interest to you & perhaps your wife would be open to it.
If you're interested, here's 1 link that I found looking on Google; I'm sure you could find more:
http://www.biochemimbal-behavior.com/Just a couple of thoughts, because if your wife doesn't want to take meds, there's not much you can do.
I live in Canada & the CMHA (Canadian Mental Health Association) is exceedingly helpful. Perhaps there's a Mental Health Association where you live that could support you.
I wish you the very best & am sorry you're going through this.
sincerely, Kath
Posted by ColumbiaU on September 1, 2009, at 1:22:55
In reply to Re: My Wife » mrm12333601, posted by Kath on August 31, 2009, at 20:38:45
I've known of orthomolecular psychitary for some time but I don't think I've ever mentioned it to my wife. I think she would be more amenable to it rather than to taking psychiatric medications as she's into nutrition anyway. One problem is that it's been difficult for me to find an orthomolecular psychiatrist who accepts our health insurance. You can take a look at www.alternativementalhealth.com for "
Alternative Mental Health Practitioners." There is a list of some psychiatrists who practice alternative treatments.
Posted by Kath on September 1, 2009, at 16:10:54
In reply to Re: My Wife and OrthoMolecular, posted by ColumbiaU on September 1, 2009, at 1:22:55
Yes - I guess that's the problem.
I just checked the ones in Ontario. If they were actually psychiatrists, our government healthcare would cover the cost. Unfortunately, they aren't.
But even so, I suspect one could get a lot of information online & in books & see what makes sense, etc. I tend to be extremely proactive in my own healthcare. I always get a medical diagnosis, then do my own wholistic thing. Sometimes I combine it with alopathic (sp?) drugs.
It's worked for me - the most dramatic example being that I was told by a naturopath who used iridology, that there was something out of whack with my thyroid & to have tests done by my med. doctor. Tests showed hyperthyroid; sent to endocrinologist; advised to have thyroid irradiated (& take thyroid meds for life). I wasn't prepared to do that without trying alternatives first. Asked my doctor if he'd support me in trying alternatives first; would he arrange re-testing after a certain period of time. He said yes. Went to naturopath; did various herbs, etc. My thyroid got normal again...and that was with a diagnosis of Graves Disease, which is not supposed to be able to get better.
Long story - sorry for that. My point is that natural methods can help us. In that example, I was working with a naturopath. Sometimes I do my own research & forge onwards....like when I had a systemic candida overgrowth problem. In some situation, we can learn about what steps we can take ourselves, I believe. Of course we have to be careful.
Kath
Posted by Phillipa on September 1, 2009, at 21:16:50
In reply to Re: My Wife and OrthoMolecular » ColumbiaU, posted by Kath on September 1, 2009, at 16:10:54
Kath graves is autoimmune as well as hasimotos so what did you take. I don't understand how you could accomplish this seriously amour thyroid? It's natural dessicated pig. Love Phillipa
Posted by Kath on September 2, 2009, at 17:46:58
In reply to Re: My Wife and OrthoMolecular » Kath, posted by Phillipa on September 1, 2009, at 21:16:50
> Kath graves is autoimmune as well as hasimotos so what did you take. I don't understand how you could accomplish this seriously
amour thyroid? ** What does this mean?
It's natural dessicated pig. **what is dessicated pig?**I don't even know if I can remember. I know I took huge amount of Vitamin A in a form that was easy on the liver.
I took dandelion extract
I'm sorry Phillipa, it was years ago & I can't remember what else I did. I know I was trying to get a certain type of kelp & can't remember if I did.
I was astonished that my TSH levels got to within normal. I had thot Graves was irreversible??!!
Kath
Love Phillipa
Posted by Phillipa on September 2, 2009, at 21:22:28
In reply to Re: My Wife and OrthoMolecular » Phillipa, posted by Kath on September 2, 2009, at 17:46:58
Kath could you have been diagnosed wrong? Goggle Mary Shoman for explanations of what those meds are and definitions of types of thyroid conditions. Love Phillipa
Posted by Kath on September 3, 2009, at 9:09:24
In reply to Re: My Wife and OrthoMolecular » Kath, posted by Phillipa on September 2, 2009, at 21:22:28
> Kath could you have been diagnosed wrong? Goggle Mary Shoman for explanations of what those meds are and definitions of types of thyroid conditions. Love Phillipa
I doubt it. I went to an endocrinologist & he sent me to the hospital. They injected radioactive something-or-other & then did xrays. When I went back to see the endo. he said I had Graves disease & when I told him that I wanted to do some research about it & go to a naturopath, he said, "Well don't wait too long to come back to me, because you could die."
So he gave me 2 choices: the irradiation of my thyroid OR a medication that (although the chances were low) had been known to cause death!
SO, I phoned a friend who is a doctor for his opinion of the irradiation thing & then went to the naturopathic doctor.
Kath
PS - don't have the mental energy to look at the link, but thx Phillipa. (This all happened years ago - maybe 9 or 10)
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