Questions about psychosis and sis

[BusynMember]

My brother has Crohn's. He's on so many medications, I shudder for him. Maybe your sister was put on new medications that reacted badly on her. My brother is always switching medications. They are very strong...he is taking one drug that leukemia patients take. Also...Prednisone is prescribed often to Crohn's patients. THAT can cause psychosis. I also took it...it messes with your head!

 

[flutterbee]

Steely -

I wasn't trying to suggest that H had heart problems. I was just trying to show how physical illness can affect one in a way we wouldn't normally think of.

As far as psychosis and depression, that's something I'm personally familiar with. With my last major depression, I was told I was bordering on a psychotic depression. This wasn't noticeable to people I came into contact with on a daily basis, but I felt like I was losing my mind. I felt like everyone was working against me, people were conspiring against me, etc. Very paranoid. Even when I went into the psychiatric hospital - voluntarily - it was very eerie. Everyone that worked there looked so familiar to me and I would ask them if I knew them. Then, when they said we hadn't met before I started to think it was some kind of conspiracy to get me in the psychiatric hospital - even though I signed in voluntarily. It was very odd and I felt like I was losing my mind, but I couldn't convince myself that what I believed wasn't real.

Thing is, until I went into the psychiatric hospital - which I went in because I was breaking down - I was functioning relatively normally, considering. Then, my mom became very angry with me for going in and we had this big fight and the break with reality really started to kick up. I was teetering. It didn't take a shove to send me over. Just a touch.

And since it sounds crazy to the person suffering from it (even though it seems very real), they're less likely to talk about it.

 

[totoro]

S~ When My Grandma has her Brain tumor, she was just not herself... She was flat out psychotic. it took a long time to figure out what was going on though. And before my Mom committed suicide she was all over the place, but she held it together, only those of us that knew her... realized she was not herself.

When I was in Tucson, for my wonderful Panic attack... I think triggered in part by stress, medications, some other cr@p... if husband had not have been there, even though he was part of the problem!!!
But he helped me... I was not doing good for awhile. If I had to be out on my own? it would have been scary.
And then a couple of hours later I felt pretty good. But for the most part I can hold my own, no-one would ever know i was BiPolar (BP)... they just think I have a weird sense of humor!!! LOL

But I have had a few times when I was increasing my medications, when I felt like I was not OK and could not deal... Like now I am lowering my Dopamax, because I don't think it is good for me... Same with Zoloft for me... to many breakthrough manic episodes... yeah fun to watch me!!! but not fun to be me!!!
But I have had lots of people who I tell that I am BiPolar (BP) and they have known me a long time. They were blown away.

You just never know? It isn't like our kids, so much.
I hope they can rule out some things for you. It will get easier with time. You are a great Sister...
How is difficult child doing???

 

[gcvmom]

I can truly appreciate your need to know what happened, to get some closure to this tragedy.

The info you're getting is all right on. The clues the police have hinted at are not so far fetched either. I agree that most of us who struggle with mental health issues are, for the most part, able to hold it together in the face of the rest of the world. No one would have ever suspected that my depression had me hallucinating at one point. Or that the thought of driving my van through a brick wall or onto a train track had occured more than once, followed by an urge to drive to an ER just so I could feel safe with myself. Nobody else knows what's really going on in our head.

{{{{{Hugs}}}}}

 

[klmno]

But I have had a few times when I was increasing my medications, when I felt like I was not OK and could not deal...

As Totoro mentions-

When I read that she had been on the Sam-E for a while, I wondered if she had recently had an increase in dosage. Not that she was BiPolar (BP), no one will ever know exactly what it was (if anything), but I never thought an increase in a dosage of medications could cause a bad reaction in someone if they had already been taking that medication for a long time, until it happened to difficult child. It was prozac- doubled the dose after 1 year (still not a high dose).

After reading the posts from anyone else, I wonder more now if it was something like that, or adding an antibiotic or other medication to what she was already taking. It's my understanding that it's possible for even an OTC medication to cause a bad reaction if taken with some prescribed medications and you can't always know ahead of time- I guess it depends on the person''s system.

 

[dreamer]

you can be on a medication for a looong time even and still have a bad reaction. Your body is in a constant state of change, and your metabolism can be altered by some very simple, basic things, sometimes. If you become dehydrated, it can affect medication levels in your body. If you are fighting off a virus, cold, flu, whatever, it can affect your metabolism. How muuch you have eaten (or not eaten) recently can affect your metabolism or how a medication works or does not work in your body.
SO many things can affect metabolism, so many things can affect how medications work, so many things can affect your physical and mental health, and they are all interelated. Even something simple like the temp of your body, which can be altered by environment, activity level, wellness state etc.

ALso, most people do not like to worry their loved ones, so many often do try to not worry loved ones, even if they are aware something is not quite right, altho often we can experience some things that we convince ourself are just not real important or serious.
And in cases of psychosis, or serious depression etc, it is common to not voice those things due to embarrassment. People do not like to think anyone else might think they are "crazy" and people also do not like to share their own dark feelings very often. When we do share our dark feelings, some people try to minimize them, some try to get us to shrug it off, some try to tell us to buck up.....sometimes people shy away if we vocalize our dark feelings, so we often try to keep them to ourself.

 

[witzend]

No wise words, just hugs.

 

[TerryJ2]

Steely, just wanted to lend support, and second Beth's comment that there was probably nothing you could have done. That's the hardest part. Like you, I love information--the more, the better. Information is my anchor.
But you're on the right track, to find some peace within yourself, even if the toxicology results and other tests come back inconclusive. I agree that people can be very high functioning, even with-severe mental illness--so many here have validated that--and your sister may have been in denial or just doing her best.
{{{hugs}}}

 

[SRL]

Schizophrenia is as much of an enigma to me as psychosis. Our family is rampant with mental illness, and she had definite signs of some sort of mild paranoia - but to this degree - I am not sure. She had a mortgage, a career of ten years - and many other secure anchors that would seem to suggest that most of her life was spent in a reality based, successful, life. I just don't know anymore.
.

I have a friend who had a family, a successful career, and a stable life until submerged memories of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a family member started surfacing. Once those memories surfaced, serious mental health symptoms onset (PTSD, Schizophrenia) and escalated very rapidly.

 

[Steely]

Thanks you guys. I guess you are right - the bottom line is it could be anything! Just like Terry posted in another post, something could have been in her drinking water for all we know. Geesh. One weird thing is that she just stopped smoking 3 months ago. She had been a light smoker her whole life, maybe 6 a day, and then she stopped. It does not seem like it could be anything but good to do this - but I wonder if her anxiety was helped by the nicotine, and without it her anxiety and issues were escalated. Who knows. I probably should stop obsessing about this.........it is so hard though........somehow, subconsciously, I think I feel that by obsessing about it, I can change it.