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Rivulet
Contributor

My sister is not talking to anyone, I don't know what's the best course of action

Hi everyone, my sister has schizophrenia and she is currently not talking to anyone. This only occurred today. She was responsive for the past few days but it seems that she might have missed her oral medication yesterday which might have triggered this? Along with maybe the blood test she had yesterday which her psychatrist suggested which she hates. (She hates needles).

 

She has stayed silent for the past 8 hours, refuses to move from her spot, doesn’t want to eat or drink anything and only responds by smiling to herself and shaking/nodding her head. Before this silence, she did tell her friends that she is being ‘poisoned’ by her family and refuses to consume anything.

 

I have tried to get different family members to try approach her as well as her friends but she is not reacting. I did find that if I spoke to her using the LEAP method about how she’s feeling, what she is hearing/seeing and if she’d like to share it or even about the things she enjoys, she’ll smile and shrug and show a reaction, but I’m not certain if she is reacting to what I’m saying. To be honest it seems like she is not hearing anything we're saying at all.

 

Our only option is to wait or to go to the hospital, but we are wary of that option as she did strongly opposed to go to the hospital before as she hates the environment there. She also told her friends she hated how we ‘forced’ her to go to the hospital last time 3 years ago and how she hated it there so we are wary on doing this again.

 

I don’t know what we can do. Does anyone have any suggestions or can perhaps share their experience on what normally runs in your mind if you’re not willing to talk, move from your spot or eat/drink?

 

I am planning to call the mental health care triage number as it was suggested to me before if this condition persists where she does not want to talk to us, eat or drink and move from her spot. But I am afraid that by calling them she will be hospitalised which she hates. (It will be her 3rd time being hospitalised).

 

Thank you in advance for your help. >_<

24 REPLIES 24

Re: My sister is not talking to anyone, I don't know what's the best course of action

@Rivulet  Hi Rivulet and welcome I have schizoaffective disorder. When I nod my head or shake my head to answer questions it is normally because I am feeling overwhelmed by my senses. In my own experience it does not mean that I am in the grips of a psychosis. I also have paranoia about being poisoned or drugged which even the meds have not taken away. Is your sister taking her meds? if so missing one dose really shouldnt make a difference in my own experience......  can you take her to see a trusted gp? instead of hospital. I only take my meds because I never want to go back to hospital again. 

 

IMHO it sounds to me that your sister has been missing taking her meds or they need to be reviewed so a trip to a doc gp or psychiatrist is best course of action. Take good care of yourself and be safe. Love greenpeax

Re: My sister is not talking to anyone, I don't know what's the best course of action

Hi @Rivulet it is a good idea to ring the mental health triage number.  She needs help, they may not send her to hospital, they may just give her an injection.I have schitzophenia too and I am have depot injections once a month because I could not be trusted to take oral medication.

Re: My sister is not talking to anyone, I don't know what's the best course of action

Hi @greenpea , thank you so much for your message. That helps me understand a bit more about what she might be going through so thank you. She did visit her psychatrist who she said she trusts just last week and she was telling the doctor she was fine, but I guess she wasn't since it looks like she has stopped taking her medicine. Thank you for sharing your experience to me. I wish you a smooth journey and all the best 🙂

 

@Schitzo thank you as well for your advice. I actually ended up calling the hotline as the situation escalated a lot in last few hours and they suggested hospitalisation as the best course of action which we ended up choosing.

 

I understand it will take some time, but we definitely will try to convince her this time that the injections will be the best solution as her medication method. I know she had strong resistance against injections previously due to her hatred for needles and an 'unknown' substance being given to her, but it has gone to a point where her delusions and thoughts are telling her to get out of her home and away from her family which is really worrying, but after talking to the hotline they said priority is for my sister to get her medicine to control the situation a bit more. I might end up posting her for more advice in the future so thank you in advance for your help! Thank you again @greenpea and @Schitzo!

Re: My sister is not talking to anyone, I don't know what's the best course of action

@Rivulet  All the best for you, your sister and family. Love peax

Re: My sister is not talking to anyone, I don't know what's the best course of action

@Rivulet  Thank you for the update, I'm glad to know your sister is going to be ok.

You are a lovely caring family.

I wish you all the best🌸xxx

Re: My sister is not talking to anyone, I don't know what's the best course of action

Thank you so much @Schitzo and @greenpea! My family and I really appreciate your help and your kind words 🙂 Please take care of yourselves as well!

Re: My sister is not talking to anyone, I don't know what's the best course of action

@Rivulet  Hi,

 

Just checking in to see how you are. Your sister too of course. Any change?

 

Pleasr reach out here as you feel the need. We are here to support you.

 

BPDSurvivor

Re: My sister is not talking to anyone, I don't know what's the best course of action

My brother with schizophrenia has written off all his siblings in a rage. This rage has continued for several months now. Any attempt I make is angrily rebuked. Does time heal all wounds? Do I annoy him and keep trying?

Re: My sister is not talking to anyone, I don't know what's the best course of action

Hi @BPDSurvivor , thanks for checking in on us, you're so kind and thoughtful 🙂 My family and I are doing alright, there's been a lot of supportive people out there including yourself so thank you so much!

 

She's currently hospitalised at the moment, it's been a week now. Main updates are her medication dosage has increased as recommended by her psychiatrist. We did visit her on the day after she was hospitalised to make sure she was ok (and to give her essentials), but she ended up running away from us, and also did not want to talk to us on the phone either, so we've concluded she's still under the delusion that her family is trying to harm her.

 

The doctor did end up advising us not to visit or call her as she is still quite agitated and paranoid still. They say she's doing alright in the hospital though and that it seems like she's been talking less to herself now? I'm not sure if this is a change of setting thing or if the voices are settling down due to the medication. Only a week has passed so we'll have to wait and see.

 

We're just praying that it'll be a swift recovery and that my sister will want us to see her soon. Plus trying to develop a plan within the family to see how best we can support my sister and also trying to support my parents too as they see to be impacted by my sister's rejection a lot harder 😞

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