"Our" Story about my wife's SA

[asusr6]

My wife of 22yrs(age 41) was diagnoised w/SA in May of 2003. She
takes her meds everyday and is once again "normal" So the meds-
Risperdal,Effexor, and the occasional Klonipin works great. I work
(ed) alot of long hours at my place of employment. At the time my
wife wasn't working. We are very active in our local church. have 2
children, 21 and 17(only one at home now).
In hindsight, we both(as her mother does also) believe she has had
SA for most of her late teen years but to a lessor degree. He father
passed away in Jan 2003(cancer) and we think this attributed to the SA coming out full force.
ANYHOW.....
I was working long hours for about 2 months straight. I work steady
midnights.I started to notice strange little things differant about
my wife but frankly at the time I didn't take the time to see what
was going on. Later in that week, I asked my son if he noticed
anything differant about his mother. He said that he had gotten up
in the middle of the night many times to use the bathroom and saw
her up cleaning the house, washing clothes, singing to herself,etc.
He told me he didn't think she was sleeping very much and maybe it
was because of her dad dying 5 months earlier or something. I told
him I'd talk to her about it when I had "time". Well my "time"
wasn't for approx. another week.
I came home from work to find my wife standing totally naked in
another room of our house and looking out the window into the sky as if she was praying.If you knew my wife, she doesn't ever leave the bedroom naked even if it's just her and I at home alone !! I asked her what was going on. She did not reply to me at all. I tried for 10 mins to get a response out of her but she was delusional and unresponsive. I said "the heck with you , i gotta get to bed as I got another 16hr shift to work. So I went to bed. In about 2 mins I couldn't stand it so out of bed I jumped and went back to her.
Finally I got a response out of her. She told me that God had told
her that he was coming for his people the next day and that I better
get prepared. Her SA illness was using the thing she enjoyed the
most, her faith, and the illness was warping it into something she
would have never believed she would have said if she had been "sane"
She continued on quoting her own form of the biblical text that was
just a bunch of incoherant gobbly goop that didn't make any sense at
all. I was at my wits end and frankly very afraid for her.

I didn't know what to do so I called my pastor and his wife and
they came right over. I manage to struggle with my wife to get some
clothes on her(pair of sweats) before they arrived. The Pastors wife
is very, very close friend of my wife. When they arrived she was on
the couch in the other room curled up in a fetal position in a
catatonic state. She wouldnt even acknowlegde the someone was in the
room with her. The 3 of us discussed what to do in another room of
the house. My pastor suggested that I call an ambulance and have to
taken "away" to get medical help. During this time she came into the
same room we were in and started "preaching " Biblical text that
made no sense at all(sorry to say it would had been very funny if
not for the situation)To make a long story even longer, we called
the local Mental Health Dept in our town and they helped us get a
ambulance arranged to come to the house.

Of course she refused to go anywhere with them. She even threatened
to divorce me(she never even used that word before!!!) if they didn't leave right away. But this was not MY
WIFE talking, but rather her illness. I told them to physically
remove her from the house against her will and take her to the
hospital to get help. They agreed but first had to get an offical
o.k. from a DR. at the hospital to do it.

The hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life was to order
someone to put the person I love the most with my entire being into a straight jacket stretcher. It the the most horrible experience of my life. (I almost needed medicated for the trauma of it all) She
put up a good fight, the the EMT's were pro's and got
the job done in no time without anyone getting hurt.

They took her to the local E.R that is 40 miles away. The ER doctor
asked her her name, what day it was, how many fingers he had up, who was the president, what color was this book,etc. He said there is nothing wrong with her and that there was no reason to keep her. Boy did I want to committ terrible acts to that doctor(quack)We were there a total of 15 mins. He suggested that "I" get anger managemant couseling or something to that effect( I think he thought I was slapping my wife around- GRRRRRRRR)
So out the ER door we went to go back home. Now what was I going to do? My wife fooled the doctor at the ER into thinking she was ok.

So I had my Pastor come back out, and along with a great lady at the Mental Health clinic in town, they convinced my wife that she did
indeed need MEDICAL help. So off we go on another 40 mile drive to
the differant hospital(thank God for them) The ER Dr. there did a
complete work up on her and agreed she could use some help. After a few hours wait we admiited her (she did so voluntarilly) into the Pysch. Unit of the hospital. She was ok with it until I went to
leave. By the way, the Psy. Unit of hospital are nothing like I
imagined (Remember -One flew over the cookoo's nest...)This unit was even nicer than the standard hospital rooms. I wouldn't had minded staying there myself !!! (NOT) .So after tearful goodby, I left.

I was alowed to visit anytime I wanted during regular visiting
hours. The first time I went to see her I was SHOCKED. They had her so drugged up she couldn't even sit up. I was upset and grabbed a nurse about it. It turns out that my wife hadn't slept in over 14 DAYS !!! and they were doing this on purpose for 2 days so her physical body could rest. Boy after that second day, what a
differance in my wife !! She improved 100%. It turns out that not
only was my wife hearing multiple voices in her head, she was also
seeing things, angels,devils, bugs,animal, ect. moving in and
through the walls of our house.You name it, she saw it !!!

Well, after 6 days in the local hospital unit, they allowed my wife
to leave. The Risperdal stopped all the voices,visions,etc within 48
hrs if not sooner. she takes Effexor for depression and Klonipin for
stress as needed.We also went to a Christian couselor in addition to the the Pysch for the meds. He says that his plan is that after one year , with no further incidents or set backs, that he will start to wean her off her meds. We are very curious and hopeful that she
won't need them any longer after May 2004. But we are also aware
that she may also need to take meds forever. Guess we'll see this
May.

The one positive thing about this entire ordeal, is that we are more
loving, closer bonded, and more in tune with each other than we've
been in our entire marriage. We didnt have a bad marriage, but we
just took things for granted (like each other).My wife now has a job
and loves it.

I'm rather glad we walked this journey together !!! Wouldn't want to go through it again...but we both know that if she ever needs
hospialized in the future, we wont waste anytime.

For those of you out there- there is hope, meds do work, even though we don't like taken them, and if life gives you a lemon, make
lemonaide.

Keep the faith and get the professional help- you CANT do it on your own.

Sure hope our experience helps someone out there in cyberspace.

[MSBLUE]

Thank you so much for coming here and sharing your heartwarming but all to often sad experience with us all.

I too hope that it might reach at least one person , and help.

I'm so sorry that you and your wife had to experience this episode, but very happy that you were there for her. It is such a horrific illness to begin with, when it comes full force, but to be alone, is even worse , if you can imagine.

I commend your doctor, on his/her choice of meds. Risperdol and seroquel are wonderful helpers in eliminating psychosis in a matter of a few days. And anxiety needs to stay at a bottom low to keep it from returning. This is my experience anyway.

Thank you again for sharing. And the best that life has to offer for you both. And your kids.

[asusr6]

We went to Pdoc the other day. Says shes doing great and doesn't want to see her for 3 months. Just renewed med prescriptions and that it. Looking forward to May 2004 to start getting of her meds and seeing what will happen.

She's doing great- no problems at all!!!

Life is good

[asusr6]

Wife is tired of the foggy, drugged up dazed feeling. The drugs work ok as far as the symptoms go, they really turned things around, but now she want rid of all of them. She(we) deceided not to wait until May 2004 to start the weaning process from the Risperdal. Even though this was a wonder drug for us, it is or can be( from what I've read) a dangerous drug with a few bad effects. She has not experienced ANY bad effects from the risperdal(other than going from a size 3 to a size 5-6 and losing her sex drive) just so you know. She has just reached a mental state of that she WANTS TO BE DRUG FREE and WELL, if POSSIBLE, AND THE ONLY WAY TO FIND OUT IS TO WEAN HER OFF AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS. So (even though the PDoc doesn't know about it yet)(I know- don't yell at us about doing it all under DR. care-lol)(we are taking charge of her care !!!) she started weaning herself off risperdal. From info gather off the internet, we dropped the dosage 10% each week. After 5 weeks she is now down to 50% of her original 1mg strength. There has been no noticibable change in her mental state or the blurry brain feeling. So she's deceided today to quit all the Risperdal for good. If she has problems she'll remedicate. She'll continue on the Effexor(which she already cut in half) and the Klonopin until Risperdal free WITHOUT any problems. Then she'll work on the others. I'll let you know how it goes. From what I've read, if there is going to be withdraw symptoms, they usually start within 8 hrs. to a few days. Well, shes been at work all day and is still there so she must have not fell apart in the first 24 hrs.


Update you all later

[MSBLUE]

We went to Pdoc the other day. Says shes doing great and doesn't want to see her for 3 months. Just renewed med prescriptions and that it. Looking forward to May 2004 to start getting of her meds and seeing what will happen.

She's doing great- no problems at all!!!

Life is good

Oh I'm so happy to hear that.
I am concerned that she is wanting to get off ALL her meds tho. SA doesn't just stop, and many SA's drop their meds once they feel good again, to only later be back at square one, but that is a lesson we all have to learn on our own.

I'm sure her doc would agree to down her dosage of resperdol, or maybe to take it prn. All you have to do is call her and let her know. The sex drive is from the effexor, not the resperdol. That is a common side affect of AD's. The druggy feeling can be controlled by lowering the resperdol, but I wouldn't , if it were me, and it has been, DC all her meds. But that is up to you all, as no one can make you do or take anything for that matter. Many doctors will drop their patients if they don't comply to their treatments. As the doctor gets frustrated by non compliance after so much research, trial and error. Tho they get their money, that's not all that doctors care about. But they do not want to be held liable . And I don't blame them.

Thank you again for the update, and my best wishes to you both,

[asusr6]

:D
Wife has been off all her drugs for 3 months now- Doctor doesn't want to see her anymore unless she has problems. She's now drug free, her mind is no longer foggy and is back to her old self !!. I know its been only 3 months but things are looking good for her. BUT we still have plenty of meds left over if she needs to go back on them.

Read articles on living without meds-it is possible. Even our pmed doctor says so once you get over the major problems.

Keep you posted !!!

[taran]

"It turns out that my wife hadn't slept in over 14 DAYS !!! "

Lack of sleep is a known cause of hallucinations. Was her SA diagnosis based on anything other than that one episode? If not, maybe she is not even SA.

Good luck weaning her off the meds. She might not need them at all. OTOH, she might need after all. Be careful, and keep in touch with the doctor.

I wonder why she hadn't slept in 14 days?

I am not a mental health professional.

[Guest]

She didnt sleep because she was "manic" and the "voices" where telling her to do things, to keep moving, that she didn't need to sleep,etc....

Yes, even after 3 days of sleep you can hallunicatate-(major tatic of interigators) done it myself woirking 16hr days for weeks on end in the past.

don't get me wrong- my wife is currently not having ANY sytpmoms-= she still has trouble with depression off and on and may still "hear" something in her head once in awhile, but its not enough that it bothers her enough to take meds. It is controllable for now. But those moments are indeed vary rare now

Just don't buy into the fact that you ALWAYS have to be on meds- even our pmed doesnt subscribe to that theory. And he's the HEAD psch doc of our "local" major hospital and highly respected and published

[MSBLUE]

A lack of sleep can cause on to have psychosis, IF you are bipolar, very manic. The Norm may not experience this.

With psychosis, auditory and visual hallucinations are easily treated, and can also be brought on my stress.

The thing I'm concerned about is what you describe aren't hallucinations they are delusions. Hallucinations don't talk to you, they just ramble non specific jibber, and visuals are like a wake-sleep state, making no sense. Delusions are believable, and only the person having them can see and hear them, and believe they are real. As they act and talk as if they are real. Telling you what to do, specifically.

When the voices start telling you what to do. That is a whole other case. And I hope this doesn't happen to her again. As above, was this dx based on one episode, and did you both tell the doc, the voices TOLD her what to do? Just curious.

I wish her and you the best of luck, dd

[Guest]

Hi asusr6!
I read your posting several times. It really touches my, because I've had a similar experience. (Sorry for mistakes I am no native speaker). I'm a 18 year old female from Germany and my mother had a psychosis in July 2003. I came back from school and my mother was absolutly out of mind and i had to take her to the mental hospital. It was the pure horror for me and I'm still dreaming about it. She believed I was raped (she saw it) and someone was following us etc. But a second later, she pretended normal I was really afraid the doctor wouldn't belief me the crazy things she did and said. She hadn't slept well for weeks.
Today she is fine, takes her drugs and soon will drop them. She's working again and everything seems like before, but for me, it isn't
Untill the day everything happend, i didn't know she has had a psychosis 20 year before, so it was really a shock for me.
Her mother has probably schizophrenia, and my other grandma committed suicide when my dad was 19. She had persecution mania. So it definetly lies in the family, but I'm not realy scared because I think it's up to the individual personality.
I have a few questions to you.
Do you talk with your wife about the psychosis and how she experienced it? Do you talk to your kids about it (your son is the in the same age as me i think)? How do they deal with it? Do your family and your friends know about the diagnosis? Does your wife accept the diagnosis?
Oh, sorry, i would have many more questions to you! There are just so many similarities to what you have written.
For me, everthing has changed since the psychosis and i am supposed not to talk with my mother about it and sometimes it drives me crazy because something is standing between me and my mother since then and I'm trying not to think about the event but it is in my mind all the time.
I admirer you for the detailed and onest "story" you have written and it shows me that I'm not the only one to have experiences something like that.
Thank you for listening!