Hi everyone, I was hoping someone could help me out.
I have been on the internet for a while trying to find a solution, but I couldn't find anything that was exact to my particular problem.
I have a brother who is 26 years old who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and ADHD about 4 years ago.
Recently he decided to stop taking is medicine and I know he's seeing/hearing some type of delusions by the way he is acting.
I tried to find someone who might have a similar problem, but as far as I've read from people who stopped taking their medicine, they are either aware of their delusions, or had put thought and consideration to not taking their medicine. High functioning schizophrenics.
But my brother is different. He was always different even when we were younger, he was always (I don't know the proper word for this so sorry if offensive) slow. Much more than everyone else but was never diagnosed with anything until he was an adult.
He's too smart to be considered retarded (sorry also don't know if there is a proper word for this either) but too slow to be an efficient adult, so often times he gets treated unfairly by others around him because they just see him as "stupid' and understands what he's doing. (I admit myself for wondering why he's doing some things he does because I KNOW he knows.. but at the same time I know he doesn't know..it's complicated)
He doesn't understand what he's doing..I think?, and doctors think he's coherent enough to make his own decisions(in their mind he is, but my mother and I know better) and he is an adult so no one can "make" him do anything.
He also puts himself in situations where most "normal" people (and I use the word normal in the most general way) He would go hang out with people who constantly abuse him.. i.e. have stolen from him, made him use all his money to buy stuff, beat him up etc. but he just keeps going back to these "friends" I've asked him why does he wanna be around people like this but I can also understand that he just wants to have friends. I want to know why he keeps doing this to himself.
I want to also add he is always high on something. He spends ALL of his (SSI?) money on weed and alcohol. Every single day. He has no desire to ever get a job or get "clean" He's also on probation and has to make clean drug tests which he keeps failing. I don't know exactly the circumstances surrounding this, but it's obvious he thinks nothing is going to happen to him and he can just keep giving up dirty urine.
I blame my mother sometimes for the way he is too. She is an enabler. She will drive him to these "friends" where she knows what happens to him and what he does when he leaves. But at the same time, I know if she doesn't he will just scream and please please please bug her all day and night until she breaks, can't get a moment of silence and just does it. I've told her, just ignore him but I know she just loves her son so much and just wants him to be happy. Even if it's on his drugs, at least he's acting happy and not crying from the side effects of his medicine or bugging out in the middle of the night from nightmares.
She's often asked me.. What do I think is better? Should he just do whatever he wants just so he is happy? Or should she somehow force him to take his medicine and never drive him to the places he wants to go and he will go on to be miserable for the rest of his life.
Okay, I'm sorry for writing too much I just wanted to give as much backround on him as possible in hopes someone out there knows someone else similar to this.
My main question is.. should we somehow force him to take his medicine? The doctor said my mother should grind it up in his food but 1: she can't bring herself to do this (I have no moral problems with this though, so I will if need be) and 2: if he finds out he will probably flip a $#%^ and that will be bad for everyone.
P.S. The medicine he takes is Zyprexa, depacote, benztropine and I think maybe something else though I can't be certain of tat atm.
Thank you to all who take the time to read my story.