Several years ago (we think it was 2011) my husband's mother had a "spell" for lack of a better word. She was completely out of touch with reality and spent time on a psychiatric ward. For the past few years she's faded in and out of reality. Well, for the past month or so - goodness, where to begin. My poor husband has been arrested and he shot himself, my poor son was beaten by a police officer, her other son was fired but somehow found a lot of money he's not paying taxes on...none of these things happened, NONE of them. The doctors are now saying schizophrenia, apparently it was suggested previously but she didn't have an official diagnosis.
Regardless, she is hearing these things. We've tried to tell her that none of it is true and we're trying to help her get better. She told my husband he was stupid if he couldn't hear the people talking about her.
So. Her ALF has said she can come back if the doctor says she's no longer delusional or a danger to other residents which makes me think she can't go back. She was convinced a neighbor was trying to kill her, so she ended up threatening the neighbor.
In the past, she has been OK about knowing things. Yeah, she might confuse her granddaughters' names but she knows how much money was in her bank account before my husband let it get cleaned out and that never happened, either. But, she HEARD it.
Where do such people go? A nursing home? Memory care? She'll be in the hospital for at least another week. What can we start doing now to prepare for the future?
So start with the diagnosis and work from there.
Please keep us posted - you've got a really difficult situation to deal with to figure out how to best help her while keeping her and those around her safe.
Abilify is an atypical antipsychotic which is often used in conjunction with an antidepressant to increase the effect of the antidepressant in cases of severe depression. I'd be curious to know if the psychiatrist thinks this is a sudden onset of schizophrenia or if she's always had it and it simply wasn't recognized.
Medications for delusions and hallucinations often take some time to start working, so be patient.
Is there a discharge planning office at this facility? Can they give you guidance about what sort of facility you should be looking for?
Apparently, the psychiatrist at the hospital said schizophrenia. She's on medicine, Abilify and something else. Over a week ago, a doctor, nurse or someone called me. My husband gave permission for the hospital staff to talk to me. The nurse, doctor, whoever wanted to know if he had my permission to give her some antipsychotic drugs and I told him to do what he had to do to make the voices stop.
The voices haven't stopped.
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