Medical Questions > Mental Health > Schizophrenia Forum

He's on so many meds, maybe theyre the wrong ones.

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I have a brother I care for dearly and am trying to get him the most help possible,
he's been in and out of hospitals as long as i can remember and we've never gotten a chance to be close because of this. Now I'm older i feel a responsibility to make sure he has the right doctor, the right meds, the right hospital, and eventually the right environment to live in (everything parents didnt care about). He is on a lot of medications and I am trying to get insight into his disease through previous treatments, interactions with him, and what they are doing for him now.
this is what he is prescribed to take:
depakote
lithium
clozaril

I hear these are very strong drugs for schizophrenia and are usually a last hope when you combine all three. Is it possible the drugs interact negatively? do you think him being on all 3 is a sign his illness is severe? I can not tell if the drugs are helping, even being on schedule everyday he will sometimes have delusions or feel depression, and on occasion have "episodes". i get the feeling his overworked doc doesnt care anymore, and it makes me feel terrible that he is an overlooked patient instead of someone who has lost half his life to his disease and deserves a fighting chance to live the rest of it somewhat ok. Our mental health care in california is terrible, understaffed, overworked, and stripped of a budget, its really sad.
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replied October 23rd, 2012
Violent Schizoaffective Son Scared Stiff
My son has schizoaffective disorder which just means schizophrenic and bi-polar. He is only on risperdal but up until last week he was also on olanzapine. They havn't introduced a mood stabalizer and dont know if they will. We made it clear to the doctors that whenever he has an episode it results in someone getting beat up and recently almost killed someone. Wether he is psychotic or not he is facinated with the army and owning a gun. We recently found a letter from the gun registry denying him firearms due to a background check they did. Just before he went in the hospital he was fixated on going to his dads to get a chainsaw that he "left there" his dad informed us that he didnt leave a chainsaw their that the chainsaw is his. A couple of weeks ago they let him leave the hospital for 2 hours and he went and drank. They up'd his medication and then a week later took one of them completely away. Today without the hospital telling us they let him out by himself again and he drank somewhere then showed up at our house smelling of alcohol very agitated and yelling and screaming and gritting his teeth telling us he has nothing and that his doctor and probation office think he is not schizophrenic and that he can drink. We are terrified in our own home. His father took care of him for 7 years and he turned on his dad one day last April beating him up breaking his nose. He went into the hospital and was released a month later and went back to his dads and threatened to kill him and his wife. Police were called and they had to draw their weapons to calm him down. Once he was released again from the hospital he left the province. He ended up in the hospital and eventually jail their for beating 2 men up and one so serious that they dont know if he will servive. When he was released from jail they sent him home on a bus. He came straight to our home because he had knowhere else to go. He went into an episode right away and we talked him into going to the hospital through very gental persuasion. Over the years he had little contact with me because I am in a same sex relationship. The day we brought him to the hospital he had made a comment that "gays shouldnt breath" He is very angry and able to not show it to the doctors and staff. We dont feel safe anymore everyday we are living in fear that he will kill us. The doctors know all this and have all his records from his visits to the hospital and courts but yet they let him out knowing he probably will succeed and kill someone. Do hospitals actually wait until they do then they get locked up forever?
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