Hi everyone. My name is mary williams and I’m a mother of 4. My 7yr old was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder when he began school. It’s been a long road for us all. Every 6mos his meds have to be changed because they don’t seem to help him. He has hallucinations, hearing and seeing things that’s not really there. He’s been suicidal. I was wanting to know if there’s anymore parents going through the same or similar things
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#mental health #submission #coping #schizoaffective disorderI have come a long way from my first admittance to a hospital. How I have suffered and why I suffer now is not important. What is important is that I take the medications for schizoaffective disorder everyday, seek counsel from mental health professional, do tai chi, and lastly do mindfulness meditation, which all four “keeps me sane”. I work, I go to community college and manage to live on my own.
In August of 2019, I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes and my doctor recommended exercise to treat it. This all started in 2005, when I was diagnosed with a postpartum mental illness and treated with medications that have known metabolic side effects. My diagnosis was later changed to Schizoaffective Disorder. Every time I’ve been taken off medication, I’ve gotten sick again, so I need the mental health medication, even though it has side effects.
My work provides the benefit of points towards a gym membership. So, I joined the gym after I learned about my diagnosis. As part of joining my gym, I had a free consultation visit with a personal trainer. At the end of the visit, we sat down, and he took out his notepad.
Chihuahua Miracle
BY SARA PAULSEN
Mental Health Survivor, dog breeder, and Liam
SEBAGO, MAINE— In my mid-20s, I was terrified to reintegrate myself into society after losing my job and ending up on disability. Even though I was taking
my medication for my schizoaffective disorder, it doesn’t control all my
symptoms. I don’t have delusions anymore, but I am left with visual and
auditory hallucinations. I became very lonely, and I was at a loss as to how
I would continue to live the rest of my life. I needed a companion; I
desperately wanted a Chihuahua.
I didn’t intend for him to be a service dog. Over the Internet, I found a
local Chihuahua breeder with a positive reputation. While petting Liam for
the first time, I began to open up to the breeder, who told me she had been
training Chihuahuas for 33 years.
She was very easy to talk to, so I told her about my journey with
mental illness and why I wanted a dog at this point in my life. She asked
me what I was still struggling with on a daily basis.
I explained that I was constantly asking my boyfriend either “Did you
hear that?” or “Did you see that?” to get a reality check on the low-level
hallucinations that my medicine still doesn’t completely control. As you can
imagine, it was creating a lot of stress in our home. I was also paranoid
about being home alone and going out alone, and I was self-conscious
about my possible behaviors.
The breeder asked if I would consider working with her to train Liam
to help me. I immediately thought of hugs, kisses and unconditional love –
which are all wonderful – but I didn’t know what else she could train Liam to
do for me. She said she had ideas that she had never tried before and asked if I would be willing to work on creating a Chihuahua miracle. She
didn’t ask for a penny.
How could I resist? I worked with her for two years twice a week, and
during the second year, my therapist even agreed to join us. This was the
opportunity of a lifetime.
Liam now assists me in ways I never thought possible. I’ll lightly tap
his shoulder with two fingers and then ask him either “Did you hear that?”
or “Did you see that?” If he did, he will put one paw forward; if he did not,
he will lie down.
Super amazing, right? I had no idea a dog could do this. This
seemingly basic task changes the way I live my life every day.
He has become my barometer for reality. I don’t have to ask the
people closest to me a thousand times a day about a possible
hallucination. I don’t have to be scared and wake someone up in the middle
of the night. My paranoia has decreased drastically. I’m not scared to be
home alone and I’m not scared to go out alone, because he is always there
supporting me.
I continue to bring Liam, my Chihuahua, everywhere I go. I am a
public speaker for three separate mental health speaker bureaus in Maine.
He can be quite the attraction. It is as if we have an invisible leash
connection at all times. He just turned 7 years old, so we are in a fantastic
rhythm together. He is still happy and healthy.
His little 6-pound frame has changed my life. I am not scared
anymore, and my relationships are stronger and healthier than ever before.
He has helped me so much to reintegrate into society. He is my best and
most loyal friend.
Several members of my family have struggled with mental health conditions- silently and not-so-silently. First was my father, diagnosed at 31 with schizoaffective disorder, which unfortunately became a big family secret. Because dad was ‘sick’ and I was only 13, and no one would say why he was disconnected & uncommunicative, I believed it was somehow my fault, as many adolescents do. It took years to understand his illness, but eventually my brother and I learned that it was no one’s fault: and that mental health conditions ARE health conditions and need not have a stigma attached.
I was lucky to have a great school guidance counselor…. who also helped me to seek help at 15, for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to a violent crime that I survived. I was also private about my pain, fearing abandonment or blame. Next was my own diagnosis of depression, and hard work with several wonderful psychotherapists. These amazing people have a hard job AND they sometimes save lives! They deserve recognition and pay EQUITABLE with that of other healthcare professionals!!
Gradually I learned to share my story with others. By the time I was 25, my youngest brother & sister were adopted from Romania, by my mother & stepfather. My brother was in an orphanage for his first 14 months of life, with poor living conditions, rampant disease and no nurturing. He survived undiagnosed hepatitis as an infant - with no medicine- he’s a survivor!! By age 5 in the USA he was diagnosed with ADHD, an attachment disorder, a mood disorder, and developmental delays. With special schooling, medicine & therapy, he was able to make friends, graduate high school, learn to drive, get several jobs, and lead a much better life (than would have been possible in Romania)!!
I am a 36 yr old mom of 5 kids. I had a 8 year period of homelessnesand neglect drugs abuse etc. I recently forced myself to accept the 20 yrs of mental health diagnoseses of bipolar 1 p.t.s.d. schizoaffective disorder. I woke up in a eugene oregon hospital uncertain of how i got there. they explained i overdosed on zyprexa. they told me they had to shock my heart twice to revive me, pump my stomachce, they could barely get an iv in me my bloodpressure plumetted to nothing they had me in a warming unit. they saved my life when i tried to end it and now two months later i feel depressed major and need support.
Taking one day at a time as I see my son recover from from being diagnose as having schizoaffective disorder. Everyday is struggle, however he is still trying to recover and make the best of what is normal for him in his mindset. Even though things took a turn when he was in college at the prime of his life, he made it back home safe in my arms. I welcome him with open arms as I try to come to terms of what happened to my baby, my first born. In this life he will always have a label holding him back from being all he can be because of what society shows. As I stand to help him recover, I open his eyes to not being a mental health client who is pushed to the side. I hold his hand as he walk this valley we call life and to live happy and know that he is truly loved. There is no love like a mother love for her child, so I say love your child even in the darkest time that they don’t understand.
Hi I’m April White and I suffer from Schizoaffective disorder. I was diagnosed with Major Depression in 2006 and then in 2008 I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. It has been a struggle dealing with this disorder actually its been very unstable until now. In the past ten years, since I graduated college in 2004, I have lived in like 20 different places from living with family to renting rooms. I always think someone is after me. I just got out of an assisted living center, I was there for 11 months and it was through the local mental hospital.I’ve been raped, taken advantage of when trying to buy a car and used for my brain like everyday. So I finally at a low point I felt like I couldn’t even take care of myself. I am now employed and I just signed a year lease at a condo in Brevard County. I am much happier with my life something I didn’t think I would ever be able to say. My advice is keep taking your meds and talk to people with similar diagnosis. I met a lot of interesting people at the assisted living center and I’m glad I stayed there. Thank you and Merry Christmas!!!!
I was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder nearly 15 years ago, and later received a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder of the bipolar type. The second hospitalization following a manic episode was the most difficult–26 days in a state institution–and by the third hospitalization I’d decided that something needed to change: I had to take control of my life. Taking medication consistently was one thing, but cutting all alcohol and drugs altogether was the thing that made all the difference. Without drugs altering my mental balance, I was able to stabilize my moods and get my life together. I started my own editing business and currently run two successful businesses. I’ve also written a book about my illness. I have 7 employees and haven’t looked back on that life that once seemed so hopeless. Once I realized that 1) I wasn’t a victim and everyone has issues and 2) I may have to alter how I live, but my life can still be productive and successful, I was able to get out of the cycle of self-pity. Ultimately, what helped me move on was the realization that I, not my illness, am in charge of my own destiny. There are still difficult days, but I’ve learned that depression and paranoia always end, and coping mechanisms help get me through difficult times. Meditation helps, as does taking time to walk in the woods.
A year after I lost my dad to high grade sarcoma (a very rare form of cancer), I lost my mom to mental illness. Three years after the journey to help Mom learn to live with her illness, I finally was able to give it a name: schizoaffective disorder. Have you heard of it? Neither had I. When doing the research I found out about 0.3% of the population are diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. My parents were always good at standing out from the crowd.
Joking aside, the journey has been a challenging learning experience for all. She moved to Arizona after my father had passed where she then began to think the mob and cartel were after her. After spending well more than my father’s life insurance policy gave her and living out a real life Bourne Identity movie, we were able to convince her to come back to Minnesota. Here she has the resources and support she needs to help her with her journey.
We are going through another challenging time with her right now. My family will most likely have to wrap our heads around another new version of normal for our mother. But she is a fighter and wants to live as close to a normal life as she can. I’m very thankful for groups like NAMI and the mental health care system Minnesota provides. As flawed as it may still be, other states are not as advanced.
No matter if your journey with mental illness is your own or a loved one, never give up. Always love them and yourself. Change your outlook of “bad days” to life lessons and find what you can take from the experience.
You are amazing! You are doing a great job! You are loved! Don’t give up!
And I knew I wasn’t right
So I planned on going that Friday night
And I knew I wasn’t okay
Making it the perfect place for me to stay
See, for most, a mental hospital isn’t a choice
It’s one of those things where you are left without a voice
Brought there suddenly against your will
Then before you know it, you are given a bunch of random pills
But for me, it was where I was supposed to be