Understanding Schizophrenia: Experiences and Support

Question
Hello there, how are you going? My name is Christina and I live in Australia. Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. It is about my sister. My sister has schitzophrenia, and last year she went into the acute psychiatric section of the hospital twice, because she was hearing a voice who was tormenting her and teasing her and telling her things that weren't true, like that people were trying to kill her and that people were following her to get her, and spying on her etc. And she kept bashing herself in the head with her fists and telling the voice to go away. Then the voice told her to hurt herself and she did, she stabbed herself in the head, and she did whatever bizzare things the voice told her to do, like she went and put photos of our family in the neighbours yard, then she got her old shoes and put them in the neighbours yard. Then the voice told her to kill herself and she stabbed herself in the head with scissors till it bled a lot. In the hospital they put her on seroquel, but it didn't work at all, she kept doing the same stuff. Meanwhile, she came back home, and the psychiatrists visited our house most nights, now they come a few times a week. When the seroquel didn't work, they put her on clozapine or clozapime, which she is still on now. She is also on oroxine for her thyroid, and logynon ed (the pill) for something ovarian, and serc tablets (for the dizziness) and some valium. Now, she doesn't bash herself up or stab herself, but she has turned into a living zombie instead. All she does all day and all night is lay on the couch and complain that she is dizzy. She doesn't talk or go out or interact, or do anything at all in fact. She says that she is constantly dizzy, and it is wrecking her life as she can hardly stand up, and the doctors did her all these tests and they said that they can't find any reason for her to be dizzy and that the dizziness is all in her mind, as she thinks that the voice is tying her up ti a torture machine and spinning her around. Also, 3 months ago, she was acting very confused and disoriented, and then she collapsed, so we called an ambulance and they rushed her to hospital and put her on a drip. When I went to visit her and I asked the doctors what it was, they told me that one of her tablets had caused her slat levels to go too low, and that she was on a drip to replace the lost salt. Ever since then, she has been worse. When she came home after that hospital stay, the doctors said that she can't drink more than one and a half lites of water a day for the rest of her life or else her salt will go too low and she will get sick again. She doesn't listen to us or the doctors, so every day and night she drinks too much and gets very confused and even dizzier, and disoriented, because her salt goes too low, and she wanders round and round the house like a zombie, and she just goes from the toilet, to the tap to drink, back to the couch for 5 minutes, back to the toilet, back to the tap for a drink, back to the couch for 5 minutes etc, and this goes all all day and all night, from morning till night. Now the doctors say that the fact that she can't drink water for the rest of her life has got nothing to do with any of the tablets she was ever on, and that she was just born like that. But how can that be if it is only just now that she has had to limit her water intake or she gets like that? So, I was just wondering if you can make anything of the situation, what do you think is wrong with her, and what do you think I should do to help her to get better, as my parents are so very stressed out and sad. And what do you think happened to her that all of a sudden her salt goes too low if she drinks too much water, do you think that they "broke" something in her body or something? Sorry this question is so long. I would greatly appreciate any advice which you could offer. Thank you so very much for your time, and I hope that you have a very excellnt day. Warm Regards, from Christina in Australia

Answer
christina;

not everyone who hears voices is a schizophrenic. some people with severe depression may hear voices. hearing voices may also occur as a result of a serious medical illness or from side effects of medications.

three types of psychotic disorders are schizophrenia,brief psychotic disorder and substance-induced psychotic disorder.

by its nature,schizophrenia isnt an illness for which people are likely to seek treatment on their own. to someone with this disorder,the delusions and hallucinations are real,so she sees no need for medical help. to her,all this is just normal.
theres no cure for this,as you well know.

i dont understand why she is not in a psychiatry hospital for a while,like years? how about your life,isnt it worth living,you need to have a life to.

i know in the U.S. we most likely do thing differently.

i wish i could really help,but i really dont know what i can do;

please reply;

catherine;