Brother with shizophrenia

[KAT2006]

I love MDC but do not post much. I found my way here because I really do not know where to turn. My "little" brother as been battling shizophrenia for the last two years. It was two years ago on Thanksgiving that my family realized something as going on. He has been extremely unstable since the summer, even needing to be hospitalized for three weeks in-patient. It breaks my heart to go and hang out with him (he is living with my parents). He has a manic/BPD component of his disease as well. I go and hang out with him a few times a week because it means alot to him, and I feel I am doing my "sisterly" duty. But really, I hate visiting.(guilt, guilt, guilt) It makes me so sad to see him psychotic, anxious, manic, etc. Visiting when he was in the hospital was even worse. I'm just SO angry and sad for him. I am a nurse myself and I don't think there is any worse disease then mental illness.
I'm not sure what I am asking for....advice? Venting? BTDT?
Just feeling so desperate!
-K

[Carley]

You might get hope from support of nami. There are a lot of encouraging stories. In the last mailing I received there was an account from a woman with schizophrenia who went on to become a psychiatric nurse.

http://www.nami.org/


There was also a thread a while back I beleive called "I'm so proud of my brother" ? It will also give you hope for the future. All is not lost The hardest part of any mental illness is comming to terms with the diagnosis & finding treatment.

[JaneSmith1010]

KAT2006, I don't really like responding with this sort of info for an emotional post like this but I have to. I had a friend lose a son to schizophrenia (he lived on the streets and froze to death I think) and after learning what I have to share she was angry that she never knew about it. I have Celiac disease, which when in the advanced stages, can manifest in psychiatric symptoms like depression and even schizoprenic like issus. After looking into this some more researchers have found that individuals labelled schizophrenic benefit GREATLY from gluten free and esp from grain free diets like the Specific Carb Diet. I'm not sure how easy this would be to try with your brother but anything is worth trying in a situation like this....I think it would have helped my father who is not institutionalized for good. Mine and my brother's psychiatric symptoms completely went away after a short time gluten free and they were severe. I would advise that you look into this research and talk to your family about a way to implement something like this to see if it helps.