Friends, Family & Carers Forum

[gs2001]

Hi all, I have never done anything like this before but am honestly feeling completely alone in my experience and have no clue who to turn to for help.

My partner was recently spiked overseas with an unknown drug which has caused him to go into a drug induced psychosis. His first episode lasted 10 days and he was hospitalised. Since this, he has been moved to a psych ward and has been on a high dosage of antipsychotics. He was showing signs of improvement and seemed to have completely overcome the episode- he was even released from the hospital and had his medication dosage lowered, however, within 24 hours he had entered a second psychosis. He is now in hospital again and his second episode of psychosis is worse than the first. He has been violent, paranoid, aggressive and completely out of touch with reality. He is refusing to speak to me and has been completely withdrawing from people he knows and loves. The things he has been saying and doing are completely delusional and make absolutely no sense.

I don’t know how to cope with this, multiple doctors and nurses keep telling me to ‘give it time’, but there is nothing that eases your mind or helps the emotional suffering you go through as the loved one of someone experiencing mental health issues. As someone who has never had an experience or been exposed to psychosis, I know very little about how this affects someone’s life or what it is like to go through this. I’m not sure if my partner is aware or will remember about what he has said or if he is even in control of himself at the moment. 

Has anybody had an experience like this or can anybody please help me understand their experience with psychosis (either firsthand or as a carer/ loved one) so I know what to expect?

Id just like to end this post by letting anyone know that my heart goes out to anybody who is affected by any mental health issues.  

[tyme]

Hey @gs2001 ,

That sounds so tough - as though this person is no longer the one you knew before.

What I found comfort in was saying to myself that it's not them speaking, but their mental illness.

Psychosis is scary at any point. Reality blends with that which is imagined. The hardest part is paranoia. It can hurt loved ones immensely.

It's so important you also get support at this point. Do you have people to support you at this time? 

[MamaG]

Hello @gs2001 

I am new here also.

Thanks for sharing the challenges you are facing - sometimes the enormity of the situation can be overwhelming - but you are not alone.

From my personal experience caring for my son who has suffered psychosis I thought of a few things to share

Slow down and take good care of yourself; prioritise your own mental health

Reach out for support for yourself

Find out more about the condition & treatment

Be patient, it takes time to find the right treatment medication & dose

Talk about it with others

Stay optimistic and believe that your partner will recover

The psychotic symptoms are frightening to watch and I would say impossible to understand. The sufferer has dysregulation of thoughts and perception - their brains are not working properly.

One doctor explained to me that it was like when we are asleep dreaming and the dream feels so real to us - this is what it is like for the psychotic person, but they are awake.

I hope this is of some help to you.

Take care

[fruitshop24hrs]

In my experience, psychosis doesn't make you inhuman or 'not there'. It just means your story is complicated. Your brain is firing a bunch of signals because something - or a bunch of compounding - weird, stressful things happened to you. You can't resolve the inner conflict so you're either kind of numb or all over the place giving conflicting signals, trying 'creative' things. You feel like you can't speak things directly and are talking 'around' things because nobody will listen directly. Sequencing behaviours and words into meaningful patterns that are comprehensible to others can be difficult.

I can't speak for him, though. What happened when you tried to talk? How did you approach him? How were you seeing him at the time? It sounds very difficult and complicated.

For me, I had to drop the story and focus on back to basics a bit. Slowly, I managed to make more sense of what happened. I am probably better off than before and better at expressing myself.

You can feel kind of uncomfortable from medications. It can be hard to communicate this. Hospital is a weird environment and you will probably get mixed feelings about authorities and everybody around you and society itself if they held you down with security guards and put needles in your bum. Or of they gave you medications that made you feel awful and said it was for your own good. It's weird. Really weird.

It can make you feel like everyone wants you to just act normal and play a role they are comfy with but without caring for you. That wellness is a bunch of boxes to tick.

Psychosis is highly contextual, and individual. It also puts you in situations that compound the confusion, the disorganisation or the alienation from others. So not only do you have whatever led up to the episode to comprehend, but you have to comprehend this leading to you being sectioned - invalidated.

Sometimes you can be 'acting' normal or you are subdued or under less stress. Sometimes you might find a connection to a relationship, story or situation that makes sense. Sometimes the situation is just normal. The role assigned to you is just good and conducive to sanity.

I think the doctors and nurses are probably right in that you should give it time. He's already 'come to' a bit but being drugged, then drugged again in a psych ward is just damn weird to go through. You are describing someone who sounds agitated and alienated.

How much of the broken trust or paranoia is the drug and how much is it the aftermath or other stuff?

All in all, you know him best. He'll just have to come to his senses and form relationships with the world and his body and mind again, that make sense and are meaningful. It's not a life sentence.

Also, it's drug induced. There's a good prognosis.

I have no idea what he, you or the circumstance and history is really like, though.

Just sounds like the med reduction might've been a bit drastic or that something about being outside the hospital triggered him.

[tyme]

Hi @fruitshop24hrs @gs2001 @MamaG ,

How is everyone? Thank you for your contributions. It was very helpful to read.

At the same time, I want to check-in with you.

[Jasper_123]

Hi @gs2001 , 

I'm so sorry to hear about the horrible event that has lead to your partners psychosis. 

Psychosis is different for everybody, http://www.psychosis101.ca/ . Have a read here, the best thing to do is to educate yourself and speak to the people at the hospital, they should be explaining it to you as well. 

For your partner, the things going on are very, very real. He is likely acting out as he is scared. The main thing is to not argue with what he says and to keep yourself safe. 

Some people who experience psychosis will remember the events, for others it will be foggy.