I sometimes hear stories about people who suffer from schizophrenia that went through hell finding the “right” medications. I need to know what is typical as far as how medication is supposed to work. Are people really able to live a happy normal life?

My little sister was diagnosed as schizoaffective in 2006; since then she has been hospitalized three times. She never stayed on the medication that she was prescribed because they made her feel “sick”. She had a 3 year gap of having no symptoms but she recently got sick again and it came with vengeance. Now she is on an antidepressant, antipsychotic, and mood stabilizer. The meds are working as far as keeping her from being manic, hallucinating, and paranoid but now she is miserable. She spends hours upon hours in bed (17 hours +). Along with lethargy she can’t think clearly, remember passwords, fill out simple paperwork, make dinner, and worst of all take care of her little ones. She told me last night that she felt worthless and that if she wasn’t here it wouldn’t make a difference to anyone.

My sister calls me every night crying and begging me to help her. She is looking for hope, I am looking for hope. I tell her that it will get better and that she won’t feel this way forever and as much as I believe that what I say SHOULD be true I can’t know for sure. Does it get better for everyone? Do physicians consider my sisters present condition acceptable? I can't imagine that this quality of life is okay.