lack of help

My mother has something called schizoaffective disorder. She's currently taking Risperodone. The problem is she's just being left to stagnate in her house. Her quality of life is almost non existent. She lives on benefits which would be OK if she wasn't in £4000 of debt from years ago. She struggles everyday with everything and she still has dramatic mood swings and rages. She is terrified to go out which means I have to buy her shopping and do other things, like pay her bills. I have on many occassions become totally frustrated by this and everytime she has a mood swing I can't help but take it personally. She behaves like a spoilt child. Sorry, but she really does. If I will not get her shopping then she has to go and get it herself and if this happens she becomes abusive to whoever she meets on her travels. She's clearly still not well and the last time she was sectioned was just five months ago. She's been sectioned three times in the past two years, but the last time they let her home after less than a week 'cause they said she was OK. She has a community psychiatric nurse who occasionally visits when she decides to let him in. He does nothing. He is useless. He said he would reorder her medication from the chemist, but the past three times he has forgotton. This has meant she has had a break in her medication and become ill again. He denies that he forgot and says the fault lies with the chemist. I am frustrated with them all. My mother keeps getting appointments sent out to see the local psychiatrist, but she wont go and see him and consequently there is not a lot they can do to help her. It's a simple case of she has to literally come to the attention of the police before they take any notice. When they do take notice, they just section her and take her to a hospital two hundred miles away where a psychiatrist [never the same one, always someone who doesn't know her] talks to her briefly and then decides to either increase or change her medication and then eventually send her home. BUT NOTHING CHANGES. The situation goes around and around in circles. I am so angry at the lack of support from her family. They don't believe she is ill. They think she can control her behaviour and she does this for attention. They believe that I am putting up with abuse and basically I should walk away and never look back. My mother has been in the mental health sytem for thirty years. She has been abused by the mental health system. She has been a testing pig for all their medications. I have a great deal of anger towards the mental health system. They and my family advise me to walk away from my mother. I get no support. I just get told that she is abusive even though she has a diagnosis. I can't understand this. I can't understand why there is no one who can help her and I honestly believe she is going to die soon if she keeps living the way that she is living, which would be considered cruel for a dog. I am angry at my aunts [her sisters]. I am angry at my brother. They have all just walked away. They blame her for being the way she is. In their opinion I am not a caring daughter, just a stupid woman who is missing out on life because I let my mother manipulate me into thinking she needs me because she is ill!! I'm totally confused and this stuff is playing havoc with my mind. It's not helathy. It makes me angry at the whole world.

I only was able to read about the first half...but it sounds like she is not getting the help she needs...You have been very strong for her...this is where you will probably push and stretch those limits...

i give you many support hugs....
i am sorry that this is happening to your mom....i am not sticking up for the nurse, especailly if it has happened three times in a row...but remember they can only do so much, perhaps get the number to the chemist or who ever is in charge of getting the meds together?
Why not go straight to the mental health department? Perhaps a nursing home where they can watch over her?

areas of similarity to my situation

since it isn't known whether the psych nurse ordered the meds or forgot, or whether it was the chemist - I would find a way to check about that. The nurse documents all actions in the patient's file, (phone calls, visits, whatever is done) - is there a supervisor that you can talk to.
The nurse very well may have called for the meds.
You can always go to a lawyer, or the licensing association to have them check the patient's file. They will do this.

But remember, your mother has to let the person in to her home. Don't blame the nurse if your mother won't let the person in.

Like in the case of my own mother, put on risperidone because of psychosis (not yet schizophrenia at that point, but who knows now, a year later) - she won't tell the doctor about her delusions, hallucinations, etc - because she's smart enough to know that if she does then they might not let her return home, so she lies to them. Then she comes and tells me all her delusions, etc. Then I end up writing it all down and delivering the information to the doctor so that he will know. Want to know what frustrating is? Partly, my disgust is that the staff of the health care team/system aren't able to develop a suitable relationship with her such that she would trust them, share her fears, and then maybe they could help her.

About groceries - some grocery stores deliver (just have to phone in the order) - for a fee of course, but in my area, the fee is only $5 for a delivery.

I left the situation because of all the nonsense - it's a long story. And her problems are returning to intrude in my life again. I tried. She won't listen. Was ruining my life. Yes, we have concerns about human beings. And we don't want harm to come to anyone. And we can see when someone is behaving irrational, and it gets beyond the person's control. And sometimes the crisis team has to be called. And then there's the other family member(s) who won't acknowledge that it's happening (thanks for nothing eh?)

oh, and when I would phone the mobile crisis people, they would say "phone the police or 911"
or, they would at least talk to her on the phone if I had to phone for help around midnight , but she wouldn't tell them the truth either, then after speaking with them, then she starts up again with the delusions, etc.

From my readings about this, sometimes the problems in older people can be imbalances re: their body electrolytes (such as too much calcium, or sometimes it's a potassium problem that causes psychosis, hallucinations, personality changes, confusion, sometimes it's specific medications, because an older person's liver doesn't metabolize like a younger person's liver, so active metabolites accumulate, or maybe kidney problems so the drug isn't excreted), and the way to find out is to have her serum electrolytes checked and her medication levels and interactions reviewed.

or maybe it's an infection (that'll sometimes contribute to this kind of problem)

or it could be something like sensory-perceptual (like having cataracts or hearing problems) - does she use a hearing aid? How's her vision?

I really do wish you all the best in this.