The stress of moving on husband with schizoaffective

My husband and I decided to sell out house in order to buy something in a nicer area. We have been talking about doing this for two years and finally pulled the trigger. Our house had an offer within 4 days of being listed. Now-in 5 weeks-we must move out and temporarily live in an apartment until we can find a house to buy.

So what is the issue here? Besides my own emotions, feelings, and stress, my husband seems to be on the decline. Last year he was hospitalized 3 times. The second and third were back to back and I really think that the stress of our wedding (large crowds, planning, etc) and traveling threw him off. These sort of large events seem to really trigger his symptoms and he stops taking his meds (secretly) and then ends up having a break down (extreme mood swings, inability to function at work because of anxiety and hallucinations, etc). Even on medication, he still has audible hallucinations, but they are better and less intrusive.

To ice this lovely chaotic cake, his therapists changed jobs recently and he has a new one that he has barely connected with (since he has only seen her 3 times). I myself have been a basket case with all of this fear and change, and my actions and stress levels REALLY effect my husband.

I'm really really worried that he will end up in the hospital again. He is questioning his pills and why he should take them. Says there is no point .."they don't work" etc. He gets an abilify injection every 3 weeks, and takes a slew of other medications daily (depakote, thorazine, cogentin, abilify oral...).

I just don't really know what to do at this point to help him or prevent something from happening. He is his own person and I can't control him. He is EXTREMELY forgetful and distracted (that's typical) and so I do lay out his pills morning and night. I probably need to tone down my nagging....

Anyone else experience similar?

I am SZA, and my symptoms increase due to stress. Sometimes I develop whole new symptoms when under stress. My father died back in December, and this has caused major stress. About ten days ago I had a near-total psychotic episode, really close to completely disconnected from reality. No idea how I crossed the busiest street in the area, and stepped out in front of a train due to egging on by voices. Nearly killed.

That said, I NEVER go off my meds. It sounds like your husband could use some psychotherapy or art therapy, aromatherapy, etc., to calm him down and get him to take his meds. BAD idea to go out of med compliance.

I'm sorry he is having such a rough time, and I wish you well. Sounds like you're taking reasonable actions, as a wife. Talk with your pdoc and see what he recommends!

hi. does he have problems with the psych drugs he takes? Depakote can be rough on people. If Cogentin is necessary, then it might be time to talk about reducing the antipsychotic dose and/or switching to a different tranquilizer. When an antipsychotic is dosed too high, you get all kinds of problems, even with the newer ones. Add in Depakote, which can be rough by itself, and...I can kinda see how compliance could potentially be an issue.

But you're his wife, not his doctor, so...yeah. Just thought I'd mention that. I'm glad you've stuck with him. One terrible thing about more severe mental illness is that it tends to be a lonely experience. I think its probably worse in American culture than in many other places.

I take somewhat similar drugs (Abilify, trileptal, lamictal, wellbutrin) for a problem that is probably very similar to your husband's. I take very high dose vitamins (Orthomolecular) with my psych drugs, and that's made a huge difference for me. Abilify is the only tranquilizer I can deal with at a full dose, but after a while I'd get depression, stiff gait, etc., but I don't get all those problems now on the vitamins. They also might help prevent tardive dyskinesia, which is a big deal (for me). Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Hi. Thank you for the information. What do the vitamins do for you? Abilify has been pretty decent for my husband, but the only drug that he has tried that REALLY seemed to work for the audible hallucinations was zyprexa...however the costs outweighed the benefits. That drug was SO hard on him. He has always been a very slim-figured man and within a MONTH he gained 20 pounds He never felt full. He also seemed zombie-like and overly sedated. Unfortunate.

He has been on the depakote for 3 years now. It seems to help with the moods. His body has adjusted to some of the side effects. The first few weeks of depakote he vomited all the time.

I haven't been to a p-doc meeting with him in a while. I really need to take off work and go.

Thank you.

hi. the vitamin routine seems to help me tolerate my psych drugs without turning into a zombie. The alternative health people say this sort of supplementation can prevent TD, which is huge (for me).

Sorry to sound so harsh. Depakote is fairly standard. I just hated the stuff, especially with Abilify on board. I take Trileptal now, and its easier for me to tolerate, and there's no need for regular blood work.

Some doctors will prescribe Metformin, an older (usually very safe) diabetes medication with zyprexa and other weight-gaining psych drugs to mitigate weight gain and reduce metabolic complications. I know of some people who are on metformin with such psych drugs, and it helps them. Its sad, because zyprexa is very effective--almost as effective as clozapine--but it often comes at a huge cost.

there was a big studie, the CATIE study I think, where they compared the "atypicals" and an older drug, perphenazine. Perphenazine is cheap and generic. It came out as almost as good, on the whole, as zyprexa. It just causes more twitches and the risk of tardive dyskinesia is higher, especially if the dose gets too high. The good thing about perphenazine and many of the older drugs is that they don't cause as much weight gain, diabetes, etc. There are other older drugs that can be tolerable in low to moderate doses, such as loxapine.

Hope this helps.

stress makes the symptoms of schizoaffective worse
its the nature of the condition
do everything possible to avoid stress
learn from the experience. dont take on too much at once

They just put me on the shots because I quit taking my meds. Seems like he is on to many meds.