Schizophrenia: The Perspective of a Father & Brother-in-Law

Hello again, friends, recently my son spent a week in the hospital where he was diagnosed with the illness we write about, as well as being bipolar and having multiple personalities. He is on meds and is showing improvement which is very positive. What he is fighting now is boredom, he lost a job recently and it has been difficult for him to keep one, it could be related to his illness. As I write he is out looking for part-time work and hasn't given up. I'm going to help him find volunteer work. He has filed for SSI and is going to try for Medicaid and food stamps. For at least the last year and a half he had drifted from place to place even staying a while with one of my sisters. He had only been there a few months when he moved on again, staying with a coworker. My sister had let him take over a car payment and the vehicle then his so-called "friend" trashed it, inside it was worse than a sty. Then he became involved with a 25 year old woman also with a mental illness, they cohabited for a while, then his illness took over and she takes out a DVO against him for incidents he can't recall. It was dismissed this week when twice she failed to show up in court. As long as he has no contact with her things should work out. He lost the car too. It is definitely a work in progress. Now about my brother-in-law. Currently he gets his medical care from the VA. Somehow I feel they aren't doing enough for him, of course his affliction probably has everything to do with it. When he was healthy according to my inlaws his room was spotless as was his garage, and his personal hygiene was exceptional. Funny, though, he doesn't shower regularly, but has no odor. He could use a haircut. Mental illness affects so many parts of life, I can speak with the voice of experience, one of the other parts of living schizophrenia affects is eating and drinking, my brother-in-law is diabetic and should be watching his health, well, you wouldn't know it, he eats and drinks anything he wants except alcohol which he doesn't, and has trouble sleeping, my guess is excessive caffeine. In my opinion he is a walking time bomb and we are just waiting for him to explode. He doesn't take care of himself and his illness interferes with it. All he can do is hope someday his long nightmare will end, and he will be in a better place with no worries of sufferings, the Almighty will welcome him for he is a good man. Till next time. -30-