Hi All,
An update re: my son. My son has been in residential care since April and is making good progress both in terms of his mental health and re-engaging back into a school curriculum via distance education. His treating psychiatrist decided to trial taking him off medication whilst he was under the watchful eyes of his care team. After a slow reduction over one week he then went cold turkey with no meds. Exactly 2.5 weeks later his anxiety escalated and his mood dropped in a very noticeable way. He described it as being that every single thing was annoying him - and I mean every single thing - people, people talking, being where he was, the food, etc. This annoyance became so bad that he claimed it was making his blood boil and he also claimed that he could feel radiant heat eminating off his body!! Additionally his mood dropped and he became far less engaged in everything and began withdrawing into silence. He was contemplating walking out of the facility and never returning. Luckily this was noticed and he was recommenced on meds immediately. His psychiatrist apologised for this but stated that the exercise had proved two very important things: that he needs to be on meds and that the meds he is on work. They have now doubled his dose of meds and he has responded very well. In fact he has been the best I have seen since I can remember. He looks brighter, talks more, laughs frequently, has more energy, is more willing to do things and is not angry and oppositional. He has been on this new dose now for around 4 weeks and I couldn't be happier. He has been accepted into an SSP school and the goal now is to begin integration. He is not too keen on this but it is only early days and I'm sure they'll pace him according to his own comfort and readiness. He has decided to do his HSC via pathways over the next 2 years and is working towards this now. Additionally they have also been very active in building up social skills with things like travel training, excursions to shops to buy things, etc. Considering he had spent the past 3-4 years holed up in his bedroom this is huge and so needed.
I can't speak highly enough about this facility. I've gone from feeling that I had forever lost my son to MI and that his future was doomed, to now feeling that there is hope and a good chance he will get through this and become a functioning adult. The only negative would be the extra time and commitment on my part which has made my days/weeks exceptionally full as I am often required to travel to the facility between 2-4 times per week (1 hour each way) and toggle this with work and home. In saying that, it really is a small price to pay to be getting my son back. We are so fortunate.
Janna❤️
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