Hi,
My son is 32 and had a psychotic episode and was sectioned for 9 weeks but discharged in October last year. He was put on Quetiapine but then changed to Olanzapine which did seem to work. He was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome 3 weeks ago and the psychiatrist advised us that people with Aspergers are a lot more sensitive to psychotic medication so not always a good idea for them to take it.
My son has been very depressed and anxious for the last 2 months to the point he is often sobbing and saying, if the rest of his life is going to be like this, he does not want to be here. The problem is he loves drawing, art and playing video games but is unable to put any thoughts together to do this. He had a great imagination and could create characters, write loads and draw people. Now he says there is nothing there, just blank thoughts and that is causing his depression because he thinks he will never be able to do this again.
I try and reassure him, as doe his wonderful CPN, but the longer it goes on the less he believes me. Tonight he had a massive breakdown and I can’t let him go on living like this so am looking into whether the Olanzapine could be causing this. I wondered if anyone on here had any experience of Apergers and Olanzapine and how it affected the person? We have discussed him coming off the medication with his CPN, and she agrees it is worth a try just to find out once and for all if it is causing my son a problem with his imagination, etc.
I fully appreciate that, if he does come off them, we need to do it properly and will do this. His mental health psychiatrist only seems interested in upping his medication, his Asperger psychiatrist thinks it should be reduced/none at all. We are seeing the mental health psychiatrist in 3 weeks, could not get in earlier, to discuss his meds but she is very formidable and I am worried she will not be interested in helping him come off them. After tonight I have decided not to wait for the appointment and take my son to see his GP on Thursday to discuss his medication. She knows my son well and is very understanding.
I am obviously slightly nervous about my son coming off the meds but we have identified the triggers and now have mental health support, which we did not have before. My other question is how will we stand if the GP says she will not let him come off them? I think my son can refuse to take the medication, but we really want their advice to do it safely.
I hope you do not think I am a bad mum for helping him to come off his meds but I know my son better than anyone and they are not helping him whether he is taking 10mg or 5mg. I don’t want them just to be upped as I would rather he received therapy as well because he has a lot of issues he needs to offload. I just can’t bear to see him so unhappy and feeling that he is worthless and has nothing to offer anyone.