Living With Schizophrenia
For over 30 years my darling wife has suffered from this terrible disease. The good times are brilliant but once the depression, associated with this affliction, sets in then things start to get a bit hairy.The biggest problem is Society's perception of those that suffer from a Mental Health Disorder.
If you had broken a leg or an arm then there is physical evidence that those around you can see.
I the case of a Mental Health Disorder there is no physical evidence to tell you that the person concerned is suffering (it's not as if they have a tattoo on their forehead that says "I suffer from a Mental Health Disorder"). It may be that to the lay man they seem to be drunk, on drugs or just "off his/her head".
The Beginning
Mental Health problems can, and do, often take some time to creep up on you, unfortunately that was not the case for my darling wife.One night I awoke to find her missing from the marital bed and assuming that she had gone to the toilet promptly drifted back to sleep. About 2 hours later I re-awoke and realised she still had not returned to bed. Going in search of her I discovered her pacing up and down the living room wringing her hands. When I asked her what was wrong she replied she did not know but that she thought that there was a need to get medical help. The following morning we made an appointment to see her GP (General Practitioner) who turned out to be as helpful as a chocolate teapot, even to the extent of telling me to get her out of his surgery as he could find nothing wrong.
At the time I was working as a civilian instructor for the Ministry of Defense (MOD) at a training establishment where I had completed my 22 years colour service with the British Army. Due to this I approached the MO (Medical Officer) about Ann and after a long discussion with him an appointment was made at a Military Hospital in Aldershot, Hampshire.
During the waiting period for this appointment things began to get steadily worse, she began to hear voices, see things that were not there and was convinced that the police were out to get her by using radios (Not two way communications type but plain old household radios)) to track her.
It was during this period that she tried to kill us all by pulling on the handbrake of my BMW 528i whilst we were doing 70 mph on the motorway. Her excuse being that the police were trying to catch her and that they were going to drag her away.
Out of my depth I managed to use, at the time, the fledgling NHS 24 scheme to get psychiatric help for her. This resulted in her first time of incarceration in a Mental Health Hospital, committed under the Mental Health Act (England) for a period of no less than 30 days.
Unfortunately the hospital had a policy of "drug them up and ship them out asap" all in the name of cost cutting. This meant she was discharged before to root cause of her problem had been diagnosed.
At no time were we informed that Ann was suffering from Schizophrenia.
Ann's Mental Health was up and down at this time and due to the drugs she was on the lucid moments were few and far between which, because of my fiery temper, led to many confrontations with the medical profession. Effectively the drugs they had given her had created a "the lights are on and no one is in" situation.
Return To Scotland
Personal and family circumstances created a situation whereby we left where we were and headed back to Aberdeen.Within two weeks of arriving Ann suffered a relapse (now called a "break through") and was once more committed to a Mental Health Hospital. This time the care given was secondary to none.
The medication she was on was withdrawn on the grounds that in Scotland it is only used to treat patients incarcerated in Carstairs (Secure Mental Health Facility).
Eventually her psychiatrist discovered that she was suffering from Schizophrenia and treated her this complaint.
There were several ups and downs over the years as they tried different drugs to stabilise her condition, but all in all life has been 90% better than it was in the beginning.
She has still had bouts of depression so bad that it has necessitated her being committed.
There have been bouts of violence and states of "the lights are on but no one is in" leading up to periods of committal.
The Present
A recent "break through" has seen her being committed, on a voluntary basis, once more.The good news is that she is to be released on the 15th January 2013.
We will just have to wait and see what the future holds.
