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Submitted by abbai on 18 May 2017

My wife recently got diagonisis with the schizophrenia. she was under olanzapine 10 mg for the last 6 months. currently she is not feeling with delusions and hallousinations but she has no motivation to do any work and very less confidence. I am compelely in confusion because she has no interest even to do daily tasks. kindly advise whether she need any other treatment or does she need to change the medicines.

Your wife will probably need counselling and therapy to motivate her to do her tasks. Lots of motivating talks and encouragement to perform even routine activity. Any negativity will further demotivate her.

Mangala R

Fri, 05/19/2017 - 14:58

You have not mentioned anything about her sleep. Is she feeling very drowsy during the day?
If so you could make her take her medicine by 7 pm , before dinner. If the symptoms you report are due to drowsiness (that can happen with olanzapine) taking the pill earlier will help.
If this doesn't work, may be a reduction in the dose can be discussed with the doctor.

Also depressive symptoms are quite common in persons with schizophrenia especially when they are recovering from symptoms. If so she may need treatment for that alongwith. So a review with the treating psychiatrist is needed.
Hope this is helpful.

thank you all for your kind reply. your kindness is really appreciated.
she always wants to sleep. she is sleeping around 15 hours per day. she says she has no interest to do any daily tasks. when i informed the psychiatrist, he said take 20mg cipralex. she is taking for the last 2 months, no improvement noticed. she does not show any emotions and looks always thinking about something. when i ask her about getting any thoughts, she says she is not getting any thoughts. she gets worry even for small daily tasks which she has been doing perfectly before. I have even called my monther in law, just as support. when my mother in law was with her, she is completely fine in her behaviour. one week back, my mother in law went back. Then immediately she started talking that she has no interest in daily tasks. Some times she says why i have got this condition and cries in front of me. she even says, my life will be like this and i will never recover. I say you will completely recover.

I have taken my wife to doctor and explained him about the condition. He said that symptoms might be relapsing and he increased the dosage of olanzapine to 20 mg. she is on this medication for the last 15 days. I did not found any improvement on her symptoms, because some times she feels very low mood and with no hope on life. she is saying that she is getting thoughts of "suicide" and "will not recover from the illness". Currently, she says she has not interest to perform small daily tasks. She some times says that she can not bear the pain. Currently, she also suffers from insomnia and inability to concentrate. I am in doubt whether the medicine is working or we need to change the medicine.

Ashish Kejriwal

Thu, 10/05/2017 - 09:52

Dear Abbai,

I'll share something with you from the perspective of a person affected with Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia has two very important aspects to it known as Positive and Negative symptoms.

Positive symptoms are those characteristics which get added to the personality. Example: Hearing things (Voices), Seeing things (Hallucinations), Believing things (Delusions) etc. These can be controlled and managed through medicines and therapy.

Negative symptoms are those characteristics which get removed from the personality. Example: Need for personal hygiene, socializing, exercising etc.

Please understand, that your wife needs Acceptance first. You need to support the new person she is becoming in response to her experience.

It is normal for people to sleep a lot after traumatic episodes of Schizophrenia. It will improve slowly. Let her sleep.Let her process her trauma.

You love, understanding and acceptance will help her recover faster.

Good luck to you.

Ashish Kejriwal

Thu, 10/05/2017 - 10:30

I want to share further on how to progress in a systematic way as your wife shows stability in managing her Positive symptoms.

If no more episodes, you may want to approach the doctor to see if the dosage can be reduced slowly and test if she can still be stable.

This will reduce lethargy and medicine induced sleep and your wife will slowly start engaging better.

But it must be done with doctor's consent and not by your self.

I can understand the pain your wife feels because of the loss caused by Negative symptoms.

She needs hope and support from you.

Let her know that she will be fine and that her life will not always be like this.

Wishing your family lots of love.

Ashish Kejriwal

Thu, 10/05/2017 - 10:40

One more thing about 'inability to concentrate'.... the mind is undergoing a 'defragmentation' process. Hence this problem of maintaining focus. It is not ADHD and please don't get another diagnosis put on her. It will cause more damage.

When I first began in 2009, I could not count from 1 to 10. My mind was so damaged by the trauma and it took me years to get back to stability and start being able to speak and write.I could not form sentences for months.

The more we sleep, process the trauma, faster our recovery!

Please keep an eye on undesirable side effects of the medicines. Commonly.. people gain weight and it can affect your wife's self esteem in a big way. But this weight goes away as symptoms are managed better and drug intake reduces under observation of the Dr.

It is a long journey, be patient, be aware.

I care for the people affected with Schizophrenia and their caregivers. Hence sharing freely with you.

Avoid frequent change of Dr or medicine too.

Thanks