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Held Hostage by Mental Illness

Some days, I feel like a hostage in my own home. Held hostage by mental illness. Seriously. David had a couple of really good days. Mom took him into the city, he spent time with his favorite Aunt. Life was good for him. Then there are days like today. If it isn’t his way, then he will hold the whole house hostage with his behaviors and tantrums. Pretty sad day, when one of the boys leans over and asks me how long we have to deal with the behavior David exhibits before something can be done about it. In reality, it will be a while. Why? Need documentation of his behaviors and mental health issues. Facility staff.. If you are reading this, whether or not you ever worked with my son, it is imperative that you document – document – document, every behavior. I know it feels like tedium at

a brand new day

Today is a brand new day for David. This morning, he was complaining of being stiff and sore. So I talked about the work that his muscles did to support his body yesterday while he was manic. He said he doesn’t like it. In talking with David today, I learned that he was upset that he was going to be in trouble for riding in a vehicle, being in a place he wasn’t supposed to be and for borrowing garden tools. He rode in a friends truck, he was outside the boundary established for him to be in, so that we know where to look for him, and he took a cultivator and garden rake without permission. For the record, until this morning, I knew about the boundary issue, but not where he ended up telling me about. I knew the garden tools were a possibility. So much behavior for

what do you do when…

your child is manic and goes running down the street into traffic yelling, just kill me? We had the start of an episode tonight. I ignored it. I walked away. I turned the other cheek. Every time I refused to acknowledge the behavior, the behavior escalated. David started spraying something that we later learned was “just water” at his brothers, the pets… and but we didn’t know that for sure. He has cut himself in the past. He has sprayed the animals with bug spray. So I called the Sheriff. Thankfully, he was able to help deescalate the situation. Things are better now. To say that I was, and still am very concerned about his safety is an understatement. But, we are safe now. I did discover one of his noon meds (for mood control and stability) laying on the floor of the van. Which tells me that he missed