It's been quite an amazing four weeks. The East York Mirror wrote an article about this blog and then the Toronto Star did a series on Mental Health in which we were profiled. Telling our story to these journalists was sometimes hard but mostly really rewarding as Jennifer from The Star already knew quite a bit about mental illness and had a friend who was very ill so she sort of understood how we were feeling. She asked if Kit would be interviewed and he said he didn't want to be or even to have her come and take his picture with us. We were pretty sure that he wouldn't even hear about either article - although he certainly knew we were being interviewed by The Star - but he did. He called us up and said a friend had texted him that he was in the paper. He was a bit mad, said he didn't want his name used, but in the end he realized it wasn't something to worry about. I don't think he has even read the article yet. And now it's non-issue, it's old news.
Part of the fall-out of the article was that I received many phone calls from strangers, family, old friends, recent friends and people I had met vaguely years and years ago. Everyone was offering their support and saying how brave we are to speak about it, but I don't think I'm brave, just open. I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of, and I feel so badly for those people who do feel that. It must be so hard to deal with a loved one with schizophrenia and be ashamed of them or yourself at the same time. Kind of like in the old days if you had leprosy. But this affects so many, and through no fault of anyone, and each person needs to be able to talk about it openly and to share their story to be supported.
One man who called me was the CA for the doctor I worked for before I had kids. He wanted to share with me his story of being bipolar and misdiagnosed for many years, being on pharmaceuticals of many types and then hearing about a Dr. Abram Hoffer who treats people with schizophrenia (and other mental illnesses) with 'orthomolecular medicine' and he claims Dr. Hoffer saved his life. I know nothing really about it other than he gives his patients fairly high doses of vitamins B3 (niacin) and C. I can't find much against it on the web, but lots of stuff about how it does work. I am really quite pro MD's and medicine and pharma, but I know there is a lot to be said for holistic and naturopathic healing. I just wish the two could work together. I talk to the psychiatrist about it and he says it's 'hocus pocus' and then says he shouldn't be so against it as he knows nothing about it. And the guy who told me about the vitamin therapy says no one does well on antipsychotics. Arghh. They are both wrong. But why can't they be open to each other so that the patients and care givers can have that knowledge too? Why doesn't my psychiatrist know about Niacin and Vitamin C? He should know - even if he doesn't believe in it or has proof it doesn't work. It takes so much energy to try to figure this out. And money - since I'll have to pay to see the naturopath. And will they work together? I'm not willing to have Kit off his antipsychotics as we are starting to see an improvement.
If anyone reading this has used Dr. Hoffer's methods - please share...
"I talk to the psychiatrist about it and he says it's 'hocus pocus' and then says he shouldn't be so against it as he knows nothing about it."
ReplyDeleteWell, at least this guy was honest. I often write about niacin therapy and Dr. Hoffer in my blog. You can just put the words in the search engine and you'll find my posts. Dr. Hoffer said that no one will ever be well who relies on medications alone and I believe he's right. However, it's been a hell of a struggle trying to introduce niacin therapy to my son's mainstream psychiatrists. They obviously don't believe in it because they get paid writing prescriptions for pharmaceuticals. You can always find a holistic psychiatrist or naturopath in Toronto. I forget the names of the doctors there but you can find them through registries on the internet. If you need further information, feel free to contact me.
Dear Lesley,
ReplyDeleteI read the Toronto Star article and I saw a great deal of Kit in my own son. My son is doing very well now, and I wanted to leave a note of encouragement with you. I was struck that you said you will never get your old son back, that he will never be a doctor, etc. My experience with my own son and reading what other recovered people have to say is that you don't want your old son back. The old Kit, like my son, was not a real person. They were afraid to grow up. "Schizophrenia" is a crisis of rebuilding. Think of your son as a building that collapsed from within. Rebuilding a personality takes a long time, but many people, and I am one of them, would say that the person who emerges is a stronger person than the person who collapsed who wasn't really a person at all. Someone who writes about this quite well is a Canadian who has written an incredible blog called Sky Blue Cure where he details his struggles to form an identity. http://skybluecure.blogspot.ch/ I think always of my son's potential and encourage him to achieve it. He knows that the old Chris died a long time ago and that the old Chris was a hollow man. He is still in the process of creating the new Chris. With support, you may be amazed one day about how much your son can achieve.
Best regards,
Rossa