How to handle a boyfriend with paranoid schizophrenia

[crazychick1120]

My boyfriend just told me that he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.I knrw that he had something but i couldn't figure it out. I don't know much about the condition but i have researched and found that anger is a part of it. Now I've been with him over a year and he has always been jealous. I would like to know how likely is it that he'll become abusive? He also doesn't take his meds because he doesn't like how they make him feel, can he lead a functioning life without them? He also wants to know what are the chances that his daughter and our future kids will have it? Should I be concerned, and is there anyway to "handle" (for lack of a better word) him when he gets in his angry moods. And how should i respond when he talks about his delusions. He tells me so i can understand and I feel really bad because all I do is sit there quietly because I don't know what to say and I truthfully don't understand because I don't experience them. I love him and want to stand by his side. So what are any tips you can give me on being with someone with this conditions. Are there things i should avoid talking about? I just wanna be supportive for him.

[crazychick1120]

I AM SOOO HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THAT MY BOYFRIEND HAS NOW TAKING HIS MEDICATION AND IS SHOWING VERY NOTICEABLE IMPROVEMENT WITH HIS EPISODES! HE'S BEING MORE LIKE THE PERSON I FELL IN LOVE WITH! I REALLY ENJOYING THIS, I REALLY HOPE IT LAST!!

[paranoid_cataclysm]

Stress can worsen symptoms and even make a person relapse.  I relapsed fully the 23rd of December because of an anxiety attack for example.  If he is talking about suicide and thinking about it he needs to talk to his doctor about it.  It sounds like he needs to talk to his psychiatrist about this behavior in general that he is experiencing.  He needs to be encouraged somehow to try to speak to his doctor about this but you have to be careful because telling someone to their face that they are psychotic doesn't go well if they aren't entirely open to people's judgments like this and even me being open to that, I still sometimes don't believe people, but only occasionally.

[crazychick1120]

ok so my boyfriend has been experiencing some BAD episodes. I think because he's stressed. He's been talking about committing suicide alot. And all i really know to tell him is i don't think its a good idea, and that i love him and wouldn't know what to do if that ever happened. I also told him that I'd be angry with him for leaving me and that i wouldn't go to his funeral because it was his choice to leave me here (i only said that because he asked if i would go.) And i feel like he's starting to get suspicious of me because he thinks I'm TOO PERFECT. (In HIS eyes, thats what he sees) Some bad thing happened to him and I still don't know what they are because that he won't talk about. But he called me at 3 in the morning and said certain things that stuck out to me, like "I think you working with them", then attempted to ask me where i was which obviously i didn't say because he didn't sound right. He was really scaring me. Something in his voice told me that something wasn't right. Then he started rambling on and on but talking low so i couldn't understand him. Then he hung up on me. Couple hours later he called me back, still sounding odd, all i could say to him is that he was scaring me, he responded "naw I'm good." In that same weird voice. So I told him I loved him, and he chuckled like he didn't believe me, and said "you, say that to me?" (We have been going thru alot so I haven't been as affectionate with him lately) Like it was so hard to believe. but of coarse i told him yes, and tried to reassure him. Then he said something, but i don't remember what and hung up again. THEN he called me again! and we talked, and talked until he sounded like my baby again and he started telling me how much he loves me and I could tell that he had calmed down alot during the phone call. I can say i do know how to calm him. But its sooo hard man to hear him talk about killing hisself and then telling me how he would do it, and that he just doesn't want it to hurt and all that. i cried and cried because I hate it. soooo much. But what should I do when he starts with this? How can I take away as many of the doubts that he has in his mind about me?
Sometimes I just don't know what to say and that hurts me too soo bad because i wanna help him through this but i don't know. I just told him to pray and try to relax. But sometimes I just don't know. Any suggestions?

[paranoid_cataclysm]

And yeah I can understand you are lucky to have him too.  Most people with mental illness are good natured people who just are having problems.

[paranoid_cataclysm]

Would be a good idea I suppose, I use the journal on here to record my mental illness symptoms so I can know when periods were better or worse for me and also so people can see if they read the entries what mental illness can do to a person just so they can learn or whatever, otherwise I would keep them all private.  This one person on here said their therapist or whatever recommended they write a letter to their mental illness and it's supposed to help out.  I haven't tried it yet but plan to.

[crazychick1120]

Do you think I should get him a journal to write his emotions in? I'm thinking about getting him one and telling him to write how he feels when it feels like to much and maybe burn the paper as a way to release it. ??? I would try to suggest a blog but he doesn't have a computer at home so that wouldn't really do anything. I think I'm just going to get him one and hopefully he'll at least try it. I think he will though. And thank you so much. I'm lucky to have him too truthfully!!