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20906688 tn?1615287648

Emotionally different

After my sister's death my mother got borderline personality disorder. Just three months ago she was trying committing a suicide, but I prevented that. But now there is a strange thing. Mom is tired and passive every time. She doesn't attempt to provoke me or to catch my attention as it was previously. She has insomnia and strong headaches. I don't know what is going on with her. Does anyone know?
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Avatar universal
She's suffering from grief, but obviously very intense grief and it sounds like it has turned into depression.  She needs therapy from a psychologist and a regular psychiatrist if she has tried to commit suicide.
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Yes, I forced her to visit a psychiatrist just a week ago. He prescribed her some medicine, but I can't say there is a huge difference between her behavior before and after.
These meds don't work within a week.  You don't say what he prescribed for her, but if it's an antidepressant or antipsychotic it can take 4-6 weeks to begin to work, although side effects begin right away.
The doctor prescribed Prozac for her.  I am afraid of side effects, but I am ready for everything to redeem my mom. Did you take Prozac? Or maybe you read some cases when people were taking this medicine?
These meds take time to be effective.   Good luck to you and your mother . My condolences too.
Thank you so much for your warm words. Will two weeks be enough to be effective for these meds?  I am in a hurry because mom becomes more and more passive every day. Sometimes I feel she is not in this world. She is somewhere in her consciousness, but totally not in reality.
Prozac is an antidepressant, not an antipsychotic.  I can't tell by what you're saying if you believe or a doctor believed she was suffering from psychosis, but if Prozac was prescribed the physician believed she is suffering from depression, most likely.  And no, you can't rush medication.  You can't rush grief, either.  You can't rush therapy.  Mental illness has its own clock, and while if you go the therapy route or lifestyle changes if that's possible to do the speed of improvement or if you improve at all depends a lot on the skill of the therapist and the desire to work of the patient, usually medication works more quickly.  Therapy can cure the problem if you have good luck with it, but medication just treats symptoms, not the underlying illness.  In this case, it's hard to tell if your mother has a chronic mental illness or is suffering devastating grief, which could and usually does improve with time, but when it gets too deep it turns into depression and then you have an illness, not a condition we all face in life, which grief is.  Prozac usually, for most people, takes 4-6 weeks to find out if it's going to work or not.  Meds for mental illness are trial and error, so nobody can tell you if this will work or not nor how long it will take to kick in.  Some have quicker results, some slower, and some need to try a different med because it doesn't work for them.  I did take Prozac, but I was one of those for whom it didn't work so I have no useful info to report about it.  Patience.  For both of you.  Side effects, however, do start right away, before the effects you want start.  It's wise to be leery of the side effects of any med, and of stopping any med.  It's good to do your homework, as docs don't usually really tell you this stuff.  But everyone has their own experience, so what is very hard for one person to take is very easy for another.  So again, as to side effects, patience here, too.  Only time answers that question.
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