Aspergers and Schizophrenia in an adult 24 yr old

Post Reply New Topic

What does a mother do with Aspergers and Schizophrenia in an adult 24 yr old???
since my husband (Calvin) has been out of work for over a year - we right now only get help from the state, not such great docs in the field of Aspergers and Schizophrenia, they only treat people with drug problems, I am at a loss as to where to go - to at least get the right medications.....



Does any one have experience with this??

A true story (then I guess it's not a story) a diary moment...This happened after my son (who was very religious at the time (more so then normal people) saw the movie "Angels and Demons" .... He was bouncing his knee (with a cup of soda in his hand) and some family at the movie notified the police that he was doing something "lewd" at the movies ... he tried to run away when the movie people and police confronted him - he told the police he had aspergers - they kinda bullied and scared him. So he ran away from home; The following memoir....

How we spent our July 4 '09 -


Wednesday Ted went out at 5 o'clock - took with him his guitar and computer, we assumed he was going to play the guitar with a friend. He never came home, by Thursday morning we called the police. The police could not do anything for a few more hours, till enough time passes then its a concerned parent call. We received an e-mail stating that Ted’s bank card was overdrawn. So our idea was to call the bank and say the card is missing and what was the last transaction (Since Calvin and Ted both have access to the bank account). Calvin called the bank and was told the last transaction was a hotel in Van Nuys, California. we contacted the police there to try to hold him till we got there, they said all they could do is relay a message to call home. Calvin and I drove the 6 hr drive to Calif, arrived there at about 8 or 9 at night. Ted was not at the hotel - but they let us in to see, his clothes were there, so we decided to rent a hotel close by and wait. We were on the web and being alerted to all transactions of Ted’s bank card - at about 2 in the morning it seems Ted rented another room at a different hotel. We raced to the other room, to find out he only checked in to take and shower and then he left, we must have missed him by
minutes.

(we concluded that he forgot where the first hotel was) We returned to the first hotel and retrieved his clothes.

So for the next couple of days we ran to every place the card was used - KFC’s , Rite Aids, Mcdonald's etc. - Just always missing him by moments in the Van Nuys area. I thought he would go to Santa Monica so we checked out there, as we were there an alert came though, no he was in Van Nuys, at a Liquor Store, we called there and the Man said yes he is here eating, we asked him to try to detain him (keep feeding him or talk to him till we get there) - he said he would, well we arrived at the store - the Man said Ted just left, barefoot and walked back to mobile home park, we ran on foot looking for him throughout the park, asking residents who live there and showing his picture. We went to the mobile home park office, and talked to the woman in the office. She said the homeless live in the wash behind there and maybe he was there (Since he had no shoes, I thought the worst happened) , the place was a swamp near train tracks , you could see where these people left their drug paraphanila, - We were yelling “TED!” my heart was breaking, What if I found him like this.....it was too much I broke down, Calvin help pull me though that.

Then - Thank God we got another alert - A starbucks in Pacific Palisidaes, YES! He still had his car - and looked like he was on his way to the beaches in Santa Monica! We were off - this was Saturday - Maybe he wanted to be there for the 4th of July. We got there and walked the pier looking, seeing an old Merry-go-round with all the beautiful horses, I choked up again, remembering all the pictures I took of the kids in Wildwood N.J., on those horses...once again Calvin helped me through this too, although it was getting hard for him too, we both knew we could not break down (yet) must keep looking. By this time Cassie (my daughter) was home from work, so she became “base command” so we could stay in the car and she watched the web updates (you could not be on the web in the car and moving).

Then a big lead so we thought, a 100 dollar transaction - called independent tax - then another 70 dollar - independent tax, we thought they were parking fines, talked to the police in Santa Monica - they told us it came from LA - so Ted was not in Santa Monica after all - so we went back to our hotel in Van Nuys to wait. The next morning we went to the Van Nuys police station to ask for help, maybe to report our car stolen we could find him, "no" the cop said - "that's to dangerous, there could be a shoot out", I told him he might be buying liquor and driving, he said he would put out a special interest memo to cops to keep and eye out for the car. So we waited.

Another alert - he went to Mcdonald's and bought shoes in Hollywood, we were off again to Hollywood. It was so crowed the the mourners for Michael Jackson, we looked at his old apt. there, all over. Then we decided to get something to eat and moved to a highway between Van Nuys and Hollywood we were halfway between the two. As our lunch arrived another alert - “Waitress make this all to go!” We off to Hollywood again, we wondered around looking - then another transaction at a gas station for snacks - the street right behind us - we ran! Just missed him again by seconds.

This was all still Saturday, though it felt like days, by this time we ran out of clothes - and picked up a few shirts out side of Hollywood and went back to our hotel room. We were up by 4 in the morning on Sunday, and saw that he had taken out 200 in cash just moments before in Hollywood - that meant we could no longer track him by the card if he started using cash. We ran to Hollywood again (skipping any shower - I had the same clothes on for 3 days by now) The last transaction was at an ATM machine in a Donut shop - with a parking lot full of taxis, we were waiting for the manager to get recording of the film by the ATM, then, thank god! Another transaction came in for 10 to checker cabs - we talked to the cab drivers who were right there, “where can you go for ten dollars?” That was the minimum amount for a cab when paying with a credit card, so he was close by somewhere.

It was Sunday and Ted usually goes to church. Another transaction - a 7-11, next road over, Sunset Blvd. - we drove over and ran in - not there, but right across the street a beautiful Catholic Church, we walked in - and there he was, filling up a water bottle with holy water and drinking it. WE FOUND HIM!! !! !

At first he didn't recognize us, he was stiff and angry looking, then he melted into our arms. And got into the car and came home, we all drove home crying , with happiness.

We were thanking God all they way home...



As it turns out Ted parked the car at some gas station, along Pacific Highway could be at Long beach, and walked away, and could not find the car again, but it all really worked to our atvantage, with the taxi rides, and his feet were so sore and full of blisters he had to call a cab just to get 2 blocks to the church, we were able to track him.


He lost his wallet - have no idea where the 200 went,
he lost the guitar - lost the computer - lost the car -
but still through all of this he still had the only thing on him that helped us find him -
the bank card.

I do have to believe there was alot of help from “upstairs” to get us through all of this!

That's quite an ordeal. My cousin has schizophrenia. They say that psychosis in schizophrenia is a bit like phase 1 sleep. You know if you have a dream and it make perfect sense whilst you are having it, then when you wake up it make no sense at all. Or people come out of anaesthesia say funny odd things.

I don't have any advice about what to do to be honest. On a good day is he aware of his schizophrenia and does he realise it can put him in danger?

I'm sorry to say that I have no practical help for you. What you are describing are problems associated with schizophrenia, not asperger's syndrome. While I have no reason to doubt that your son does have asperger's syndrome, it is not the cause of these problems.

The only meaningful thing I can say is that your story reminded me quiet a bit of this:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/0 ... =whitelist

Did these schizophrenia problems occur, or worsen after you started to give him some medication? A significant portion of autistic people react VERY badly to anti-psychotic medication, and it actually makes problems much much worse. At least that is what happened in this essay, and it may be happening to your son also.