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Prayers for my stepson

Gnarwhal

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UPDATE #2 (5/29): After he was discharged from the hospital he tracked down his car but refused to go home with his dad and realized he needed to get away from him. (Hallelujah, that's a eureka moment we've been waiting for). So now this morning he's en route to my wife's nephew in Dallas who works for Dallas PD. This nephew kinda knows what's going on with M, having seen him under the influence last Christmas apparently. So he's going to take care of M for a few days and then M I guess bought a plane ticket to come to us while he was still in the hospital. So he's coming to us and staying for at least a month, in the meantime we're going to try to detox him from more than just drugs, but also things like technology. If we don't take his iPhone away outright I may just cut the data. We're gonna see about connecting him with one of the brothers out at the Trappist monastery, cause I think the simplicity of Trappist life and spirituality may be a balm for M. Honestly we both wish he'd enter religious life but he has to overcome some stuff first (and actually discern it). So while he's here I'm gonna try to get him involved in a film production I'm directing and just surround him with stability as best as we can. Continued prayers would definitely be appreciated!



UPDATE: The hospital released him, all they found in his system was some pot. They said he was a "textbook case" of schizophrenia, gave him some meds and sent him on his way. This upset my wife because apparently this is a blow-by-blow repeat of a mental health episode her sister had several years ago. She ended up in the hospital because she was using some stuff that messed with her brain, but it was residual effects from prior usage. The hospital was just kinda dismissive and didn't actually help her. So now we're facing the same issue with my stepson.



I just got off the phone with my wife a few minutes ago, she's been gone all day taking her mom and sister to the airport (it's over an hour away from us). Anyway around the time she was due to head back she got a call from her son who was experiencing some kind of drug-induced psychotic episode.

I think everyone on here knows about my family situation but the short version is my wife had boy-girl twins in college, they're now almost 20, when we moved from NY to CA my stepdaughter decided to come with us and try going to college her while my stepson wanted to stay in NY and live with his grandparents. Since then his life has deteriorated, due to the influence of bad friends and his delinquent father he's gotten into drugs (first pot, then psychedelics like ketamine, mushrooms and possibly LSD).

He's broken my wife's heart time after time, with all these decisions, and yet despite all this he seems to be trying to counterbalance the bad with some good by being more proactive in faith. He went on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje last year (not that I think that's a good one but that's a conversation for another time). Anyway, her latest heartbreak involved the last-minute bombshell that he was going to move in with his deadbeat dad in Texas, whom we know/knew is just going to take advantage of him financially and lead him down the goat path of more drug use and immorality.

Then she got the call today. While he was on the phone with her he found a fire station, went in and the firefighters took him to the hospital. So at last check he's in a Houston-area hospital. We're not sure what our next steps are, it seems like he needs to go through some kind of rehab but we can't afford to put him through that. Supposedly before he took off and called my wife he got into some kind of altercation with his dad and threatened him. So safety is a question here too, I don't want him in my house when his sister and little brothers could be at risk, nor do I want to send him back to NY where my elderly in-laws could be at risk. But he's also definitely not in a good situation when his dad is his only family nearby and essentially his next of kin.

My wife's nephew works for Dallas PD so she may try to enlist his help somehow but we're not sure what he can do.

Anyway, that's the long and the short of it. If you could join me in prayers for my stepson. I don't want to give his name out, but you can just call him "M".

Thanks all.
 
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mourningdove~

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It is amazing to me, in a bad way, how dismissive our medical system has become when it comes to mental health and addiction issues. Imo, our society is failing terribly in helping persons with addiction and mental health issues.

I remember how different it was, back in the 80's. It seemed there were addiction treatment centers everywhere. Health insurance covered alot of it. And when diagnosed, or even suspected of a mental illness, you were hospitalized. Not just given pills and 'sent on your way'.

But it seems no longer is our society set up to handle the huge load of persons with these issues. Many mental health facilities were closed down years ago, and in-patient treatment for addiction is not so easily available anymore. Persons suffering with these issues largely appear to be left on their own, to struggle thru life.

I don't say all this to sound discouraging, just to share that I can empathize with your situation. A decade ago, we had an extended young family member ... in his 20's ... who had addiction issues and was suspected of being bipolar. The family could never find an available in-patient treatment slot for him. Wasn't long before he moved out to Denver and easily found a job making lots of money in the marijuana industry. Despite his issues, he's always been a hard worker.

I'll continue to pray for M, and your family. What is impossible with man is possible with God. God can make a way for him, and for you and your wife to help him find it.


 
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Michie

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I’m so sorry Gnarwhal. I cannot believe they diagnosed him as schizophrenic and just released him. As you know, my sister has been diagnosed the same but they always kept her in hold with every episode. I will pray for M but I’d certainly want to get a second opinion if you can.
 
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Gnarwhal

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It is amazing to me, in a bad way, how dismissive our medical system has become when it comes to mental health and addiction issues. Imo, our society is failing terribly in helping persons with addiction and mental health issues.
Especially when you consider the money already flowing through the healthcare industry, it makes me wanna say, "You personally are making hundreds of thousands, this hospital is making millions, what more do you freakin' need to sit down and have a good long thorough look at the guy?!" I'm not a supporter of universal healthcare but if this is the kind of care we're gonna get in a privatized system then what's the difference?

The oddest part is that this happened in two disparate hospitals 1,200 miles and about a decade apart. My sister-in-law went through some kind of episode when she was at her first of college in DC, she ended up in the hospital and they just said she had schizophrenia and spat her out when my wife knew it was some kind of psychosis triggered by psychedelic drug use—she says her sister (and now, unfortunately, her son) favor those types of drugs.
 
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Michie

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You definitely need to get a thorough evaluation through a physician that can give you a second opinion. True schizophrenia is devastating. I’m praying that this is not the case. I know that our mental healthcare system is overloaded and severely lacking through my experiences with my sister. It needs an overhaul the laws often tie their hands concerning comprehensive care for those suffering from mental illness.
 
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mourningdove~

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Imo, we have alot of untreated mentally ill and/or addicted persons living out on our American streets, and within our society. Many were tossed out of facilities, when they shut down. An utter tragedy, imo.

But fortunately for your stepson, he has parents who love him, care about him, and will pray for him. Even if you find you cannot do much more at times, it is a great blessing in life to have parents who pray for you. A very great blessing.

So, whether your stepson realizes it or not at this time, he is a very blessed young man. And I do not believe your prayers to God for him will return void.


 
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Gnarwhal

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I think one of Reagan's biggest mistakes was shutting down the mental institutions. They weren't the horror factories that the movies made them out to be and they were very necessary for public health, I'm convinced if he hadn't shut them down we wouldn't have the homeless issues we have today.
 
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RileyG

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I agree completely.
 
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