Dear Pepper -

I read your post to hurting12, giving your story about your adopted son. I feel for you, and your son.

I don't know if you picked it up from my threads, but my brother suffered from schizophrenia, something my mother feels was always present from birth - he started going "haywire" in his early teens and had his final break with reality at age 19, from which he never recovered. He died 25 May 2001. I confirmed my H's first EA 2 days after I came home from his funeral. At my brother's funeral, we learned from his best friend that my brother had taken hallucinogens - perhaps only once, but when there is a genetic tendency towards schizophrenia, it is all it takes. New research shows that people with a genetic tendency towards schizophrenia are five times more likely to develop s. if they smoke cannabis, which I know my brother did, as well. In our family, we are open about drugs and watch every single one of the many grandchildren for any sign of this tragic disease which has plagued our family. So far so good with the next generation. We talk about drugs and stress that ANY experimentation with ANY substances could alter their brain chemistry in an unpredicatable way.

My mother feels there were things that could have been done which could have prevented my brother from becoming a "lost cause". Although I live abroad, I am Californian, and my brother's experiences have all been through the California mental health care system.

I know you probably have a lot of support already, but if you ever want to talk, you can always e-mail me - my thread is set up for private messaging, although I don't take e-mails from members of the opposite sex.

I wish you all the best.

Take care,
LIR

Thanks ..... we are making progress right now.

Since he's been in Utah .... he doesn't even indulge in caffeine, much less marijuana. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" /> They take the stamps off any mail the kids receive, just in case a so-called friend had put LSD on the stamp!

The range of diagnosis we have heard has been confusing.

ADHD
depression
oppositional defiant
bipolar

...... but, since he's been in Utah, they have been primarily focusing on something different, which really feels like a home run....

Reactive Attachment Disorder

He's been on just about all the anti-psychotic and mood stabilizer medications ..... and they all have helped, until he got worse while taking them.

I really think this treatment center has hit a home run with their approach.

Thanks again.

Pep
symptoms of Reactive Attachment Disorder

Thanks for the info, Pepperband-

I've never heard of this disorder, but it sounds interesting - doesn't really fit my brother - I am "glad" if you feel that they have found something they can put a finger on. I have a friend who adopted two brothers - they are now 12 and 10 - the eldest went through three sets of foster parents before he arrived with them, age 3 - the youngest was with one set of loving foster parents - apparently they are both products of fertility treatment! How the mother managed to obtain fertility treatment when the first had already been taken into foster care, I don't know. The second baby arrived at hospital when he was only weeks old, with most of the bones in his body fractured. The mother committed suicide, the father is now in jail. Terrible. My friend has had a lot of problems with her older son - a lot of willful, difficult behaviour - including willfully soiling himself whenever he is stressed. Both boys have wet the bed for years. I still see her from time to time - if it comes up, I will mention this disorder to her.

Thanks for sharing this - I know it can be difficult to reveal these things - even with the anonymity of the internet.

Take care,
LIR