My brother was diagnosed with this about 5 years ago when he was in his early 20s. He actually graduated from UGA with a degree in Economics while he was at his worst. Since he was away from home, we didn't see the signs daily, but later found out that his friends and roommates did. I actually did some college internships with homeless schizophrenics and blamed myself for not recognizing it sooner. It is very important to remember that this disease is controllable with medication. Also, it has a tendency to happen to people of above average intelligence. The best thing to do is to watch your daughter now that you recognize the warning signs, but do not over react every time she has any kind of emotion. She is still the same person and needs to be treated as such. However, she needs to be educated about the disease and understand the importance of taking care of herself and properly taking her meds. Where you need to come into play is to watch for lingering symptoms-for example, if she is on her meds but showing increasing lethargy or sleeping way too much, or has any increasing "ticks" like a bouncing leg or twidling fingers. If things like that pop up, they may need to adjust her meds. It is so tough, though, b/c the meds themselves can cause drowsiness. Don't ingnore the disease, but don't dwell on it either. Just continue to love and support her - that is the best thing anyone can do. Although my brother is a little withdrawn socially(more out of laziness than anything), he owns a home, has a good job and takes care of our elderly grandmother(who lives with him) and he is only 28 years old. Don't you or you daughter feel helpless and don't let her ever use this as an excuse or an easy "out" for anything. Take care of yourself and her and if you would like to contact me directly at ____@____.com, feel free to.
