Friends, Family & Carers Forum

[Sheybridge]

sorry i got here late,

i think regular sleep, meals, and exercise. and to assist in this. and avoid stress

[Linmerc]

Eating healthy fresh food, exercising, avoiding alcohol and caffeine. Fish oil supplements are highly recommended. It is very important to sleep well and avoid stress.

[soul]

I noticed erratic sleep patterns - from maybe just an hour or two for several days at a time to hardly being able to get out of bed on other days. So sleep regulation is important?

[CherryBomb]

That wraps up this month's Topic Tuesday - What a lively discussion. It's great to see carers, people with lived experiences and health professional all working together to generate group knowledge.  Information can really empower people!

From tonight's conversation, in summary, it seems like there are many aspects to providing support to someone experiencing psychosis: compassion, encouragement to stay compliant with meds/treatment, seeing the person not just the illness, and remaining hopefully. But one thing I think is quite important is knowing that people can get better and recover to live meaningful lives.

Thanks so much for everyone's generous contributions, and a special thanks to @suzanne for her time tonight.

[suzanne]

Top three?  Pressure!  Ok, here's my two cents worth.

- Pay attention and ask questions.  Try to get to the thoughts behind the behaviours as this is what differentiates psychosis from other mental illnesses

- Try not to lose sight of the person behind the delusions. Underneath the altered beliefs and changing behaviours, they are still there and will come back to you.  

- Take breaks and keep doing things you enjoy and care about.  If you don't look after yourself, you can't sustain the care that will be required.

Thank you so much for joining in and sharing everyone.  What a great community you are! 

[Mosaic]

Hi all *waves*!

Just had a read through last night's Topic Tuesday. It was so encouraging to such a great buzz about the place, and see so many of you sharing your experiences with one another. Thank you all for your contributions, and well done to @suzanne and @CherryBomb facilitating so much worthwhile discussion! A lot of ground was covered, which has left me with a lot to muse on!

PS - @kenny66 - Your comment about the police turning the sirens on made me giggle! So often we hear about people's negative experiences in dealing with the police (and that is totally understandable)! So it's nice sometimes to hear when someone has a more positive interaction with the police force!

Okay, that's it from me... over and out! 🙂

- Mosaic.