Q. My 18 year old son has had a psychotic breakdown. I have noticed that he was depressed since the last 3 months, but reasoned it was because all his friends had left the country for university abroad, and he was the only one left behind and missed them. He stopped keeping in touch with them and lost interest in his studies. The psychiatrist says most likely the cause is cannabis psychosis, which he said is rare and happens to about 1 in a 100,000 people. I am aware that my son has tried cannabis and smoked regularly every weekend in his last semester of school. Thereafter, he smoked perhaps once or twice a month with his friends but ...  
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Q. He is taking both Zyprexa and Seroquel simultaneously to treat the symptoms of his disorder. However, he continues to drink alcohol while on these medications. I have read up on both of them, and both say not to consume alcohol while taking either; nevermind both together... I understand that drinking while on these medications can emphasize the affects of the alcohol. What I want to know is: What is the worst case scenario of his continued drinking while on these medications? He is in danger of relapse, or alcohol poisoning? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! A. I cannot say specifically what could happen to your boyfriend if he continues to drink while taking antipsychotic medications. But I do know that it is ...  
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Q. My husband was diagnosed with bipolar and refuses to take medication due to he can not hold his license for his position at work. He has been with the company for 25 years - are they under any obligation to place him in a different position or will he be able to access his retirement pension with out penality - he is 50 years old. He says he is misdiagnoised - he is in complete denial because his job has provided us with a very comfortable life - we have a adult aspergers child and a teen bipolar and I have ADD - so our medication alone is $800 a month. He is also afraid to accept treatment because if ...  
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Q. My brother-in-law is demonstrating symptoms of schizophrenia. It appears that he has been diagnosed as such, since he has prescriptions for several anti-psychotic medications. However, he does not personally believe that his is mentally ill. What he DOES currently believe is that he is being stalked by people who are intent on tormenting him. These people talk to him through the walls, look in through the windows, walk on the roof at night, shine flashlights at him, and know everything he does, everywhere he goes. This has been an ongoing pychosis for several years. Every member of his family has requested that he be evaluated, which he does, receives medications, then promptly becomes non-compliant, as he does ...  
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Q. I am in the process of adopting two children. Their biological mother is Schizophrenic, bipolar and uses illegal drugs. They were removed because she had voices telling her to kill the youngest child. We do not have information available if there was a family history of Schizophrenia or Bipolar other than her. The children are 4 and 6 years old. I want to be their mother but I am very afraid of this disease. What are their chances of having this disease? A. Among children who have a parent with schizophrenia, (I am not sure about bipolar disorder) they have approximately a 13 percent higher chance of having the disorder compared to children who do not have a parent with schizophrenia. While ...  
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. Q. I'm a freshman in High School and I'm fifteen. I am adopted and I've always known, but I'm just finding out my birth mom was doing 6 drugs and was 16 and my birthfather was 25 which is obviously statutory rape. I was sexually abused from 9-12 and haven't told anyone of authority, I was abused by a family friend and once by my adoptive father. I have a boyfriend and while dating him I've found out I can't kiss or anything with out having what I think may be PTSD attacks. I start living in that moment and often think I'm there in the abusive moment and when I "come back" I'm usually curled up and just there. When I was ...  
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Q. My friend and I have been seeing each other for a couple of months now and she lives common law with someone else and she will not leave him. He tells her that he doesn't want to see her anymore and then he sucks her back in with sweet talk, this guy even left bruises on her and all of her friends told her to leave him and she refuses to do so. The other guy is seriously mentaly hurting her and she doesn't see that. She tells me that she loves me, but she doesn't want to leave the other guy. What am I suppose to do? its tearing me appart and I get blamed for it and then I fell like there ...  
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Q. Stuck in physical pain: After many years of being treated for various physical complaints. Abdominal pain, back pain, joint pain, acid reflux, UTI's I have been diagnosed with undifferentiated somatoform disorder. The last doctor came to this conclusion after examining an extensive medical history and doing a CT scan and endoscopy among other tests. I have been in psychotherapy for a year and have also been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and was sexually abused as a child. None of my doctors seem to know exactly what to do and my pain continues. I am extremely frustrated and depressed and do not know where else to turn. Any advice or any information you know about this disorder would be really helpful. A. Perhaps ...  
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Q. Hi,I am an artist. I would say that I am pretty successful by most people's standards and my work is received well. However, my profession is high stress, low on monetary security, and needs a strong ego. I worked a lot at my art. I gave it the time that it needed so I can be relatively secure in what I was doing and to get some kind of financial stability. The sad thing is that I have no real personal life, apart from a few really good friends which I cherish. I have been to therapists over the year to try and get some kind of balance but the reality is that my work cannot happen without 100% commitment and I don't ...  
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Q. When I was younger (about 10 or 11) me and my younger brother (7, 8 (can't remember the exact age) were messing about wrestling when I got an erection. Now at this age I didn't know what was happening and my younger brother asked what it was. I showed him and he showed me his penis. We also touched each other once. Nothing sexual happened, we didn't do anything however lately (last few weeks) I feel strange and horrible and guilty whilst thinking about it... This was the only encounter and now at my age I know it's wrong. I'm wondering does this make me weird as I didn't know what was going on. I just feel weird about the issue and would like ...  
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. Q. I'm in my second year of university, and I just don't feel right. I've always had a high level of stress in my work and life because I'm a musician but I finding it harder and harder to feel good about life in general. The workload in october was so much I was crying every night, feeling exhausted and found myself not sleeping at night, but falling asleep in class. I talked to my course guidance tutor about it and we discussed getting me some couselling - but by december I was feeling so much better and in january I was very much a chilled out and upbeat person, so I didn't go for it and assumed it was just a large ...  
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Q. I have suffered from IBS for years. I know it's aggravated by stress and anxiety but I don't know what I can do to rid myself of the anxiety. I work with a psychologist to get to the bottom of the anxiety but in the meantime I physically suffer from it. To make matters worse, once the anxiety has started and panic has begun to set in the IBS not only gets worse but causes more anxiety. Are there anxiety reducing treatments out there or medication that only affects the nervous system in the gut that would be helpful to me. A. I am not sure what medications would work for you since that is highly dependent on what you can tolerate. ...  
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