[stephenamills]

Thank you so much for sharing this. My fraternal twin has schizophrenia and was diagnosed at 23. We're 25. I don't have schizophrenia.

But his problem is that he refuses to take medication, so not sure where things will end up in the future with him. It's very up and down. One day like yesterday he's hearing voices and talking to himself, then the next day he's sort of normal.

Hearing that someone else also has a family member that is going through that is helpful.

[dsego]

Speaking from experience with my brother, it's an uphill battle. Without meds, he can go into a full-blown psychotic/manic episode and every new relapse damages the brain further and makes it harder to come back. With my brother it's especially bad since he doesn't even hear voices, but has delusions of grandeur and gets very confrontational, thinking he is the devil and wants to hurt people. Just recently (a few months ago) he had his third hospitalization, even though he was receiving abilify injections, and this time it took the strongest meds (haldol, leponex) to stabilize him. But sometimes it needs to get worse before it can get better. Try to convince him to take meds or get him on monthly depot injections. For reference, we are in our early thirties.