gansje | (no subject)

It has been one hell of a night. And it's just keeping on being a hell of a night.

We put

emmabovary's idea to work (thank you!!! <3) and selected a password with Jo. Jo decided on a pass-phrase (which I should keep to myself in case she ever questions if I told it to anyone else) and then she needed me to use it not two hours later. She also went to the psychologist (the rotten one, but at least there was some therapy of some kind) and reported when she came home that she now thought the psychologist was an alien because while Jo was telling her about her thoughts and beliefs, the psychologist had a "weird look" on her face. I explained that she probably had a look of concern for Jo. Whenever someone makes an unfamiliar face now, Jo immediately suspects them of being an alien.

At bedtime, she lay down in her bed while I started storytime, and then she looked over at the tank that (used to, prior to its unfortunate expiration) hold her gecko. She asked me if I saw "U Pay" written in it. At first I thought she was seeing letters (from the titles of two books behind the tank) magnified in the glass, but when I went to look, I couldn't see anything at all. She was scared of it, and I moved the tank. Then she told me that she'd seen the words, "kill Jo" in her mother's car's rearview mirror on Monday (thank you, Shasta, for not telling us, good lord), and the word, "Die" written in our basement (she said that Lawrence had seen it too and thought that probably another kid she plays with had written it for some reason). She also told me that she'd seen a sign outside SuperCuts when I took Henry and Adam for their haircuts last month. The sign said, "You're Next," and she believed it referred to her imminent demise.

I rubbed my face, thinking, "God, please don't let this be child-onset schizophrenia," whereupon she said I'd never made that face before and demanded the pass-phrase.

She also has a rather juicy cold and is coughing a lot (we just gave her cough medicine, so here's keeping our fingers crossed she sleeps through the night) and she asked me just before I ran downstairs to tell L we have a problem, "If I get scared in the middle of the night, can I wake you up to sit with me?" Which has been a behavior we thought had finally passed last year. What Jo means by sitting with her is sitting in her room while she takes several hours to fall asleep and then several more after she wakes when you tried to tiptoe out. Which, given our current needs for sleep and my current mental state, is very bad. She's already woken once and L sat with her from 10:30 - 11:30. I know more is coming and I'm taking that shift so he can sleep -- he has a meeting in Princeton tomorrow and needs a lot of solid sleep.

Guys, I'm scared. I'm really scared. Can I wake you up in the middle of the night to sit with me?

Threaded | Flat

I don't mean to be a dick... but doesn't Shasta let her sleep in bed with her whenever she wants? Isn't she just trying to game you into sleeping with her all night long?

For the record, I am often up all night long. And am willing to sit with you! Because you're the best!

One way or another, we're all here sitting up with you.

***hugs***

Oh my god. I can't even imagine what it's like to be going through this.

Was tonight the first time she told you about seeing these things, but she's actually been seeing things (or interpreting existing signs) for a month? Yikes. I'm scared too. I hope you can get her in to see a doctor ASAP.

My sister-in-law had a condition recently where she was terrified that aliens were going to do something and she had some kind of time machine in the house that would keep them away (something like that, anyway). I think it was delusional disorder.

Good luck and strength to you and L as you navigate this. Jo could not be in better hands, even though I know this is super scary. Hugs.

Oh dear. This is more concerning than I had gleaned from the original post. I'd be scared as well.

Does Jo watch a lot of television? Could she be mirroring behaviors she might see in scary movies/television series? If so, I'd replace TV with another activity, something which doesn't trigger her to imitate what she is seeing on the screen.

What's her therapy situation like, and is she under the care of mental health professionals who are qualified to make an accurate diagnosis regarding schizophrenia or other brain chemistry imbalances?

So sorry you and your family are going through this.