Not all women ride the hormonal rollercoaster. Just sayin’…
Good luck to you and your son. (and your wife, of course).
No, but you want to rule it out before assuming the cause of the change is something else.
Laughing Lagomorph:
Assuming that you can obtain your wife’s cooperation (of course), I would want a very good physician to rule out possible ailments of the non-psychiatric variety which can cause symptoms such as you describe.
In my extended experience (meaning my person exp + that of others with whom I have discussed such matters over time), psychiatric professionals are not very thorough at ruling out the possibilities of non-psychiatric ailments as the cause of presenting symptoms. Furthermore, also in my extended experience, psychiatric treatment is a very clumsy endeavor in which the professionals involved do not have the same clear sense of what they are doing, what the etiology of the disease they think they’re treating is, and how the treatments work within the body to address it — and therefore they are also not inclined to say “Hmm, how unusual, this treatment should have stopped this schizophrenic outbreak in its tracks. We need to consider the possibility of a misdiagnosis”.
I will say furthermore that the above observations are particularly true for inpatient care rendered on an involuntary basis.
Before turning to the discipline of psychiatry I would suggest that you rule out the possibility of a growth or neurological disorder in the brain, an electrolyte or endocrinological imbalance, interactions between medications she’s taking, and anything else that may be tested for and eliminated as likely explanations through actual laboratory tests. There will be none given to rule out any of the various ‘mental illnesses’ — they simply aren’t at a stage where they can do that yet, or even be particularly clear on what a diagnosis such as “schizophrenia” actually means.
I married a similar woman. (Yes, it is possible to fall in love with a crazy person.) Luckily we didn’t have kids. I agree with bmal above. Protect yourself and your son.
My Darling Marcie suffers from ADD; I mention this only because you’ve said your wife has the same condition; I don’t know if it is relevant.
About two to three years ago, Marcie became paranoid* to the point of delusion—people were spying on her, people were following her and writing reports on her behavior, our house and cars were bugged, “they” were monitoring our computer use; we had to shred every scrap of paper that entered our house; she wouldn’t see a doctor because they were part of the conspiracy and those were just the high points. I finally got her to see a doctor she had seen some years ago and thought highly of—we had to drive just quite a way to see this person, but it was well worth it. That doctor prescribed Zoloft and within a week the problems were gone. I know this is purely anecdotal; IANAD, YMMV, and all the rest. The real point, though, was that a simple solution to a horrible problem was found and even though that solution might not apply in your case, something similar might. In any event, I experienced much of what you are describing and I hope with all my heart that your experience ends as well as mine did.
*This is just the common use of the word paranoid; no formal diagnosis was ever made.
Lagomorph, thanks for posting this, it’s scary but I think it will help people understand what can happen and hopefully be more informed if it happens to them or a loved one.
My 27 year old sister was on a medication for a chronic disease she has that caused her to exhibit symptoms of mental illness for a month or so last year. She couldn’t be left alone because she had this scary sense of well being and wasn’t afraid of anything. She tried to cook and was using bleach instead of cooking oil. She didn’t sleep and wrote page after page of nonsense on paper. Luckily they figured out what was causing it and switched her medication. But I can imagine what you’re going through. Glad you found some local contacts here to help you find competent help.