In your stommaccch!

I would also love to join, but know that I don't have the time to plunge into it right now (plus I'm not in Seattle). I've been wanting to read it for quite some time now. I started it a long time ago, but never got very far...got too distracted by life. lol

My family rents out a beach house. Don't know if you are looking for an entire house or not. We welcome pets and the house has a beautiful view of the ocean. The house is in Gearhart which is about 2 minutes from Seaside. Even if you don't stay there, you might want to check out the Pacific Way Cafe in downtown (all two blocks of it) Gearhart. They have delicious food, but it is expensive. Lunch is cheaper than dinner. Plus their bakery has stuff in the morning and everything is AMAZING!

If you are interested in the beach house, here is the link to the website:

http://schlesserfamily.com

Have you considered using Flor carpet tiles?

Here is a link: http://www.flor.com/

The reason why I suggest them is that you can easily replace small sections. They come in squares of various sizes and you can mix and match colors (or have just one color). They might be a little more expensive at first, but if you ever need to replace a section of carpet I think they would be way less expensive.

Auditory hallucinations can be common in schizophrenia. She is probably experiencing them.

It took me about 12 years to get straightened out enough to take my meds, and quite frankly, I am lucky I survived all the shit I did to make it to that point. Schizophrenia is particularly dangerous, because people are mostly out of their minds during the psychotic episodes.

I kind of doubt that she will be able to accept her mental illness and realize that she has it until she is stabilized on medications. The only thing that worked for me was getting the injection form of antipsychotic medication, because I couldn't NOT take it. Once I was on the injection of Haldol I improved quite quickly.

There are a lot of different depot (injection) forms of many antipsychotics. If risperdal makes her shake, then she should try something else. There are options out there. I'm a big believer in the injection form, because they are easy to take and they last like 3-4 weeks...enough time to take a lot of the crazy away.

I still have to take other meds to deal with all the other crap and to function like a semi-normal human, but the injection, for me, was really like the first brick in the wall to come down.

I know it seems ridiculous, but it really does work! That is kind of what cognitive-behavior therapy is all about.

It takes effort, but it is well worth it. Not that you should be oblivious to the realities of the world, but why be depressed/negative when it doesn't help?

This is my best understanding of how it works: basically when you counter a negative thought by ignoring it or trying to think of something positive instead, it actually creates changes in your brain! Think of it like every time you reinforce a thought or behavior you are carving out a pathway in your brain to make that thing easier and easier the next time and the time after that.

It really is all about the connections you are forming in your brain and how different neurons are firing.

I think the key to success with changing your thoughts is repetition.

That is why people with depression have the best outcome if they COMBINE meds with therapy. The therapy actually does stuff to your brain!

In fact, pretty much everything we do changes our brains.

Anyway, if you are constantly repeating negative thoughts to yourself it will just reinforce them and they will be easier and easier to have. If you repeat positive thoughts, same thing.

Woah yah! I just looked at my reputation score and it was soooo much lower! :( Like I think more than half!!!

If you want something cheerful with wide slots, why not a Hello Kitty toaster?!? hehe It even makes a weird, half-visible imprint of Hello Kitty on toast! :)

http://hellokittystuff.org/2011/02/20/lets-toast-with-the-hello-kitty-toaster/