Sometimes when I have “there’s bugs under my skin” delusions or tactile hallucinations it helps to have a long sleeve hoodie or jacket or something. Treat it as a real “threat” if they have a scary situation happening to them and reach a logical conclusion. The way the sleeves works is it keeps my eyes off my skin and keeps me from scratching too hard, but also it keeps any “bugs” from crawling over my skin. On their good days you can have mani pedi days and keep all their nails short (and maybe moisturize their hands and cuticles, idk if they would accept nail polish) but also check limbs for any cuts or bruises discretely because usually any discomfort like a scab or any dry irritated skin is likely to cause an itch storm again.

I realize you said you live in a different state and these things are better in person, but you can do something over the phone called “grounding” and i also apply a lot of “reality testing”. Back when I had a lot of visual bug hallucinations i also had an insect infestation in my house. I needed other people to “be my eyes” sometimes and go through a checklist with me. “Does this make sense/ Is this appropriate ?” Means like if this situation was real, why would it be happening? So like if I hear ice cream trucks and it’s on a summer afternoon, that kind of makes sense in the context, but if I hear that same noise in the middle of a winter night, why would the ice cream truck be running at 2am? A less tame example is I used to freak out at brightly colored lights because they would “speak” to me in demonic voices and tell me to die. Christmas tree season sucked! So my step one was “if Christmas trees could talk, why can’t other people hear them? If demons existed, there would be a way of commodifying them into a business plan other than through the church, there would be less arguments about religion and more hard facts, right? Trees do not talk, so while this is freaky, this isn’t real”. Part two is “can others perceive this?” Because sometimes I can’t tell if things make sense. Ok maybe everyone in this room does hate me, let me tell my husband about it and see if he thinks I’m just making up reasons why I suck and am projecting on others. Yea we have a roach problem, this bug might be real, so let me pull out my phone camera (usually visual hallucinations can’t be “recorded” on camera or audio hallucinations on recorders) and if I still sense it, I’ll send it to a friend to see if the bug on my leg is actually there. (Ngl sometimes bugs are legit just bugs! I’m not scared of them I just feel weird when they crawl out my cleavage and freak out my roommate and I’m just like “oh that was real?”)

Usually stress makes my symptoms worse. Bad sleep, not eating, and lack of exercise does that too, same with too much caffeine. Make sure they are living a somewhat healthy lifestyle and stay connected with the outside world. Isolation sucks, usually it made me more delusional too.

Meds help but if they don’t help a lot after a month of taking them consistently, don’t be afraid to try a new one! I had to try different doses and I’m on the third antipsychotic they recommended for me and it works better now for my lifestyle (first was aripiprazole which was cool but made me gain weight, then lithium which gave me serotonin syndrome so I stopped after day 3, and now I’m on lurasidone and an antidepressant which I also had to cycle through a couple of those)

Also I live in Texas too. I also work in the medical field (specifically pharmacy, I’m not a doctor) so if you have any region specific questions like what it’s like at an inpatient facility (I’ve been twice) or how to navigate discounted psych assistance programs like CHCS I can help from a patient and medical perspective if you want to DM me

3 points Ghost_Town_Rangers

i have it and the same people i thought were against me early on are now the ones who keep me sane. does he hear voices? the best thing you can do is reason with him about whats real and whats not logically but be careful not to insist on it or judge him for thinking a certain way. thats just my experience though.


2 points Beneficial_Spread221

He does, he said he even heard me one night, didn't say anything mean luckily lol. I appreciate the advice, he wants to move with me by the end of next year so I'll def take the into consideration then!

parent root

1 points Ghost_Town_Rangers

oh cool that is lucky lol. i heard friends and family members voices but they were mean when they were voices and then they were their normal selves in person. for a long time i was convinced they were playing me but then i came to understand it wasn’t them talking to me in my head. the more time you spend communicating with your friend the better because the disorder thrives on isolation. i sleep in the living room to be around my family lol. being alone too much is hellish and the delusions go unchecked. through talking to friends and family i stay grounded in reality and it takes away the voices power.

parent root

1 points Beneficial_Spread221

Noted on the talking part, sadly he lives alone with his dog and thats about it, so hopefully when move in together (and possibly date) it'll help out a bunch with it

parent root
1 points 5x5LemonLimeSlime

Sometimes when I have “there’s bugs under my skin” delusions or tactile hallucinations it helps to have a long sleeve hoodie or jacket or something. Treat it as a real “threat” if they have a scary situation happening to them and reach a logical conclusion. The way the sleeves works is it keeps my eyes off my skin and keeps me from scratching too hard, but also it keeps any “bugs” from crawling over my skin. On their good days you can have mani pedi days and keep all their nails short (and maybe moisturize their hands and cuticles, idk if they would accept nail polish) but also check limbs for any cuts or bruises discretely because usually any discomfort like a scab or any dry irritated skin is likely to cause an itch storm again.

I realize you said you live in a different state and these things are better in person, but you can do something over the phone called “grounding” and i also apply a lot of “reality testing”. Back when I had a lot of visual bug hallucinations i also had an insect infestation in my house. I needed other people to “be my eyes” sometimes and go through a checklist with me. “Does this make sense/ Is this appropriate ?” Means like if this situation was real, why would it be happening? So like if I hear ice cream trucks and it’s on a summer afternoon, that kind of makes sense in the context, but if I hear that same noise in the middle of a winter night, why would the ice cream truck be running at 2am? A less tame example is I used to freak out at brightly colored lights because they would “speak” to me in demonic voices and tell me to die. Christmas tree season sucked! So my step one was “if Christmas trees could talk, why can’t other people hear them? If demons existed, there would be a way of commodifying them into a business plan other than through the church, there would be less arguments about religion and more hard facts, right? Trees do not talk, so while this is freaky, this isn’t real”. Part two is “can others perceive this?” Because sometimes I can’t tell if things make sense. Ok maybe everyone in this room does hate me, let me tell my husband about it and see if he thinks I’m just making up reasons why I suck and am projecting on others. Yea we have a roach problem, this bug might be real, so let me pull out my phone camera (usually visual hallucinations can’t be “recorded” on camera or audio hallucinations on recorders) and if I still sense it, I’ll send it to a friend to see if the bug on my leg is actually there. (Ngl sometimes bugs are legit just bugs! I’m not scared of them I just feel weird when they crawl out my cleavage and freak out my roommate and I’m just like “oh that was real?”)

Usually stress makes my symptoms worse. Bad sleep, not eating, and lack of exercise does that too, same with too much caffeine. Make sure they are living a somewhat healthy lifestyle and stay connected with the outside world. Isolation sucks, usually it made me more delusional too.

Meds help but if they don’t help a lot after a month of taking them consistently, don’t be afraid to try a new one! I had to try different doses and I’m on the third antipsychotic they recommended for me and it works better now for my lifestyle (first was aripiprazole which was cool but made me gain weight, then lithium which gave me serotonin syndrome so I stopped after day 3, and now I’m on lurasidone and an antidepressant which I also had to cycle through a couple of those)

Also I live in Texas too. I also work in the medical field (specifically pharmacy, I’m not a doctor) so if you have any region specific questions like what it’s like at an inpatient facility (I’ve been twice) or how to navigate discounted psych assistance programs like CHCS I can help from a patient and medical perspective if you want to DM me


1 points Beneficial_Spread221

(Totally thought I responded lol, but I made note of all of this and sent you a dm!

parent root
1 points pmkreddit

You might also want to post this on r/schizofamilies. They may be able to help with some of those questions, especially “how to keep myself from worrying to much.”