naijainstinct:
The entire month of January 2015 was hell for me & my family. Before the event that took place that month, I used to think that the mad people roaming the streets were all victims of drug abuse, alas I was wrong.
I'll love to use this opportunity to say a very big THANK YOU to the members of Nairaland family who kept on encouraging and praying for me throughout that difficult period. @shegsrules, @menix, @yorex2011 @lastmessenger, @dorox, @tranglatar, @twosquare @GoldCircle, @Orex @adexsimply, @haibe. You guys were awesome. May God continue to bless & lift you.
I cannot say enough thanks to @alexk2 and @tranglatar. These are guys I have never seen in my life yet they encouraged me like a blood brother. May God bless your hearts & grant all your heart desires this year and beyond in Jesus Name. Amen!
I created this thread www.nairaland.com/2083522/please-advice-sister-needs-urgent on the 9th of January 2015 when I desperately needed advice from experienced & wise Nairalanders. Although the thread never saw the frontpage, the little advice and prayers I got from the few who commented were more than enough to push me through.
It's over a year now and I'm delighted to share the testimony of how my sister was delivered from insanity. True to the comment of one of the God-sent Nairalanders on the previous thread, my sister had been battling with depression for a while and was trying to use religion as a succour. Her sudden withdrawal from everyone was a sign of depression but we mistook it for trying to be closer to God. To cut the long story short, the climax of the whole experience was on the 10th of January 2015 at about 11:05pm. Earlier that evening, my sister returned from church and was muttering some incoherent words to herself that made me really suspicious but she acted normal. Even when I asked her questions, she answered very well. Mum had retired to bed and I was in my room reading comments/advice from the previous thread about her issue. I heard strange noises from the sitting room/kitchen but I assumed my sister was probably trying to clean up the dishes and return some other stuff like water into the fridge. I was very wrong. Not until I heard a loud bang that I jumped up from bed and ran to the sitting room, what I saw shocked me to my marrows. Right there was my sister with a knife in one hand and an electric kettle on the other (it was with these she made the loud bang), her clothes (the one my mum gave her to wear) were torn to shreds & she was almost completely unclad. She had torn the sofa with the knife, pulled out a wall lamp by force, poured out all the contents of the standing fridge and chest freezers, torn open the bag of rice, smashed all the crates of egg on the wall, went to the store and poured the cement I kept on herself, sliced the yams, fishes and potatoes in the kitchen, poured disinfectant all over the kitchen, bursted open the bag of garri, shredded a part of the matress in her room & even tore the wrapper her little daughter who feel asleep while watching cartoon in the palour used to cover herself, infact a part of the house was upside down.
I couldn't believe all that happened while I was fully awake in my room (though my door was shut & the sound system was quite loud). At this time, my mum woke up and joined me in the sitting room. I quickly grabbed the knife and kettle from her and locked her arms to her back in a bid to overpower her. Mum was praying and crying and even slipped (because the mixture of rice grains, water, smashed eggs, turkey wings/laps, tomato paste etc made the tiles very slippery and difficult to walk on. We were confused on who to call or how to manage the situation. I tried asking her what was wrong with her and why she turned the house upside down, her response was that she was looking for her academic credentials (she had earlier burnt all her credentials). When my sister realized I won't release her arms, she was becoming aggressive. She was saying all sort of meaningless things and begging me to release her to go outside. She kept seeing all the cartoon characters on TV as herself and even thought the grains of rice scattered on the floor were a multitude of people. 
By the grace of God, a doctor was able to sedate her by 12:37am. By that time, I was exhausted, frustrated, scared, shocked and sad. I just couldn't find the right words to console my mum. She was devastated. Needless to say we could not sleep till dawn. Each time my sister woke up from her deep sleep, we got scared of what her next reaction will be. It took days and extra hands to clean up the mess in the house. To shorten the story, after pastors came to the house to pray, we took her to a psychiatric hospital and she was on drugs for months till her condition improved. Today, she is doing very well and even works with a multinational organisation (through the help of a friend).
I learnt several lessons from this sad event which I'll like to share: Such cheering news reading this! Our God works in wondrous ways. I am indeed happy to hear that your sister is doing well. Nigerians and indeed Africans should pay more attention to issues of the mind (sociological, psychological and psychiatric). cheers 2 Likes |
Sounds like your sister was manic depressive/Bipolar. I'm also cond used why you attributed her recovery to God rather than the psychiatrist and the meds. Not every case is the same and it's more serious for some than others, some people respond well to treatment and can lead relatively normal lives while some never respond at all or become a shadow of what they were. We know more (but not everything) about mental illness and how it can be treated because of decades of science and research. If we still believed mental illness was caused by spirits and demons we would be no where.
Just realised how old this thread is, apologies lol |
Thanks for everything......God bless you. I'll PM you