Think sister is manic, looking for advice
Hello, apologies in advance if this is a bit rambly or formatted weird, I’m currently on mobile and not always the best at being concise with my thoughts. But I want to post here because I am deeply concerned for my sister and interested in getting any advice since both myself and my parents are at a loss on what to do while we wait for Tuesday to hopefully get help (we live in the US, so it’s a 3 day weekend rn for many folks).
For some context, my sister is in her early 30s, lives with my parents, has OCD, and is on the autism spectrum (diagnosed in middle school). She’s always had a younger cognitive level (around a late grade school, early middle school level since reaching adulthood), so tends to operate emotionally and intellectually around that range. She does not have any communicative or ambulatory disabilities, and has (outside of the episodes I will be discussing) a firm grasp on reality and a major dedication to honesty (she really can’t lie normally, and is generally opposed to the concept).
Now onto my reason for making this post. Currently, at least to both my parents’ and my untrained eye, my sister appears to have entered a state of mania and psychosis, with the episode beginning a handful of days ago and having reached a major spike in severity as of last night. She has had two similar episodes in the past, one that lasted several months in 2019 that appeared to have been triggered by the stress of a major identity change on my end, and another that occurred about a month and a half ago and lasted several weeks, followed by a period of depression until the current episode. Neither manic episodes were as severe in their presentation as this one, and both my parents and I feel scared for her safety due to how disconnected from reality she is at the moment.
To elaborate a bit on what’s going on, for several days now, she has been talking about games and shows related to her special interests and telling us things that the characters have told her, or ways in which she’s supposedly interacted directly with their worlds. She also has been making up things that my mom or dad have said, and very clearly believes them, which has been especially awful since they are not often the kindest in how they paint my mother especially. She isn’t sleeping much, if at all, and none of the OTC meds that usually help her get to bed when she has bouts of insomnia are doing anything at all to help with that. She is unable to control her impulsivity to interrupt in conversations, and often requires multiple repetitions of things being said to her before she is able to acknowledge it. She also is CONSTANTLY interested in being around other people and talking nonstop, which is super out of the norm for her. Additionally, she has been prone to random bouts of laughter and generally intense reactions to what she perceives as funny.
Now as of last night, it’s all reached a new level that has made my parents afraid to leave her alone at all. This morning when my mom got up, she discovered all my sister’s meds missing from the drawer and the brita filter in the fridge filled with a mix of her coffee creamer and orange sparkling water. When she went to check on my sister, she found a note on my sister’s door written in gibberish which, when asked about it, my sister told her she did not write it and that it was written in an alien language from one of the games she’s obsessed with.
Upon entering my sister’s room, she couldn’t find her immediately because it turned out that my sister was in her closet with the door shut and the light on, just sitting on the floor in her pajamas with snow boots halfway on her feet, doing nothing. When my mom asked her what she was doing and where her medication was, my sister claimed to be getting ready to go to the museum with me, which is something we had discussed doing in the future but not yet planned. She told my mom she had taken all the medication bottles and put them under her pillow last night to remind her that we were going to the museum today, and had also been in the process of sorting her DVDs and CDs in the “correct order” to additionally remind her about going to the museum. When questioned, she could not explain what the correct order was. Additionally, when asked about the brita filter concoction, she claimed it was made off a recipe she read on one of the soda can boxes in the kitchen.
Needless to say, this is all completely out of the norm for her, and she has been deeply upset with my mom for unclear reasons (likely related to my mom’s attempts to keep her safe through things like taking the medication bottles back and such). Both my parents are treating her very gently, and trying to explain any concerns they have with kindness, but I just don’t think she’s capable of grasping reality right now. At the moment (according to my mom, as I am not there right now), she has apparently been listening to a mix of music and YouTube at max volume on her computer in her room, which my mom has to continually go in and adjust the volume of.
Now with all of that long, rambling explanation out of the way, I just want to ask for any advice at all that anyone may have on dealing with this situation while we wait for help to hopefully come on Tuesday. Does this seem like Bipolar? Or is it something else? And how should we best deal with this behavior in a way that keeps her safe and as happy as possible? And are there any next steps that people would recommend? Both my parents are at their wits’ end and deeply heartbroken by the whole thing, so I’m hoping to give them some support, but I just don’t know enough to help beyond being there to ease the burden of constant vigilance on their end.
Also any advice on communities this might benefit from being shared to would be great, since idk if this is the best avenue or if there is a community you think would be better suited to the issue. I am a frequent lurker of reddit, but seldom a poster and am fairly unsure on best practices
Regardless, thank you for taking the time to read and consider my post. I really, really look forward to any responses folks may have.
TL;DR: My early 30’s, autistic sister is experiencing mania and a delusional break from reality that has my family concerned for her safety and wellbeing. Any advice and/or resources are hugely appreciated.