Question: I am seeking a second opinion. My 20 yo son was diagnosed with possible bipolar disorder after having some delusional thoughts last August. He has been struggling with medications, side effects and not getting better.

Hello, He has suffered from anxiety and some depression in high school. he had a weight lifting injury when he was 17 and suffered neck pain for the next 3 years. he began smoking pot casually around age 16. he went away to college at age 19 and got mono a few months in and he was very fatigued for months. he passed his fall semester, but dropped out the spring semester because he became depressed about being sick and failing classes. he came home in April and by August, he started having delusional thoughts about ghosts visiting his room at night and getting into his spine and causing him a lot of pain and fear. we went to see a psychiatrist who started him on seroquel xr. he slept 15-20 hours daily so he was switched to immediate release. he still slept for about 12-14 hours a day but he continued to take it bc he did feel better. (he started an ssri during high school and was switched to Effexor at some point. he continues to take Effexor 75 mg). he functioned ok during the 3 months On seroquel but then started having conspiracy theory thoughts and serious fears that overwhelmed him. we saw his doctor and he wanted to increase the seroquel but we opted for a new med bc of fear or increasing sleep. he ended on about 200 mg of seroquel at night. my son started a new med risperidone, which gave him sweats, heart palps and dizziness. he switched to latuda and he had problems with the inner shakiness and weird inner restlessness. he could not sit still or tolerate it. so last night he started on zyprexa 5 mg and now today he is very down and wishes he could kill himself without hurting his family. I told him not to yake it again until we talk to his doctor tomorrow morning. I am very concerned with the harshness of these antipsychotic meds and want him to take a mood stabilizer instead but his psych doc does not think it will be strong enough to help him. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much