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Yes, it can certainly appear out of the blue. Like what happened to my brother when he was 28. He was a drinker, but quite normal otherwise up until one day when he started hearing things, seeing things and became very afraid of going out.
Like him, it sounds like your daughter may have paranoid schizophrenia.
OP, for your sake and your daughter's, I hope not. It is very hard on both the ill members and the family. I'm not going to candy coat this: His 30's were hellish at times.
If you find a decent psychiatrist, they can prescribe drugs that will help tremendously to keep the symptoms to a minimum.
The main problems with schizophrenics is
1, that they don't think they are sick and try to go off their meds and end up back at square one, OR,
2, that they feel like their meds are making them sicker and just quit taking them.
Good luck. My heart goes out to you. One good thing, the symptoms lessen as they get older. My brother went on to get married and lived a fairly normal life after his 40's.
How frightening. I hope the hospital can find out what’s going on. In answer to your question yes , some illnesses like schizophrenia show up in late teens , early 20’s. However there are medical conditions that can bring up an acute psychotic episode. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1236946/
My daughter is a healthy 19 year old. All of a sudden she started talking out of her head , body aches, loss of appetite, sleep habits change, severe paranoia. I took her to hospital and they could find nothing wrong with her. She's now in a mental ward. She's scared , won't talk , won't eat, won't take meds. What happened to my daughter?I'm so worried I'm sick
She may have had milder symptoms but could hold stuff together - maybe she's now going through some kind of stress? I'd be most concerned about the "talking out of her head" an paranoia. Meet with her doctors and share as much as you can about her past behaviors and press them for their diagnosis (may be preliminary) and treatment plan, and prognosis.
And yes, late teens and early 20's is a common time for issues to surface or intensify.
Thank you but also she won't sign papers to treat she won't eat sleep drink take meds nothing they're saying until she signs papers nothing can be done she's not even in her right mind to make decisions
OP: Just to give you some hope - I know a young man who became catatonic and was in a mental hospital for a month. I don't know what prompted it, but he was under a lot of stress.
Fast forward to today: He is married, holds a very high position, has several children . . . I don't know why he had that episode (and afterwards, he had spells of hallucinations or "crazy" thinking, yet he went to college, has an advanced degree and has been well for years and years).
Just so you don't panic - people do fall apart and then come back together.
Don't listen to anyone's amateur diagnosis - those are just labels - be there for her and do what you can and think positively.
Thank you but also she won't sign papers to treat she won't eat sleep drink take meds nothing they're saying until she signs papers nothing can be done she's not even in her right mind to make decisions
Now, that is crazy. Is that legal? If someone is not in their right might, they are "incompetent" - you might need to get an attorney and get a judge to rule her incompetent. I think you can do it on an emergency basis, and I would absolutely make that happen.
The doctors and hospitals have gone overboard with HIPAA and other "rulings" which made them afraid to do what is right for mentally ill people.
When I was 12, on Christmas Day, my 44 year old Dad utterly flipped out. I mean completely! He was behaving like a maniac, saying the most bizarre, nonsensical things and was emotionally supercharged. My Mom, brothers and I were stunned.
Ultimately, he got taken to the hospital that day into psychiatric care and spent a week there. He was diagnosed as manic depressive (now called: bipolar). He went on medication that he had to take the rest of his life (which he decided to go off of 2 or 3 times over the years, with bad results.)
As a kid, that came completely out-of-the-blue but years later, as a young adult, I could look back and see that his behavior and mindset weren't always level or regular. A couple of decades further on, I realize even more that existed before that 'flip-out day'. My Mother lived such a sheltered life, she seemed to accept most any strange thing as normal. (Decades later, she's still in her own little world. Shaking my head.)
Another story, from a different angle: I have a niece, now in college, who showed some rather disturbing patterns at a very young age. At 3 years old she would do things like hide her glasses and when her parents would ask where they were she'd say, "I don't know", they believed her and would scurry all around looking for them while the child would just sit and watch them with a slightly smug, self-satisfied look on her face. What 3 year old wants to manipulate like that and relishes it so much? There are many other things she's done that cause me to think that she is a first-class narcissist. I doubt her parents have a clue about that.
To ladonnadee - my point in both these stories is: it is completely unlikely that there have been no signs. They just haven't been seen by those closest to her. We had accepted my Dad's sometimes odd behavior as "just him" and my brother and his wife likely view their daughter the same way. They wouldn't want to see it, anyhow.
How to get good insight? I would seek out a couple of her teachers, two or three of her friends (and their parents, if you're friendly enough with them and your daughter spent time at their homes) and some of your own relatives. I'll bet most of them have noticed things. Tell them your daughter is having some psychological difficulty (you DO NOT owe them detailed info) and is getting help but you are very concerned and REALLY want to know if they can shed any light on her behavior and demeanor. Beg them to be honest, tell them the chips are down and only the truth will help you.
I have a very strong sense that you will get some very helpful insight from them. Buck-up, some of it may be hard to hear. But, you'll get over that. You need help and good information right now.
I feel for you, wish you the best and please know that you will get through this.
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