My sister is having her first psychotic episode, how long will her hallucinations last?

My sister was just put into a hospital because she started hallucinating 2 days ago.  She is still seeing people and it is not getting better, it is getting worse.  I have so many fears and questions about what is happening to her. It started 2 nights ago seeing people, bugs, talking to herself and "imaginary" friends.  She is not sleeping or eating, constantly pacing, and her words are running together because she is talking so fast no one can understand anything she is saying! How long can these hallucinations last? Will she come out of this? Will she ever be the same again? I live so far away from her and I am terrified, stunned, and devastated. Melissa has always been kind of a loner and depressed person.  Just especially in the last year she has isolated herself from society, has no job and spends everyday in her apartment alone. Is this bipolar with psychotic tendencies? Looking for any kind of insight...I love her so much!!

[ILADVOCATE]

Well the psychiatrist she is seeing could explain her diagnosis to the family but that could be bipolar with psychotic features. That like all psychiatric disabilities is treatable but it takes some time for the medication to build up to a working dose. After that things should begin to stabilize with her and of course the family should follow up to see that she recieves proper outpatient services. Things will improve but its not just medication and talk therapy for her, its also a matter of the family being supportive or her and understanding what is going on and NAMI friend and family support groups are very helpful for that.

[paranoid_cataclysm]

It could also take some time to find the medication which is right for her because not every medication works the same and as effectively for every single person but chances are that one of them will work for her eventually.  It could be bipolar disorder with psychotic features like ILADVOCATE said or some psychotic disorder since 120 conditions can have psychosis as a symptom.  A psychiatrist will probably figure it out eventually and she might be able to lead a productive life with the right treatment.  A lot of mental illnesses are highly treatable and bipolar disorder is one of them.

[4melissa]

Thank you for the quick responses....I will hopefully find out something today.  I have been trying to research as much as I can so that I have some knowledge on the illness. I want to be able to be there for her the best that I can. Can the hallucinations last for weeks? Because it is not letting up it is making me wonder when it will stop.

[paranoid_cataclysm]

Hallucinations can come and go or remain constant, psychotic symptoms are very variable in nature.  I think it depends on the person.  Is a specific individual hallucination lasting all this time or is she having different ones continually?

[Xila31]

What I know with my own hallucinations, which I have not had in years now, was for me they did not last long. One of my hallucinations was auditory and it was a ringing phone, (a phone that was not there.) The longest it ever lasted was a few hours, but as corlenbelspar said, it would come and go. I think it happened about 3 times over the span of a few years. The other hallucination was visual of a car that had 6 wheels. That one lasted only for as long as it would take a normal car to drive past at about 30 miles an hour and be out of sight. (I'm not sure if I hallucinated the entire car or just the extra wheels.) But, that second hallucination went along with years of paranoid delusions, so it is different for everyone.

I hope your sister is feeling better soon.