[Christina]

Hi,
Ok, before i start i want you all to know this is not some silly little thread to gain attention i do honestly need advice. Lol. Ok, my friend who i have known since i was 4 is in a really bad way and im soo worried about her. Her younger brother suffers from Autism [sp] and has recently been suspended from school meaning he is now at home all the time. Latley he has become ALOT worse and is now beating up my friend and her mum. He is also swearing and picking fights and basically acting crazy. Apparantly the other day a family friend was at there home and the brother started shouting a whole heap of homophobic abuse at the man. This has caused my friend to become so stressed and she is now worrying about things she does not need to worry about. Things such as old friends, eating habits, family deaths and even religion. She reckons her brother triggered it off but she also says at certain times of the day she shall just feel so anxious and starts panicking.

She hasent eaten for 4 days now as she says 'I dont feel very hungry, ive never gone without a day of eating'. She has lost quite alot of weight since the last time i saw her which was like 3 weeks ago. Today she called me up and was begging me to get her away so i asked my mum if it would be okay if she stayed at my house for a few days which mum agreed to. So we went to the cinema and i noticed she was so much less talkative [which is unusal because shes usually so hyperactive and talkative]. Now ive tried and tried to make her laugh, to engage her in convos but it always ends up in an akward silence which i feel is making it worse. Anyways we were watching HSM3 and during the middle she started shaking and i asked her if she was okay and she said yes and then all of a sudden she kind of 'broke down' in a way. She started crying and shaking towards the end so i linked her arm and took her outside and she was in a terrible state. She hadnt eaten her sandwhich and she just sort of sobbing. I hugged her and tried my very best to convince her he was just going through a phase and that everything would be alright once she was back at school etc.. But ive honestly NEVER seen her like this and ive known her for about 11 years.

In the end she decided she wouldnt stay at my house and she felt her mum would need her support as she was the eldest. She sat outside in my garden for about an hour with me as she felt sick. Im soo worried about her and im going away on Thursday so if anything does happen i cant be here to kinda get her away. Shes had 2 vists from the police in the last 4 days and its not the kind of thing a 15 year old should be going through expecially in the middle of her most important year. I usually cheer my friends up in no time but this time its so much harder as i have no idea what life is like when caring for someone with autism. Any suggestions?

Soz for the long rant and thanks for reading.