need some thoughts

Jena

New Member
hi to all

hope everyone is well. i have little difficult child who will be going in for testing 2/27 until then we're flying by the seat of our pants at home and school, no medication's right now. sleep is so difficult for her. for all of us.

i just finished an hour phone call with difficult child's old pyschdoc. an hour yup he talks to me, we shoot ideas back and forth he's amazing and he cares. the new pychdoc i can't get a hold of him at all ever, he does not care is all business etc. doesn't even attempt to speak with rin at all.

so what i've decided to do is wait until the testing is completed the recommendation sent to new pyschdoc, let him give me my thoughts and then basically "dump" him and go to old pyschdoc. the reason i changed was due to fact he's quite far away and is out of network. i was working full time then and it was difficult to get to the city for appointments. and he also wasn't willing to take the reiumbursement my insurance company was offering for out of network, now he is.

so secondly he said that right now i should give her the chlondine every night if it helps with the sleep. right now the sleep is huge issue as well as the anxiety during day. teacher's kind of at end of rope so to speak.

he feels very strongly that she is bi polar (he said not a severe case though) but she also has several other things anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), a few others so it clouds our judgement regarding diagnosis of bi polar.

he said that all the drugs we've tried we haven't tried lithium. i was hopoing to steer clear of it for the simple fact that it has to be closely monitored and lithium just rings bad in my ears.

he feels that i should have her on medication's right now. he also suggested to me along with my therapist today that i should begin seeking services that may be available for her.

ok this is scary as well for me. it means alot of new things that i have heard many people speak of case managers, etc. there is a mental health office not too far away i have someone i know there that can help me with getting started. yet the thought of opening our doors to strange people, case managers, etc. is scarey to me at this point.

so i guess i'm just throwing out alot of stuff tonight in this one post. my plan for little difficult child is chlonidine until testing so that our house and bigger difficult child get some sleep adn i can deal alot better with rest, and to as i said switch out doctor's following the testing. i'm also in process of seeking out therapist for weekly therapy that she needs.

i have plan for older difficult child as well after speaking to therapist today.

ok that was a long one i know.......

so does this make sense? it does to me right now......

thanks

Jenn :)
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Well, Jen, our psychiatrist, who I loved at the time, was adamant that Lucas had bipolar too, but he doesn't. All the medications did (and he was on Lithium) was dope him up, make him struggle in school, and help him gain so much weight. Stick with your other assessment in my opinion and see. All professionals make their own ideas make sense. It's up to us, the parents, who know our kids best, to decide if they're right. Unfortunately, my kid got misdiagnosed so often that I am a big believer in second, even third opinions before starting hardcore, potentially dangerous medication. I'd keep an open mind before deciding to go back to old psychiatrist unless your child was significantly better under his care. If she wasn't, it could be that he diagnosed her wrong. I personally didn't want the county in our lives and never asked for any services. We got all we needed privately and at school. I didn't want a Pandora's Box (social services) to work with us. If they turn on you, well, it's not good. But many people do use them, we just decided NO WAY. Good luck!
 

Jena

New Member
thank you so much for your thoughts, my gut told me same. we have insurance for rin and at this point it has served us well, although i carelessly made the decision last year to go to the best of the best for her and well ya know the tale spent all our money between that and cutting down work hours to be with her.

anyway there i go rambling again......wanna laugh doctor said to me i seem to be exhibiting some of her behaviors now.......lmao.

anyway i too am afraid because if they do turn on me that would be bad and yes pandora's box for sure. i am alone with all decision making my ex takes major backseat to it all. boyfriend just advises let's me bounce ideas off, and backs me with decisions i make. overall decision making is legally mine. sometimes wish it wasnt, would be nice to have her dad inthe mix with me.

the old doctor, made an attempt to speak with rin ask her how she was feeling, took the time to work thru her walls and oddiites shall we say. this one does not. this doctor diagnosed same as old one. yet old one wasn't totally sold on BiPolar (BP) at time, now he seems to be. we also tried medicating solely for anxiety thinking that may be major cause and to also rule out BiPolar (BP). she flew into manic state that was an absolute horror show for i think it was 4 days.

i'm not going hardcore either until this testing is done as well, i haven't gotten the full neuropysch testing done, little bits when i went back into my notes initially at first hospital.

i just keep telling school to back off and deal till i get testing done and can sit with clear mind and meet with columbia and then the new pysch doctor, then go to old pysch doctor see what he has to say as well.

it is confusing but i am learning slowly very slowly. i think the diagnosis of BiPolar (BP) is or rather will offer her various services college some day, etc. i was also thinking shouldn't i have school test her as well. shouldn't there be an IEP in place.

school pysch said to me she wouldnt' qualify. i said how do you figure that one?? that's kinda insane to sat at this point. do you think i should have a iep in place as well? so scarey at times, i keep thinking of all her school records taht will follow her thru her academic career yet not letting the school fully acknowledge whatever the problem is isn't right either. we work solely off my words i have not submitted any type of doctor's to the school.

not everyone agrees with my approach to wait it out no drugs until the new testing is completed. yet i don't care i have to go with my gut on this one. right now i'm feeling no more medication's until i get that testign complete and have the opportunity to sit with all my various diagnosis's and findings.

it's scarey though i have to admit it truly is a little. their so so important these little people and we have so much power in their little lives.

i'm sorry to hear that he thought he had BiPolar (BP) also yet he did not. what behavior inparticular did they find that was indicitave of BiPolar (BP)??

i commend you on not giving up and not taking the first diagnosis as the final word.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Honestly, I'd trust your gut. My instincts are pretty darn good at keeping me on the right track.

A few years back I drove Nichole 2 hrs one way for a great therapist/psychiatrist combo because the choice we had down here at the time wasn't worth the paper his diplomas were printed on. Did it for months and months til we got a decent psychiatrist in our country mental health clinic. Then stopped because that drive was **** and killing us on gas and time.

They just changed our country mental health psychiatrist again. Nichole sees him for the first time this month. I've already told her that after a few times if she doesn't like him, then now that she's an adult she can see the really good psychiatrist in town cuz he also takes the welfare insurance.

Cuz I'll be darned if I'm gonna let some lame brain mess up what has taken this long to get Nichole stable and compliant with both medications and treatment.

Hugs
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I would go with whichever psychiatrist you are most comfortable with. You may not get a really accurate diagnosis at her age. They may say Mood Disorder not otherwise specified. To me, whats important is to treat the symptoms.

As far as the other services the psychiatrist talked about...are you sure they would come through Social Services or would they come through a Mental Health agency? Most are two different entities. See what would be offered to you and take it from there.
 
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