Really scared for difficult child

[flutterbee]

difficult child told me last night that she thinks people can read her mind. She hears voices, mainly her name being whispered, and she thinks people are following her - even in the house. She hears things that aren't there - keys jangling, someone/something beating on the house.

We are on a waiting list at Children's Behavioral Health. I'm calling our GP in the morning to see if they can do anything to get her at the top of the list.

by the way, you guys know me. I've changed my screen name for privacy purposes not related to my kids. If you can't figure it out, PM me and I'll let you know.

I'm not sure what to think. I'm just really scared.

 

[smallworld]

I assume she's not on any medications at this point?

Anxiety can become so intense that it turns into psychosis. There's a chance that's happening to your difficult child. I agree with your contacting your GP to get her in to be seen ASAP. Seroquel might be a good choice in this instance.

As long as she's not having command hallucinations, she should be safe, but I would recommend keeping a close eye on her. Hang in there.

 

[flutterbee]

No, she's not on any medications.

Our GP referred us to county mental health who informed me they are not taking any new patients. So, my GP's office sent a referral to Children's and we're still waiting to hear from them.

 

[BusynMember]

Any serious mental illness on either side of the famiily tree, either diagnosed or NOT diagnosed? I respectually, must disagree with smallmom who I normally agree with. I been in treatment for a mood disorder and anxiey disorder (SEVERE) since age 23 and never hsard of that causing such severe symptoms as psychosis, nor was I ever told by any of my doctors that it can. Or does. If she thinks others can read her thoughts, in my opinion even if she has anxiety there is way more than that going on.
Psychos, which is what your daughter is experiencing, is normally a sign of a serious mental illness, such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Thinking that others can read your thoughts are actually most common in schizophrenia, but I wouldn't panic yet. I would see an extremely well-credentialed psychiatrist who can treat serious mental illness, if this psychiatrist just isn't cutting the muster. A GP/pediatrician--well, this is way out of his league. If possible you should see a private Psychiatrist who has a very good reputation. medications can also cause psychosis, but since he isn't on any, I would take this very seriously. I'm not expert, and not a doctor of course, but I have read a lot about schizophrenia and bipolar because I myself am mentally ill and was afraid of what I might have. The "reading thoughts" or "the television is talking about me" did seem more schizophrenia or schizoaffective. I imaigine it could be a part of bipolar mania too, but I don't know. I didn't see much about that in my long years of research, as a layperon with a disorder. I do have bipolar AND major depression and had so much anxiety before my medications that the ER doctors knew me well. My anxiety was out of control, but the worst that happened to me was sort of a parnoia one year, that lifted when the depression did, but I never felt that anyone or anything talked about me or could read my thoughts. The earlier you take care of this, no matter what it is, the better the child will do in the long run. I think this is too serious to take it to the board. We are all lay people and this is a big issue. Please see a great psychiatrist soon, who will take her seriously, and let us know how you precious child is doing. If this were my own child, I would be very concerned about possibly a major mental illness that needs antipsychotic treatment, but, again, I'm but one layperson here--we all are. Please seek immediate help so your child can get some relief. (((Hugs))))

 

[rejectedmom]

How does she sleep? Lack of quality sleep can cause hallucinations and Psycosis. Does she snore? Just brainstorming here. Does she have a history of any trauma? PTSD can cause a mirad of symptoms. Blood sugar problems? -RM

 

[DaisyFace]

Hi--

Two thoughts come immediately to mind--Number One, the "keys jingling" sound, rhythmic thumping, whispering....those are all symptoms associated with inner/middle ear infections. These kinds of infections don't even hurt...but they cause jingling, thumping, whispered sounds that can be quite disconcerting. Have a doctor take a look at her ears for any signs of congestion/infection/blockage.

Number Two, without the strange noises....we are left with her thinking that other people can read her thoughts. Is she already being treated for paranoia or anxiety?

If she feels a little anxious or paranoid anyway--hearing new strange sounds in her ears could absolutely be making it worse.

I will cross my fingers for you that this new symptom is something than can be easily fixed with antibiotics...

Best of luck!

--DaisyF

 

[flutterbee]

Apparently, this isn't new. This has been going on for a very long while and she's just been afraid to talk about it.

She wasn't sleeping before, but I just found out it's because she was afraid to close her eyes. She is sleeping now.

 

[DDD]

Sending hugs your way. DDD

 

[TerryJ2]

Oh, that's so scary! Great that she told you now. She'll sleep if you tell her you're right there, watching, right?

My first Q was medication related, too.

Good catch on the inner ear thing, Daisy. Don't know if it's something in addition to anxiety and/or psychosis, or the same thing.

{{hugs}}

 

[CrazyinVA]

Severe depression can have psychotic features as well, so said one psychiatrist to me years ago, anyway. I hope you can get some answers on this quickly.

 

[flutterbee]

The thing is, she seems really stable now - like I haven't seen in years. I was talking with a friend who has a dissociative disorder and he says he knows when he's dissociating because he doesn't have any anxiety.

So, since she swears she doesn't have any anxiety or depression right now, it makes me wonder if her anxiety is causing her to dissociate; hence, the psychotic type symptoms.

My GP's office and I both tried all day to get in touch with Children's Behavioral Health with no luck. On hold forever then they can't find the referral, blah, blah, blah. My GP's office said this has become pretty typical.

I think I'll call county mental health tomorrow and beg and plead if I have to. One other option is to take her to the ER because that should get her in to county mental health quickly on an emergency basis with no hospitalization. Used to work that way, anyway.

 

[janebrain]

My difficult child 2/easy child has a dissociative disorder and when she first told me her symptoms I had to take her to a therapist to rule out psychosis. She heard voices, saw a "man in black", etc. It was very scary to her and also to me when she told me. She has been in therapy for 3 1/2 yrs now and I think the symptoms are much improved. She also knows now when she is dissociating. She is doing EMDR for her condition.

Good luck, I know how scary it is!

Jane

 

[KTMom91]

How scary for her! Sending many hugs to you both. Hope you can get her in soon.

 

[TerryJ2]

Sigh. Now you have to deal with-bureaucracy on top of it all. Isn't that just the way?

I'm hoping she stays as stable as possible in the meantime.

 

[AnnieO]

If you can't get in with behavioral take her to the ER at your closest children's hospital - difficult child's biomom told us about her hearing & seeing things, but when we asked difficult child it was like we were the ones hallucinating. We started noticing she wasn't sleeping. Then about last April it got obvious, in fact last week we had an episode where she screamed for then entire family - dog and cats included - to join her in her room because "something is in here with me". difficult child has been abused by biomom's boyfriend and the seeing and hearing stuff dates back to then. I'm not saying that is what happened in your case, but obviously there is something going on. difficult child started threatening suicide (which is how we found out about boyfriend) and although we haven't seen any signs of attempts we do have to sleep sometime, we can't watch her 24/7, so even when she's not anxious or depressed it can pop up fast. Our local Children's Hospital got her straight into psychiatric help and even though it is slow, it's helping.
(((((HUGS))))) Your family's in my prayers, too.

 

[BusynMember]

Some kids hallucinate because they are mentally ill. It is not always tied to PTSD (that is more of flashing back to the incident and thinking you are there). It's hard to think about it, but there are kids with serious mental disorders who hallucinate for no reason other than that. There is also good help out there now and much better medication than in the past.

 

[DaisyFace]

Some kids hallucinate because they are mentally ill. It's hard to think about it, but there are kids with serious mental disorders who hallucinate for no reason other than that.

Yes...this is true.

I think that most of us are hoping, though, that these noises and voices are being caused by something else....

Hopefully...doctors will find the cause and be able to treat accordingly...SOON!

--DaisyF

 

[totoro]

Oh gosh, I missed your post...
I am so sorry she is going through this.
I think I remember you mentioning her hearing noises or voices in the past?
I know when I am stressed or extra anxious I *think* I hear things. It is like I am extra alert to things.
I don't care what what the Docs say, this happens to me.
I do not hallucinate normally. It is not a part of my BiPolar (BP) per se.

Now K Hallucinates both Visually and Auditory but it is part of her Psychosis due to BiPolar (BP).
And she does not have Schizophrenia nor Schizo-Affective Disorder. Maybe later in life she may develop either of these.

But K hears lots of sounds, this is how it started for her also.
She heard knocking and footsteps. Tapping in her head. It later became talking which led to visual. It has only been angry a few times and only as far as I know a couple of times when the voices have told her to do things.
She has never lost her ability to relate reality from her hallucination.
But K needs to be on an AP to keep these things at bay. Unfortunately.

I really hope you can get her in somewhere, these are those times when we have to become the b-tches that we don't like to be. The pushy ones!

I am truly sorry that you are dealing with all of this carp.

 

[flutterbee]

I called county mental health again and, of course, got the voicemail for the intake person.

Then, I looked on their website and they have 24 hour crisis intervention, so I called back and explained what was going on and they put a counselor on the phone. Unfortunately, unless she is in need of hospitalization - the criteria being a danger to herself or others - there really is no quick way to get her in. However, the guy was going to check with intake and find out why they told me before that they weren't taking new patients and see what he could do. He promised he would get back to me by 5pm today and he even gave me his cellphone number.

While I was talking to him, my GP's office called and we finally got the info for Children's Behavioral. So, I called and got - you guessed it - voicemail. Apparently, you have to go through several people before you get seen. This person just takes the info, then you schedule an appointment with an intake person and then who knows.

It's just a mess. The guy from county mental health and I talked about the lack of services for children and adolescents and in this economy it's just made it harder as more people have lost their jobs and are relying on county mental health.

I need the power of the board here. Please send all the good juju that you can that she gets seen quickly.

Thing is, difficult child is so calm. Eerily so. Something's not right.

 

[TerryJ2]

I'm sending healthy vibes and strength.
Has she talked to you lately? Given you any more information?
Is she still doing school work?