Update--
I am so grateful to all who responded! I was hoping to get advice right away, and I did. Thank you.
Unfortunately, it was a complete waste of time. We bundled the family into the car (husband in the backseat to keep difficult child from hurting anyone) and drove to the children's hospital int he next town where difficult child greatly disturbed everyone in the ER (including the staff and especially the elderly volunteers) with his screaming, thrashing, kicking and trying to run away. After a while, our dear little easy child ALSO started screaming after about two hours there. There was no psychiatric doctor on duty, but the resident got one on the phone who said that there's nothing anyone can do to help until he's been diagnosed, and maybe we should call around and try to see if we can get him in somewhere sooner than our scheduled appointment at the end of September? oh, and in the meanwhile we might want to remove anything in his room that he could use as a weapon (hard enough to figure out what to do with the toys and furniture--we live in a four room house!, but what's to keep him from punching through his windows or kicking the door down?). And, oh yes, if we get really desperate, we should call our insurance company and see what they suggest!!!!!
So, in the end, after a lot of disturbance and condemnation (I haven't yet developed a thick enough skin not to be bothered by the truly appalled looks on people's faces when they see difficult child in full throttle--and I got a lot of that today, believe me! I kept waiting for someone to call the police on us for the methods we had to use to restrain him!)
Anyway, we think he's probably bipolar--it runs in the family (two aunts), and all the symptoms fit. Tomorrow I'll start pestering the psychiatric doctor's office to see if we can possibly get in sooner--but I have my doubts. Everyone was shocked we were able to get an appointment as early as we did (end of september). I'll see if I can possibly get in if there's a cancellation (one advantage to homeschooling--you can change plans quickly!), but we're more than an hour away, so we'll have to have at least a little notice.
Wish me luck!
C
I am so grateful to all who responded! I was hoping to get advice right away, and I did. Thank you.
Unfortunately, it was a complete waste of time. We bundled the family into the car (husband in the backseat to keep difficult child from hurting anyone) and drove to the children's hospital int he next town where difficult child greatly disturbed everyone in the ER (including the staff and especially the elderly volunteers) with his screaming, thrashing, kicking and trying to run away. After a while, our dear little easy child ALSO started screaming after about two hours there. There was no psychiatric doctor on duty, but the resident got one on the phone who said that there's nothing anyone can do to help until he's been diagnosed, and maybe we should call around and try to see if we can get him in somewhere sooner than our scheduled appointment at the end of September? oh, and in the meanwhile we might want to remove anything in his room that he could use as a weapon (hard enough to figure out what to do with the toys and furniture--we live in a four room house!, but what's to keep him from punching through his windows or kicking the door down?). And, oh yes, if we get really desperate, we should call our insurance company and see what they suggest!!!!!
So, in the end, after a lot of disturbance and condemnation (I haven't yet developed a thick enough skin not to be bothered by the truly appalled looks on people's faces when they see difficult child in full throttle--and I got a lot of that today, believe me! I kept waiting for someone to call the police on us for the methods we had to use to restrain him!)
Anyway, we think he's probably bipolar--it runs in the family (two aunts), and all the symptoms fit. Tomorrow I'll start pestering the psychiatric doctor's office to see if we can possibly get in sooner--but I have my doubts. Everyone was shocked we were able to get an appointment as early as we did (end of september). I'll see if I can possibly get in if there's a cancellation (one advantage to homeschooling--you can change plans quickly!), but we're more than an hour away, so we'll have to have at least a little notice.
Wish me luck!
C