difficult child 2 admitted tonight

seriously

New Member
It has been a very long 5 days. difficult child 2 started a manic episode Wednesday and we have been managing him at home until this afternoon. The 2 nights he refused his medications he was up all night and barely slept the next day until we persuaded him to take his medications.

last night he took his regular medications plus 1500 mg Depakote ER his psychiatrist rxd on Friday and at 11 pm told us he wanted to stay up to write up the story he's been working on since Wednesday.

Uh, no.

Offered him the 2mg Klonopin the psychiatrist had rxd along with the Depakote and he said he would take it. Then he grabbed the bottle from me and took more than one out, hiding them in his hand.

I got the bottle back and told him he could take one and give the rest back to me. He had this sly, reckless look on his face. He said he only took 2 and it was fine. I told him it wasn't that this was a higher dose than he'd had before and if he took 2 he might not wake up in the morning because it would suppress his breathing.

Then I pried his hand open and took one of them away from him.

He slept for about 8 hours - his normal is more like 11. He was groggy this morning but irritable.

The longer I thought about the incident with the medications the more upset I got today. so I called intake and they agreed to see him this afternoon.

when I told difficult child 2 around 2 pm that he had an intake appointment he told me he wouldn't go. I told him his psychiatrist wanted him to be assessed and that I felt he really might need hospitalization because he wasn't well.

He told me that he wouldn't go, I couldn't make him. I told him I would call the police to have them help transport him. He said he would fight them if they came even if they tried to Taser him.

So I called the police. As usual it took a long time for them to respond. After about 20 minutes of throwing things around in his room and stomping around the house difficult child 2 started gathering his clothes up to take to the hospital.

I noticed this and asked if he had changed his mind and he said yes. That it didn't matter what he thought - he knew I would make him go and they would believe everything I said and nothing he said.

So I called and cancelled the police and took him there.

But the intake person was like - he doesn't seem manic to me and clearly doesn't meet criteria for inpatient admission.

No he doesn't look manic I said. He's better especially mid-day and then he gets out of control in the evenings.

I told the intake person that his psychiatrist wanted him admitted and that we didn't feel he was safe at home.

So the oncall doctor decided to admit him which totally surprised me. I was expecting them to refuse cause he was irritable but nothing extreme when we were there.

I'm home now and feel like I need to just go to bed. I am exhausted and drained.

If he does well tonight they will probably discharge him tomorrow.

I sure wish they had had a bed for him Thursday when his behavior was so over the top anyone who was paying the least attention would have recognized his behavior as manic.

What 15 yo boy waxes poetic (with giggles) for 5+ minutes about how wonderful his shaving cream is then starts screaming about how his sister had better not use any and then stops dead and tells us he just feels like crying?
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
I'm so sorry about all the drama. Hopefully they'll get some idea of what you're dealing with while he's there -- and you would be wise to heed that urge to just sleep. And even if they don't hold him for more than a day, at least you've gotten some respite.

I haven't been around much lately so I have to ask how long has he been on the Depakote? I'm sure you know it takes quite a while to ramp up. For my difficult child 2 it was a solid 6 weeks. Is this being rx'd as a replacement for one or in addition to the other medications?

Get some rest tonight.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
That sounds like a tough time. I am glad that you were able to pry the medications out of his hands. By 13 there was very little chance that I could have done that with my difficult child.

I am amazed that the psychiatrist admitted him. Here there was no hope of that unless the child was nearly out of his mind. Use this time to sleep - even take a day off work if possible. You need the respite and rest. Waiting for the depakote to work can be a very loooooong six weeks but it can be worth the wait if it helps your child. We have a friend with an adult daughter with bipolar and those six weeks after she goes off her medications are really tough. I hope that the medication helps and the psychiatric hospital keeps him a couple of days. If it is possible, can you trigger him at a family therapy session if they haveo ne? Something to get him to show how manic and out of control he can be? Or next time try to video his mania (maaybe get another family member to do this while you are interacting with him?) so that you can show them waht you are talking about?

Either way, sending lots of hugs and I hope you get some rest!
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I'm so glad they admitted him. Like the others said, use this time to rest up. Gentle hugs being sent your way.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
This is the best part of your note and the part where I can say been there done that: I noticed this and asked if he had changed his mind and he said yes. That it didn't matter what he thought - he knew I would make him go and they would believe everything I said and nothing he said.
So I called and cancelled the police and took him there.

Best of luck with-his treatment in psychiatric hospital. I hope they can figure out what's going on. {{hugs}}
 
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