Elijah last visit with old psychiatrist, section 12d, ER psychiatric evaluation

jcox

New Member
Elijah had his last visit with his old psychiatrist yesterday afternoon. It was definetly quite an afternoon. My husband stayed home with the other children. My cell phone was dead because my brother in law did not pay the bill so I had no phone (He has a family plan... we pay him each month for our portion). The psychiatrist is an hour away. On the way there on the state highway Elijah tells me Mom I am going to unbuckle. Then he picked up the window scraper. He then tried hitting me with it while I was driving so I pulled over. He unbuckled as I was going to the side of the road which took a minute because I was in the fast lane going about 60. By the time I pulled over he was unbuckled and running around the inside of the van. Then while we were on the side of the road the state police came. By this time I had held his body for a few minutes and he was in his car seat and calm again. I told him what happened. He was really nice and offered to talk with Elijah about how Mommy could get in trouble and if there was a car accident he could get hurt really bad. He was fine after that for a while.

At the psychiatrist office he was fine playing for about a half hour. They were that late seeing us. Then we went in with the psychiatrist and he was still alright for about ten minutes. Then he had to go to the bathroom. He went and I followed him. He locked himself in and refused to open the door. While I was getting the lady to unlock it he came out and went in a staff room and locked that door and again refused to come out. Finally they opened the door. He attacked the office dog trying to bite it. Then he threw two plants across the office and tried to hit me. I held his body in the waiting room. He was trying to kick me in the face and bite me. Then he calmed down so we went back in to the psychiatrist office. He was alright for about three minutes but then started again because he tried to call 911 and I took the phone and gave it to the psychiatrist. He then threw things around the office. The psychiatrists wife who is a therapist next door heard Elijah so she came in. He had my glasses off my face and was trying hard to break them. Then he was hitting me. Hit the psychiatrist' s wife, was calling her not nice words, kicking me, etc. She began telling the psychiatrist that Elijah needed to go to the ER. The psychiatrist said no he did not because this is nothing new... he did this almost every day. They began arguing in the office very loudly. She said that if he did not tell me to bring him to the ER then she would section 12 him. He kept acting up so finally she demanded he section him. So they did section him. He was like I don't care call the ambulance boob. But a few minutes later he began to cry "Mommy please no I will stop my mess". I sat on the floor and cuddled him asking if he promised to be good. He did, but the therapist came and said it was out of my hands. I told her I would agree on taking him, but she still did the section 12. She was screaming at Elijah to lay down, shut up and don't move. I did not appreciate the way she was talking to him, but did not say anything because I was too busy crying and trying to console Elijah. So many feelings went through me, but I knew that it would be the right thing to place him in the hospital this time. My heart was breaking though.

I called our FST worker to meet us at the ER. So the ambulance came. Elijah loved this and really enjoyed his ride. When we got to the hospital he was alright. We had to wait in the hall in a bed because there were no rooms in the ER. He did good. The nurse told him that they were going to put him in a room where he would be able to see the ambulances outside through the window. Then they decided to put him in the safe room. Elijah hates it when people don't do what they say or when plans change. He was active in the safe room, kept pushing the nurse call button etc.

Then the crisis services lady came to do his psychiatric evaluation. She asked him if he wanted to die. He said no. She asked him if he hears things that are not there. He said no. I tried telling her about his belly talking to him, but she put it off as children his age often have imaginary friends. She asked if his behaviors were new. I told her no. I told her about the new psychiatrists at Tufts and how they are going to do lots of testing and make medication changes. She said honestly he would get more out of going to Tufts on an outpatient then he would with a residential placement.

She said our insurance would not pay for an inpatient hospitalization because he did not meet the criteria of new presenting symptoms, being suicidal, or having hallucinations. I thought for sure he was going to go to the hospital. She said she could have him placed in residential, but would not recomend it because it would interfere with everything they planned on doing at Tufts. I asked our FST worker and she said that if he was not going to Tufts then she would tell me to put him at the residential placement, but since he is going there for evaluations and medication changes she would not recomend residential. The crisis services lady then asked me what I wanted if I wanted him to come home or go to residential. I told her I would take him home. The crisis service lady got him his evening doses of Risperdal and Clonidine, then discharged us and we came home.

Our FST worker let me borrow her cell phone for the ride home just in case, but he went to sleep and was fine. He has been a little irritable today, but no major issues. I would have been alright with an inpatient hospitalization, but not residential. He picked the wrong place to act up yesterday!

I was surprised that they said he did not meet the insurance criteria for being inpatient... I thought he would have. I guess for some reason he was not meant to go to the hospital last night. I go to Tufts again next week so I will know more about what they have to say.

Janice
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
Oh, my goodness gracious. What a Warrior Mom you are proving to be. I can not even imagine all the stressful, painful emotions that have surged through your body based on this experience. I admire your tenacity.

I don't know what support you have in place between now and Tufts but I sincerely pray that you have help available for you and for him until next weeks appointment. Sending hugs and prayers. DDD
 

klmno

Active Member
Wow- I was reading this hoping that they would have kept him. I hope Tufts can help you with this. Does he act like that at home or just when you take him around others?
 

jcox

New Member
He does the same type of things at home sometimes. Nothing seems to bring his rages on. He will be fine playing or sitting at the table and it is like something snaps in his head and off he goes into a rage usually for no apearant reason, but sometimes from the word no or while asking him to do something. About seventy five percent of the time they happen for no known reason though....

In the ER last night he told me "Mommy my belly makes me so tired". I believe that his belly really talks to him and is more than the imaginary friend every professional we came to so far believes it to be. I think it is some type of hallucination. He gets so tired from it telling him to do bad things.
 

Janna

New Member
I know you're getting into Tufts, I hope they do a medication wash on your poor little guy. Honestly, Risperdal gave D hallucinations, and Celexa, isn't that an antidepressant? For a 6 year old? Wow, he's on alot of medications. Who knows what all that is doing to him on top of what he's got going on in his mind already.

Although I'm sure it was a traumatic experience today, it is good that someone else is witnessing the behaviors. I mean, sometimes, the psychiatrists never see *anything*, and so, at least these guys got to witness what you go through.

Hope things improve. It really does sound like his belly thing is a huge issue. I'm so surprised the psychiatrists are playing it off! Wow.
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Janice,
You must be exhausted! I so remember when my difficult child used to get dangerous in the car. In fact all three of his hospitalizations were related to incidents involving the car. I'm sorry that your insurance said he didn't meet criteria. I'm sending gentle hugs your way.
 

Ropefree

Banned
Hye, didn't the psyc at tufts tell you to have er refer to them? Didn't I read that here not long ago? I thought I did read that and thought that that ought to be written down like a medical order or something.
Sorry that this is so hard going for you and if Tufts is going to help then when is that ? I mean if there is something to be done when? How long do these children have to suffer, along with their families befor the correct attention and by that I do mean the attention resulting in a solution that is right to life quallity. You know where there is happiness involved. Surviving a trauma trip to have the kid the next door therapist and the psyc with glasses in tact and only loosing hours of your life in the er is not exactly treating this child. I think this merrygoround type thing is just bogus and a form of fruad. Why is it that doctor 'feels' that is 'normal' it is not normal. It is violent and it exploits the parents. How much money does this system swallow without having a meaningful solution per patient anyway?
 

jcox

New Member
didn't the psyc at tufts tell you to have er refer to them? Yes that is what he told me. The lady doing the emergency psychiatric evaluation told me "yeah doctors say things that can't always happen". I will try to get something from the doctor in writing. Tufts is going to help then when is that ? I go again next week to finish his intake. Then they are going to take over his medication management most likely within two weeks from then. They scheduled his genetic testing already and once that is complete he said he is going to schedule the MRI and EKG. The educational and psychiatric testing center there usually has a waiting list, but he said he is going to try his best to expidite that for Elijah. I feel your frustrations with the system as well.
 

katya02

Solace
You must be exhausted. Elijah's behaviors are really concerning, both the level of aggression/violence and the dangerous acting out in the car. I hope you have some help at home with him, and I would suggest that you not take him anywhere in the car without a second adult who can address issues until you can pull the car over.

How are your daughters coping with all of the stress? How are you managing - do you have a counselor you can talk to?
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Janice, what a day!
Gosh, I don't like the arguing at the psychiatric's ofc. What do you think about that whole thing? They can't even keep themselves together.
I've got all my bets placed on Tufts.
I like Janna's idea of doing a medwash. They'll have to one anyway, to see what they've got on their hands.

Echoing Katya, do you have your own therapist so you can vent and re-orient yourself? I'm exhausted, just reading your note.

{{hugs}}
 

jcox

New Member
My daughters seem to be alright. They have learned to deal with his issues because he has had them for so long. My older one is fine. Elijah used to get into her stuff but I put a chain on the inside of her door. Sometimes Elijah used to direct his anger at my younger daughter who is ten, but not anything now for quite some time. Even when he did she was upset but seemed to understand that he just has issues and continued to be close to him. They play together and spend lots of time. She tries to teach him things as they play school. One good thing about him being at the 3-4 grade school is that they get to eat lunch together almost daily, except when he has had a bad day. She gets upset sometimes that she can not have friends sleep over because I do not want to take a chance of him touching them or hurting them. But overall both my girls hold up pretty well to having a brother and dad who are both bipolar and have mood swings.

I always seem to find a way to be alright. I do see a counselor every other week who happens to be Elijah's old counselor so she understands what it going on. I have been seeing her for about a year.

I thought the arguing about my son in front of him, and the patients was totally unacceptable and unprofessional. The therapist had a family in there with her, and there were two people in the waiting room who heard and seen everything going on with my son. I am glad that was out last visit, because I don't know if I would want to go back there.
 
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