Found out difficult child's Discharge diagnosis- LMAO!

Alisonlg

New Member
Want a laugh?

So, if you caught the tail end of one of my other threads, you know that M was re-admitted last Thursday for his THIRD psychiatric hospital stay. This time around, they have assigned him a new Social Worker and a new psychiatrist (woohoo- a new set of eyes!). So, I was on the phone with his new Social Worker going over the past three weeks since his last discharge...you know, the 3 hour rage here, the 4 hour rage there, yadda, yadda, yadda, and then somehow the conversation got to where I was speculating what M's diagnosis might be and I said how the past two psychiatric hospital stays everyone refuses to speak labels and I can only assume what they think they're looking at here and I said, "I think they're looking at possibly BiPolar" and I hear her shuffle some papers and she says, "It says here his discharge diagnosis from his last stay is ODD and ADHD."

:hammer: :hypnosis:

They'll really put anything down for insurance purposes, won't they? LOL
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
ADHD/ODD is often code words for bipolar. I mean, bipolar is rageful, angry, hyper behavior with defiance. Dohhhhhhhhh :smile: Stims often make the kids worse. I would just read up on Bipolar to see if you think it fits and move on :smile:
 

Alisonlg

New Member
Somebody should tell the SW the "code words" LMAO! She said it to me as if to say I was coming from left field with my comment! I felt like saying..."Oh yeah...well, ODD and ADHD will get you 3 inpatient stays."
 

smallworld

Moderator
Alison, I was going to say the same thing: No one gets admitted to a psychiatric hospital 3 times for ADHD/ODD. Give me a break!

The ironic thing is if the psychiatric hospital put down a bipolar diagnosis, it would probably justify longer hospital stays and more vigorous interventions. The trouble is, no one wants to label an 8-year-old with that diagnosis. For insurance purposes, my easy child/difficult child 2's first diagnosis was Depression and then Mood Disorder-not otherwise specified. It's since been changed to Bipolar Disorder. My son has had a BiPolar (BP) diagnosis since he started working with his current psychiatrist 1.5 years ago.

Has the new SW talked to you about new medications yet?
 

Nancy

Well-Known Member
"ADHD/ODD is often code words for bipolar"

Really? I thought those were three distinct diagnosis.

I haven't followed your story totally Alison but long rages are not the reason to diagnose an 8 year old with bipolar. I would be hesitant to have that diagnosis on insurance papers unless they were very convinced it was true.

My difficult child raged for hours at a time. She did not have bipolar. She had ODD. No one ever suggested that ODD was a code name for bipolar. They both have very different symptoms. My difficult child thankfully has outgrown her rages. She would not have outgrown bipolar. Her behavior has changed so often during her 15 years that it would have been difficult to convincingly diagnose her with anything other than ODD.

I guess what I am saying is that the actual diagnosis is not as important as getting help for the rages. A diagnosis of bipolar will be very hard to shake if it turns out not to be true. ODD can be overcome.

Nancy
 

smallworld

Moderator
Nancy, I actually agree with the gist of your post. I was just joking with Alison because she's had such difficulty getting the psychiatric hospital to do any testing or evaluation to figure out what is going on with her difficult child. And this is his 3rd hospitalization!

Here's what I posted to Alison a few days ago when there was urging by posters to get him on a mood stabilizer:

" . . . this is a child who hasn't even been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He's only been diagnosed with ODD, a condition for which there are no medications. Raging is not synonymous with BiPolar (BP). Raging can accompany anxiety, depression, Autism Spectrum Disorder, etc. The treatment and medications are different for each disorder. From Alison's description, it sounds as if her difficult child has anxiety. What else he has is anyone's guess. in my humble opinion, Alison needs to push the doctors for an evaluation that gets her difficult child closer to a true diagnosis. From that diagnosis, the medications will follow. I think it's irresponsible at this point to say he needs a mood stabilizer."
 
F

flutterbee

Guest
You would think that with 3 inpatient stays they would start to get down to business and do the evaluations that need to be done. Keeping my fingers crossed that they do just that.

In the meantime, :rolleyes:
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I should have said that ADHD/ODD is often bipolar. And often it is, especially if stimulants don't help. Not going to argue though. Your kid is doing well on Lamictal, a mood stabilizer (my son takes it and so did I for a while). As far as I know, Lamictal is used for mood disorders. I'm glad it is helping your child, and I'm certainly not going to say her diagnosis is wrong, just glad it helps her.
 

oceans

New Member
Alison- I am sorry that your are now on your third psychiatric hospital stay. It just does not make sense that they refuse to do psychiatric evaluations and seem to keep trying medications so blindly. It is probably not really an add diagnoses if the stimulants do not work, or make things worse. They will never really know if he is really ADD unless they start to really work on a diagnoses and testing. I hope that the new social worker and psychiatrist are better and more communicative this time. I agree with others that ADD is not going to land him in psychiatric hospital 3 consecutive times in a row. There is something else going on. I feel for you. It is not an easy journey.
 

Nancy

Well-Known Member
Midwest Mom, are you talking to me about my kid doing well? I think we've had this discussion before. If you are not talking to me I apologize but I ask you again to not discuss what you think is wrong with my difficult child. Also, everyone that takes a mood stabilzer is not bipolar.

Nancy
 

Alisonlg

New Member
Here's the problem with getting any testing done...


they don't do any testing in the psychiatric hospital! Insurance doesn't pay them for it, so they don't do it, nor do they have anyone on staff qualified to do it. And we can't keep M stable long enough to take him anywhere (Nueropsych for example) to get the testing done. He hasn't been out of the psychiatric hospital more than 3 wks at a time since March! And you all know those 3 wks are not 3 STABLE weeks.

So...let's hope this new Dr gets it right, gets the medication combo right, and we can get M in school.
 
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