He's in the phos. and his psychiatrist D/C'd his...

[Last ♡ Hope]

Geodon. Entirely. All at once. He took 40mg in the morning and 20mg q hs and she just stopped it last night. The unit called me to let me know of the medication change and I was concerned but psychiatrist had already left for the day/weekend. After the call I just received from them about 15 minutes ago, I'm very concerned. He's become very violent striking several nurses and staff members, was carried back to seclusion where he raged and raged and stripped every shred of his clothing off. He has never stripped naked in a rage and I'm just bawling because I feel so bad for him right now. Of course his psychiatrist that gave the order is off for the weekend so the order stands until Monday. The thing is, he really seemed to be doing a little better at home before this admit, just far, far worse at school. I was hoping they'd make gentle medication changes like usual, not this sudden halt. Why not taper him off? He must feel just terrible inside from such an abrupt shift.

 

[BusynMember]

I'm so sorry. That is not smart in my opinion. There must be somebody on call...?

 

[Last ♡ Hope]

There is a Dr. covering the weekend, he'll be back in tomorrow. The nurse said they are going to address it with him when he gets on the floor.

How often do you all visit your difficult children when they are in the psychiatric hospital? I used to go every single night, then last time I really needed a break (it was after the van ride from hell) and I only visited him twice the whole time. I think that made him take it a bit more seriously than normal and may have been why he seemed to try a little harder to get along at home. I'm not sure when to visit this time, I thought I'd give him a day or two to settle in and then go up maybe every third night?

 

[HaoZi]

When Kiddo was in I visited her every night except one, when I had to get her laundry done and didn't really have the money or gas to make the 50 mile round trip that night anyway. Did you approve the abrupt d/c without tapering off? I'd think they'd need permission from you on that.

 

[Steely]

OMG I would be steaming. I would call whoever you can call to have them titrate the Geodone down slowly. It is not fair to make our kids suffer even more at the hand of a medication, let alone their own psyches.

Matt was in phosph many, many times. I always visited him every day, but that is just me. The facility was close, and I was always a single mom, so I needed him to know that I was there no matter what.

Big hugs. I hope you get this all figured out. From my experience, sometimes you really have to throw a fit to get what you know is right for you own child's care.

 

[TerryJ2]

Arrragh! I'm so sorry. Tomorrow can't come too soon.
Hopefully your son will just wear himself out and fall asleep.
I hate it when doctors do that and then just take off for the weekend.
It borders on malpractice.

 

[Last ♡ Hope]

Arrragh! I'm so sorry. Tomorrow can't come too soon.
Hopefully your son will just wear himself out and fall asleep.
I hate it when doctors do that and then just take off for the weekend.
It borders on malpractice.

YES. That was kind of my thought process today.

I actually don't recall being ASKED if I was even okay with it being Difficult Child'd, in fact I know I wasn't because when I asked WHY she was Difficult Child'ing it I was told they weren't sure and she'd already gone for the day/weekend. So now I'm really mad...

 

[HaoZi]

A medication wash (one of the terms for it) is a common thing when they think it's possible one or more of the medications might be causing it, so before trying something new he needs it out of his system. My worry is how they just dropped it cold turkey, as you can't do that with all medications. And yes, he will need some time to get used to not having it. When mine had her medication wash, oh man... she does NOT sleep without her nighttime medication, insomnia runs in the family. And the more tired she is, the more she fights it and the worse her behavior gets. I called up there one night to check on her (because I'd call as soon as I got home from visiting and I didn't sleep until I knew she was sleeping) and as I'm trying to ask the nurse about her, I hear the panic alarm going off in the background. Yep, my kid on a medication wash night.

 

[Wiped Out]

Hugs. It does not seem like they did a good thing by stopping cold turkey.
As for visiting in the psychiatric hospital. Some of the times we went every night, other times we tag teamed between husband and me. There were some nights when we didn't go at all.

I think it is really a good idea when our difficult children are in the hospital to recharge ourselves. Taking some time off from visiting is o.k.!

 

[JJJ]

Abrupt medication washes are common in phosps. Kanga had an unplanned medwash during one of her stays: 160mg of Geodon among other medications. The admit was right before Christmas and the psychiatrist covering for vacations didn't copy her medications onto their rx form so staff couldn't get the medications to give her - in fact, they didn't realize that she had been on medications, so no one told me that she wasn't getting her medications. We didn't catch it until her weekly treatment review. Oops.

When Kanga was in her psychiatric hospital stays, we visited once every 7-10 days, usually for family therapy. I don't think I ever just went to 'visit'.

 

[JJJ]

Oh..I just saw that your difficult child is only 6. ((((Hugs))))

I wouldn't worry about the stripping naked. In the safe room, it is really all he can do to express his rage. And at 6, being naked isn't the big deal it would be at 16.

At 6, I would be visiting alot.

 

[Last ♡ Hope]

I called up there one night to check on her (because I'd call as soon as I got home from visiting and I didn't sleep until I knew she was sleeping) and as I'm trying to ask the nurse about her, I hear the panic alarm going off in the background. Yep, my kid on a medication wash night.

Oh man am I glad I found this forum, I can so relate to this!

 

[pepperidge]

I can sympathize with your feelings about medication wash but sometimes it is a good thing. I would be wanting to know are they going top take away all medications, what is their plan, do they know what you have already trialed, and I would be making it real clear that I want to be consulted ahead of time. Unless you are a major child hospital I would be asking them where you can take him for a comprehensive medical and psychiatric evaluation (Cleveland Clinic?? or some other major hospital in the midwest.
It must be so tough. Take care of yourself and when you are strong enough go visit. You are in it for the incredibly long haul.

 

[TerryJ2]

Have you gotten to talk to a dr yet today?