Insurance approved test! and new symptom revealed

[butterflydreams]

Well, I got the phone call yesterday afternoon, my insurance company has approved the special brain scan the doctor wants to do on difficult child. doctor had said Monday that if we didn't get it approved now, we would just wait for him to be on Medicaid and then we would for sure get it. I will have to pick difficult child up from the psychiatric hospital this coming Monday morning and take him for the test at one of the local hospitals that has a state of the art Nuclear medicine facility. He will have to be off of his medicine for the weekend.

I went to a therapy session at the psychiatric hospital yesterday afternoon where I found out that difficult child has been seeing things for quite some time. The doctor does know about it now, but difficult child hadn't told me because he was scared what it would mean. It is my understanding that this was going on before he was inpatient last time, but he never revealed it to anyone - he always said no he wasn't seeing things. No wonder the poor kid has been so scared!

As of this last Monday there was about 7-10 days left of insurance coverage through my work left. The plan is that he will have to be home 1 night (my daughter and I are not looking forward to this at all) and then go into the acute portion of the state facility here in town, awaiting room in the residential portion of the same facility. The doctor is supposed to be finalizing these plans, but the doctor over there did say they had a room in the acute portion for him.

I can't wait for this test so we can see what is going on in there. doctor said on Monday when I met with him that he cant wait to see in his brain. There is history of both schizophrenia and bi-polar in my family, so who knows.

Christy

 

[BusynMember]

How do you think you'll find out what' s wrong on a brain scan? Very little of mental illness or neurological problems show up on brain scans. Did somebody tell you you could actually spot it?

 

[butterflydreams]

Yes, the psychiatrist that is at our psychiatric hospital (very well-known in our area) has been specially trained for this particular test. He is the only one in our area that is able to do it. I don't remember the exact name of it, but I will write it down on Monday when I go in. He has said that he can look at the images of activity on the brain and see patterns that are present if particular illnesses are present like bi-polar, or even depression shows a particular pattern of activity. He performed this same scan on someone I know's child who was diagnosed as ADHD because of behaviors when he was real little. This child has been on medications for ADHD for probably 4 years. The psychiatrist did this scan and he was able to see no evidence of ADHD in his brain, but was able to see that there was something else going on in there. I will try to find out more information about the test, I just found out last week that he wanted to run it and I wasn't sure that the insurance company would even cover it.

Christy

 

[BusynMember]

Just warning you. There is no proof that you can spot bipolar, schizophrenia or ADHD (or anything) on any sort of brain scan. If they could, everyone would do it.

 

[butterflydreams]

I am aware of that, but the doctor wants to run the test and I figure if the insurance company will pay for it, why not at least try. He is still getting the help he needs, I trust this doctor, I have heard alot about him from other parents at the same psychiatric hospital who have been working with him for years.

 

[looking4hope]

I did read a book titled "Healing ADD" by Daniel Amen MD. He uses a specialized brain scan called a SPECT scan to determine his six types of ADD/ADHD. There are claims that this type of scan can also be used to determine other types of emotional disorders and/or chemical imbalances. It's a very interesting book, and the scans do show different brain patterns for different types of diagnoses. This may be the scan Butterfly Dreams is talking about.

Dr. Amen does have his own clinics where you can get these scans done as well as medical treatment and therapy. VERY EXPENSIVE, (around $4K when I looked into it about 18 months ago) and my insurance wasn't willing to pay.

All that said, the main goal is to help your difficult child. I hope that it does, and please post the results once you get them. Good luck, and my thoughts and prayers are with you.

 

[crazymama30]

I have read the same book. However, there is not definitive proof that they claim is true.

If your insurance will pay for it, go for it. As long as it is not invasive, I do not see what harm it will do .

 

[butterflydreams]

That was my thought, as long as the insurance will pay for it, there is no harm doing the test. It will require an IV and it doesn't take very long. I was at the doctors office today (for me), anyway, I know the receptionist there and her son was a patient of the same doctor. Anyway, he did the scan on her son and had found there was misfirings in his impulse control center and medicated him accordingly and now he is doing great with his new medications.

I know that even if he is unable to find anything conclusive on the test, he will continue to treat my son and give him the best care possible. I view this scan as I would any other test. We were not sure if the insurance would pay for it or not and I was just really happy when it came back approved.

Christy