Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New profile posts
Latest activity
Internet Search
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
Parent Support Forums
General Parenting
Not 100% comfortable with psychiatric hospital game plan
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="smallworld" data-source="post: 39441" data-attributes="member: 2423"><p>Alison, a few questions for you:</p><p></p><p>First, who treats your difficult child when he is not in the psychiatric hospital? Do you have a relationship with a board-certified child psychiatrist who has evaluated your difficult child and who handles his medications? If so, you need to get that person involved in medication decisions at the psychiatric hospital. If not, you need to line up an appointment now for as soon as your difficult child is released from the psychiatric hospital. Your difficult child is a complicated case and needs ongoing (as in weekly) follow-up appointments to check on his medications. Unfortunately, medications are not an easy or fast fix. psychiatrists need to be involved to make changes based on response. Because you live in Connecticut, I'd recommend looking at Yale or Hartford Hospital.</p><p></p><p>Second, can you refuse to approve medication changes at the psychiatric hospital until you and husband have had a chance to have a sit-down appontment with the psychiatric hospital psychiatrist. I agree with Linda -- you need to hear the reasoning behind the medication choices directly from the psychiatrist plus you need to express your concerns directly to the psychiatrist instead of through the SW (who in my humble opinion doesn't sound all that swift).</p><p></p><p>Third, have you involved a patient's advocate or caseworker at the psychiatric hospital? It sounds as if you could use some help in advocating for your difficult child.</p><p></p><p>In terms of the medications, I'd be concerned, too. You don't have even a working diagnosis (ODD is not good enough), and the psychiatric hospital keeps throwing medications at your difficult child, some of which could be making him worse. If your difficult child has ADHD, Adderall is fine, but it sounds as if it has revved him up (and possibly caused hallucinations, anxiety and agitation) instead of calming him down (the "normal" ADHD response to a stimulant). Seroquel treats hallucinations/delusions as well as the mania, anxiety, agitation and aggression associated with bipolar disorder. Even if he has straight anxiety, it should help, and if he has bipolar disorder, it may help as well, at least in the short term. But it may not be enough to offset the bad effects of the Adderall if the Adderall is continued. And it won't do much of anything if the psychiatric hospital doesn't bring him up to a therapeutic level. Zoloft is prescribed to treat anxiety and unipolar depression. According to many psychiatrists, 30 to 50 percent of all kids who present with an initial depression actually go on to have bipolar disorder. It is impossible to tell at this point whether your difficult child has unipolar or bipolar depression unless he has a thorough evaluation by both a child psychiatrist and a neuropsychologist (and even then it is hard to tell -- I know because of my own kids). If Zoloft is given to a child with bipolar disorder, it can send him into hypomania/mania. It even happens to some kids without bipolar disorder who just don't do well with SSRIs. Again, it is impossible to tell what will happen if Zoloft is given to your difficult child, but you should be aware there are risks.</p><p></p><p>I will tell you that my own son had a very bad reaction to Zoloft. It was prescribed for anxiety when he was 12 years old, and after 3 weeks, he had a prolonged intense manic reaction (bad reactions to SSRIs are very common at both the 3-week and 3-month mark). My son did not recover from this reaction until he had been on the mood stabilizer Depakote for many months. In all honesty, I don't think he's ever been the same since Zoloft, but that may have just been the progression of his mood disorder. My husband and I do refer to his disorder as pre- and post-Zoloft, however.</p><p></p><p>I'm sorry you're struggling so with the psychiatric hospital. I do hope you get some answers soon. Many gentle hugs coming your way.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="smallworld, post: 39441, member: 2423"] Alison, a few questions for you: First, who treats your difficult child when he is not in the psychiatric hospital? Do you have a relationship with a board-certified child psychiatrist who has evaluated your difficult child and who handles his medications? If so, you need to get that person involved in medication decisions at the psychiatric hospital. If not, you need to line up an appointment now for as soon as your difficult child is released from the psychiatric hospital. Your difficult child is a complicated case and needs ongoing (as in weekly) follow-up appointments to check on his medications. Unfortunately, medications are not an easy or fast fix. psychiatrists need to be involved to make changes based on response. Because you live in Connecticut, I'd recommend looking at Yale or Hartford Hospital. Second, can you refuse to approve medication changes at the psychiatric hospital until you and husband have had a chance to have a sit-down appontment with the psychiatric hospital psychiatrist. I agree with Linda -- you need to hear the reasoning behind the medication choices directly from the psychiatrist plus you need to express your concerns directly to the psychiatrist instead of through the SW (who in my humble opinion doesn't sound all that swift). Third, have you involved a patient's advocate or caseworker at the psychiatric hospital? It sounds as if you could use some help in advocating for your difficult child. In terms of the medications, I'd be concerned, too. You don't have even a working diagnosis (ODD is not good enough), and the psychiatric hospital keeps throwing medications at your difficult child, some of which could be making him worse. If your difficult child has ADHD, Adderall is fine, but it sounds as if it has revved him up (and possibly caused hallucinations, anxiety and agitation) instead of calming him down (the "normal" ADHD response to a stimulant). Seroquel treats hallucinations/delusions as well as the mania, anxiety, agitation and aggression associated with bipolar disorder. Even if he has straight anxiety, it should help, and if he has bipolar disorder, it may help as well, at least in the short term. But it may not be enough to offset the bad effects of the Adderall if the Adderall is continued. And it won't do much of anything if the psychiatric hospital doesn't bring him up to a therapeutic level. Zoloft is prescribed to treat anxiety and unipolar depression. According to many psychiatrists, 30 to 50 percent of all kids who present with an initial depression actually go on to have bipolar disorder. It is impossible to tell at this point whether your difficult child has unipolar or bipolar depression unless he has a thorough evaluation by both a child psychiatrist and a neuropsychologist (and even then it is hard to tell -- I know because of my own kids). If Zoloft is given to a child with bipolar disorder, it can send him into hypomania/mania. It even happens to some kids without bipolar disorder who just don't do well with SSRIs. Again, it is impossible to tell what will happen if Zoloft is given to your difficult child, but you should be aware there are risks. I will tell you that my own son had a very bad reaction to Zoloft. It was prescribed for anxiety when he was 12 years old, and after 3 weeks, he had a prolonged intense manic reaction (bad reactions to SSRIs are very common at both the 3-week and 3-month mark). My son did not recover from this reaction until he had been on the mood stabilizer Depakote for many months. In all honesty, I don't think he's ever been the same since Zoloft, but that may have just been the progression of his mood disorder. My husband and I do refer to his disorder as pre- and post-Zoloft, however. I'm sorry you're struggling so with the psychiatric hospital. I do hope you get some answers soon. Many gentle hugs coming your way. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Parent Support Forums
General Parenting
Not 100% comfortable with psychiatric hospital game plan
Top