[Victoria'smom]

I'm really scared to do intake. I'm not sleeping, scattered, "caffinated" and generally flipping out as it's a 4 he assessment and last assessment I turned 1.5 hours into 4+ hours. Now. I find out first line of treatment is mono anti psychotic! Does that mean I'll be taken off everything to comply to that requirement? And if non-compliant injections should be second line of defense! How to stress me out more. It says if severe bipolar olanzapine is the first attempt. Why do they have to mess with my meds I hate this.

[DelusionsDaily]

Sorry you're stressing bout the intake. Take some deep breaths panicking is not going to help.

[~Christina]

No two people are alike , Go prepared with a list of what meds have worked in the past and what hasn't worked ... Try some grounding skills now to help center yourself so you will be able to use your appointment time to its fullest.

Are you reading this in some brochure the program provided you? I agree with Christina to just go in with a list of meds and med combos that have worked, and try very hard not to predict ahead of time what they will say or do. It doesn't help you right now and it may very well not play out the way you imagine. The only thing you can control is making sure you show up and give the most accurate picture of your symptoms and past successes with meds.

I so want this to work out for you!

[Victoria'smom]

Are you reading this in some brochure the program provided you? After reading the step requirements that have to be taken before lamictal or any anti-depressant through my insurance.

So far I have:

medication previously taken
A"brief" (6 pg) Mental Health history 1987-2010

Now I'm going through my old posts from 2010- present any help with things I should mention would help. Thanks.

[~Christina]

Im glad you have a step by step process they go with...It's a good thing to have.

[Blitter2014]

Going in with as much info as you can will make it easier for them skip through the required steps and move on to the meds they think will really benefit you. The requirements are probably baseline standard treatment for anyone presenting with a mental illness. Once they figure out you know what your talking about, and have a full history to back it up I'm sure you'll get the help you need. In the meantime do what you can as you are and look after yourself until your intake. Let them worry about all the steps they have to take.....

Hugs

Thanks for posting the guidelines. I tend to agree with Blitter. Even the booklet says that they take into account prior individual treatment response. I would imagine they want what's most effective for you. If you have a list of what's worked in the past and what has not, you don't need to worry about those steps.

I've started seeing a new pdoc and even she referred to things that are typical first steps, but that there was no point in doing x y or z because of what I'd already done. It was more important to get a handle on what had worked, rather than what they normal course of action is. I'm hoping that's the case for you.

[Victoria'smom]

So things I noticed going through. I have really long cycles without a lot of breaks. Even though it was prn no one including pdoc wanted it to be. So I guess I'll see what they say tomorrow. I lose touch and am confused a lot. More often then not I'm seriously unhealthy. I've been through one crisis or another the whole time I've been here. I post to much!

[Victoria'smom]

4 hrs count down. I haven't really slept more then 4 hrs a night since I quite my prn because of nerves. I'll be happy when this is over so that I can get some rest. However I'm going to request PHP if my insurance has been activated.

[BipolaRNurse]

Keep us posted!

[~Christina]

Yeah what BipolarRn said

[Victoria'smom]

So I went there. They had issues starting my intake. They finally got it kinda working. So like always intake takes 2x as long. So it looks like schizoaffective - bipolar type because we spent more time on psychosis than mood swings.

Okay so I was asked what my previous DX was I said last one was bp 1 w. psychosis w. history of anorexia before that it was Mood disorder NOS, Eating disorder NOS. That's when she sat back and said those are way different Dx.'s. Which one did I believe I told her BP1 w. psychosis because I hated the other lady she dx'd me x, then A, then Y..... I swear she had me in one big mixed episode for 2 years. I'm more worried about SZA-Bipolar type.

She asked me how long my symptoms we're? I don't know from birth. I told her that because my siblings went through the same thing it wasn't that bad. I just ignore it. I have my dog there to tell me if there's a real threat because I hear better then my family but the dog will always hear better then me. I take the PRN when I can't sleep because It feels like there's bugs on me. Which I was taking full time before my head decided it had to randomly turn to the left. Went into detail about how PRN became full time and the lack of understanding English at times. She checked if I could understand English right then. I explained how I work around that but I was fine and I wasn't going to take the PRN again because that **** can be permanent. I was questioned about what the seroquel was for- To sleep as

She asked about my resent symptoms. I explained the whole fun summer thought I had and then continued backwards from there. I told her I'd only go back a year but this was all while I was taking meds properly. My last mood swing being in March - depression.

We went through parents and siblings- mental/ drug history, my husband's mental / drug history, my son's mental/drug history, my friend's mental/drug history, my mental/ drug history, socialization (yes, I mentioned PC), past psych meds, what viibyrd is, then she got to the good, fair poor rating system. She specifically wasn't appreciative of the being fine after 3 hours of sleep a night since stopping the PRN and that I'm still surviving off of the left overs when my script was suppose to run out a month ago. ( 3 yrs. of skipped meds.) we talked about my distaste of AP's, being irrationally petrified of the hospital and the good that comes from that, my seemingly inability to follow drs. orders, my school years, interests, attributes. She didn't like most of my yes/no questions being "not currently". She even stopped and asked if we had to make a safety plan when "not currently" was an answer to are you a "harm to others, are you a harm to yourself" and I had to go into more detail.

I finish the biopsychosocial assessment Monday, then have an hour long psych exam, and THEN I can help make my treatment plan. I think they want to see if I'm sleeping better by then. I got a book of all there services in the waiting room. They don't have PHP so I didn't even ask.


I forgot. They found my former pdoc ( the one I liked but moved) and they're going to consult with him before Monday.

Wow. You did a great job putting it all out there. Please don't worry about the dx, though. As long as they can get a handle on the symptoms and match the treatment to that, that's what matters. It sounds like you did not like the person who intake, but she seemed to listen to you? I would take that as a positive.

The fact that they found your old pdoc and will consult with him is very encouraging.

[Victoria'smom]

The intake person was alright. They always seem quite conserned when I do intake and both places have seemed to track down my previous pdoc. They seemed much more okay with seeing me Monday knowing I'm taking the lamictal & viibryd. In the end she took all my notes (8 PG) and copied them so that when she has time she'll enter them. Hopefully our former records will be there Monday.

[~Christina]

I am very happy that you saw someone that took the time needed to get a good picture of what is/has been going on with you.. Be proud of yourself for putting it all out there

I do hope your records show up in time, but her having 8 pages of your notes will really help her work out a good treatment plan that you and her agree on.

Meanwhile I do hope your able to get more sleep than you are now.. Maybe just getting past this intake process will take the edge off of you and your sleep will improve.

Good for you for being your own best advocate

[Victoria'smom]

Oh, I slept till 1pm today.

[~Christina]

Originally Posted by Miguel'smom

Oh, I slept till 1pm today.

Outstanding

[Curious651]

Hope it goes well

[Victoria'smom]

And now I'm crappy. I laid down last night. My husband said something about a friend (not bad just things suck for her right now) and I burst into tears. Today I'm exhausted, and it feels like it takes all my energy to breathe. I'm just kind of done. I want to curl up in my blanket and pretend the world doesn't exist. The messed up thing is the intake person will notice. I can't "go down" just yet I was soupose to have another 2 weeks. I don't want this. How do I save myself from this before I just don't care?

You are running on empty right now, with no capacity to cope, so it's totally understandable that a less than great update about a friend will push you back under. It's going to take time to get on a sleep schedule. Please don't be so hard on yourself or project out into the future that this is how it's going to always be.

What is it that you were supposed to have two weeks for? (Sorry, I can't find that reference.)

[~Christina]

Use all your coping skills, Self grounding , Stay in the present anyway you can, Distractions distractions distractions .

You can do this, just stay focused.

[Victoria'smom]

My seasonal depression usually comes beginning / mid November. Not now! I have intake, the boys have intake, Halloween is coming, so is my husband's birthday. This is so unfair.

[Victoria'smom]

So Dx: Bipolar 1 w. Psychosis last episode depressed. ( Severe) GAF 50 when stable

Now everyone psychosis is outside the Bipolar. So I'm confused Is it the same thing as scizoaffective?

I have to think of two therapy goals for tomorrow.

1. Being on meds and avoiding the hospital at all costs.
2 ????? no idea, help

Tomorrow - I make a treatment plan
Wednesday - I meet my therapist

At some point I need to still do my psych eval. All this was just for therapy. I think it was said a good five times to me "when we get your meds straight....", "when you re-start meds...." So med changes are coming. but I had to remind them several times that I am on meds. I always feel like I'm so completely utterly defective when doing evaluations. and they have yet to read my file so imagine when they get that.

So your DX has stayed the same? I don't know enough about the difference, but if the psychosis is related to a bipolar episode, then it's bipolar with psychosis (?); however, if it's not related to a bipolar episode, then it would more more along the lines of sza (?) I am guessing, but that's my understanding. Hopefully, brighter minds will come along to clarify.

As for your second goal, could you putting getting on a regular sleep cycle or just getting sleep?