Medication Review for my 16yr old

[meloncoliee]

Hi, I'm kinda lost here, so please be gentle. My daughter, "Ari" (16) has recently been diagnosed with cPTSD. Her clinpsych and I talked after her last appointment (Friday) where I was told Ari needed to go our closest hospital to have a psychiatrist do a meds review as her current medication isn't working, over asking our GP to do it, as there are things psychiatrists can prescrible that GPs can't. After doing several tests it shows Ari has severe depression and separation anxiety. I'm all for her going to get her meds reviewed, I just don't know what to expect. Ari is extremely anxious about going in as she doesn't know how long she'll be in there for, if she can have her phone (mainly so she can talk to me) and that she'll be lost without her dog there for comfort.

Can someone who's been through this process as either a patient, parent or doctor, please give me some pointers on what we need to do?

Should she pack a bag and bring it with her?

How long would she normally be there for?

Her father and I have given her the weekend to get her mind around the idea, and he will be taking her up on Monday.

I just want what's best for my beautiful Ari.

Cheers

[indigo22]

Hi meloncoliee,

Welcome and thank you for reaching out to us.

I am sorry to hear what you are all going through at present. It would be very worrying for you as parents and scary for your daughter. This is a very kind community so we are always gentle 😉.

I am not answering your post because of personal experience, or any of the other reasons you mention, but to help put your mind at rest about what you are facing with this hospital stay.

Firstly, when a change in meds is needed, the best place your daughter can be is in hospital because the weaning off one medication and introduction of another can cause some side effects that are better handled by hospital staff. They know what to expect in most cases and will know what to do if a problem arises. As far as I am aware, there is no problem having her phone with her. It would be very unfair to ask a teen to weather a hospital stay without being able to contact their support people.

I can't answer the situation with her dog, I would imagine that pets, even support companion animals, would not be allowed but it would certainly be worth asking the question. Support companion animals are allowed in a number of places that normally don't allow this otherwise.

I think you are handling this extremely well and my suggestion would be to have a chat to the staff on the ward to get more incite into what to expect in terms of length of stay and anything else you want to know to feel more at ease.

You may also need support while your daughter is going through this change of meds, so you can reach out to us at any time. I also suggest that you reach out to the helplines when you feel you need to speak to someone in real time, that goes for your husband as well. Here are a couple to put into your phones in case you need to reach out to them.

Beyond Blue - available 24/7 - 1300 224 636

Lifeline - available 24/7 - 13 11 14

I hope this has been of some help to you and I hope you are able to get some rest.

Thinking of you all,

indigo

[meloncoliee]

Thank you for getting back to me Indigo.

Ari went up on Sunday with her dad as she wanted to get it over and done with. However, he was making her feel more and more anxious to the point she wanted to just come home. According to Ari, he had told the doctors she was suicidal and was planning on hurting herself and that my house wasn't safe, which wasn't true.

They had been up there from about 4pm to 9pm when Ari decided she couldn't wait any more and just wanted to be with me. The doctors tried to get her to stay, saying that "dad says home isn't the happiest place right now" and asked her if she felt safer at dads. Ari said "nope, I want to be with mum." 

Her dad dropped her home at about 10 and kept calling every hour since then to see if she was OK, which was making her more pissed at him (as soon as she walked in the door, Ari just exploded with "omg dad just made it worse! I'm not going back! I want to do it at home where I'm with you).

She and I had a long talk and we came to the decision that she'll see her GP on Friday to discuss a plan of action.  While I know her depression is very bad, I know Ari isn't going to hurt herself. She always talks to me when she's feeling down and we have a contingency plan if she ever actually does want to hurt herself.

Oh yeah, dad also called in a welfare check this morning because Ari didn't answer her phone when he called at 8am (she was fast asleep, we had a late night as we were hanging out watching movies), and I had told him she was fine, she was asleep, leave her be. 

Sorry, I'm ranting. 

Thanks again for getting back to me

Cheers,

Nicole

[indigo22]

Hi Nicole,

No need for apologies, it's healthy to get things off your chest when things haven't gone how you expected.

I'm sure this has put an extra burden on the whole situation, but it sounds like you have a good agreement by going to the GP and working it out from there.

It sounds like you have a close bond with Ari, that is going to be a very important thing for her to have someone who can give her stability and having a contingency plan is very wise.

You can vent here any time, this is not an easy time to navigate, you are supported.

Remember to take care of yourself also,

indigo