My 30 year old daughter has schizophrenia that was diagnosed at 22 years old.We have been able to give her a reasonable quality of life under the circumstances do to excellent medical care and she takes her medicine.This has all changed do to the mental health care she has received at Morton plant emergency room on New Port Richey Florida.What happened to her is beyond belief.I had to move from South Carolina to Florida last year to take care of my parents who are in there 80’s.My daughter got the very best of medical care at pee Dee mental Heath in Florence SC.She has Medicaid and everything went as good as it could.I have not been able to find a doctor that will see her here anywhere that takes Medicaid and have had to drive back every 3 month to have her seen by a doctor there.There’s no way I can take her back at this time do to the circumstances here so I had to take her to the emergency room at Morton Plant hospital in new port richey ( see my review I wrote on Google) to get her meds filled and I can’t believe how we were treated and what happened next defies human decency.We were not only treated like the scum of the earth but they also accused my daughter who’s never even had a sip of alcohol or been in any trouble of being a drug seeker because one of her medicines is klonipin which she takes along with sertaline,paliperidone,Prozac and one other drug.The doctor gave us a lecture on drug abuse and would not prescribe her klonipin and only prescribed 7 days of the her other medicines.She always took her medicines on time and was living as functional of a life as possible until this low life uninformed doctor told her she could be a drug seeker and if she starts having seizures from getting off of klonipin to call 911 and they have something that will help her.Now she doesn’t want to take any of her medicine and is losing her mind along with going through severe withdrawals from klonipin.I’ve taken off of work because I can’t leave her alone and have no idea what to do and were to find a doctor that’s within a hour to two hours drive away from Hudson Florida.She knows she has problems and takes such good care of herself and is a blessing under any circumstances but now after this visit to Morton plant I can’t even get her to go back to any emergency room as all she does is cry on and off in her room were she now stays and doesn’t want to come out.I just can’t believe this had happened.Things are hard enough to begin with and a doctor of all people who looked at her prescription record that’s been the same the last 3 years and could see she has been stable not only wouldn’t help her but with His uninformed big mouth took away all of her self esteem.It’s 6 am and I have to take her to try and get her to do to another emergency room or call 911 to try and get her stable.If anyone knows a doctor in the Hudson Florida area that takes Medicaid or at this point I’ll pay for a visit if it’s not over $300 please let me know.Thank you.
This is the most useless forum for caregivers I’ve ever seen.
@John First of all, let me say I am so sorry for all you and your daughter have had to go through. The medical establishment is a difficult devil to deal with to be sure. My sister was given klonopin to deal with her schizo affective disorder by a quack doctor in my opinion and she nearly died, unlike your daughter who is not a regular drug user my sister was a former drug addict -so klonopin was a very bad choice all around…to withdraw from it is a horrible experience I know from my sister. It takes awhile to get everything out of the system and I am so sorry it lead to your daughter having seizures making matters even worse. I am also very sorry that your original post was not seen. It may have been a glitch in the system I am not sure maybe the admin may know. Tonight was the very first time I saw your post from August, and had I seen it I reply almost all of the time unless I feel I have no words of value to offer. I have been posting and visiting here since probably some time last summer and I have found it to be very responsive and very helpful overall. Occasionally I have had a post go unanswered but not normally. From what you have said it sounds like if you could get more reliable and more affordable consistent quality care and the right prescriptions then your daughter may be able to have a better quality of life and your stress might get reduced.
I do not know Florida very well I have not lived there for more than 30 years, I live in Ohio now. I know a lot about Ohio which is no help to you. I can say that 2 things that might be available in Florida is a local NAMI group which can often guide you to various referrals locally. Here is a link I think is local to you: Support Also here in Ohio we have something called a Mental Health Ombudsman (they are typically county based) and that man was a wealth of resource knowledge, on doctors, hospitals, counseling, pretty much anything I needed. Maybe there is one in your county too? As for affordable Medicaid taking establishments, if it were me I would look over the Medicaid website, there are a lot of drop downs that list places that do take Medicaid. I am not sure how updated it is-you might need to make a few phone calls to follow up. https://www.medicaid.gov/
Once again I wish I knew why it has taken so long for your post to be seen, I know from experience that is not always the case. There are a lot of good people here with a lot of very experience filled stories and a wealth of knowledge on resources and problem solving if you take the time to look some of them over. Some may not apply to you at all but some may be quite similar and helpful. Maybe my posting back to you has come too late and if so…I am just very sorry. You reached out and you were not heard. For now all I can say is I hear you and if you post again I will look for your posts and see if I have anything useful to offer. Sometimes just venting frustrations and talking things over with someone that understands is helpful all by itself. Just know I will watch for your posts and I am sure as your post becomes more visible (I have no clue how that works) others will reply as well. I wish you and your daughter the very best and more than anything I hope your daughter gets the help she needs, she certainly has a dedicated and loving father. Take care and I hope you post again.
John, I am so sorry that you cannot get the help you need for your daughter. I really do feel your pain here. Try to see it and express to your daughter that if is a journey.
I think Catherine has some great ideas. I think you are doing the best you can and I hope things have gotten better for your daughter. I’m sorry I just saw your post today as well.
I do know a few doctors are no longer giving Klonopin because it is highly addictive and coming off of it is pretty bad. It was hard to see what was Sz and what was the drug last year. I always thought if was a band aid an sometimes we are so desperate we need band aids. I’m not a professional and I know others who are on this and if is a lifesaver. Our son is no longer seeing the Pdoc that prescribed it and is back to his original Doctor whose known him the longest.
Have you found a doctor for your daughter? How is she doing now?