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I will - he went willingly, but they TDOād because he didnāt have the capacity to consent. It was good, because pretty soon afterwards he decided he was going to die there or they were going to keep him forever - or he was already dead anyway.
They finally gave him an Ativan & he settled down. Heād never had that one before & he can eat Valium & Klonopin like candy - this worked though, and he should have been exhausted anyway.
When he was willing to go to the hospital this time, it was because our neighbors who like to call the police called them on him because he had wandered in their yard & they said he was looking through their windows. That might have been true, although it must have happened while I took about 3 minutes to go to the bathroom, so he couldnāt have been there long. Heās been saying some kids took his crayons, so maybe thatās what he was looking for.
I was going to keep him home if I could until tomorrow because most of the beds are filled here by Sunday afternoon, but before I could get off the phone with his preferred hospital to see if they had a bed, he was back out in the middle of the road - just kind of standing there.
So, the hospital heās been to before is full, so we went to the closer one that was supposed to be full. It must be his lucky day because they had a bed for him. I was expecting him to be transported about an hour away - if they could find a bed at all.
And, they were really nice to him. They didnāt fuss at him for leaving the room & pacing the hallway (both doors were locked at the ends) like the other one, and they didnāt even say anything to him and the man in the next room when they struck up a conversation for awhile. To be honest, it probably entertained both of them & gave the nurses a break - the other guy never stopped talking to them. He sounded nice, but it was constant questions.
So, thatās where we were. He was dead asleep when they came to get him for his room, so I donāt know if it was the Ativan or if that shot finally kicked in a little.
He called & sounded better. Iām sure a good nightās sleep will do wonders, plus the shot might be kicking in.
He also said he liked this hospital better than the last one, so thatās good.
I spoke to his case manager & I can tell theyāre trying to manage me. Which they probably should, but my son could have easily been hit by a car or had something else happen while he was wandering around that psychotic.
It seems like their plan is to keep him on the 156 this month - no choice there. If it cuts out again, try the 234, then either add something else to the Invega or move on the the next drug. So, Iām guessing heāll be home within the week and maybe back in the hospital again next month if their plan doesnāt work.
So, I need to remember to be thankful for things.
Iām thankful that they are trying & that there is a plan - even if Iām not comfortable with it.
I am thankful he got a bed at a good hospital on a Sunday evening.
Iām thankful that our county police are being trained & were very kind to him.
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I make sure to suggest ativan to my son when he is overwrought. It seems to work well for him.
The hospital, and also one of the residences he was at, often used the quick-acting geodon shot for him when he was agitated. That brings him down pretty well too. Geodon worked great for him for a while, it might again work for him if he would be compliant with it. But with clozaril, he is ONLY on clozaril and nothing else, and this seems to be the only med he will remain compliant on.
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Thanks for the info.
If I had known that, maybe I could have talked the ER doctors into that instead of the valium and he could have got enough sleep to make it through until the shot started working.
I know he needed to be there because he was at risk of getting hurt, but I canāt help but worry that he would have been good enough today.
Plus, from the sounds of āthe planā, he might have a few more hospital stays coming in the next few months.
Is he on your insurance? You are going to meet your deductible this year (keeping the positive in mind.)
He is on my insurance & now he has Medicaid too.
His case worker was telling me how great it would be to save some money by taking him off our insurance, but Iām not going to do that. I canāt count on them to not take it away from him for some crazy reason & maybe heāll need to see a doctor or get some medication they wonāt pay for.
Plus, Iād still have to go through all the approvals & everything to keep him on my employee benefits. In addition to medical, I get good dental coverage for him and a $30K life insurance policy.
He needs some dental work too. He had a third of what he needed done a year or so ago with a sedation dentist - then decided he wasnāt comfortable with him. Now, Iām not sure that would be an option even with a different sedation dentist. They use Haldol & Iām not sure they would want that added to his mix even if it was for just a day since heās not stable.
Someone here, Mom2 I think, said her son does well with laughing gas, so maybe weāll give that a try.
I absolutely agree - my son will stay on my insurance until I retire, altho he is also on Medicaid.
Since my son started on clozaril, he has been able to tolerate dental checkups, tho he hasnāt needed work other than cleaning and X-rays. My dentist uses laughing gas (which I get when needed), and I would recommend it to my son too. The level can be moderated, and it definitely takes the edge off!
Thatās good to know.
Weāve been seeing the same dentist (not the sedation dentist) since before he was born & she has a son with anxiety problems, so sheās very sensitive to the situation. Heās comfortable with her, but she thinks itās just too much for him since he needs a lot of work.
But, Iām thinking weāll just do it slow once he gets a little more stable and maybe do a filling or two at a time and spread it out to once a month if we have to. Itāll take forever, but at least it would be forward progress.
I also worry that his dental issues could be having an impact on his mental condition. Dental problems can affect your overall health more than people thing. I was surprised to find out a few years ago that some surgeons wonāt operate on you unless you have all your dental issues fixed because oral infections can decide to go anywhere in your body if they take a mind to.
Oral health can certainly impact overall health. If a dentist can work on a small cavity first with the gas, his stress level maybe can be reduced for further work.
He says heās not any more nervous in there than he is normally - she sees his hands shake and he kind of freezes up when you ask him a question if heās not very, very comfortable with you. But, thatās kind of his baseline.
His hands shook even before he was on meds sometimes. He has congentin for it now if heād take it.
They started handing out meds before I left from tonightās visit.
I asked the nurse what he was being given - risperadal & congentin.
He didnāt say a word about the risperadal, but got all agitated about having to take the congentin because he knew what it was for. He started shaking his hands and saying something I canāt remember. The nurse just smiled kindly & said he didnāt have to take it if he didnāt want to - it was his choice.
I donāt know what he did. I left by telling him to compromise & take the risperadal & leave the congentin for tomorrow.
His hands were pretty steady, so it shouldnāt hurt anything.
Now, I have to go look at risperadal. I was told they were adding a mood stabilizer, but Iāve also read that Invega/Paliperidone is the metabolite of risperadal, so now Iām all confused.
His outpatient case manager started talking about other possibilities today in case moving him up to 234 mg doesnāt work. They mentioned Geodone, Lithium & Clozaril.
I donāt know how Iāll get any pills in him because heās getting more & more adamant that nothing is wrong with him & he doesnāt want to take any meds.
Risperidone can cause tremors, congentin is used to treat them. Your son has Schizoaffective, right? Iām starting to lose track of whoās got what on here. Those three drugs you mentioned all treat Bipolar Disorder and act as mood stabilizers, so that would be why if he does. As long as he keeps a healthy diets and drinks plenty of water, his body should be fine, itāll help his organs adjust to all the medicine heās taking.
Last diagnosis (only this past Feb.) was Schizophrenia, but talking with his case manager today, heās thinking itās more likely schizoaffective because of what he says are the manic episodes.
I have never been sure if he was manic before - he stops sleeping, then his psychosis goes to extreme measures, but weāre only recently seeing stuff that looks like he loses his impulse control.
Itās funny. Schizoaffective sounds so much nicer than Schizophrenia, but it has to be worse to have both SZ & BP symptoms once you think about it.
My son had slight tremors today, but heās had tremors from time to time since he was a teenager - before he ever took meds for anything. Theyāve came & gone for years, so he gets irritated with everyone checking to see how they are.
He drinks plenty of water all the time. His diet varies from very healthy to not so much depending on how heās feeling. Heās currently got a major apple thing going on - and he likes raw spinach with hot sauce when he gets really sick.
The voices told my daughter to go vegan, and her diet bothers me a lot. If she cooked her vegan food from scratch or if she would let me cook for her, it would be ok. But what she likes to eat is, in essence, junk food: all these fake burgers and cheese full of fat and nothing else.
Yeah, I know what you mean. Thatās reasonable. Actually, tremors alone are a symptom of schizophrenia due to nervousness and paranoia, not just the meds. I tried liking apples recently, but I just ended up making apple pie instead. It sounds like a good diet though, I ate raw spinach yesterday.
If you want to eat more apples, try the crisp ones that are tart/sweet.
My son likes the Honey Crisp ones, but Pink Lady & Envy apples are just as good and you can usually find them a little cheaper.
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I think they have some bean burgers that are pretty good.
Thatās taste-wise, Iām just assuming theyāre better than the soy burgers.
Heāll mention going vegan & will do it for a day or two, but it doesnāt last.
Iām just happy when heāll eat some fruit and any vegetable besides white potatoes.
He likes sweet potatoes, broccoli with cheese, the spinach with hot sauce, kiwis, apples, tangerines - when I can get him to taste them. Other times, he just says he wants to eat what he wants.
When he gets on the spinach kick, he says itās because he canāt do all the grocery shopping I do, so he needs to learn how to eat one food only so everything is simple. At least itās spinach & not burgers.
Thank you, but Iām done with apples. Iāve just been trying out what I want from a diet and I think Iām going to stick to a liquid diet for now. I can just buy ready made smoothies, without having to bother to cut them, cook stuff, and clean dishes or the oven. Instead I just want to be able to focus on work.
Make sure you get enough fiber in your diet too if youāre going that route.
I think Iād get bored really quick on a liquid diet.