Inpatient

[KKaren]

I was wondering if anyone has any views on being an "inpatient" in a physiatric Unit. My sons Doc has asked me if I would admit my son into hospital for 6weeks to 3 months to have a full assessment on him as he can't seem to get anything which helps him. He is 13 and suffers with extreme anxiety and paranoia which seems to be getting worse as he gets older. He also thinks he has OCD / ADHD in the mix I'm worried if he goes in will he ever come back out - will they just give him a cocktail of drugs? I also don't think he would be able to cope without me being there full time as his anxiety would take over.

 

any views welcome..

 

Thanks Karen

[JeanneA]

Hi Karen, I don't know if you've been following my son Glen on here or not? but he has recently come home from having a mental health inpatient assessment in a hospital. He was admitted for 12 weeks but ended up being there 18 weeks. It isn't an easy decision to make and in the end it's you as a Mum that has to make it. I think if I were you I would go through with it you will find the time will go quite quickly and it could be so helpful to your son. I would do anything to help my son which is why I went through with it. I did get some recommendations out of the assessment and my son's medication was changed but I didn't get as much out of the assessment as I'd hoped but that's just in my case. We are now looking at residential for Glen, he is 17 and we are finding it increasingly difficult to manage him. He has become much more aggressive and also withdrawn into himself. The place we looked at yesterday seems ideal but as usual we have to find out if and when he will go there or not.

Anyway, as I say it is up to you but as long as you can visit your son whilst he is away to keep the family contact then I would say yes to it, it can't do any harm and it could in fact be the best thing you've ever done for him.

[JsMum]

Does your son have Autism already diagnosed or identified Autism Traits?

 

What type of Doctor is the Doctor who recommends a Inpatient Assessment? GP psychiatrist?

 

Has the Doc given you any information on where the unit is?

 

There is a charity helpline for Adolescence who need mental health called Young Minds.

 

There is a oncall psychiatrist who can call you free, this needs booking though, but it is a good service.

 

http://www.youngminds.org.uk/parents

 

They will have more information on inpatient mental health assessments and may have booklets to help your son understand the process of been admitted into a mental health unit.

 

Good Luckx

 

JsMumx

[KKaren]

Hi Karen, I don't know if you've been following my son Glen on here or not? but he has recently come home from having a mental health inpatient assessment in a hospital. He was admitted for 12 weeks but ended up being there 18 weeks. It isn't an easy decision to make and in the end it's you as a Mum that has to make it. I think if I were you I would go through with it you will find the time will go quite quickly and it could be so helpful to your son. I would do anything to help my son which is why I went through with it. I did get some recommendations out of the assessment and my son's medication was changed but I didn't get as much out of the assessment as I'd hoped but that's just in my case. We are now looking at residential for Glen, he is 17 and we are finding it increasingly difficult to manage him. He has become much more aggressive and also withdrawn into himself. The place we looked at yesterday seems ideal but as usual we have to find out if and when he will go there or not.

Anyway, as I say it is up to you but as long as you can visit your son whilst he is away to keep the family contact then I would say yes to it, it can't do any harm and it could in fact be the best thing you've ever done for him.

[KKaren]

Hi Jeanne

 

Thanks for the advice I have been following Glens progress, I think it will probably come to Matt going in for a few months if the outcome helps him then so be it. It will be difficult he will not want me to leave him I'll probably have to sleep in the chair beside him.. but we will cross that bridge when we get there. Thanks for your advice and I hope life gets easier for you.

 

K

[KKaren]

Does your son have Autism already diagnosed or identified Autism Traits?

 

What type of Doctor is the Doctor who recommends a Inpatient Assessment? GP psychiatrist?

 

Has the Doc given you any information on where the unit is?

 

There is a charity helpline for Adolescence who need mental health called Young Minds.

 

There is a oncall psychiatrist who can call you free, this needs booking though, but it is a good service.

 

http://www.youngminds.org.uk/parents

 

They will have more information on inpatient mental health assessments and may have booklets to help your son understand the process of been admitted into a mental health unit.

 

Good Luckx

 

JsMumx

[KKaren]

Hi JSMum

 

The Doc who suggested the assement is a psychiatrist - hes tried so many meds that haven't worked - he is wanting a second opinion the hospital will be a child psychiatric unit and is a new build all mod cons - I would have to go and visit it if we decided to go ahead. His doc thinks there is a possibility he has a serious mental health condition - ie schizophrenia but would like to make sure this is the correct diagonis anyway its very daunting when you have a baby I didn't imagine anything could go wrong with their brain at this stage of life ie hes 13 the joys of parenting! Thanks for this website i'll have a look at it.

 

Karen

[bid]

When my son was 7 he was referred as an inpatient to a Child and Adolescent Phsyciatric Unit. This was before he had a full dx, and had only been diagnosed with Dyspraxia, but it was clear that something else was going on. He was referred by the Paediatric Neurologist who had diagnosed Dyspraxia when he was 5.

 

We were desperate for help and a correct dx. However, we really believed that being admitted as an in-patient was the wrong thing for our son, for a number of reasons. He was very young; the unit was in London and it would have been very, very difficult for us to have visited him; I was just pregnant and also had an 18 month old too; we knew being away from home like that would have been completely traumatic for him. His local community paediatrician agreed with us, and instead fast-tracked his appointment at a more local specialist diagnostic centre for paediatric disability, where he received a full dx of AS, ADHD, and Dyspraxia. They continued to see him until he was 15/16.

 

Everyone's situation is different. You can only look at your son and your family circumstances in order to make your decision, but you need to feel confident that it will be the right decision for you all. We also took advice about the referral from our community paed and his Special Needs Health Visitor, who both knew him and us very well, and both disagreed with the idea...are you able to speak to any other professionals involved in your son's care to help you make a well-informed decision?

 

Very best, it's not an easy situation to find yourselves in <'>

 

Bid

[JsMum]

Hi KKaren

 

Thanks for your reply, I would ensure that the hospital in mind for your son have staff trained in ASD as well as psychiatrict Illnessess, there have been cases where people have been dx with Scitzophrenia when they actually have an ASD and have recieved the wrong medication because they have undiagnosed ASD and there fore not had their primary needs met.

 

There are specialist CAMHS Hospital assessment services specifically for people with ASD.

 

Contact NAS to find out more about CAMHS specialist ASD assessments.

 

 

Youngminds have lots of information on Sctizophrenia.

 

 

Is there a history of other members of the family with scitzophrenia?

 

 

I wish you the very best.

 

JsMumx

[Sally44]

More important that whether the building is new or that the professional is a psychiatrist, is whether the professionals involved have many years experience of working with and diagnosing children/adults with autistic spectrum disorders and co-morbid conditions.

 

What kind of school is he currently attending.

What are his diagnoses.

Why do you think he is so anxious.

 

From your post it sounds like he is more calm in the home environment. What is triggering his anxiety and what is his paranoia about?

 

I have a child that is currently out of school (since Jan 2011). He was mainstream and not coping. He began showing serious self harm behaviour and I caught him attempting to get out of the window to jump. He has been seen by a psychiatrist that has over 20 years experience in ASDs, and she has said that his current educational placement were not meeting his needs and that he was totally overwhelmed and overloaded on a daily basis.

 

If I were you I would want to know the expertise of the people involved with my son and of those they were considering sending him to. I would want to know what the other options were.

 

It has taken over 4 months for my son to begin to get back to how he used to be. But his anxiety is easily triggered and his response is immediate and extreme.

 

Sometimes medication can be useful and I don't know exactly the difficulties your child is having and whether they are due to high levels of anxiety, paranoia relating to an inability to understand certain things and the outcomes they produce, avoidance behaviours due to fear and anxiety etc - or whether it is a mental illness in the true sense.

 

My son's psychiatrist was asked by the LA if my son had a mental illness. Thankfully she replied that anyone can have a mental illness if they are placed in the right environment for long enough to enduce it. I think that is the crux of what you and the psychiatrist should be considering. And if you read the "side effects" of alot of medication it can often cause the very symptoms it is meant to prevent.

[bonbons]

my daughter is now 15 and has been seen by camhs for two and half years. Last May she was referred by them to a young persons psychiatric unit following am incident of self harm at school. We had to agree to this admittance and it was difficult, but we felt that Camhs had not yet got to the root of the problem, and now I am glad that we did. She remained there for 8 weeks and it was the psychiatrist there who diagnosed her with AS. We then started the statementing process and, in the end, managed to get a place at an excellent special school which they recommended to us. It has been a journey but she has settled and is doing really well now! From my experience, had she not gone there, she may not have not have received her diagnosis so promptly, if at all, and would have continued struggling with us wondering what on earth was going on! She is finally happy and making such progress!! I wouldn't like to personally advise you to agree to this but just wanted to relay to you how it was for us. Good luck with your decision and the future.

[KKaren]

Thanks for your advice much appreciated at the moment Matt is very unsettled I'll be glad when we get to the end of June and are out of school for a few months hopefully things will settle a bit as most of his anxiety is based around school.. thanks again. Kx

[Karen A]

Hi.

 

Most CAMHS inpatient psychiatric units offer a very specialist service with experienced staff.The days of young people being admitted to hospital to stay for years without any thought are thankfully over.If Matt does have a major mental illness such as schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder then early diagnosis and appropriate treatment could make a huge difference to how well he manages his life and educational oppurtunities.There are many people who live with mental illness and have careers and coninue with life.

 

Young Minds is an excellent charity in the field of mental health and young people.They have a help line that might be useful.I will see if I find the link.

 

http://www.youngminds.org.uk/

 

Karen.

Edited May 18, 2011 by Karen A

[KKaren]

Hi.

 

Most CAMHS inpatient psychiatric units offer a very specialist service with experienced staff.The days of young people being admitted to hospital to stay for years without any thought are thankfully over.If Matt does have a major mental illness such as schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder then early diagnosis and appropriate treatment could make a huge difference to how well he manages his life and educational oppurtunities.There are many people who live with mental illness and have careers and coninue with life.

 

Young Minds is an excellent charity in the field of mental health and young people.They have a help line that might be useful.I will see if I find the link.

 

http://www.youngminds.org.uk/

 

Karen.

[KKaren]

Thanks - I have decided if it comes to it we will go down the hospital route hoping that the outcome can give matt some peace and release from his worries... thanks for your advice. K