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 Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 11:38 am
I've recently moved out of my parent's house, and I have an apartment, which has helped me in so many ways. biggrin
But over the past week or so, I've been feeling like I'm getting worse mentally. Like I probably belong in a hospital, and that scares me so much I can barely function. I'm terrified of hospitals.
Also, I've found out that my Family Physician has actually diagnosed me with Bipolar, months ago. I thought when he put me on Depakote that he was just seeing what effect it would have on me, and THEN make the diagnosis.
But I really wanna pin down exactly How bad it is. And I've been psychotic now for three days. Most of it was partially-drug induced, but still. I feel like I'm on the edge of control.
I looked in the phone book earlier, to find a Psych, but I didn't know whether to get a Psychiatrist or a Psychologist. As I vaguely recall, psychiatrists are more about medications and treatment and psychologists are more about therapy, diagnosis and analysis, but I'm not entirely sure.
So..
Who do I go to for a more detailed diagnosis and treatment of some kind for this ******** psychosis?
And- For those of you with psychs and are living in Canada, how did you pay for it? Does Medicare cover psych appointments or therapy, and if it doesn't what can I do?
I'm very much on the edge of losing it entirely. Please help! gonk
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 2:50 pm
You want to speak to a psychiatrist, I believe. Who, I don't know. To some degree it's a hit-or-miss thing. Be really sure to pump whoever you see for all possible info on side effects... on effects in general, really. That's important stuff and neglecting it can kill you.
Now: your mileage may vary, but I found I did best when I was seeing both a psychiatrist and a psychologist. I'm a full-time student (and employed at the university), so I can see them without charge, provided I can afford tuition. Thing with psychologists is, they're even more hit-or-miss than psychiatrists.
As for paying for procedures, therapy or medication: I honestly do not know what to say there.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 4:08 pm
Call the family physician that gave you your preliminary diagnosis and ask him for an immediate psych referral. Stress to him that you need an appointment as soon as possible. This will save you a lot of time and stress because he probably knows somebody good to send you to AND he can fax your paperwork to that person so that they'll have the background information they need to help you right away. Tell him about your insurance concerns, too.
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 2:43 pm
[Kudzu] Call the family physician that gave you your preliminary diagnosis and ask him for an immediate psych referral. Stress to him that you need an appointment as soon as possible. This will save you a lot of time and stress because he probably knows somebody good to send you to AND he can fax your paperwork to that person so that they'll have the background information they need to help you right away. Tell him about your insurance concerns, too.
Can anyone tell me of their experiences on Seroquel, whether the side effects were bad, or how it affected your moods, etc, etc?
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Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2006 2:52 pm
Hypomanic Poet He also perscribed me Seroquel, which I've looked up. It's an anti-psychotic, which is good. I need that. But it seems to be exactly like Depakote, which is what he had me on first, and it only suppressed the manic side, so I was constantly swerving back and forth from being emotionally numb to severelly depressed. So I stopped taking it. I'm worried this will be the same thing again, and I'm worried about the side effects of Seroquel. Can anyone tell me of their experiences on Seroquel, whether the side effects were bad, or how it affected your moods, etc, etc? Seroquel is also a mood stabilizer, so it may be helpful for you. I was on Seroquel for its anti-psychotic properties. I had to stop due to side-effects, but I have massive side-effects on all anti-psychotics, even when on sub-clinical doses. So, I'm not a really good example!
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Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2006 4:16 pm
[Kudzu] Hypomanic Poet He also perscribed me Seroquel, which I've looked up. It's an anti-psychotic, which is good. I need that. But it seems to be exactly like Depakote, which is what he had me on first, and it only suppressed the manic side, so I was constantly swerving back and forth from being emotionally numb to severelly depressed. So I stopped taking it. I'm worried this will be the same thing again, and I'm worried about the side effects of Seroquel. Can anyone tell me of their experiences on Seroquel, whether the side effects were bad, or how it affected your moods, etc, etc? Seroquel is also a mood stabilizer, so it may be helpful for you. I was on Seroquel for its anti-psychotic properties. I had to stop due to side-effects, but I have massive side-effects on all anti-psychotics, even when on sub-clinical doses. So, I'm not a really good example!
It seems to be working. I havent been cycling at all. I'm just kinda tired/bored.
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 6:00 am
Hypomanic Poet [Kudzu] Hypomanic Poet He also perscribed me Seroquel, which I've looked up. It's an anti-psychotic, which is good. I need that. But it seems to be exactly like Depakote, which is what he had me on first, and it only suppressed the manic side, so I was constantly swerving back and forth from being emotionally numb to severelly depressed. So I stopped taking it. I'm worried this will be the same thing again, and I'm worried about the side effects of Seroquel. Can anyone tell me of their experiences on Seroquel, whether the side effects were bad, or how it affected your moods, etc, etc? Seroquel is also a mood stabilizer, so it may be helpful for you. I was on Seroquel for its anti-psychotic properties. I had to stop due to side-effects, but I have massive side-effects on all anti-psychotics, even when on sub-clinical doses. So, I'm not a really good example!
It seems to be working. I havent been cycling at all. I'm just kinda tired/bored.
Yeah. All the medicines I take make me drowsy. I've just gotten used to taking an afternoon nap, then continuing on with my day.
I'm glad you found a good medicine in only two trials. It took me 5 or 6 tries to find a good medicine for me.
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 1:04 pm
Have you ever heard of CMHA? When you're with them, they assign you a team of people, and you have one main worker. The worker will constantly stay in touch with you, take you out for coffee, hell when you're hospitalized they even have the power to bring you out for a while to get errands done or whatever.
I don't know exactly how to get a worker, but I know hospital social workers can hook you up with them.
Psychiatrists are covered by health care, but even if your psychologist/therapist is a Doctor, you'll still have to pay (at least that's how it is in Ontario).
As for Seroquel, we started me off on 25mg and it made me sleep soooo much. Then we moved it up to 50mg and I was still sleeping my life away, so I stopped taking it. But I do know someone on 800mg who's fine, so I suspect the lower the dose, the more you're sleepy.
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Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2006 4:32 pm
Psychatirsts dispense medications. I'd suggest going to them first - psychologists sometimes don't have a clue what they're doing. *sigh* I've had bad experiences with psychologists anyways - so I'd suggest getting medications and a diagnoses first before getting counseling. Plus, some of my psychatirsts have acted as psychologists (very cool) so...that's just my advice.
Hope all turns out well.
- Amber
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