Yesterday, no scratch that, the last two weeks have been fairly rocky (as posted somewhat previously), changing meds (repeatedly) just seems to have screwed my wife up, the sleep is not happening, and she was feeling absolutely awful.
So, when she got home from work (feeling absolutely awful) we decided that it was best to goto ER, she had been feeling a little suicidal (more when she has these weird shaky feelings first thing in the morning than during the day). so, 4:45pm there we are at the ER.
7:15pm we finally actually see someone, who just takes a quick sort of "checkpoint" of what's going on, and then says she wants to admit to a room, well, around 10:30pm the "room" finally materializes, and, well, it's a bed, in a corridor, next to the nurses station and the electrical closet... wooo! Fortunately the Doctor came quickly (having taken her meds, my wife starts to be somewhat out of it after 11 or so, so I was anxious that someone see her if possible before then, especially since we'd been there for 6 hours already). Doctor took a quick history and put a "hold" on my wife, kind of wish I'd known what that mean't at the time, although probably wouldn't have been able to do much about it. So, they want to transfer my wife to a psychiatric hospital that's associated, unfortunately the hospital can't figure my wifes insurance, and without that they need two checks for $5000 dollars (total) to cover the first 24 hours, while I'd love to afford it, we just can't. So, they suggest another nearby "county" hospital, god, if only I'd known.
We finally go there and arrive around 4am, it's a mental hospital, a good "old-fashioned" mental hospital, bars on the windows and all that, although I don't think THAT much of it, I'm not allowed to see my wife, she is going to see a doctor, and I should call later to find out how she is.
I get home around 5am, and collapse, I have to get up by 7 to get ready to go get some fillings done (and after that plan to call and see what's what with my wife), 6:50 get a call from the wife, she's been discharged already, well, turns out that if the ER had a competent psychiatrist they probably wouldn't have admitted her in the first place, and CERTAINLY not to where she went, the place was (as I understand it) full of really mental people, I mean people who are taking major drugs (and I don't mean drugs that are prescribed by doctors) she was put into a big room with all the other patients (not sure if they were all just regular patients, new arrivals, or what) and basically told to wait, while apparently the "guards" made snide comments about all the people there.
Anyway, the silver lining (ha) is that the Doctor who did see her in the hospital was apparently really good, he made my wife feel like she was going to get better, he thinks (a somewhat quick assessment) that she probably has Bipolar II (of some level or another) and that this is the down phase, he recommended she go up on Seroquel again and see if that helps some more, and that she is so far removed from the rest of the patients there. He said there was lots of hope for her, the amount of Seroquel she as taking (and responded too) was minor compared to what "normal" patients with Bipolar would take and he firmly believes she will get better. Almost wish that we could get him as her psychiatrist (we'll see), he did cast doubt on the Gabapenten, and seriously cast doubt on her going down on the Seroquel, he feels that once she gets stable (which, it sucks, because she was somewhat stable 2 weeks ago) it would be a question of keeping her stable for at least a year before trying to change the meds around.
Anyway, we'll see what my wifes Doc has to say when she gets back from Vacation, I'm glad she's home, and hopefully we'll put this WAY WAY WAY behind us.
On the one-hand I do wish that they could have REALLY monitored her sleeping (not seen her after she got all of about 2 hours sleep after spending the entire night in the ER) on the other hand, I really don't feel that she NEEDED to be in there, was just more that she was somewhat at the end of the rope, and needed to SEE someone, not just talk to someone.
Advice to ANYONE who feels they might even think about wanting to goto a psyc hospital, check what you can do with your insurance first, because you do NOT want to goto a place where they accept just anyone off the street (especially not at 4am).
So, when she got home from work (feeling absolutely awful) we decided that it was best to goto ER, she had been feeling a little suicidal (more when she has these weird shaky feelings first thing in the morning than during the day). so, 4:45pm there we are at the ER.
7:15pm we finally actually see someone, who just takes a quick sort of "checkpoint" of what's going on, and then says she wants to admit to a room, well, around 10:30pm the "room" finally materializes, and, well, it's a bed, in a corridor, next to the nurses station and the electrical closet... wooo! Fortunately the Doctor came quickly (having taken her meds, my wife starts to be somewhat out of it after 11 or so, so I was anxious that someone see her if possible before then, especially since we'd been there for 6 hours already). Doctor took a quick history and put a "hold" on my wife, kind of wish I'd known what that mean't at the time, although probably wouldn't have been able to do much about it. So, they want to transfer my wife to a psychiatric hospital that's associated, unfortunately the hospital can't figure my wifes insurance, and without that they need two checks for $5000 dollars (total) to cover the first 24 hours, while I'd love to afford it, we just can't. So, they suggest another nearby "county" hospital, god, if only I'd known.
We finally go there and arrive around 4am, it's a mental hospital, a good "old-fashioned" mental hospital, bars on the windows and all that, although I don't think THAT much of it, I'm not allowed to see my wife, she is going to see a doctor, and I should call later to find out how she is.
I get home around 5am, and collapse, I have to get up by 7 to get ready to go get some fillings done (and after that plan to call and see what's what with my wife), 6:50 get a call from the wife, she's been discharged already, well, turns out that if the ER had a competent psychiatrist they probably wouldn't have admitted her in the first place, and CERTAINLY not to where she went, the place was (as I understand it) full of really mental people, I mean people who are taking major drugs (and I don't mean drugs that are prescribed by doctors) she was put into a big room with all the other patients (not sure if they were all just regular patients, new arrivals, or what) and basically told to wait, while apparently the "guards" made snide comments about all the people there.
Anyway, the silver lining (ha) is that the Doctor who did see her in the hospital was apparently really good, he made my wife feel like she was going to get better, he thinks (a somewhat quick assessment) that she probably has Bipolar II (of some level or another) and that this is the down phase, he recommended she go up on Seroquel again and see if that helps some more, and that she is so far removed from the rest of the patients there. He said there was lots of hope for her, the amount of Seroquel she as taking (and responded too) was minor compared to what "normal" patients with Bipolar would take and he firmly believes she will get better. Almost wish that we could get him as her psychiatrist (we'll see), he did cast doubt on the Gabapenten, and seriously cast doubt on her going down on the Seroquel, he feels that once she gets stable (which, it sucks, because she was somewhat stable 2 weeks ago) it would be a question of keeping her stable for at least a year before trying to change the meds around.
Anyway, we'll see what my wifes Doc has to say when she gets back from Vacation, I'm glad she's home, and hopefully we'll put this WAY WAY WAY behind us.
On the one-hand I do wish that they could have REALLY monitored her sleeping (not seen her after she got all of about 2 hours sleep after spending the entire night in the ER) on the other hand, I really don't feel that she NEEDED to be in there, was just more that she was somewhat at the end of the rope, and needed to SEE someone, not just talk to someone.
Advice to ANYONE who feels they might even think about wanting to goto a psyc hospital, check what you can do with your insurance first, because you do NOT want to goto a place where they accept just anyone off the street (especially not at 4am).
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