I have been pushing for quite some time now for a real psychiatrist to help him. Not a psychologist, not a pediatrician- an honest to God psychiatrist who knows what the hell they're doing, knows what questions to ask, bothers to sit and talk with my son and see what makes him tick. I have yet to find one damn person capable of doing just that. My push to get Jack a continuation of services through the County.. for what, at this point? THIS is what I could use them for. I thought my getting Jack referred to the Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry clinic would be the right thing to do. Get him in to real doctors, who (based on various methods of testing) would be able to point us in the right direction. Yet again, my efforts are being hampered. I don't get it. Why the hell is it so damn hard?
Based on the one doctor visit I provided notes on, because it was one of the only ones I could find actually mentioning how difficult Jack's behavior had gotten, THREE WORDS have now put things on some kind of stand-still, and I now have to get records from the shitty psychiatrist, who admitted Jack needed to be seeing an actual "M.D.". "Episodic Mood Disorder". Because of those three words, and the fact that the pediatrician mentioned in his visit that I had not given Jack the Zoloft the other doctor prescribed, I am now being questioned. They want to know why I want a referral to the clinic if I'm refusing to treat Jack with meds being prescribed to him. They also seem to think the pediatrician actually diagnosed Jack with EMD (I don't even know what that is, actually), and that he's been giving him meds for it. UH, NO. The pediatrician doesn't diagnose mood disorders, per se. He doesn't prescribe meds for them, either. ADHD, yes.. ODD, they don't have meds for. (Unless the behavior is helped by meds for other disorders, I guess).
First off, never once has the pediatrician said to me that Jack has EMD. He has never given me/Jack meds and that I've flat out refused. In fact, despite my better judgement, I put Jack back on the Concerta (along with the Intuniv) for a month, and was expressly told by the doctor that it was at my discretion (based on the side effects) whether or not to continue. I have not continued, because he already has enough mood problems- he doesn't need to be a grouch all damn day. Plus, the teacher says his focus in class has been just fine.
Second, I already explained to the service coordinator with the County that every visit lists something different- most don't even list Autism, if you can believe that. This doctor doesn't see Jack for Autism, and really never has. Whatever we're in for is what the doctor writes down. Maybe one visit it's Asthma, maybe another, it's a well-visit. We discuss all current issues.. could be ADHD, Asthma, and "Sleep disorder" all at once.
The reason I had not given Jack the Zoloft as of that one visit with the pediatrician was because I wanted the regular doctor to maybe do some blood work- rule out other health issues that could be causing some of these anger/behavior issues. I still had the prescription- actually, I still have it, though by now it's expired. I just wasn't ready to go that route until I got a bit more information- information which, at that point, the regular doctor felt wasn't necessary to get... because in his mind, there was none to be found.
This is the letter that has set me off..
"Hi XXX - I turned the packet into my supervisor and she has a couple questions before submitting it. She said after looking through the packet, he was diagnosed with Episodic Mood Disorder and medications were prescribed for it, but the medication was denied from parents. I guess she is just looking at why you want a referral. It seems as though he has the mental health diagnosis and appropriate medications were prescribed to help him. Do you want a second opinion from the Clinic? Or looking for different medications? Different diagnosis? Also, she said that they will need records from (psychiatrist).. This way, they can immediately rule out what did not work, what did work, etc. and they are going to want that information. They are also going to want records surrounding why he was diagnosed with Episodic Mood Disorder from the diagnosing physician. Does this all make sense? I did not know he was diagnosed with EMD, or else we would have been exploring the reasoning from the beginning. I was under the impression you wanted help with mental health concerns."
All I can say to this is .... REALLY?!?!
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