I found this astounding. For the past 3 weeks, we've been trying to set me up with a resident psychiatrist at Hartford Hopsital in Hartford, CT for me. My medications are all out of wack because the last psychiatrist I had was somewhat of a dumbass. I ended up in the Psych E.R. because the genius that my old psychiatrist was, one of the medications she had me on was causing me to randomly fly into somewhat of a hypomanic state. This seems to be the reason for which she labeled me originally with "mood disorder N.O.S.". They told me that they would be calling me shortly to make an appointment with a resident. I got a call from the head of the outpatient services telling me that I'm too acute to be accepted into the resident clinic. This confused me, especially since how are residents supposed to deal with someone who has a disorder like me if they aren't able to have the experience of treating it? At the same time, I was rejected from Hartford Hospitals's "Potential Early Psychosis" program because apparently I'm "too high functioning" of a schizophrenic to be in it. For any of you who have seen me w/o my medicine, you know that I sure as hell am not high functioning without it - as a matter of fact I'm batshit insane as Corina would say. So the hospital basically told me to find a psychiatrist in a private practice. They flat out rejected me cold. This pisses me a bit off, especially since most of the psychiatrists in the area don't take insurance. My math professor's husband is a psychiatrist, and I asked my math professor if she could ask him for any names of psychiatrists who take insurance and she gave me the name of someone, so I'm going to call Monday. I just find it somewhat strange that a hospital would reject me for both being too acute and then not being acute enough.
I'm ignorant, so what does being acute mean? I wish I had some advice or something, but all I can say is that that's a really crappy situation to be in. Hopefully you'll find someone who's able to help you without giving tons of idiotic reasons. I think I'm safe in saying the whole forum is behind you on this. *hug*
Hi Swamp56, I am sorry to hear that you are having such a horrific time with your medication, psychiatrist, and the mental health care at these hospitals. It is equally as difficult to have so many labels attached to you that are in opposition to one another. I am not familiar with your medical history nor I am familiar with the the mental health system in the United States. In Canada, you would have been seen by a resident psychiatrist or clinical social worker should you have been admitted to emergency. As for first episode psychosis, if one is deemed to "functional" for such a program, at the very least a referral would have been made for further assessment or community case management. Again my suggestions are based on my experiences with the Canadian system. It sound as though there is some political issues happening here around mandates and money. The sad reality is that you are left without proper support. It is rare for someone who is acute to be denied residental care, especially when that is often recommended as one could be in danger of self-harm in the community. If you are comfortable, I would interested in hearing about the assessment process. I am currently in my last year of my Bachelors of Social Work and I am specializing in clincial practice. Sorry again for your struggles. You sound really brave to me. Cheers, Blair W, RSSW
WTF!?!? Seriously they can't keep doing that to you! Is it going to mess up your medicine? Doctors can be so stupid.... my mom needs meds too and once they flat out wouldn't give them to her becuase of some technicality or another. So much for serving the better interests of people.
