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Caught In The Middle - What Do I Do? Brick Walls Everywhere.

WinterSunSenior Contributor20 June 2017, 6:31 pm AEST

Caught In The Middle - What Do I Do? Brick Walls Everywhere.

Just joined the forum after reading other stories and hoping that i can get some guidance.

The back story is that my son aged 27 last year suffered a major panic attack that he was convinced was a heart attack. About a month later he became paranoid and required a stint in hospital. This was also followed by an all consuming health obsession centred around his heart.

His GP recommended a private psych as previously we had contacted Community Health and GP said that accessing a community psychiatrist would be difficult. My son was doing ok. Private psychiatrist changed meds as son was complaining of heart palpitations. We then descended into another bout of deep depression that saw him not leaving his bed, functioning or interacting.

Then a week and half ago he flipped the other way and went on a spending spree using all his savings and racking up a debt he cant pay as he is on Centrelink. We contacted his Psychiatrist and were told he is no longer a patient and with privacy could not voice our concerns. I took him to Community Health for an assessment to be told by a nurse that he was a naughty boy who was now panicking about what he had done. No help there. As he is not psychotic or paranoid we cant get help.

I contacted the GP. I cant get an appointment until next week and when I asked if GP could call me to talk re his mental health was told this probably wouldn't happen, has to be an appointment. The psychiatrist is going away and an appointment is not available unitl the end of July. No one is covering the practice while he is away. I have contacted alternative private facility to maybe get another psychiatrists opinion but no response.

Currently my son is very depressed, overwhemed with the situation he has created and mind is all over the place. It appears he is not bad enough for Public Hospital admission and we are not rich enough for a private facility. What on earth do we do?

Apologies for the long rant and hoping that there may be a way forward.

WinterSun

5 replies

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In response to: Caught In The Middle - What Do I Do? Brick Walls Everywhere.

DeterminedSenior Contributor21 June 2017, 9:50 am AEST

Re: Caught In The Middle - What Do I Do? Brick Walls Everywhere.

Hi @WinterSun and welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately I don't have any answers for you but I just wanted to touch base and let you know you have been heard.

I have also encountered so called privacy barriers with talking to my wifes dr's despite being her carer and having a medical power of attorney. Mum in law once sent my darlings psychiatrist a letter outlining her concerns, it was handed to her unopened at the next appointment. Not very helpful.

We were also refused admission to a public Hospital in a genuine time of crisis, (dr at the hospital was quite rude and made our situation worse at the time), we now somehow manage to maintain private health cover (far from easy) which has been essential as my wife has had multiple admissions to a private health unit over the last couple of years.

Are you able to attend the GP appointment with your son? This may provide an opportunity for you to express your concerns. I know for myself it is not always easy to articulate what is going on and having someone to prompt me would sometimes be nice, for this reason I sometimes try to be present at my wife's appointments to ensure the dr is getting more accurate information. She has an amazing ability to smile for the duration if an appointment and convince thr doc that all is well consequently does not always reciece the care she needs.

Hope this has been of some help.

In response to: Caught In The Middle - What Do I Do? Brick Walls Everywhere.

Unknown userMember25 June 2017, 7:07 pm AEST

Re: Caught In The Middle - What Do I Do? Brick Walls Everywhere.

Hi @WinterSun

I hope you have been able to get some help. Do you live rurally, is going to another GP an option. As a carer you know when things have deteriorated and there are things you might be able to say to emphasize the need for more urgent attention.

This 15 min talk gives 4 good strategies to help when MI enters family and might help you

https://youtu.be/NRO0-JXuFMY

Darcy

In response to: Caught In The Middle - What Do I Do? Brick Walls Everywhere.

ivanaSenior Contributor26 June 2017, 3:00 pm AEST

Re: Caught In The Middle - What Do I Do? Brick Walls Everywhere.

Hi @WinterSun,

Regarding your sons heart health concerns it sounds like it is being dismissed as Anxiety or obsessive based but please be aware that there are very real and concerning connections between serious mental illness and Cardiac issues.

Tragically, doctors often presume that patients with mental illness physical symptoms are mental induced but this is often not the case.

Your son may not necessarily be having a heart attack but there could be many other conditions which are being overlooked such as Pericarditis,hypertension,dylipidemia etc.

https://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2013-01-31-links-between-schizophrenia-and-cardiovascular-disease.aspx

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121003111503.htm

https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2017/206/2/cardiovascular-disease-patients-schizophrenia

http://www.bcmj.org/articles/schizophrenia-and-coronary-artery-disease

In response to: Caught In The Middle - What Do I Do? Brick Walls Everywhere.

WinterSunSenior Contributor26 June 2017, 8:25 pm AEST

Re: Caught In The Middle - What Do I Do? Brick Walls Everywhere.

Thanks for the reply Determined. My son was finally admitted to hospital.
Structure is the hardest to maintain as he is currently unemployed due to illness. I am encouraging him to enrol in tafe a starter course that will hopefully help him get structure.
He has young adults private health cover and we are looking at increasing it and paying the difference to hopefully access treatment sooner when required.

In response to: Caught In The Middle - What Do I Do? Brick Walls Everywhere.

WinterSunSenior Contributor26 June 2017, 8:38 pm AEST

Re: Caught In The Middle - What Do I Do? Brick Walls Everywhere.

Thanks for your input Darcy I will check it out.
Ivana son has been checked by two cardiologists the second being very thorough and cleared of any issues but I will check some of your links.
Thanks for your input everybody it's been a long journey, one I endured with his dad that went over many years bf culminating in ect treatment. It's sad to have to do it again with our son. I knew it was a possibility but thought he would be older, closer to the age his dad was.

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