Nope you did not overwhelm me at all.

The guy doing the test is a psychologist assessment. All the testing that they have done are little check this forms. No questions of any kind. They have stated that they don't want to ask him anything since he has a therapist. Which is why they are ignoring his anxiety.. but that is what he is in there for! I think they are a bunch of ****ing idiots. They have gotten Matt's entire history, time line, schooling etc... from me, yet once again, anything involving his anxiety or trauma has been ignored. They have out right said that they will not be looking at it.

Thank you for explaining Ritalin. That explains how he was reacting this weekend. Thank god I made them take him off of it. Matt is actually thinner than I am. We both have extremely high metabolisms. My god, they would have made him very sick!

It's funny since he's in there for anxiety issues, they know that, yet they are ignoring it. Your right, they are lazy ****s.

Kathy, I would pay very good money to have you here and assessing Matt. You have a great head on your shoulders and compassion.

bec

ohh and I forgot to add that I am still waiting for them to redo the MRI.

Well I spoke to my son, the doctor prescribed ANOTHER form of Ritalin. I gave Matt strict instructions not to take it (he doesn't want to anyways) and that if they try to force him, for the third time, to have them call me.

I'm going today/tomorrow and I'm pulling him out of there. They are not respecting our wishes, they are forcing him to take medication against my consent and Matt's, they are giving him a drug he clearly does not need and shouldn't even be on in the first place. I've had enough.

Wish me luck.

bec

Well I am well armed with documents outlining the criteria for diagnosing ADD, how it looks to overlap with PTSD, that anxiety MUST BE ruled out before giving an ADD label, etc... I'm going to get him at 8:30 and he's coming home. I haven't sleep yet. I won't sleep till I know he's safe at home.

Oh dear. That certainly is odd that they are giving him medications against your will Bec, as he is a minor. All final decisions should be yours, as his mother and custodian. Even should he truly have ADD and not anxiety or trauma, they still have no right to force medication. Medications are generally only forced by court order and/or when admission is involuntary and the patient is a danger to themselves or others. Even so, Evie for example has been an involuntary patient more than once. She was never medicated, as we requested she not be, and we had power of attorney, which is basically the same as guardianship. In any event, good luck today. I am sorry this has not worked out, as initially it seemed it might be a positive experience for Matt.

Just to let you know......I am thinking about you......sending you a hug today. I hope things work out today. I am sorry that you guys are going though this.

I have spoken to the SW that deals with the family. Turns out heads are rolling over forcing Matt to take meds. However, that does not change the fact that he was forced three times in a row to do so. I haven't spoke to Matt yet today. My anger needs to get in check first, so I don't know if he was forced again. Seems the nurses in there have no regard for the rules, as that is who is breaking them.

The SW is speaking to the head cheese and will be calling me back in a short while. He still needs an MRI, which if done in the next day or two, I will allow him to stay there. Other than that, I laid it out for what I think of all this and how ****ing appalled and furious I am. I want him home. I can take him; however, it is in his best interest to ensure they have wrapped up. Basically I have let them know that I don't feel they are doing anything for him, that Matt is desperate to come home, that I don't feel he is safe there and I want him to come home, so they had better have some concrete answers today or he's gone.

God, what a ****ing mess.
bec

Okay the official diagnosis is Agoraphobia due to PTSD and mild ADD (they just refuse to let that one go) although the ADD could be due to the PTSD. They want to treat him with Zoloft. They have asked to keep him to next Friday (over a week from now) to monitor the meds and also to bring him to school. School has become a major agoraphobia issue. They will assign him a worker who will take him to class, stay with him and then bring him back as the school will not pay for transportation and I can't afford it.

Damn it, he's not coming home. They have me on the school issue.

So I have a four hour pass with him to discuss taking these meds and calm him down about staying there. I get him tomorrow night, overnight and then the weekend overnight.

I need sleep and no stress. Now I have to go be positive and talk him into this. UGH.

Zoloft is a better choice obviously with PTSD, however I would be vigilant to make certain they are not giving him too much. As you say he is skinny so I am assuming does not weigh much. That needs to be considered with dosage; due to low weight he may require an even lower dosage than the average boy his age. I would hope they would realize that fact, however considering how you have been treated in other respects, who knows? I would certainly double check to be sure.

In any event do take care Bec and best of luck to both you and Matt. I do feel badly for Matt as he is likely quite homesick by now.

He's very homesick. Poor guy. I feel just as sick as him. Ryan helped me talk him into staying until end of next week and taking the new meds. The dosage will be 25mg. They are leery of upping it because of me (I have seizures on that stuff) so They will be watching him very closely. Yeah I think Matt weights 90lbs or so and he's the same height as me and I'm 112lbs. I stressed the fact about my reactions to meds and I won't be surprised if they change their mind about what to put him on. The SW looked horrified at my reactions to meds. LOL

I have no plans of just sitting back. They now know that I'm a pit bull when it comes to Matt and I'm not letting it just slide.

bec

Well to be perfectly honest I don't think he should be on anything at all, however some schools require that students with "problems" are medicated, and I am not certain of your situation. And the no medication aspect is simply my personal opinion. I have never been a fan of medicating children unless absolutely necessary. It does do wonders for some however, I will admit that.

Good on you Bec for fighting this! Matt is fortunate to have such a caring mum!

Yeah I'm not thrilled about the meds either. Unfortunately, until his therapy has a chance to get rolling, they need to stop him from passing out. Which is what the meds are for. I guess they haven't seen agoraphobia quite this severe in children too often and the meds is to try to cut out the passing out, since he does it at school too. So if it kills that aspect it's done it's job. He won't be on them long. I am looking at this as temporary and will be making sure it is.

Thanks Kathy!