I started calling at 1000 hrs this morning. I called Dr. A. Left a
message. He called me back 5 minutes later. Our conversation went
something like this:
A Please tell me about your son.
Me: He has undiagnosed Paranoid-Delusional Schizophrenia and his mother and I are trying to get him diagnosed and help.
A: Tell me some of the things that he does.
Me: It started about 2 years ago and we confused the symptoms with his use of Meth. Eventually - thinking that he was still using - we kicked him out of the house. He moved into a second story apartment in a city near his brother. At some point, he became certain that the people that lived below him - we'll call him tom & sally - were spying on him and trying to control his thoughts. So, one night, he beat a hole through concrete floor into their apartment so that he could attempt to keep them from spying on him. Tom & Sally called the police. The
police put him into jail. The next day, his brother bailed him out. He immediately jumped into his car and went to Florida claiming he was on "spring break". In Florida, he ran out of gas and money and called home to ask for money. We told him no. So, he stole clothes from a clothing
store, a meal from arestaurant , and then snatched a purse (that had $10 in it) and tried to do it again. He was jailed. The state of Florida has decided that purse snatching is a felony offense so he spent 5 months in jail. During the jail time, we conversed with him via snail mail. Some of his letters were insane! Talking about people following him, etc. In August, we went to Florida and picked him up after hisrelease . When we got to the house, everything was sorta
normal for a few weeks. Then suddenly, he started spending all night and all day for seven days straight outside in our backyard tending a fire in ourfire pit . When he came into the house he would talk to himself in the kitchen while we were in the living room. Soon, he was cursing me for loving him. Then it got worse and he started clanging. You know clanging, right doc?
A: Yes, I'm familiar with that.
Me:
He broke down and finally begged me to help him saying that Tom & Sally were telling him when to eat, when to sleep and what to say at all timesand he wanted them out of his head. His mom and I packed him into the car and took him to the local county hospital. It was a Thursday night and raining... so there were MANY people in the ER. We got into the Triage nurse and basically I told him that he should not lie. So, he told the triage nurse that someone has put something into his brain and was controlling his thoughts and he wanted a cat scan. The triage nurse immediately got him into the ACTUAL ER part and we sat there for awhile. Finally the ER doctor showed up and asked him what was going on. He told her that he knew for a fact that Tom & Sally had put something in his head and they were controlling his thoughts and he wanted a cat scan to get it out. The doc pulled me out into the hall where she made the statement that she believed that he
had Schizophrenia and needed mental help, but she highly recommended seeking help for him through a private practice rather than the county services. Basically, she was saying that the county mental health services was NOT a good place for anyone to be. I told her that we had no choice as he was 24 and could not be on our insurance, he didn't work and had no insurance. So, we were then moved to the 13th floor of the hospital. While there, he had to again go through a triage nurse. He told her the truth about the thing in his head. He then stepped out into the waiting area andlayed down across a couple of chairs. At this point, a policeman came in, immediately walked over to my stepson and smacked him on the head with a rolled up piece of paper and told him he could NOT sleep in this room. My stepson immediately became agitated and un-volunteered himself.
A: Oh God, that's never good!
Me: Yeah, you got that right! Anyway, later that weekend, we tried calling in Crisis Hot line and they sent out a mobile crisis unit to the scene. Once the counsellor(?) arrived with her buddy, a cop, she introduced herself and the cop to my son. Once he understood that the guy was a cop he immediately startedshaking and refused to say a word in their presence. The lady had to leave. At that point, he started hiding what he was thinking very well. However, he continues to have these thoughts as we see where he has done searches on the Internet for Tom & Sally, their address, whether they have been arrested, and whether Tom was on a sex-offenders list somewhere. He also does searches on mind control, how to remove controlling devices from your brain, etc, etc. And now, during this low period, I am the bad guy. I'm the one that has put the thing into his head and has programmed the chip to control his thoughts.
A: Oh God. He needs help and quick!
M: No doubt!
A:
Well, unfortunately, I don't have admitting capability at a hospital so you really need to use a psychiatrist that has that ability. Here the names and numbers of Dr. B and Dr. C, whom I think can help you.
Click.
So, I call Dr. B and leave a message. Dr. B calls back within 5 minutes. And that conversation sounds EXACTLY like the one above. I call Dr. C and leave a message. They return the call in an hour and we repeat the conversation above. Dr. C says: I don't have the ability and I think that you should call Dr. D and possibly Dr. E.
click
So, I call Dr. D and leave a message. Dr. D calls back within 5 minutes. And we repeat the conversation above. Then this Dr. D says, "we are a private practice and do not accept any insurance of any kind so we can't help you."
Me: I understand that but we need to get him diagnosed so that we can get him started on SSI, Medicare, etc.
Dr. D: We cannot help you.
click
So, I call Dr. E and leave a message. Dr. E finally calls me back and we do the dance and finally this doc says:
Dr. E: If you are looking to get him qualified for SSI, then you have to go through one of their doctors. Here is the number of Dr. F, whom I think is on their list.
Me: Thanks
click
So, I call Dr. F. It's a Mexican who cannot understand English and is certainly not a doctor of anything.
click
I call the County Mental Health Dept again. They tell me that they do not start things off with family counselling - the only thing my son has agreed to do - and he would have to show up individually first. So.. now we are back to the ER scenario that the conversation above was
about.
click
*scream!*
