Update on my daughter.

Just thought I would update you on what happened to my daughter.

She passed out again yesterday afternoon on the way to work.

Thank goodness her boyfriend was driving at the time.

So he took her straight to the ER again.

This time she got one of the better MD's there.

He asked about the meds she is taking.

She told him that a couple of weeks ago, our doctor gave here a script for Lithium due to bipolar.

He did a UA and told her that her Lithium levels were too high and that is what has been causing all her symptoms.

So I am going with her when she see's our MD on Wednesday morning.

She does not want him to adjust the Lithium, she wants an alternative drug to take.

Does anyone have any ideas on what a good alternative drug would be?

I am not completely convinced that she is bipolar at all.

She has trouble sleeping and she says that her main problem is that she can't shut her thoughts off in her head so she CAN sleep.

She has issues focusing as well.

Now my son has severe ADHD and now I am wondering if that may be her problem as well.

She told me that her boyfriend's Mom, who is a nurse, brought this up to her.

Her boyfriend has ADHD and takes Ritalin.

She says that one day he gave her a Ritalin and she says it really helped.

Of course I got onto her good for taking meds not prescribed to her.

I told her when we sees the doctor she is not to mention that to him but maybe bring up that a nurse wondered if she might have ADHD instead of the bipolar.

So I guess we will see what happens on Wednesday.

Something I forgot to mention is that Friday evening when she first went to the ER she got the PA that in my opinion is crap.

I say that because she always has an attitude (God complex) and discounts everything you say.

For instance, my daughter had abdominal pains and you could tell she was really uncomfortable.

When the PA asked her what was wrong she told her she had these pains.

First thing this PA said was that she was not getting any drugs.

She told her to go home and take some Ibuprofen!

I thought that was a ridiculous thing to say.

A couple of times when I have had to go to the ER I got this woman and I think she treats everyone like they are a drug seeker.

When she asked me to rate my pain and I said 7, she said she saw in my chart that they usually give me Nubain/Vistaril and that she would only offer Toradol.

She does not give pain meds she said.

I asked for the head of the ER who has spoken with my Doctor before about my situation and he OKed the shot for me.

And it was obvious by the way she treated me after that, she was ticked off.

And I remember the head of the ER mentioning that the last time I was there for a migraine was six months before.

So it's not like I am there all the time asking for drugs.

Anyway, I will let you know how things go On Wednesday.

Thank you everyone for any help you can give us.

I appreciate you all so much!

Cindy

PS...Also on Friday that PA came in with the blood test results and told my daughter that everything was normal and there was not a darn thing wrong with her. She said it in a tone like she did not think my daughter should even be there! This woman hasn't an ounce of compassion in her and in my opinion makes a lousy PA. I wanted to smack her!

I would not put up with being treated like that.. that is horrendous! The PA is completely disregarding anything your daughter is saying but being so negative and condescending. That is not behavior taught in the health care profession, I am sorry. I would be letting the DR in on how his PA is treating people.

It is such an awful feeling when you don't feel well health wise and you have someone talking to you like that on top of it.. hope it all work out wednesday morning

I agree w/ BsbySeal, I would definitely let the doc know about this rude PA; nobody should be treated w/ such disregard! As for alternatives for Lithium, if it is bipolar, what about depakote? If not, I would definitely mention ADD/ADHD as a possibility. So sorry for you struggles--hang in there! Michelle

Babyseal-Thanks for your post. Yesterday my daughter wanted to take her boyfriend to her appointment and truthfully he is the one who is with her 99% of the time anyway. He can tell the doctor more about her situation than I can. I am going to tell the doctor next time I see him about that PA. I am really thoroughly disgusted with her and her attitude.

Michelle-I think Depakote is a great idea. Thanks for suggesting it.

At her appointment yesterday, she said the doctor came in and she explained what the ER doctor told her on Sunday. That her Lithium levels were way too high. That is what was causing all her symtoms.

He said, that shouldn't be because he had cut her dose in half.

She asked what he was talking about and he asked didn't she get a message from the nurse on Friday.

She said the nurse left a message to call them back at around 5 Friday afternoon and by the time she got it they were already closed. (Not to mention that she was in the ER at that time!)

I guess that when she was in there last week, they drew her blood and found that her lithium levels were too high so the nurse was supposed to call in another script of Lithium at half the dose of the previous script and then she was to call my daughter and let her know so she could stop the one she was taking and go pick up the smaller dosage.

He was pretty upset that the nurse had not even left a message for her so that she would have known her levels were high and could have picked up the smaller dose.

I already made myself a note to talk to him when I go in for my next appointment.

This is really upsetting to me and I want him to know it.

I want to make sure that they have changed their policy or something so this won't happen again.

Even though it wasn't fatal, it could have been very dangerous for her.

She could have had an accident while driving or struck her head when she passed out.

Guess I just keep thinking that if I was that nurse, I would have either left a detailed message, taken her number home with me and continued to try to get her on the phone, or called me and I could have gotten the message to her.

It's just unacceptable to me.

Anyway she is going to try the lower dose, but I told her if she has any side effects at all, we will call and ask him to call us in an alternative.

Thank you everyone for all your help.

Hopefully this is the end of this ordeal.

Cindy

Cindy

Very strange situation indeed.

(1). I would go to a different doctor for a second opinion on the diagnosis of bipolar. Just having trouble sleeping and "busy brain" is not diagnostic of bipolar. Unless she has quite a few other things going on, I would doubt that diagnosis.

(2) As ADHD has a strong genetic component, she may want to explore that possibility with a educational psychologist who specializes in ADHD. There are good tests for that. If it is, Ritalin or Adderall can help manage the daily symptoms, but generally don't help with the sleep issues. In fact they an make it worse in many people.

(3) Something simple like melatonin or Tylenol PM can help alot with the sleep issues.

Good luck!

Migrainegirl,

Thank you for your post.

I think you are absolutely correct in that she needs a second opinion on this.

I'm with you that it may be a simple fix for the sleep issue and she may not need the Lithium at all.

Will let you know how things progress with her.

Cindy