Mental Health Question

[Guest]

Does anyone know who I can contact for some advocacy on mental health concerns here in Nebraska?

 

My mom has Bipolar and things aren't being handled correctly, but I don't know what to do. She overdosed on Lithium a while back. She drove herself to the hospital and was there for about a week while they cleaned the med out of her system. She had been very confused and had no memory at all pretty much. Once they got that out of her system she was doing much better with the confusion and memory. The doctor did a very stupid thing and took her off all her meds cold turkey and started all new ones when he probably should have left them alone and figured out what they were going to do about adding the lithium back in or finding a new one to replace it. She's been pretty darn stable for the past two years. After they did this with her meds, they sent home. She overdosed again! So back into the hospital she went for a couple days and they sent her back home. She started having hallucinations and went back into the hospital. They transferred her to an assisted living place about 30 minutes from her hometown saying they would bus her into her hometown for mental health services, etc. and she's been there for atleast 2 weeks now and you guessed it. Nothing has happened. They have taken someone who has been seeing a counselor twice a week, a doctor I don't know how often, and going to group therapy Monday through Friday each week. They've placed her in assisted living with no mental health services and she hasn't even seen her doctor for the meds. Her meds are off. They have impaired her vision, memory (she basically has no short-term memory at all), etc. They caught her wondering outside yesterday, so they moved her from the assisted living unit to the nursing home unit. They've told her that she may loose her apartment.

 

She has a guardian(not a relative), so none of us children have any say in the decisions. I feel that they have done things totally wrong. They have said she can go live with family, but what they don't understand is that living with family isn't going to stop her from overdosing. There were clear events that totally led up to the overdosing. I think they need to put her back in the hosptial while they work with her meds to get her stable again and so she's not having memory, confusion, etc. from the meds. Then they need to let her go back home to live and let her get back to her life of seeing her counselor and going to the daily group therapy. I do think that they need to have a nurse come over to the house to give her the meds in the morning and night (or whenever she takes them) and make sure she's taking them and not stashing them. I stayed there one night when she was in the hospital because I went to go visit her, and she didn't have any extra clothes at the hospital. So I thought I'd be helpful and bring her a couple shirts, socks, and underwear. I got the socks ready thinking they were two socks folded up together, but luckily I looked and it was only 1 sock folded up like there were two, but it contained a whole stash of pills. So I do feel it's really important for someone to give out her meds and make sure she takes them. However, if they would work on getting her meds straightened out she wouldn't be nursing home material.

 

Sorry about the long vent, but I know that most of you understand the frustration with some doctors and the medical community. If you have any suggestions or suggestions about who I can contact for some advocacy services that would be great. My oldest sister keeps saying that she's going to get a lawyer so that she can become the guardian instead of this other lady, but she hasn't done anything yet and my mom still isn't receiving the services that she needs and deserves. You can't just take someone with a mental illness and lock them up in a nursing home without services.

 

Carolyn

[Guest]

I just thought I'd bump this to see if anyone has any suggestions as to who I could contact.

 

Carolyn

[Chemar]

Carolyn

 

maybe ask on the BP forum at NeuroTalk as members there may have some info for you

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum38.html

 

hope that helps...you dont need the extra stress right now so please do take care of ((((you))))) too