Psychiatrists

[Mik1929]

For several years before MW was put on medication she was very aggressive, both verbally and physically, but after being given Respiridone and memantine she has been much calmer. She was diagnosed with Alzeimers and this was the reason for the medication. At the beginning MW was seen by a psychiatrist who made the diagnosis but we saw very little of him after this and he refused to visit before he moved to another post. His place was taken by a second doctor who agreed to visit after I insisted that he come. He did visit for thirty minutes and at the end decided that MW should come off Respiridone. I did this and the result was that MW one again reverted to being very disturbed. After a call to the doctor he agreed that the Respiridone should be reinstated.
I feel that psychiatrists really have no real idea about the real condition of their patients as they only see them on odd occasions.
Sorry about the rant but I have had to deal with the fall out from the decision by the psychiatrist and as you know we could do without this.

 

[Grey Lad]

For several years before MW was put on medication she was very aggressive, both verbally and physically, but after being given Respiridone and memantine she has been much calmer. She was diagnosed with Alzeimers and this was the reason for the medication. At the beginning MW was seen by a psychiatrist who made the diagnosis but we saw very little of him after this and he refused to visit before he moved to another post. His place was taken by a second doctor who agreed to visit after I insisted that he come. He did visit for thirty minutes and at the end decided that MW should come off Respiridone. I did this and the result was that MW one again reverted to being very disturbed. After a call to the doctor he agreed that the Respiridone should be reinstated.
I feel that psychiatrists really have no real idea about the real condition of their patients as they only see them on odd occasions.
Sorry about the rant but I have had to deal with the fall out from the decision by the psychiatrist and as you know we could do without this.

How awful for you having to deal with the fall out of a decision made on the basis of a half an hour assessment. Can you call in your CPN or someone else from Mental Health?

 

[marionq]

They can only go on what you tell them and any reports from others who are in touch eg day care, CPNs, social services, police reports etc. I think that's why they build up medication gradually rather than zonking patients out straight away.

It has taken us most of the last year to get it right and reach a place that is tolerable. I felt I couldnt go on but a combination of improved medication and three days day care has made such an improvement.

Give as much information possibly in writing as you can to help them reach a judgement.

 

[Kevinl]

I think when anyone is diagnoses with AZ the medical profession tends to lose interest, other than the obvious medications there's nothing they can do.
To be fair to the psychiatrist they're more to do with none physical illnesses like eating disorders, mood and anxiety issues and a whole lot else that can be treated by the various therapies that aren't any use to treat someone with AZ.
Likewise neurologists treat physical damage to the brain like tumours or trauma injury where the cause is physical and may be treated with surgery or medication but treated in a physical way.
I'm not surprised the first psychiatrist having diagnosed felt they could do no more and you had to "insist" before the second on did anything (albeit the wrong thing) but as it's generally outside their area of expertise, there is no treatment other than what had been prescribed and they probably felt it was a waste of their time.
Really the treatment should be coming from a specialist in the Alzheimer's and dementia field who may also be a psychiatrist or a neurologist but probably won't be.
This assumes you're in the UK other countries may differ.
K