UPDATE:
Sorry to take so long with an update; I work full time, and have been busy helping this couple, so I've had no time.
The doctor in charge went on vacation, and another dr. took over. He failed to call the wife even after messages were left for him to call. We realize how busy he must be, not only with his own patients, but more added on now. It's just that this man tells his wife things that are important, and he tells no one else. Then one day he told his wife the dr. told him he is wasting money and valuable time of staff by going off meds, and he ought to be ashamed of himself. He had never spoken to the wife. The wife then left another message for dr. to call that morning. By the next morning, no call. So she left a message that she wanted a nurse in the room when dr. was with him. No response. She called again that afternoon, and dr. was with him at that moment. She asked if nurse was there too, and the answer was no. She repeated her request. A few minutes later the dr. called her. She asked him if he had said that to him, and he said yes, he did, and he asked her why he went off his meds. She said because the dr. told her to wean him off the meds once he got home. The dr. said he hadn't been aware of that. She said to look on his record, as those instructions must be on there, or ask the dr. who gave the instructions. When the dr. realized that it was true, he was suddenly willing to listen to what she had to say and to answer questions. He also allowed her to visit him that day, instead of allowing phone calls only. (The regulations are no visits for the first 3 days, but he was told that this time, visits would be allowed, which was a lie.)
From the beginning, when admitted, the patient signed a paper giving her the right to know everything about his condition and treatment. It was something about privacy rights. So the hospital knew to go to her with info and/or questions, as he is not really a communicative person, which is obvious. He always was very quiet.
So the situation is this: He had "an episode" which they treated with depakote, haldol, paxil (or something like that), and benedril. Benedril is to help him sleep, which worked wonders the first night, but not after that at all. So they gave him Seroquel. She thought the Seroquel was to help him sleep, as it seemed to have that effect. They didn't explain to her what all the meds were for. She isn't sure what the Seroquel is for; she only knows that, along with the other meds, it all seems to work well.
Anyway, the drugs worked. Sometimes in cases like this, the only way for the professionals to know what works with what patient is trial and error. They tried depakote temporarily, and then weaning him off it, thinking he may be fine after that. Weaning him off didn't work, so now they know that he needs to stay on that as well as haldol and I think Seroquel too. Not sure about paxil.
Once the dr. talked to her, he got some much needed info, like what he experiences while at home, his complaints, his habits, etc. That info, combined with observing him led to the diagnosis of psychosis. I looked it up online, and it's a rather vague or rather a wide spectrum diagnosis, but at least we have an idea of what they are dealing with. He then was released. I took him from the hospital to his home, and he seemed to be acting normal.
SouthernGal, I am not medically inclined, and neither is the wife, and I had no idea of the info you gave on Depakote and hepatitis, so a big thank you for that valuable info, because it was something that was a major concern. This is one of the things that she wanted to ask the dr. to explain.
The side effects seem to have slowly diminished. The dr. said they would be temporary, as his system would adjust to the meds in time. It's been a few weeks since he went in the first time, and was only off the depakote for a day or two, so it looks like he has adjusted to it at last.
As to the psychosis, from the info I have gathered online, (and I am by no means an expert), it looks like schizophrenia. I say this because of the voices he heard. This is scary, but at least he has a psychiatrist now. I didn't tell her what I found online, because I could be mistaken. They do have a p-dr. now. The p-dr told her she usually only lets the patient in the room for sessions, but wanted her to join the sessions because the two of them are obviously so close.
It's such a shame, because they are in their early 20's, and they had been considering starting a family. Now it looks like that won't be a good idea. She looks like a model, and is sweet natured, and now it looks like she'll have to give up the idea of ever having a family, and now they have this mental illness to cope with. She has discovered through all of this that his granddad had schizophrenia.
[This message edited by stillhere09 at 5:48 AM, April 2nd (Tuesday)]
