Medical Help, Medication, and Monotony
If your dear child or a family member has a mental illness, you have no doubt (hopefully) sought help. That help may have come from testing for a learning disability, filling out the ADHD questionnaire, talking to a therapist with your child, or seeing a PA, psychologist, or psychiatrist. Whatever or wherever that help came from, it’s my experience that it can take time to find the right team of helpers.
When things started to surface when my child was twelve, I thought we were dealing strictly with a learning disability. While that was true at the time, other things were lurking about. They just hadn’t fully surfaced. After a significant move from one coast to another, I wanted another round of testing done to see what was causing such difficulty in daily academics and classes. Despite my fears, I never thought it was more than just dyscalculia or executive function and slow processing issues. The unfolding of much more was taking place. ADHD was clearly defined, and the other things were out of the scope of this particular neurological disorder doctor.
After exhausting that resource, I called NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. They are an excellent resource to get you started in a quest to find the help you need. I think it was the first time I was asked questions specific to mental illness. I don’t blame other doctors or therapists, but when dealing with mental illness, you need to find the right people. NAMI gave me names and places to look in my area for help.
Ultimately the catalyst for us to find a psychiatry office was a usual wellness check with our pediatrician. Some alarming news was revealed by my child—he was hearing muddled voices telling him harmful things. Thankfully this pediatrician was compassionate and understanding, and her philosophical and religious views aligned with ours. This is not the norm, I realize.
As the other doctors started piling up, I quickly learned how very different one doctor's view is from another. I found in this deep sea of mental-illness medical professionals, they all have different approaches and often disagree with one another for a ride range of reasons. How one doctor may treat patients with mental illness can vary greatly from another. Maybe one doctor is more knowledgeable of newer medications and their effects. One doctor may find that DNA testing can be beneficial to determine the best medicine, while other doctors think that the same testing is inconclusive or only a little helpful.
Then there is the matter of the doctor’s personality. Oh boy, don’t get me started on that one! You will come across all personalities and attitudes—arrogance, condescension, abruptness, and every once in a while, kindness and compassion. I hope for your sake, you come across the latter rather than the former.
Currently, a medical professional is helping us with my child's mental illness, but she is certainly not perfect. While she is very knowledgeable, she’s not going to win any awards for being Mother Theresa or Gandhi anytime soon. My child often feels like he is not heard during his appointments, and the directions from her are never really clear. We make a follow-up appointment as instructed and hope that any changes she has made on medications begin to help. Thankfully, she is very knowledgeable on medications. Being a science lover myself, I appreciate her knowledge of innovations in antipsychotic drugs.
Please don’t be discouraged even though this process seems monotonous, and it feels like you aren’t getting anywhere. Stick with it, commit to fighting this battle alongside your child, and get the help they need. It’s not easy, and much of this is trial and error. If you were not one of those humans described as a “fighter” throughout your life, you will very quickly learn that acquiring grit is one of the blessings of this journey. The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. Psalm 28:7
Are you a Christian parenting an individual with mental illness? Join the Eleventh Willow private Facebook support group to meet other parents who understand. Let’s help each other walk this path.
Image by Christian Dorn from Pixabay
