So from my last episode they gave me a case manager, pdoc and other team.
Did any of you benefit from this case manager stuff? I dont really know what it even offers.
I think i can do occupational therapy through them.
It seems like the case manager just sets stuff up for me?
I still have my other pdoc who i prefer because i already established a good relation with her and shes flexible so im keeping her for adhd stuff in the meantime cuz im guessing ill get kicked off this case manager thing eventually
I kinda got that vibe so i kept my other pdoc still because of that.
I work full time im functional enough. I was kind of mislead on this case management thing. I thought i was getting a permanent psychiatrist team close to home but instead they review in 6 months then see if im stable and transfer me back to my family doctor.
It seems like a waste of time since ive got my other pdoc established.
Do you know if i can just ask to be released so i just work with my original pdoc?
The case manager and other pdoc are handling my bipolar/psychosis stuff
After going through the whole thing, I found therapists useless, case managers useless, and even to some extent, psychiatrists useless. The greatest tool there is for this condition is the medication, and sometimes my pdoc is not even aware of medications. He asked me to take Clozapine for life, just because when I started seeing him, I was on Clozapine.
I pick my medications, and combinations, though i find the psychiatrists useful in order to titrate medications, they tend to go slow, if I were to do it, i would be perhaps too fast, and risking relapse. So, basically, psychiatrists can be somewhat useful, but we are limited by the tools available to treat this condition, the medications.
They tell you about resources available to you.They can help you find housing. They check up on you to see how you’re doing in general and if you have any problems in general. They make sure you have no medication issues. They don’t tell you what dose to take but they make sure you’re getting it OK. They can be a big help. It’s kind of a chore to meet with them regularly but if they’re like mine you can meet just once a month and they’ll even come to your house.
I had no problems with mine. He wasn’t overbearing or intrusive into my life, He was a personable guy who didn’t interfere in my life.
@angledangle There are various types of psychiatrists out there. Those who are well knowledgeable with experience and those who have recently graduated medical school with some mental health inpatient/outpatient experience. There is no one single profile that could define a psychiatrist’s rating as being good or bad.
As for case managers, they are positioned between mental health patients and psychiatrists. Any of the needs the patient requires that the psychiatrist cannot fulfill will be left to the case manager. Psychiatrists are registered doctors and have limited time whereas there are many case managers that oversee a number of patients that are assigned to them.
I found them useless doesn’t mean you may not find them useful.
I thought the case managers, and the whole team, were making a bad situation worse for me. I don’t like being reminded I have SZA, and meeting the case manager, usually so that the case manager makes better use of her time, meant it was written on my head that I have SZA (like they show way too much concern). Besides, all the meetings I had were pointless.
Yeah, some pdocs are good, and some are not so good, my point is that regardless of the pdoc, if a medication works for you, you will eventually find it. If it doesn’t work for you, you will eventually find it. It all boils down to the efficacy of the medications, and now, a simple search online shows the complete list of medications. My point is, psychiatrists have to titrate medications, but they cannot make them work for you. So, they are in a sense, more useful than the case managers, but not as useful as the medications. Some people swear by therapy, I took years of therapy to no benefit. So, that is my experience at least.
I think the new pdoc might think i have sza cuz they kept asking if i’d had psychosis without mood problems, which i heard voices all the time for like the first 7 years with mood stuff mixed in that period of time. I hadnt heard voices for a long time until this last episode though.
The diagnosis doesnt really matter to me though, just the meds.
I actually had an AWESOME case manager. And it was during a time when I really needed one.
The most supportive thing he did for me, was call to check up on me and we would talk sports for like an hour. I was first diagnosed and still symptomatic, so I needed a friend. He was just a good dude
My case manager respected my privacy and space, so he would only call me like once a month. But there would be times when I’d phone him up, and just tell him the symptoms I was experiencing. He would be reassuring.
He was waaayyy cooler than the pdoc I was seeing in that same office.
Edit: I’m not sure I would need a case manager now, but I definitely needed one at one time
@angledangle Case managers have a certain limited number of patients that they look after. All of the patients have whatever medical diagnosis’s and will require different needs. The case manager is trying to the best of their ability to accommodate your situation whether it be housing, employment, medication, recreational etc…
There are an abundant of anti-psychotic medication that your psychiatrist could prescribe. However, there are a multitude of patients that respond well or poorly to the abundantly available anti-psychotic medication. Like you said, the efficacy of the medication takes trial & error until one medication is suitable. I don’t believe any psychiatrist would immediately know what medication would remedy your symptoms. It’s like saying coke or sprite should satiate your thirst when Gatorade or Monster drink could do as well.
Oh yeah maybe i can call him up and discuss a few things. Seem to be dealing with existential issues since my mania ended lol. Its like life went from too much meaning to no meaning in a flash.
But hey i still love a cold root beer
Yes, it is the medications that matter, but 7 years of unrelenting voices, I would also presume it is schizoaffective- Bipolar. This is also what I have, and as much I would like to think I have Bipolar rather than SZA, I realize the psychosis was too long to have been mood related.
Since you are functioning, that is what matters. The label or the diagnosis, like you said, is irrelevant. I am also pretty functional, but I don’t usually work for more than 5-6 hours a day. I think what limits me in terms of the full potential of work is the untreated ADD part.
Yeah ive always thought it was probably sza bipolar type. I just never got that label as i present as high functioning and worked fulltime despite it.
Last few years I found a job where its pretty low stress and low workload. So my 8 hour day is usually a few hours work then, recrational reading or watching a video on computer. No one watches what i do at work either. As long as i get my sales stuff in im good to go. I do have to socialize though so that took some practice.
I got lucky finding this job. So its kinda like working part time except i have to stay at the office for 8 hours.
