I’m going to say the average would be 7.

I definitely had some -7 days, but by and large it was a good childhood.

I was required to do chores and help out around the house. However, I didn’t have too many “wants” that I couldn’t have.

I’m fairly spoiled among my peers, but not in a “doesn’t have to work, thinks the world revolves around me” way. Always well fed and clothed. Always had a home to live in.

My parents paid for my college, so I graduated without any student loans. They also gave me and my wife the deposit when we bought our house. They continued helping with my kids’ college education, covering half of their expenses as well.

There was some abuse. Honestly, it didn’t amount to more than what just about every kid my age went through. Horrifying today, but run of the mill back then.

All have their place, but canned black olives tap into childhood nostalgia. Putting an olive on each finger and eating them one at a time.

More like:

Use reports lightbulb is broken. Support spends an hour talking user through diagnostic tests. Determines that the lightbulb in question is a houseplant.

There were hallucinations in the first episode, and definitely some grandiose ideas in both the first and second episodes.

I have some concerns, because some aspects of his care after the first episode were neglected because he was felt he was experiencing too much anxiety to deal with it. That left him without any therapy, and because the psychiatrist had weaned him off the meds, he was unmedicated.

I don’t believe he would have stopped the meds without the psychiatrist saying he should. However, we do need to make sure he has ongoing care, therapy, and group meetings.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I appreciate the information.

Thank you for your response!

That sounds absolutely terrible for you as well as her.

The one thing everyone agrees on with my son is that he would never hurt anyone else. We’re all only concerned that he could hurt himself.

Thanks for your reply.

There were definitely signs leading up to this. As I’ve mentioned, we were a bit too hopeful that the diagnosis was wrong, so we deluded ourselves into thinking it wasn’t happening. Which is strangely comforting because now that we have no basis for believing the diagnosis was wrong, we WILL pay closer attention.

The biggest sign was he wasn’t sleeping. That would be bad for anyone, but he never has trouble sleeping.

Thanks for sharing!

The thing that makes me most hopeful is his attitude. He really seems to be dedicated to making the treatment work.

We’ll have to ask that. I don’t think it’s been said, although it’s possible that it went past me without me understanding.

Thanks again!

We’ll definitely check them out. If the insurance doesn’t cover it, we’ll make it work.

Thank you for sharing!

It’s interesting that you mention Kanye, because the first time they mentioned bipolar in the crisis center, he said he had been thinking about Kanye.

Yeah, I spoke to him about that in the crisis center. I told him that it’s going to take time and it’s important to keep trying and to be aware of the possible side-effects so he can watch out for them.

When he told us that he started meds again, he told us what it was and let us know that he asked the doctor about side-effects, so I felt good about that.

That’s what I was saying to him in the crisis center. It sucks that you can’t feel fantastic. But the merely ok feeling you have to feel is what everyone else feels.

He is open to therapy, but we are in the US, so there are challenges. However, I have excellent health insurance through my employer, and he works for the same employer, so when he ages out of my plan, he’ll be able to sign up for the same insurance.

The other detail about him is he’s one of the most caring, kindest people I know. There is really no chance he will hurt someone else, except that if he hurts himself it will hurt the people who care about him.

Thanks for your response. We will ask about generic testing.

Both times, at the height of the episode, he recognized that it wasn’t right and asked for help.

While sitting in the crisis center with him and waiting for an out-patient placement this time, there was a moment when I was saying he just needed meds to get centered. He objected and said he was centered. I pointed out that if he was centered, we’d all be sleeping in our beds, and he was able to accept the logic of that.

The only reason he went off the meds the first time was because he was experiencing some bad side-effects and the doctor wasn’t certain of the diagnosis. I’m pretty confident that he’ll stay on the meds.

Thank you for your response. It is very helpful.

I’ve been hopeful because my son has shown that he wants treatment.

When he was weaned off his meds, we all latched onto the idea that the diagnosis was wrong, and I think we missed red flags because we didn’t want to see them. I don’t think we have to feel guilty about that, but we have now gone back to accepting the reality and we know we have to pay closer attention.

Dick won’t accept my correspondence!

If it’s not an emergency, then you let the vendor follow the procedure they have in place for shutting down the magnet.

Edit:

For example: We had a flood in an MRI room. The vendor was called out to ramp the magnet down so that they could deal with the flood.

Years ago where I work a resident decided to be helpful and move a patient into the room with the MRI.

Of course, the patient was supposed to be transferred off the ferrous metal gurney before coming into the room. The resident didn’t know that.

The MRI pulled the gurney into the room and it slammed into the scanner. Luckily it didn’t actually flip up and crush the patient.

They told the patient to stay where he was and they loaded the gurney down with a bunch of full five gallon water bottles. Once they had enough weight on it, they transferred the patient off the gurney. A bunch of guys pulled the gurney out of the room, amazingly without any damage to the scanner.