Friends, Family & Carers Forum

[GlassHalfFull]

Hi everyone,
My daughter is 16 and suffering with a range of issues for many years however the last 12 months has been debilitating for her to the point where she cant attend school and depends on me for most daily tasks. She has had a range of diagnoses and is currently on range of significant mediactions.
CAMHS think a planned admission would be useful and I agree to sort out her diagnosis and meds. We live in rural NSW and it seems the closest unit that accepts referrals from our area is over 5 hrs drive away. Does anyone have any experience with metro inpatient units? Im scared of her being so far away and wonder if metro is a better idea. I am sure others must have been in this situation....just hope you are reading this and can help me!

[SKK]

I understand your concerns and my road with my daughter, now 21, has been and continues to be a very long and difficult one.  I would recommend the Hills Clinic in Kellyville.  It is a private clinic which is well-suited to young adolescents but would be out of reach if you do not have private health cover.  I searched for a diagnosis for my daughter from the age of about 3 and finally got one at this clinic...however, diagnosis in itself brings other confronting issues but at least we know now and can put a name to her illness.

[NikNik]

Hi @GlassHalfFull

Welcome to the Forums. I'm so sorry to hear about your situation - it's so hard to watch our children go through things like this.

In hearing different people's perspectives on here - different places and treatments work for different people. @Janna is another member whose son has benefited from an inpatient program.

@SKK - thanks for passing on your recommendations. I would like to flag though, the naming of specific hospitals isn't allowed here in the Forums (read more in the Community Guidelines). I completely understand that it wasn't intentional though - so just giving you a heads up.

You're welcome to discuss what was useful (or what wasn't) about going to a clinic. 

It's interesting to hear @SKK , that your daughter found it helpful to put a name to the illness - I hear this quite frequently - it's good to be able to label it and have a plan of treatment, just like any other illness. I guess it helps people feel like it's not them, it's the illness.

[CLA]

I live in rural NSW and my husband had a planned admission to a private mental health unit in Sydney about 10months ago for medication change. About 6 hours drive away. As @SKK said, private health insurance was what made it happen (never getting rid of that!)
I managed to stay in Sydney for a few days after his admission before returning home for work/kids school etc. For the remainder of his three weeks there, he had visits from his siblings and his mum visited one weekend so he didn't go very long Between visitors. The admission was good. The staff were wonderful and I can't fault them and neither could my husband. Although the medication change wasn't beneficial for him and he's since changed meds again, it was a load off me not being responsible for monitoring him throughout the medication change. Being the responsible adult monitoring for change is something I've struggled w since my husbands diagnosis, so, to not have this responsibility for three weeks was a nice break.
I would do another planned admission in metro area again in a heartbeat. It has its disadvantages but I think it's something we can work around.
All the best and feel free to ask me anything else xoxo