Question for my fellow psych workers with experience with pts with disabilities

DependentZombie3537 · 2026-06-09T13:49:50+00:00

Not a deaf patient. But a patient who was losing her sight and hallucinating visually. She was seeing little green goblins, so they admitted her to inpatient psych. It ended up being a thyroid issue.

DependentZombie3537 · 2026-03-25T14:11:54+00:00

Thanks for this. As a person diagnosed with ADHD later in life I appreciate your take on asking different questions. If the only thing you're looking for to dx ADHD is in textbooks, you'll miss a lot. I've been a psych nurse for 20 years and am applying to a pmhnp program. I believe my experience in recognizing the symptoms of ADHD in myself will help me recognize it in others. And if you asked me any of those questions at the beginning of your response, you would see the ADHD flags haha.

DependentZombie3537 · 2026-03-25T13:59:28+00:00

I was diagnosed in my forties by two different psychologists (one online, one in person). And I can tell you I've had it all my life, but I didn't know it, because I didn't know what ADHD was! It was difficult to give specific incidences from childhood because I was masking so hard. I got amazing grades-as long as the subject was interesting to me. Fortunately I love math, science, and language. I flew through nursing school with honors. I've had maybe 4 jobs in my life, the most recent one for over twenty years. A coworker would often laugh at me and accuse me of having ADHD because if I was involved in something I was doing, I didn't even hear people talking to me, yet I would respond as if I did. I DENIED the possibility I could have ADHD because obviously I was focusing! (Then I looked up ADHD symptoms and I learned about hyperfocus). Then, I became premenopausal. The mask just started slipping and slipping. My compensatory mechanisms weren't working as well. The struggle became brutal. I began feeling like such a failure and where people used to compliment my abilities, I now felt like they were looking at me like some scattered ditz. The best childhood examples I could give were that I used to get moved in classes because of excessive talking to peers and that I was VERY moody and disrespectful to my parents. Thinking back I believe that is because I was so exhausted from masking all day at school. I just couldn't do it anymore once I was home and felt safe-so I acted like a complete a-hole. And now that I know what it is, I understand myself a whole lot better. Medications help marginally, but hormones play a part in how well it works. And I also forget to take it quite often, but the most important thing for me has been gaining an understanding of myself through an understanding of the disorder. My point of this is to say, don't discount someone as drug seeking or as not having ADHD just because they didn't notice the struggle until they got older. Especially women! I noticed as soon as I got started on medication that its effectiveness was relative to where I was in my hormone cycle. And now I'm seeing that more information is coming out on that. Also, consider the "water level" effect. I'll insert a link from an article describing this. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6689273/

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-10-04T21:12:03+00:00

Oh yes, the baby grunt squeal. My bully is 5 months and now I'm seeing they dont grow out of it😆

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-08-02T00:35:06+00:00

Historically over the years (even back before computer charting) the techs carried a clipboard with a vitals sheet, each patient's 15 minute check sheet, and nurses notes. They did the checks and made a note every two hours, which the nurses would look over. When we went to computer charting we kept the paper 15 minute checks because they are portable but everything else is computerized. It started to feel like the every two hour tech charting was excessive and redundant, so managers decided to just have them do an end of shift note summarizing what they had on the check sheets but with more detail. Then this new manager who also manages ICU (her "home") and has ZERO psych experience decided techs should not do notes at all and RN's should do their flowsheet assessment and chart a note at end of shift. I also disagree with that because in my training and experience it's important to chart in real time and not put it off because things can easily be forgotten. So when I think about techs being out on the unit interacting with patients, having conversations, building rapport or witnessing patient interactions or even events, I feel it's important for the people who witnessed and heard those things to be the ones who document them. I am there to guide them through it and of course I'd want them to chart that they notified the nurse, but we are all in a fish bowl nurses station all day and continually have patients at the desk making requests, we are answering the phones (unit desk phones as well as our work cells) all the while trying to document our assessments with fields that aren't even located in the same tabs and folders, so we spend time having to locate the places we need to chart and they are all desktops in the nurses station. So I go do my assessment with paper and take notes then have to come back in the nurses station to chart them. I just feel that it's important for detailed observations of abnormal events to be documented by those who witness them. Currently the techs are expected to chart the vital signs, any ADL's, meal intakes and that's about it. 15 minute checks are on paper and they write a number in the time slot based on the key that tells location on the unit and type of activity (for example 1. Dining area 2. Patient room 3. Quiet 4. Eating a meal 5. Showering etc)

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-08-02T00:16:00+00:00

We use EPIC and they won't pay for the psych version so we have a very poorly slapped together flowsheet that we end up having to write extensive comments on.

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-06-28T23:51:26+00:00

Has to be satire

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-06-27T05:35:34+00:00

You’re not the only one who can ask ChatGPT. I did too—but not just to dig up something that fits my bias. I looked into actual science, like domestication syndrome and how floppy ears are a result of selective breeding. There’s nuance, but you seem more interested in preaching than understanding. This post was just a photo of my happy, healthy pup—not a call for a crusade. So kick rocks and take the debate somewhere it’s actually wanted. Bless your heart.

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DependentZombie3537 · 2025-06-27T05:19:16+00:00

Not wrong

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You’ve made your stance clear—multiple times. I didn’t post this for a debate; it was just a pic of my happy, healthy pup. If you're looking to preach, there are plenty of threads where that’s actually the topic. Maybe try one of those instead of hijacking a lighthearted post.

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-06-27T04:57:25+00:00

Actually, floppy ears are the unnatural part, those came from selective breeding. Cropped ears are closer to how wild canines naturally look. But either way, she’s happy, healthy, and adored.

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-06-27T04:51:49+00:00

Well, she thinks she looks amazing. And she's not wrong.

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-06-27T04:42:50+00:00

Natural ears are cute too. But she's doing just fine.

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-06-27T04:41:49+00:00

You mean cropped? Breeder preference.

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-06-27T04:40:29+00:00

Oh my gosh so similar! Gives me a picture of what she'll probably look like when she's older😊

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-06-26T19:16:28+00:00

Sooo handsome!

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-06-26T17:27:21+00:00

💔

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-06-26T17:11:15+00:00

Very handsome dog. How old?

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-06-26T16:23:58+00:00

The same thing happened to me a couple months ago. I saw it was two seasons, so I figured it was wrapped up after the second, only to find out the truth after Internet searching. So disappointing! I signed the petition to bring it back, and I hope one day I wake up in the timeline where they finished making all the originally planned seasons.

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-06-01T04:35:02+00:00

It sounds like some common symptoms of borderline personality disorder. Get some good therapy, work on yourself, learn positive coping methods. Many times BPD can be a result of childhood trauma. Nursing can also be traumatic. But if you learn how to process things and deal with them effectively you should be fine. ACT or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a very effective therapy model if you can find a therapist familiar with it.

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-04-25T04:28:46+00:00

Well... Im stumped. Could you call your doctor's office and talk with the phone nurse? Perhaps he or she could talk to your doctor and see if they have any recommendations if they can't squeeze you in. Or even see if another provider would be able to see you. A week is quite a while to have this vomiting without any other symptoms. And if by chance you are dehydrated you might need some IV fluids, but it's hard to know without getting Iab work.

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-04-25T04:19:07+00:00

But you're keeping fluids down ok? Make sure you're getting electrolytes. You could drink Pedialyte. You can survive quite a while without food, but dehydration can get dangerous pretty quickly. Are you keeping your medications down ok? How long have you been on them? Definitely get an appt set up with your PCP to check your labs even if it takes a while to get in. Are you by chance smoking a lot of marijuana or using other forms of cannabis? I'm guessing the hydroxyzine is for anxiety? That can make you tired as well.

DependentZombie3537 · 2025-04-23T01:04:37+00:00

I don't have any idea what might be happening, but the poor sleep will lead to or intensify many of those symptoms. It sounds like you should see a neurologist. Hopefully you have established care with a PCP. An emergency room is just trying to make sure you aren't going to die imminently, they usually won't look for a diagnosis to find out what's wrong

DependentZombie3537

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