Our family learned of Alt To Meds on an alternative health blog after my daughter had been put on anti-psychotic and tranquilizing agents, and she was experiencing 18 adverse side effects from those agents rendering her non-functional and with much daily suffering.
She had been put on those meds after a college experimental hallucinogen experience in a bad set and bad setting. The mental health folks treated her for “bipolar” by a non-board certified psychiatrist from India. When I questioned his diagnosis, he replied that she was bipolar because “sometimes she is teary and sometimes she laughs”. I asked him if he would cry if the person he dated gave him an overdose and then dumped him under the influence at a big camp-out party and then he found himself in a psych ward on meds that were making him sicker by the day.
I should have known better than to question the Big Oz shrink. My daughter had daily refused their meds, told them the meds made her sick, questioned her diagnosis and asked to go home, which they did not tell me. She was pressured into taking the meds, and strong-armed to give blood at one point to assert their authority. I did get her out under my home-supervised care after eight days, luckily. I saw that her father’s fat insurance policy was the greatest risk to her health as the shrink was recommending involuntary commitment because she wasn’t “responding to treatment” and she was well-insured.
I was able to get through to her directly and caught her in a lucid moment in between their major tranquilizations of her and she and I were able to arrange her discharge. Next, back at home, her family physician refused to help taper her off the meds because she felt she did not have expertise in psych meds. Next, her outpatient psych nurse at the clinic near her college refused to taper her off the meds, but did reduce her Depakote, but doubled her Klonipin in spite of my daughter’s report that the Klonipin gave her the worst symptoms.
I spoke with the Alt To Meds registrar based on the recommendation of a former client who had contacted me off the blogosphere. After my daughter and my experience with the mental “health” system, it was very scary to consider sending her out of state to a facility. The registrar reassured me that their program knew how to get people cleaned up off psych meds and their supplementation approach for brain chemistry balancing made sense to me as a nurse and health educator.
My daughter dearly wanted help to get off the toxic meds and we were able to get her into their program a few days later. That was very scary, to see her go because at that point she needed so much help in daily living skills. She was very confused and easily became immobilized with uncertainty over the smallest details. Coping with her numb brain and aching body was very difficult to see much less undergo herself.
The facility director, Lyle Murphy, was very helpful in looking out for my daughter’s well being throughout her stay. Their psychiatrist expert verified that he could find no evidence of any mental disorder, or any medical disorder other than hypoglycemia and she was cleared for the tapering program. This was a tough process, and my daughter does not believe she could have done this on her own. She found great help from the supplementation and nutritious foods prepared at Alt To Meds.
After the traumatizing experience of the ER and psych ward, it was very difficult to find trust in any therapeutic facility, but I knew we had to get her off those psych drugs or she would have been on disability and her college senior year ended before it began.
My daughter got off all her psych meds and regained the brightness of her mind. She is still recovering from the post traumatic stress of the events, but she gained greater inner strength as she felt her real true self return after the meds were gone. Her mind is bright, her spirit is strong and she is now re-entering campus life. This would NOT have been possible if we had not found a de-tox center, Alt To Meds. I am happy to talk to any parent or person considering entering their program.
Realistically, family support is very important and the person undergoing the de-tox has a lot of work to accomplish, but the Alt To Meds provides a facility, structure and knowledgeable framework in which to accomplish a de-tox experience.
I don’t want to sound corny, but I am and will long remain, truly grateful to the staff, director, medical personnel and registrar at Alt To Meds for creating a safe haven for my daughter to regain her mental health and wellness.
Cheryl