Hi,
Enjoy the time you have when you see her. I am sure that she and her father and step mother appreciate that.
You can encourage your son to go to a doctor for depression.
You can also ask if your grandniece can sign a
HIPAA document allowing you to talk to the counselor. (Mental health professionals are more careful about privacy issues than professionals in other medical fields are.)
Re the voices coming and going:
Maybe she is more stressed at home
or maybe she does not feel free to tell you when she has them. This is one reason it might be good for her to talk to you about what is going on and / for you to talk to the counselor.
Whatever is depressing your nephew does not involve you. It is something with him. Encourage family counseling but be o.k. with no one wanting to do that.
Quote:
I guess I am thinking that maybe I need to distance myself from them since I may be doing more harm than good, given the fact that I have no idea what her doctor is telling her and don't know if this is all "par for the course".
It will hurt like heck because I love all of them dearly but since they pretty much keep me in the dark about what advice they are being given by her doctor maybe they want me to butt out.
This week I haven't even answered my phone on the days she is home alone when she calls me because I am afraid I will say something that will cause her to get upset and then her dad has to leave work and come racing home.
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They need you it seems and I am sure that they do not want you to butt out.
One of the things you might not see on the Internet is the awful toll the medications take on us.
These are common side effects:
- sleepiness
- anxiety
- brain fog
also, easily stressed
and others that I am forgetting
. . . . Somedays are good, but the other days we need to sleep or hide from the world in order to
recover from the stress from the "good days"---> that is how it goes for me.
I can see that it would be frustrating not to be clued in on what is going on.
Answer the phone or do not answer the phone. That is up to you.
Answer on days when you are up to dealing with your nephew and his family.
M