Alice*, a new patient on an SNRI medication was brought to the surgery as an emergency consultation, having just been rescued by her family as she tried to jump off a bridge in front of an oncoming commuter train. The family was refusing hospital treatment and was prepared to do whatever it took to manage her at their home. *Name has been changed for privacy reasons. Feature photo is a stock photo.
It would have been easy to have assessed Alice with a K10, increased the dose of the SNRI and subsequently organise a psychologist, but I was unsure about her diagnosis, and I realised there was probably some other factor in operation here. I arranged for Alice to complete a Loffty assessment. I’m so glad I did because it raised the distinct possibility of bipolar disorder with various comorbidities. I was then able to spend time digging deeper into her history, uncovering several obvious bipolar type 2 symptoms and soon realised that this was her primary psychiatric condition.
I could see the sense of relief on her face and that of her brother as I shared my diagnosis with them, and hope was offered in the form of new treatment possibilities. She related that after years of seeing different doctors, no one had talked about bipolar disorder. She had tried various medications, but nothing seemed to work.
We have now developed a Loffty Treatment Plan together and Alice has markedly improved. She no longer suffers from frequent hypomania, her depression is under control, she has a steady partner and is planning marriage for the first time in her life. Her family is eternally grateful and I feel a real sense of professional satisfaction. This young woman's life was saved and the turning point in her management was clinching the diagnosis through an efficient documentation of her clinical history using Loffty.
