She took 6 months to prescribe lithium to my daughter who was very suicidal.She should have suggested lithium long ago as after lithium there was reduced intensity and frequency of suicidal ideas. She could not diagnose akathesia from seroquel and said it’s cramps in legs from magnesium deficiency and advised us to take Mg tablets. My daughter will toss and turn in bed and i will massage her legs. She already was very sick. Could not consider possibility of bipolar depression and kept changing antipsychotics every 6 weeks due to side effects instead of doing trouble shooting. Have us lamictal , took 2 months to reach target dose of 100 mg and then after third month she asked if it’s helping and i told it doesn’t so she stopped it. She should have known it doesn’t work for bipolar depression and it’s for prevention and maintenance only. Eventually gave us risperidone which we took for one and half years with no benefit and later found out that risperidone doesn’t help with bipolar depression. She should have given us medications with good track record of treating bipolar depression. Should have continued lamictal with lithium. Took her two weeks to write referral for us to get ECT done. Didn’t know who can do ECT under 18 years. I had to google and find myself. All these psychiatrists are very keen for private hospital admission for you even when they know you are too unwell to go to these facilities. These facilities are for people who has mild to moderate mental health conditions not melancholic depression. Nurses in these facilities always ignore if they see you crying and don’t even want to spend 2 minutes giving and counselling except for one nurse only. All they do is check you every one hour and duck in and go out within 5 seconds. They see your face that you just were crying but don’t even ask. They just push you to take shower when you have melancholic depression which is counterproductive as it feeds to guilt and worthlessness. She tried TMS for melancholic depression instead of suggesting more useful ECT. Hills clinic receptionist didn’t pass my written note message to her that i needed to ask something. She told me to accept the really of my daughter being too unwell and gave me example of her reception staff whose son recently got bed bound due to MVA. I know life throws challenges to all of us but it’s not good comparison to give me comfort. Atleast she knew my daughter is very unwell compared to blacktown hospital who said she has borderline personality and adjustment disorder with depressed mood. It’s hard to get experienced psychiatrists as they don’t accept new patients.

Posted Date : 05/04/2023

I would highly recommend Dr Kalava. As soon as I walked in she was engaged and ready to listen, she took a lot of notes of my symptoms and made me feel comfortable. She correctly identified what I have been struggling with, we had a good laugh about things and she got me on medication, but starting off gradually. Dr Kalava takes a look at your whole health, to see if there is anything else that may be effecting your mental health. Dr Kalava is empathetic, knowledgeable and has a great sense of humour.

Posted Date : 23/11/2021