Psychiatric pills or mental hospital - Is that all?

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SteelMaiden
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05 Apr 2015, 4:46 am

I was put in a secure unit several times when I was a teeanger / younger adult, because my challenging behavior was mistaken for psychosis. I had psychosis, I have psychosis still, but I am not violent as a result of psychosis. Last time I was sectioned under the Mental Health Act, I had four police officers restrain me. As they were trying to get me on the ground, I punched one of them and kicked another while thrashing about violently. It was challenging behaviour in response to sensory overload (the officers were grabbing me and shouting at me, as well as threatening to hit me - which I later formally complained about) and I just wanted them to let me go and leave me to calm down. I was put in a secure unit for several weeks.

I've had 17 psych ward admissions in 8 years. Psych wards are just a holding pen. I am under the NHS which has saved my life several times over, but psych wards are AWFUL places to be in. There were some nurses who were really good and respected and liked me; they tried to help. But there were so many crap nurses, and the patients were annoying, like peeing on the floor outside my room, or defaecating in the sink, or stripping naked in the corridor.

Three years ago I promised myself I'd never go back to a secure unit or a psych ward, and three years on I haven't had a single admission due to extreme determination and frequent appointments with my psychiatrist.

I pay for my autism support though. 90% of my income support benefits go to fees for my support workers. They're really good at their job though. I have DLA benefits left over to live on. But my dad often has to help me financially.

I am applying for direct payments to get support from the council Autism Services though. See what happens.


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Jason212
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09 Apr 2015, 12:43 pm

Hi guys :-) I'm new here, my name is Jason. I am 32 years old and I have high functioning autism and BPD. This sums things up for me too. Two years ago I went off my meds once because I did not like the way I felt on them. It was spring time and my meds were really making me tired and I really wanted to be able to do stuff outside. I felt weird being so tired I had to go to bed when it was so beautiful outside. My doctor(s) at the time would not listen to me and refused to give me anything different. My primary psych doc even prescribed lithium because she felt I was unstable. I tired to tell her that the meds were making me tired and I wanted to enjoy the beautiful spring weather we were having. She asked me if I was feeling suicidal! I sarcastically said "yes i want more energy so I can kill myself" and I told her that I didn't want to take even more drugs so she threatened me with that "inpatient treatment for non compliance" stuff so I ran out her office. When I got home the police were waiting for me and they took me to the hospital where I was made to stay against my will for 10 days! They said I was being non compliant and said I was a flight risk. I got searched, issued a yellow jump suit and they put me up on a secure locked floor of the hospital for my 10 day "incarceration" I was put back on my meds and basically treated like a criminal with no privacy or rights at all. If I didn't take them I just got held and had them stuck into me. They did not understand me and seemed not to care and it was like when I talked they would not even listen to me. I never liked like sleeping in a bed even at home and just prefer to snuggle up in a chair with a warm blanket. On my first night I took my blanket and pillow to the corner of the room and fell asleep. One of the nurses woke me up and told me to go back to my bed. I tried to explain that I like sleeping like that and she threatened to put me in restraints 8O When I tried to get up and go back to my bed she radioed for help. Two orderlies arrived in seconds and carried me onto my bed and they put me in a thick brown plastic belt thing that went all the way around my waist and then locked down to the sides of the bed. Those guys didn't hurt me or anything like that but I still don't think I deserved that and I hated it. I hardly slept because I was not used to a bed and they had me locked in that contraption. I got that treatment for the next 4 nights even though I wasn't acting up. My door was also locked at night since the butt hole that signed me in labeled me a flight risk. There was just no need to restrain me on my bed those nights too. Now I always feel like I am in a constant state of "take your meds or you're going in". I don't want to go back in so I just take the meds and submit to random bs tests.



SteelMaiden
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09 Apr 2015, 1:03 pm

Jason212 wrote:
Hi guys :-) I'm new here, my name is Jason. I am 32 years old and I have high functioning autism and BPD. This sums things up for me too. Two years ago I went off my meds once because I did not like the way I felt on them. It was spring time and my meds were really making me tired and I really wanted to be able to do stuff outside. I felt weird being so tired I had to go to bed when it was so beautiful outside. My doctor(s) at the time would not listen to me and refused to give me anything different. My primary psych doc even prescribed lithium because she felt I was unstable. I tired to tell her that the meds were making me tired and I wanted to enjoy the beautiful spring weather we were having. She asked me if I was feeling suicidal! I sarcastically said "yes i want more energy so I can kill myself" and I told her that I didn't want to take even more drugs so she threatened me with that "inpatient treatment for non compliance" stuff so I ran out her office. When I got home the police were waiting for me and they took me to the hospital where I was made to stay against my will for 10 days! They said I was being non compliant and said I was a flight risk. I got searched, issued a yellow jump suit and they put me up on a secure locked floor of the hospital for my 10 day "incarceration" I was put back on my meds and basically treated like a criminal with no privacy or rights at all. If I didn't take them I just got held and had them stuck into me. They did not understand me and seemed not to care and it was like when I talked they would not even listen to me. I never liked like sleeping in a bed even at home and just prefer to snuggle up in a chair with a warm blanket. On my first night I took my blanket and pillow to the corner of the room and fell asleep. One of the nurses woke me up and told me to go back to my bed. I tried to explain that I like sleeping like that and she threatened to put me in restraints 8O When I tried to get up and go back to my bed she radioed for help. Two orderlies arrived in seconds and carried me onto my bed and they put me in a thick brown plastic belt thing that went all the way around my waist and then locked down to the sides of the bed. Those guys didn't hurt me or anything like that but I still don't think I deserved that and I hated it. I hardly slept because I was not used to a bed and they had me locked in that contraption. I got that treatment for the next 4 nights even though I wasn't acting up. My door was also locked at night since the butt hole that signed me in labeled me a flight risk. There was just no need to restrain me on my bed those nights too. Now I always feel like I am in a constant state of "take your meds or you're going in". I don't want to go back in so I just take the meds and submit to random bs tests.


Where are you from? That would be illegal here in the UK, what they did to you. It goes against the Human Rights Act.


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Jason212
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09 Apr 2015, 7:51 pm

I am in the USA but I am not really comfortableh giving my location out. I just want a place where I could talk freely and not feel like I am in danger of anyone trying to lock me in a hospital. As far as my trip to the psych ward, I am afraid and do not want to give details or names. I want to let sleeping dogs lie.



goldfish21
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09 Apr 2015, 9:36 pm

No.

Medicinal diet & probiotics.

These have worked far better than any pills I've ever taken.


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ToughDiamond
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09 Apr 2015, 9:41 pm

Alienhybrid wrote:
Dont take it personally. Medical care is rubbish for nearly everyone, except injuries.

Yes it's against the government's religion to pay the going rate for proper welfare, it's very Milton Friedmann. Another exception is children, at least I hope it's still an exception. The NHS removed my burst appendix very competently when I was a child. As an adult, they sewed my hand back together quite well, they were quite good with my sciatica, and my dentist seems to know what he's doing, though he's a private dentist. Beyond that, they've been practically useless. Free healthcare is hard for an adult to access, it often seems that the doctor's main job is to deny services. My uncle's health is lousy these days, he lives alone but can no longer do so independently, and had it not been for my sister's energy in pushing the city council, the welfare people would have pretty much left him to rot.

I think there's a particular problem for autistic people because of the difficulty in self-advocating. "Free" healthcare and benefits "providers" haggle very hard and offer less than a fair deal at first, and you have to know how to haggle back to get that fair deal. Providing us with a competent advocate, or training us to self-advocate, would be great, but I think the gov has its eyes on the bill. Imagine what would happen if we all learned how to thump the table effectively.

It's nice to see that some UK Aspies have been able to get a few goodies. I tried for DLA and got nothing because I didn't even realise they give you nothing without a covering document from a member of the elite. They never even explained why they'd rejected my claim. I got some advice from the NAS, but not enough. CAB hasn't been much use to me either. A weekly session with a good therapist who really understands about autism would be very nice, to talk about my problems and how to fix them.

AFAIK, in the USA, most autistic people are entitled to SSI as long as their diagnostic report makes things look reasonably desperate. Over here, the gov has been heavy-handedly turning the disabled into job seekers.