Lived Experience Forum

[outlander]

hi @Doglover
ive been to hospital for my mental health however it was through the public system. i am one of the forunate ones where my experience through the public system was actually good. as much i didnt want to go the weeks stay for me done me quite good and was one of the turning points in me seeking help and support and actually wanting to get better. it was scary as hell but after a 2 or 3 days it started to get abit better. 

happy wo answer any questions you may have 

edited sorry

[Doglover]

Thanks @greenpea . Thats my thoughts too but dont know if il b able to hold out that long, got 6 weeks wait until private health cover kicks in. I rly dont want to go to the public one near me, its horrible, but dont know that im going to hav a choice as things r pretty bad. The hard thing is i dont hav ne confidence that thr going to b able to help me in hospital nemore than they hav bn able to out of it. The longer this goes on and the worse it gets, the more convinced i am that i am sensitive to ingredients in meds and that this is a physical problem not a mental one (due to history of food/chemical sensitivities causing same symptoms) so as long as i keep having these meds with these ingredients in them (which they all hav) im not going to get better. Then i might never get out of hospital if i dont get better or get worse! Its rly scary @greenpea .

[Doglover]

Thanks for ur reply and for sharing @BlueBay . I can imagine it wld b rly scary at first, im petrified at the thought. Mind u, im less scared of the idea of going private than public but iv still got 6 weeks to wait for my health cover to kick in and i dont know that i can wait that long!

Thanks  again for replying @BlueBay , i rly appreciate it. I hope u r doing well now. Xx

[Doglover]

Hi @Gazza75 , thanks so much for ur reply and for sharing ur experience. Im sorry for what u hav bn thru. I hope u r doing better now.

I hav actually spent quite a lot of time in this hospital when my mum was admitted for an extended period, also i was technically admitted a little while back but i didnt stay. Went thr for 2 days to wait for apptments but didnt stay overnight. So im pretty familiar with how it works. Only allowed visitors from 4pm to 8pm except on weekends, and there is absolutely nothing to do during the day, no groups or anything, so i just cant imagine how one wld fill in thr days. I go stir crazy at home with not enough to do but at least i can keep myself busy some of the time with housework and stuff, but cant do that in there.

When i was there for those cpl of days, and when mum was in there, it broke my heart to see the state that ppl were in, and the total lack of compassion and care from the sraff. At no stage in 2 days did i see any interaction from the staff with the patients except to give pills. It was rly rly sad and depressing. Thats one of the things that concerns me - depression isnt my main problem, but wld i end up just more depressed being in there? I dont know, its a tough one. Wishing i took out private health cover sooner!

Yes i had one of those apptmts with the psych and about 6 other ppl - it was very intimidating. And yes, i also was offered 1 meal there while i was technically an impatient (but not rly) and it was disgusting, i cldnt eat it. 

Anyway, thanks again for ur reply and advice @Gazza75 , i rly appreciate it. 

Take care.

[Doglover]

No worries @Snowie , i did too. But woke up at 2.30 and havnt bn able to get back to sleep. Thats one of the many ways i know things arent good - my sleep gets rly bad even with the meds that are supposed to help me sleep. Plus my physical symptoms are absolutely thru the roof. I question whether my problem is mental or physical bcoz of all the physical symptoms i have and the history of food/chemical sensitivites and similar symptons with that (long before being diagnosed with mi). Anyway, thats another story! 

It seems that getting the meds right has bn a challenge for a lot of ppl, im concerned it will never hapn for me due to sensitivities to ingredients, and the physical symptoms i get r sheer torture!  

Interesting that u hav found med changes to b better done in hospital. Thats why im wondering if i wld b better off in hospital to come off the short term anti anxiety meds - mayb they cld giv me some sedation or something so its not too torturous.

Anyway, sorry for my rambling @Snowie . Im glad u r doing a lot better now, and rly appreciate ur support.

💜 Doglover

Oh, and i am female too ☺

[Doglover]

Hi @outlander ,

Thanks so much for ur reply and for sharing. I am glad u had a good experience and that it helped with ur overall mental health and set u on the right path. 1 week is a short stay to accomplish that. Im glad u r doing much better now.

I am absolutely petrified of going in there, especially public, but mayb i can take solace from ur experience.

Thanks again @outlander . 💜

[BryanaCamp]

hi @Doglover sorry to hear you're suffering a lot at the moment. I have never been to hospital. My brother was admitted involuntarily for psychosis recently. To public. He did not like it and found being around the other patients very upsetting. He also found it very difficult to make plans or understand what his options were becuase the nursing staff kept changing so frequently, there was no continuity. On the plus side, he responded well to meds and was allowed to go home fairly quickly. He is now pretty stable from what I can gather. 

I hope you've found all the info the others have provided to be helpful. It does sound like a difficult decision for you and I can totally understand why you'd prefer to go private. What did you think of Gazza's idea to try staying in a hotel for a few days to see how the change or environment is?

[Doglover]

Hi @BryanaCamp ,

Thanks for ur reply and support. Yes it is ridiculously tough and i dont know how much more i can bare.

Im glad ur brother is a lot better and more stable. Sorru he had to go thru such an unpleasant experience to get there!

I also found being around the other patients very distressing when i was technically admitted for two days but didnt actuallyc stay there. I was so uncomfortable being around many of the people in there, at the same time my heart broke for them bcoz thr didnt seem to b any real care or compassion for them. One of the reasons i dont want to go in there! Private wld b much more preferable indeed.

Gazza's idea re hotel was a good one however unfortunately not possible as my husband and i are on the bones of our backside, somehow surviving on 75% of my 25 hour a week income. Putting food on the table and paying rent and bills in itself is a struggle!

I hav appreciated everyones replies and support. Many people hav taken time to really share of their experience which is very kind of them.

Thanks to u also @BryanaCamp  for ur support. I hope all is well ur end.

💙 Doglover

[Doglover]

I gather from ur reply to gazza that u hav had a bad experience in public hospitals @greenpea .

[BryanaCamp]

hi @Doglover , you're so welcome. Hugs. You're in a really tough spot as ideally you can go into private & use your private health insurance but they have their stupid waiting times. So difficult when you really need urgent support. I faced a similar situation when my pdoc said group work would be so beneficial to me & it was a 6 month wait for insurance to pay for it & it was like $1k/day to attend groups. Impossible. I'm glad you have your husband with you, I'm a single girl so can't really imagine life in a couple, I've just got Mr. Cat.

Do you feel that hospital may provide relief from every day life & an opportunity to rest? I struggle with the basics like showering and teeth-brushing so I find the concept of supported/structured accommodation kinda supportive albeit in an extreme context.

You mentioned you have fibromalgia. I'm so sorry to hear that, how terrible. How is your pain at the moment? Does your pain increase with anxiety?

I've had bad injurieis and pain in the past & saw every specialist in Melbourne but it was only my pdoc who actually helped. In the end all I needed was sleep & he was able to prescribe something for sleep so after years of suffering & debilitation it was a great relief to me. While I was in pain it made me uber-anxious and then the anxiety made my pain so much more intense. I ended up believing that I had a faulty brain that had over-reactive pain pathways.. luckily my pdoc understood and eventually I got relief.

Sitting with you tonight, glad that you can post here. We're here to support you hon