On a 72 hour hold

Mental health
1

After the crises I've been facing lately, yesterday I cracked. I wanted to take an entire bottle of pain pills. I was sick of the pain I'm in, the lack of respect and I help I get at home.

I've had constant trouble reaching my psychiatrist, and after leaving her a message yesterday morning about the pills, I waited all day for a call from her.

Time went on and I forgot about my feelings of suicide. I was talking to my landlord yesterday evening when she called and I couldn't get her call. I tried calling back only to find office hours were over.

15 minutes later, paramedics were at my door. I hadn't called, didn't think anything of it. But when we saved them away, they insisted on talking to me and it was discovered that my psychiatrist had called.

The on call psychiatrist said he didn't feel comfortable letting me go home, and said he was going to admit me on a voluntary hold.

I got to the floor close to midnight, and slept on and off for about 18 hours. I desperately needed the sleep.

We get to keep our phones here which is nice, where I've been in the past, we were not allowed to have phones at all.

What I don't understand is, if my psychiatrist was so concerned yesterday, then why would she have not have made an effort to see me today. I know she's not in tomorrow, and I doubt she'll followup after I'm released.

But I need this break.

2

Firstly kristina, I'm sorry that you're not in a good place at the moment, and hope that you'll soon feel a bit better.

What illness have you got which causes you so much pain, that you need to take painkillers ?

You made a call to your psychiatrist threatening suicide. You couldn't get through so left a "suicide" message.

You have to,remember that your psychiatrist will have other patients so there could be all sorts of reasons which stopped her from phoning back. However she did phone you back later, but couldn't get hold of you.

From her point of view, you'd left a suicide message, she phoned you but got no

response, so she very sensibly called an ambulance. Unfortunately she wouldn't know the suicide issue had passed.

Your psychiatrist acted in a professional and caring way. She couldn't see you that day for whatever reason, but she made sure you saw the oncall psychiatrist instead. He/she must have been concerned about you, which is why you couldn't go home. No one knew that your feelings had changed and were no longer a threat.

Your psychiatrist couldn't see you, so she made sure someone else did. She may not have listened to her voicemail for hours.

You obviously needed some timeout, hence the 18 hour sleep. You have to remember that you're not her only patient. 

Also, I can't imagine you being sent home without any follow up support. By doing what she could to help, I can't imagine she won't follow up.

3

She knows I'm in the inpatient unit down the hall from her office, you would think the unit psychiatrist would inform her that I'd made it to the unit the night before.

She never came to see me yesterday, she's never in on Friday, and I can't call the outpatient clinic to leave a message.

Last week I had a failed surgery, 2nd one in 9 months. I'm in chronic pain due to a useless surgeon.

I called and left her messages, telling her my moods were not stable, yet she never returned calls, even though she was back in the office the day before I cracked.

I may need a referral to a new psychiatrist.

4

What difference would a new psychiatrist make. I appreciate you wanted to see this particular person, but this is the nhs we're talking about.

She doesn't work on a Friday, fact. She can't be criticised about that. She may have had more seriously ill patients who needed her more than you. She made sure you were seen by a duty psychiatrist. How do you know she didn't ask about or see you during your 18 hour sleep?

5

I'm not in the same country as you are.

If she had, they would have told me. She has my updated meds list.

So 72 hours is turning into longer with a monitored pain meds withdrawal, I've been going through the worst of it starting Saturday.

I didn't know I'd had an addiction until I was told that I'd been given and was taking far too much medication. Withdrawal really sucks, never went through it before.

Not sure how much longer I'll be here, but probably through the week at least.

6

Sorry kristina I assumed you were in the U.K.

what did you have surgery for and why was the surgeon useless? It is very easy to become addicted to strong painkillers. However I agree that you should have been given the right dose and warned about the risk of addiction.

I used to have a problem with alcohol, so I can relate to how you feel whilst withdrawing from painkillers. Someone is to blame for giving you such a high dose

Who is not helping and showing you respect at home. You should be getting lots of support and care at home.

Dont know whether you're still in hospital or not. If so have you seen your psychiatrist yet?

I am not really sure why you are seeing a psychiatrist following surgery. I can see why you might need a physiotherapist, but not why you need a psychiatrist.

I hope you feel better soon

7

My bipolar gets the best of me when I have surgery because I always have complications that get me down.

I was released yesterday after 2 weeks in the unit. Ran into my psychiatrist yesterday morning, she was totally aware that I was still in hospital, I was on a pass and about to go back to the unit when I saw her in the hall.

I followup with her in 2 weeks. Because I'm not mentally stable right now, that's why I have to see her. We need to tweak my medications again.

I now have a cast on, had it for a week so far, 3 more to go. I had to have ankle surgery to fix problems my original surgeon ignored and left to get worse.

My husband is not helping me, we are in the process of getting a divorce, and he decided that for that reason, he doesn't want to help me. I can't stay home without help, but I have to wait until next week to find out whether I can get into a care home for a few weeks to continue my recovery.

As for the complications after surgery, my surgeon was not aware of them, the nursing staff did not inform him of anything.

He told me that the complication of water on my lungs is something he only sees in elderly patients, he's never seen it in anyone my age before.

I went through a nasty withdrawal period that lasted about a week, I was so sick, I thought I'd picked up a bug or something, but the withdrawal diagnosis was made 2 days after the worst started.

I don't want to go through that ever again, it was far from pleasant.

In the meantime, I am home, just taking it one day at a time.

8

OMG. That psychiatrist should have been there for you! At least a phone call. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

9

I would seek a new psychiatrist. This isn't family medicine. Psychiatry involves many urgent care and lots of support.

10

I feel so bad for you. My daughter has gone through the same things. Are you in the US?

11

No, I'm in Canada. Being that we have free healthcare, that must be why the mental health services are crappy.

12

She knows I need to see her more often, but she's just so booked up every day that it's always months before I get to see her.

This next visit next week has been scheduled during her lunch hour.

13

She really should have, since she knows what I'm going through. But she hadn't called me back the times I called her before surgery, and only called 6 hours after my call to her the day I was in trouble.