Venting MH Crisis in the UK

[BPD_LE]

Just had a pointless 2 hour crisis assessment. I was honest, because I know they won't do anything. Yeah I have a plan and a backup plan. I'll probably be dead by Christmas. What help can they offer? None. Nothing. Jack shit. Well done Tory voters, well done.

 

[Rachel74]

Had P doc on phone earlier today. Why haven't you started the lithium, I'm still at work I said I'll start the new regime week after. No he said I want to see you, I said I'd seen my CPN but no insists on wasting my time and his!

 

[BipolarExpat]

Had P doc on phone earlier today. Why haven't you started the lithium, I'm still at work I said I'll start the new regime week after. No he said I want to see you, I said I'd seen my CPN but no insists on wasting my time and his!

I thought you had started the lithium(?)
Several weeks ago, no?

Sorry BPD_LE. I sometimes wonder what's worse,....overloaded, wait-time w/ sketchy NHS (UK) or bankrupt your ass by force w/ a roll of the dice on care (US).

 

[Wreck-it-Riley]

I once overdosed on a ton of pills. The hospital here sent me home 3 hours later WITH THE ILLEGAL PILLS. Bottles didnt even have my name on them. And i had to walk home at 4 am.

I think the medical world in general is useless.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

They were the same with me. They got my sister to clean out my drugs cabinet (what so I wouldn't od on antacids?) and completely missed my lasso. Muppets.

 

[SlackJim]

It's pretty bad ain't it! I was in a psych ward for 2 weeks after an attempt and was sure it was doing me no good, then 1 year later I heard that the ward I was in was closed down after an inspection for negligence. Have had 2 decent private councillors but anything mental health related on NHS has been bad. Was also put on fluoxetine as a teenager, noticed my suicidal thoughts increase, now more recently have been told that should not be prescribed for adolescents because of increased suicidal tendencies.

I dont know what a good mental health service would look like, but we're very far from it.

sending hugs to you, its a real shame, a lot of people in this country are in similar positions

 

[Deleted member 1465]

Last year I was put in a MH decision unit. No beds just a shit reclining chair each. No one was meant to be there for over 24hrs. I was there for a week. Sleep? Haha.

Off topic : my roomie had been in prison for 9 years for violent offences and suffered hallucinations. I was terrified. Turned put to be one of the nicest chaps I'd ever met and we became fast friends. Made me rethink my attitude to people.

 

[Rachel74]

I thought you had started the lithium(?)
Several weeks ago, no?

Sorry BPD_LE. I sometimes wonder what's worse,....overloaded, wait-time w/ sketchy NHS (UK) or bankrupt your ass by force w/ a roll of the dice on care (US).

Was meant to BP but at the moment I just can't take myself to start it and start the come down with being weaned off venlafaxine. I've honestly ordered loads of benzo when I start so I can try and sleep. I finish work properly next week until Remembrance Sunday then back again the 2nd week of December.
Problem is don't laugh but the NHS especially MH services is so underfunded. If they were to section me now they'd have to send me to Plymouth if they had a bed as there are no beds anywhere in the south west. This is why I have to have home treatment. There is one P Doc for the whole of North Devon and a handful of inexperienced CPN and the crisis centre is worse! This is why people are killing themselves. We have tried private in the Past and that was my proper diagnosis to bipolar. It had taken them from the age of 16 to 22 to work out what was wrong.

 

[Rachel74]

Reality is, no one cares. Good mental health is a luxury society can't afford. Any society can quite easily absorb a small percentage of broken females, lonely and sexless males, even psychopaths, etc. As long as the percentage of serious mental illness stays under 5% of a population the best anyone has to offer is lip service (for females and female problems) and total placid faced indifference (for men and male problems). If society dared to be honest with itself would set up gas chambers, open the doors, and let the problem solve itself. Gas Chambers for sexless men. You wouldn't need the jackboots, they'd be a scramble to get in.

Extremely scary thought but spot on! That is so spot on!!!!!!!!

 

[Wreck-it-Riley]

Dystopia now anyone? Suicide booths should be a thing.

 

[BipolarExpat]

That is scary....

Ok Rach, got it. For some reason I had it in my head you'd started the Lith and that was one reason you were doing better lately.
I can understand the reluctance to start weaning off the other med.

 

[Rachel74]

That is scary....

Ok Rach, got it. For some reason I had it in my head you'd started the Lith and that was one reason you were doing better lately.
I can understand the reluctance to start weaning off the other med.

They've also not decided on what antidepressant to replace it with. I feel like saying don't worry I research and order it myself FFS!

 

[DoNotLet2]

I feel sorry for you you *hugs*.
In my opinion to become a health specialist you just need to cram the required body knowledge but they don't check whether you're empathetic or not and that's a great mistake. Even if you're a genius if you can't handle people nicely, you shouldn't be a mental health specialist.

Society would earn much more if they invested in us, but they prefer the easy way out. We're not useless mass of people that can be treated poorly.

 

[Rachel74]

I feel sorry for you you *hugs*.
In my opinion to become a health specialist you just need to cram the required body knowledge but they don't check whether you're empathetic or not and that's a great mistake. Even if you're a genius if you can't handle people nicely, you shouldn't be a mental health specialist.

Society would earn much more if they invested in us, but they prefer the easy way out. We're not useless mass of people that can be treated poorly.

They do though, the amount of times I've been told by a snotty nurse I'm taking up a bed for something more serious when I've OD is beyond me. They look at us like we are shit they've trodden in, but if I was in the bed suffering from a heart attack the care would be so loving.

 

[BipolarExpat]

They've also not decided on what antidepressant to replace it with. I feel like saying don't worry I research and order it myself FFS!

Tw*ts!
Even with medicos around,...still just gotta' take care of yourself.

 

[Rachel74]

They do though, the amount of times I've been told by a snotty nurse I'm taking up a bed for something more serious when I've OD is beyond me. They look at us like we are shit they've trodden in, but if I was in the bed suffering from a heart attack the care would be so loving.

Remember 20 years ago being in resuscitation having charcoal forced down me by the Dr who couldn't give a shit. After that I was left on a trolley in the corridor until the morning when I thought fuck this pulled my drip out and caught the bus home! That got me sectioned! I had the police and CPN etc at my mom and dads house! 6 months of zero care and me starting to become agoraphobic. I didn't want to leave. I had an affair with one of the Male nurses who knew how fucked I was on the meds they gave me. My step dad reported him when I got out as no one believed me until others came forward.

 

[Misanthrope]

The 2012 social care act was the death knell for even pretending to care any more, brought in under the coalition. The undermining of the NHS has been going on for years. Before even 2012 Mental health provision was already a cinderella service. Underfunded and stretched thin as it was. These days it is on its knees, with dangerous understaffing and what front line decent people remain burning out as they drown amidst target culture and the mantra do more with less. Now it does nothing more than drug and turf people out as soon as possible to care in the community. (Which may as well be called no care in the community if how badly it follows up on people is to go by.)

It seems quite happy to gamble on you not doing anything. Because even if you do off yourself and write a letter blaming the service for not helping you. They sweep it away and it amounts to nothing but a statement. "Lessons will be learned." Or "Mental health and the reasons for suicide are complex." Technically true, but when trotted out after a client of mine is ignored to death, it is purely fucking dismissive of the abject failure of securing the help she actually wanted. Not only asked for but quite literally begged for!

I used to have clients tell me they would rather kill themselves than talk to the crisis team again. I have always found that funny for its irony. But then gallows humour creeps in as a means to survive the atrocity of seeing people badly let down or hurt by the things that are meant to help. Then later finding out they became a smell under the door that offended the neighbours.

It is really bad out there and if you are looking to U.K mental health services as a means to wellness. I wouldn't recommend putting your faith in it as any kind of meaningful solution. Sadly all that is left is to do it for yourself under your own power or look for what exists outside the NHS umbrella. The ways of doing that though are limited as its a gamble on what external options are available in your area and how effectively you can get costs down. I am fairly sure I made suggestions to you before.

Profit before people is at the heart of this misery and likely always will be till the cockroaches take over.

 

[BipolarExpat]

Remember 20 years ago being in resuscitation having charcoal forced down me by the Dr who couldn't give a shit. After that I was left on a trolley in the corridor until the morning when I thought fuck this pulled my drip out and caught the bus home! That got me sectioned! I had the police and CPN etc at my mom and dads house! 6 months of zero care and me starting to become agoraphobic. I didn't want to leave. I had an affair with one of the Male nurses who knew how fucked I was on the meds they gave me. My step dad reported him when I got out as no one believed me until others came forward.

Holy shit! That's a book/movie right there!

 

[Deleted member 1465]

I recall something in a book I read can't remember the title. ..

It was a machine that doctors had to use where it let them feel what their patients were feelin.

We need that

The 2012 social care act was the death knell for even pretending to care any more, brought in under the coalition. The undermining of the NHS has been going on for years. Before even 2012 Mental health provision was already a cinderella service. Underfunded and stretched thin as it was. These days it is on its knees, with dangerous understaffing and what front line decent people remain burning out as they drown amidst target culture and the mantra do more with less. Now it does nothing more than drug and turf people out as soon as possible to care in the community. (Which may as well be called no care in the community if how badly it follows up on people is to go by.)

It seems quite happy to gamble on you not doing anything. Because even if you do off yourself and write a letter blaming the service for not helping you. They sweep it away and it amounts to nothing but a statement. "Lessons will be learned." Or "Mental health and the reasons for suicide are complex." Technically true, but when trotted out after a client of mine is ignored to death, it is purely fucking dismissive of the abject failure of securing the help she actually wanted. Not only asked for but quite literally begged for!

I used to have clients tell me they would rather kill themselves than talk to the crisis team again. I have always found that funny for its irony. But then gallows humour creeps in as a means to survive the atrocity of seeing people badly let down or hurt by the things that are meant to help. Then later finding out they became a smell under the door that offended the neighbours.

It is really bad out there and if you are looking to U.K mental health services as a means to wellness. I wouldn't recommend putting your faith in it as any kind of meaningful solution. Sadly all that is left is to do it for yourself under your own power or look for what exists outside the NHS umbrella. The ways of doing that though are limited as its a gamble on what external options are available in your area and how effectively you can get costs down. I am fairly sure I made suggestions to you before.

Profit before people is at the heart of this misery and likely always will be till the cockroaches take over.

Nail. Head. Bang. Same for the whole NHS. Lessons can be learned, I'd have that on my gravestone.

 

[BipolarExpat]

I recall something in a book I read can't remember the title. ..

It was a machine that doctors had to use where it let them feel what their patients were feelin.

We need that

Sounds a bit like the Black Mirror episode "Black Museum." They have such a device, it malfunctions & starts giving the dr. pleasure so he gets addicted. One of the gorier eps of that series.

 

[DoNotLet2]

By investing in us I mean helping us not just keeping us alive.
In my opinion psychiatrists know much more than 2 hundreds years ago but they do not use that knowledge... They still treat us like insane people not like people which sucks.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

Sounds a bit like the Black Mirror episode "Black Museum." They have such a device, it malfunctions & starts giving the dr. pleasure so he gets addicted. One of the gorier eps of that series.

Now I've got a brain itch with this. I wonder if it was in the recent film remake of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy?

 

[-Link-]

Please don't quote.

Your comment put it so bluntly and so well (and accurate). I'll have to remember that one.

The UK... Yep, I figured a bad situation would get even worse when good old Boris was elected. This is the man (if you want to call him that) who once said the best cure for mental illness (because all mental illnesses are the same, you know) is a job. What else needs to be said about the current climate in the UK.

 

[Rachel74]

Holy shit! That's a book/movie right there!

I own the rights lol

 

[BPD_LE]

Fuck it. I'm getting drunk. Plus my SN came this week so fuck them all.

 

[Rachel74]

My brother who had cancer had an accident while he was in Blackpool (cheap U.K. version of Vegas)
He was treated like royality the bloke next to him with contempt as he OD on coke. When he was discharged my brother gave him £50 said please look after yourself mate. The next day he came in and visited him for nearly a month until he was discharged and sent back to Birmingham. His name is Carl. When my brother was in the hospice he came down and stayed with him and was with him when he died. My brother showed him a bit of humanity and he showed my brother it back.
Don't ever judge a book by its cover.

 

[hypo666]

At the moment Iam living alone in the place where apparently Iam most 'at risk', Because my room in the supported accomodation I supposed to be in has bed bugs so I moved back into my bungalow. This has been going on now for two months. My CPN is fully aware of it , my social worker is also aware of it.The supported accomodation brought in pest control who failed to get rid of them. The social worker is supposed to be finding me an alternative place but never keeps in any contact with me or my CPN. The support I get off the mental health service is a appointment with my CPN every 2 weeks. This lasts about 15 minutes. Last appointment was spent with my CPN wringing her hands about my situation and proclaiming loudly that my social worker is 'getting on her tits' because the social worker is ignoring all attempts by anyone to contact her.

What I don't quite get is, this supported accomodation is costing apparently 800-1000 pounds a week, and Iam not even using the bed allocated me due to the bed bugs, this means the council are funding me there and Iamnot even sleeping there, yet the social worker couldn't care less. So all leaving aside the affect this is having on me,it's wasting all this money. Apart from this experience, I have had two recent hospital admissions due to mental health crisis, and what struck me was I recognised the same old faces from past admissions who were yet again in crisis . I think social care and the mental health service in the UK is completely fucked. Iam not going to get political and blame it all on the tory party because many years ago I was a patient under mental heatlh service when labour was in government and it was shit back then as well. That was when they brought in all that recovery bollocks which was just an excuse to discharge you with no support or followup. You could never get away with that with a physical illness.

 

[Rachel74]

At the moment Iam living alone in the place where apparently Iam most 'at risk', Because my room in the supported accomodation I supposed to be in has bed bugs so I moved back into my bungalow. This has been going on now for two months. My CPN is fully aware of it , my social worker is also aware of it.The supported accomodation brought in pest control who failed to get rid of them. The social worker is supposed to be finding me an alternative place but never keeps in any contact with me or my CPN. The support I get off the mental health service is a appointment with my CPN every 2 weeks. This lasts about 15 minutes. Last appointment was spent with my CPN wringing her hands about my situation and proclaiming loudly that my social worker is 'getting on her tits' because the social worker is ignoring all attempts by anyone to contact her.

What I don't quite get is, this supported accomodation is costing apparently 800-1000 pounds a week, and Iam not even using the bed allocated me due to the bed bugs, this means the council are funding me there and Iamnot even sleeping there, yet the social worker couldn't care less. So all leaving aside the affect this is having on me,it's wasting all this money. Apart from this experience, I have had two recent hospital admissions due to mental health crisis, and what struck me was I recognised the same old faces from past admissions who were yet again in crisis . I think social care and the mental health service in the UK is completely fucked. Iam not going to get political and blame it all on the tory party because many years ago I was a patient under mental heatlh service when labour was in government and it was shit back then as well. That was when they brought in all that recovery bollocks which was just an excuse to discharge you with no support or followup. You could never get away with that with a physical illness.

I blame the whole world for mine

 

[BPD_LE]

They've also not decided on what antidepressant to replace it with. I feel like saying don't worry I research and order it myself FFS!

My CPN said they can add a SSRI to the venlafaxine? Have you heard of this? I'm scared to come off it x

 

[FTL.Wanderer]

Just had a pointless 2 hour crisis assessment. I was honest, because I know they won't do anything.

What, ideally, would you've liked them to do?