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Post by ProdigalAlan on May 9, 2013 19:41:52 GMT
Hi one and all. As you may have heard on the day of Margaret Thatcher's funeral I came very close to killing myself. There is no correlation between the two events! Fortunately I was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. I have made such good progress that I have been allowed out for the night. Very slowly I am getting better.
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Post by ProdigalAlan on May 9, 2013 19:43:12 GMT
Oh yes - a big thank you to Steve and Pat for their card.
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Post by Moose on May 9, 2013 20:08:00 GMT
I have a card too but have not sent it yet grr . I will refrain from making a tasteless joke about people wanting to kill themselves on the day that Thatcher died. But I am dying to do so
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Post by Miisa on May 9, 2013 20:41:33 GMT
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Post by Moose on May 9, 2013 20:51:23 GMT
It's been doing the rounds on my fb feed but I've not read it yet .. been feeling a bit crap myself atm so might leave it for a while
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Post by raspberrybullets on May 9, 2013 20:55:02 GMT
Good to see you Alan. And to know you are progressing. What does it mean to be allowed out for the night?
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Post by tangent on May 9, 2013 21:02:15 GMT
It's really good to hear you're making progress, Alan.
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Post by ProdigalAlan on May 9, 2013 21:38:11 GMT
Good to see you Alan. And to know you are progressing. What does it mean to be allowed out for the night? It means that my brother picked me up from the ward at 10.30 this morning and took me to my home. First I fed the cats. Then I looked around at my perfectly clean house. My step-daughter and my step-daughter in law and my lovely granddaughter have cleaned up all the squalor I have been living in for the past months. Then I got into my car and drove for the first time in three weeks and went to the supermarket. I bought oodles of cat food and a few bits and bobs. My granddaughter has been feeding my cats. She didn't know I was coming home and had a shock when I opened the door as she walked down the path to let herself in to feed the moggies. I held her and cuddled her like only a grandfather can and kissed her and kissed her and kissed her. Then my brother came back and took me to a Masonic lodge meeting in Chesterfield. Now I'm catching up on tv thanks to the wonders of sky+HD and nattering to you guys ( I love you all ). Tomorrow I have to go into work and have a chat with the human resources department, see my boss and pick up my motorbike. Work have been wonderful - gods bless 'em. Then I need to visit the bank and change a standing order and pay a couple of bills. Then I can go back in the evening and rejoin my fellow fruit cakes. Of course I've also been to see my mum and I'll see her again tomorrow.
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Post by Moose on May 9, 2013 21:54:54 GMT
What is the ward like? I was a bit unnerved by the shouting going on when I was talking to you . Are you safe there .. I mean, you're not around unrestrained violent people, are you? One thing that has struck me about pysch wards is that they tend to have a bit mix of people who have very different needs and maybe there just aren't the resources to segregate them
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Post by ProdigalAlan on May 9, 2013 22:18:11 GMT
Now as you know, I was raised on the rough end of the roughest street on the roughest council estate between Nottingham and Derby. In loonyvile tobacco is king. Thanks to my brother I can get my hands on copious supplies of tobacco, papers and filters. This makes me the "snout king" of ward 35. Also, as I never tire of mentioning to any potential threat, I am a fully fledged nutter. Start anything with me and I'll rip your liver out and nail it to the wall. So far so good. Mind you there are some high octane fruit cakes kicking around, one of them tried to steal my toothbrush in the night, I scared the living shit out of him by flicking my towel in his face. After that the "hard cases" have left me alone and I get a good nights sleep.
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Post by Moose on May 9, 2013 22:26:15 GMT
Hmmm yes but that doesn't sound promising. What about people who WEREN'T raised on the toughest estate in etc? Shouldn't they be separating people according to the threat they pose to others?
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Post by Moose on May 9, 2013 22:29:05 GMT
(rereading I am not sure if you are trying to be funny or not
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Post by Sarah W. on May 10, 2013 0:51:25 GMT
Glad to see you, Alan.
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Post by whollygoats on May 10, 2013 6:49:28 GMT
"Fully fledged nutter"....I like that.
Good to see your text, Alan.
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Post by ProdigalAlan on May 10, 2013 10:41:58 GMT
(rereading I am not sure if you are trying to be funny or not No! Not being funny at all. It's a terrifying place especially for the week and vulnerable, but if certain patients get too rumbunctious the get moved off the ward. Some of them are scared to tell the staff what's going on for fear of being labeled a "grass". I couldn't give a flying f**k. I'm there to get better, not be intimidated and I don't scare easy. I tell staff things they need to know, like who's had their cigarettes stolen and who stole them.
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Post by tangent on May 10, 2013 13:59:09 GMT
My visit to a psychiatric clinic (a department of Sheffield's Teaching Hospital) was nothing like that. I wish your experience was as good as mine
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bill
Senior members
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Post by bill on May 10, 2013 14:47:13 GMT
When my father had to go in for a spell he was also less than impressed although I do not remember that his experience was quite as bad Alan has described. I know he was very anxious to get out.
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Post by Moose on May 10, 2013 18:08:43 GMT
That really sucks - these places should be for people to get well in, not be bullied in. Like I said I guess a lot of the problem is that they are mixing up different types of mental illness, when really each has its own specific needs. A depressed person needs different treatment than someone who thinks that they've been to Mars on a flying saucer and found Elvis living there and wants to beat the shit into anyone who does not believe them
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Post by tangent on May 10, 2013 21:00:35 GMT
Different types of people bounce off each other provided they are not aggressive. I found it helpful being in the company of a mix of types, alcoholics, agoraphobics, depressed people and others I wouldn't like to categorise. It's helpful if they are cooperative but once they become aggressive and belligerent they make recovery more difficult. I think, though, Alan can cope with all sorts.
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Post by Moose on May 10, 2013 21:05:19 GMT
Alan can but not everyone can. Louise who used to live up the road was often in psych wards and I'd not like to have been forced to spend a lot of time with her - she was aggressive and delusional and I do not cope well with aggressive people. I can imagine that if she interacted with people with different conditions than hers then both would have suffered.
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Post by tangent on May 10, 2013 21:13:06 GMT
Yes, you're quite right.
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Post by raspberrybullets on May 10, 2013 21:43:43 GMT
Yes, for somebody who can't look after themselves or tends to be meek, it could be quite tough and detrimental.
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Post by jayme on May 11, 2013 0:50:41 GMT
((((Alan))))
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Post by ming on May 11, 2013 1:08:49 GMT
Hello Alan! I'm sorry to hear about your recent experience, but I am very happy that you are doing well now. Reading your post about what you did on your day off just made me realize how important family and well, normalcy is. *hugs*
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2013 8:47:12 GMT
I'm still amused by the "fully fledged nutter". Nice to see you here, Alan.
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Post by Moose on May 11, 2013 23:24:09 GMT
Hope you get more 'out' days and you are very welcome at the moot if they say that you can travel and you feel up to it We would look after you well, you know ..
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2013 12:32:04 GMT
I also hope you will get more out days.
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Post by whollygoats on May 12, 2013 17:29:11 GMT
I'm for that, too....hoping it means you'll keep us apprised.
My mother spent many, perhaps a majority, of my years growing up, institutionalized in one or the other of the state's three mental health hospitals. Over the course of the years, she probably underwent over 300 ECT sessions and then tried every new antidepressant to hit the market. I was taken to visit her on many occasions and she never looked happy and the environment was always vaugely threatening, even to visitors. She was a simple farmgirl and quite meek. She would, on occasion, in her later years, when her manias subsided, use the phrase "certifiable" and smile a little enigmatic smile. It always made me chuckle to see and hear her 'own' her struggle.
It ain't easy, dealing with our world. I hope that you get back to where you are comfortable and reasonably content.
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Post by Mari on May 12, 2013 20:49:31 GMT
I just watched Hook again tonight and as always I had to laugh over Michael 'losing his marbles' and of course it turns out he actually lost them in the non-figurative sense of the word.
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Post by tangent on May 12, 2013 23:02:21 GMT
My mother spent many, perhaps a majority, of my years growing up, institutionalized in one or the other of the state's three mental health hospitals. Over the course of the years, she probably underwent over 300 ECT sessions and then tried every new antidepressant to hit the market. I was taken to visit her on many occasions and she never looked happy and the environment was always vaugely threatening, even to visitors. She was a simple farmgirl and quite meek. She would, on occasion, in her later years, when her manias subsided, use the phrase "certifiable" and smile a little enigmatic smile. It always made me chuckle to see and hear her 'own' her struggle. It ain't easy, dealing with our world. I hope that you get back to where you are comfortable and reasonably content. Understood.
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