I am so f*cking scared. I am scared of the Dictatorship. I don't want to see it happen.
I tried to call my social worker but she didn't answer the phone.
I can't revise.
I want to go out but I don't want an altercation with the Spies.
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
Have you managed to get through to your social worker?
It sounds like the manager is a complete jerk. Have you told your social worker about him? If she knows, maybe she can intervene and help you get an okay reference when you move out.
It doesn't matter where you come from; it matters where you go.
No-one gets remembered for the things they didn't do.
We won't all be here this time next year,
so while you can take a picture of us.
We're definitely going to hell,
but we'll have all the best stories to tell.
Thanks. I got through to my social worker and she was very helpful. She's going to make an appointment for me to see my psychiatrist.
The carer is a twat. Here is a typical conversation I might have with him:
Me: I have been struggling today and nearly ended up in A&E.
Carer: we all get down sometimes. It must have been the weather, totally miserable. I was quite down myself today because of the afternoon rain. What did you eat today?
I hate this so-called carer. I'm going to tell my social worker that he is simply belittling my problems and definitely NOT helping me. I am getting zero mental health support from the carer system.
I am more coherent now but feeling very agitated and scared.
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
Kat - thank you. I am on the way home from seeing my autism support worker now. She was very helpful. Music is good; I am listening to The Prodigy on my headphones right now.
Mrs Sam - I will ask for the wife carer to visit. But I don't know how successful that will be.
---------
I am calming down now but I had a bad experience on the way to Islington. A charity worker harassed me on the street; she kept getting in my face and she followed me down the street despite me ignoring her (she wanted me to sign up to her charity). She started shouting "why won't you talk to me?" then I freaked out. I started shrieking "get away from me, leave me alone!" in the middle of a busy street. Then I realised that everyone was staring at me so I ran off feeling extremely agitated. To an A road. I nearly got ran over.
I told my support worker and she was very helpful. She's going to help me make a card that explains briefly that I have autism so I can show it to anyone that tries to touch me or get too close to me.
When I get home I am going to lie in bed listening to The Prodigy and read a good textbook. Maybe sleep.
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
Thanks Kat. It was awful. I now have an autism card that I carry in my pocket.
--------------
I am off to Hove to see my friend for three days and two nights. I will try to come on RYL on my phone but don't worry if I go quiet.
I hope you'll all be ok.
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
Thank you both of you. Hove went well and I got my new glasses. My friend was very good company.
But it did nothing to help my revision. I am on the verge of giving up. I am exhausted and I have spent 50 minutes on one bloody page.
I don't know why my friends C and A, and my study skills tutor have so much confidence in me. It is totally unfounded. I think I will pass the exams (note the word "think") but my marks will be laughable.
I am being pessimistic because that is the reality. Please do not be angry with me.
C is going to call my social worker tomorrow as he thinks I'm getting ill again :/
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
Sorry about the above post, the voices etc have been giving me problems.
Good news: I got my DLA increased to middle rate :)
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
Hallo Oly, sorry I haven't been around.
It's great news that your DLA has been increased to middle rate, although why it's not high rate I'll never know!
Sorry to hear other things aren't so great at the moment, especially with the carer. I hope the social worker continues to be helpful for you.
It was lovely to read what you wrote about hoping to live with C one day, and what great friends you are. It sounds like it would work well, and I hope it becomes possible soon!
Don't know if you've answered this already, but when are your exams?
Hallo Oly, sorry I haven't been around.
It's great news that your DLA has been increased to middle rate, although why it's not high rate I'll never know!
Sorry to hear other things aren't so great at the moment, especially with the carer. I hope the social worker continues to be helpful for you.
It was lovely to read what you wrote about hoping to live with C one day, and what great friends you are. It sounds like it would work well, and I hope it becomes possible soon!
Don't know if you've answered this already, but when are your exams?
Hiya. It's ok. How have you been?
Thanks. I think I should get high rate too... the housing manager was a bit a cow because she was shocked when I said I was applying for a higher DLA rate.
I just got back-paid just over £800 for the DLA though, so I'm pretty happy about that; I can go and buy that solid-state hard drive for my laptop (about £120) :)
Thanks. My social worker has been very good but she is leaving at the end of this month for a year's worth of maternity leave. I will be getting a CPN in place of her and I'm worried it won't work out, even if my social worker said that the CPN I'll be getting is very good.
Thanks, C and I are great friends, I don't think I'd be alive without him. But I am concerned about how we will function without the support (C lives with his parents) as C has Asperger's as well, and it affects him differently to me, but enough to make me worry about how we'll function. My autism advocate said to me that we may need to find out about a support worker....
My exams are:
Physiology: 04/5/12; time 3 hours 45 minutes
Pharmacology: 08/5/12; time 3 hours
I get 25% extra time, hence why they are long.
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
I had my aripiprazole increased to 15mg and I've decided to take my olanzapine 20mg all at night. It was actually me who suggested this medication regime and my psych agreed lol.
I've been suffering side-effects. My mood has been swinging a lot and I had a massive panic attack yesterday. But I'm hoping that within a couple of weeks the meds will settle down and work.
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
Not spoke to you for a while-but follow your thread-glad things have been stable for you recently & good luck with your exams!
My g/f you may remember had a 'one-off' psychotic breakdown (caused by stress) over 3 years ago. No ongoing diagnosis for anything long term. About 4 weeks ago she had a minor 'episode' (again bought on by stress)-which was more mania but a few odd thoughts-which she could 'rationlise' easily. At its worst she was talking very, very fast. 5mg of olanzapine did the trick almost straight away-so she was prescribed this for 28 days. She came off this last Monday & from Tuesday things started to slip. She became more & more manic-singing at 2am loudly & on Sunday she broke things in the house (nothing too serious but a few broken plates etc). Luckily we found her a bed on Monday. She's not under section. So far they give her 15mg olanzapine at night (today increased to 5mg in the am as well)-plus Lorazepam/haldol when needed. She has improved a tiny bit but is still very unwell & confused. The hospital is nice-she has her own room & knows the nurses.
Theres never been any history of depression.
Oly-as you're an expert on this could you advise which mood stabalisers would have the least side effects (especially weight gain) & work fast to break this manic episode? They're talking about trying lithium on Monday? Do you have any thoughts?
Not spoke to you for a while-but follow your thread-glad things have been stable for you recently & good luck with your exams!
My g/f you may remember had a 'one-off' psychotic breakdown (caused by stress) over 3 years ago. No ongoing diagnosis for anything long term. About 4 weeks ago she had a minor 'episode' (again bought on by stress)-which was more mania but a few odd thoughts-which she could 'rationlise' easily. At its worst she was talking very, very fast. 5mg of olanzapine did the trick almost straight away-so she was prescribed this for 28 days. She came off this last Monday & from Tuesday things started to slip. She became more & more manic-singing at 2am loudly & on Sunday she broke things in the house (nothing too serious but a few broken plates etc). Luckily we found her a bed on Monday. She's not under section. So far they give her 15mg olanzapine at night (today increased to 5mg in the am as well)-plus Lorazepam/haldol when needed. She has improved a tiny bit but is still very unwell & confused. The hospital is nice-she has her own room & knows the nurses.
Theres never been any history of depression.
Oly-as you're an expert on this could you advise which mood stabalisers would have the least side effects (especially weight gain) & work fast to break this manic episode? They're talking about trying lithium on Monday? Do you have any thoughts?
Sorry to burden you-I'm worried sick. Chris
Hi Chris,
Thanks.
The first mood stabiliser that comes to mind that doesn't cause weight gain is topiramate, although its efficacy is uncertain. Aripiprazole is an antipsychotic, but also works well as a mood-stabiliser; it doesn't have weight gain as a side-effect but it isn't sedating (I assuming that by her symptoms some sedation would help). Olanzapine does sound like it could help, but if she's worried about weight gain then perhaps not (I put several kg on myself on olanzapine despite exercising, but then I was underweight beforehand - I was very ill and had no appetite, I have never had an eating disorder). Lithium tends to take longer to work than antipsychotics and can have numerous side-effects. How many mg of lorazepam/haloperidol do they give her and how often? Because olanzapine, haloperidol and lorazepam all at once can augment each other in sedation, to the point that it is unpleasant. Although the only time I've personally had all three is when I was on 20mg olanzapine in hospital and then kicked off and got a IM injection of lorazepam and another one of haloperidol (I was really florid); I remember being so knocked out that I couldn't even hold a glass of water....but then the IM injections have a higher bioavailability than the tablets, so the effect is stronger....sorry I ramble. Is she overweight already and is that why she is worried about the weight gain? Because even though I put on several kg on olanzapine (and still have a ravenous appetite), I wouldn't come off it (I'm on 20mg at night) as it helps me a lot after I take it. People with predominantly negative/depressive symptoms generally do better on activating medications, whereas people (like me) with predominantly positive/hyperactive/agitated/aggressive symptoms, the sedating antipsychotics are better. I do take 15mg aripiprazole as well (got it officially increased today) adjunct to olanzapine as the aripiprazole helps me with concentration/mood swings/thinking straight etc, and it counteracts the olanzapine tiredness to a certain degree. See what the psychiatrist says, but lithium does take longer to act than antipsychotics; at times an antipsychotic can be started with the lithium to quicken the response, then the antipsychotic is tapered off as the lithium acts. Although lithium does carry the risk of lithium toxicity (blood levels should be around 0.8 - 1.4 mEq/L I think), so make sure your psychiatrist and you both are alert on that.
Hope that helps.
Oly.
Last edited by Steel Maiden : 27-04-2012 at 07:16 PM.
Reason: correction
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
