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Old 10-01-2008, 02:29 PM   #1
Heaven-Leigh
 
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Response from Dr's or other medical proffessionals

I was just wondering what everyones experience with Dr's or GP's etc when they found out you self harm?

Did you feel Dr deliberately treated you different when dealing with your wounds etc?

Just a bit of personal research to be honest.

Thanks

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Old 10-01-2008, 04:18 PM   #2
Kija
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i've had some really bad docters, and yeah they treated me like i was contagious and basically didnt want to help me. one docter phisically pushed her chair away from me, and said i was lazy and not worth helping!!
one time when i had to go to hospital, they said i needed stiched till they found out it was SI, and then just taped it up, and treated me like ****. "whats another scar to someone like you" etc etc
though i have to say i have found 2 really nice docters now, so it pays off to persist in changing docters till you find a good one!

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Old 11-01-2008, 12:30 AM   #3
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I don't put much trust in doctors or guidance counselors. I went to my school counselor and admitted to her that I cut and she just blew me off. I told her how I had been feeling. I told her a lot of things. She told me that she would bring me down the next day (it was towards the end of the school day) and she never did. She never called me back and I never went back. That woman could have prevented so much. I went to her seeking help before things even got half as bad as they were going to get. And then my therapist (who I only saw for a very brief time, she was horrible) found at about my self-harm and she only asked very vague questions about it a few times. I don't think they really saw what I did as serious. But like Kija said, you just have to keep searching until you find someone who will understand.

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Old 11-01-2008, 01:24 AM   #4
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I remember when I told my GP, she told me it was "surprisingly common" which I have to say I didn't know at the time.

Actually she's been very good about it.

I haven't had many bad reactions, but I've never been to A & E for it, which I think is where some people can get bad reactions.

The worst time was when I was having ECT and the anaesthetist who was putting me under called me a "silly little girl" just as she was putting the needle in my arm. Afterwards I asked the nurse if she had actually said that, the nurse said she was appalled and made the doctor apologise.



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Old 11-01-2008, 01:30 AM   #5
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Err, I've had various encounters with medical professionals and the majority have been very good experiences. Only 2 stand out as increasingly unhelpful.

One was a psychiatrist or something, who said I could disagree with anything he said, as he may be wrong. He then went on to say that he thought my self harm was about having control, I disputed this and he said ok. Then at the end he turned round and said 'I know you say it's not, but I'm sure you're self harm stems from having issues with control.' I could've hit him. I'm pretty sure I know more about why I do it than someone who'd only met me 30 minutes earlier.

The other was a Dr who was sorting me out, ignored me the whole time, managed to disconnect a needle and left the head sticking in my arm and then swore when he spilt stuff all over me. He also allowed me to bleed all over the place. Great guy.

But yeah, most have been really, really lovely. =] Especially one nurse called Holly who had seen me before, then saw me in the waiting room and kind of gave me that sad smile and asked if I was ok. Then she sorta bumped up my assessment thingy and was lovely. =]

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Old 11-01-2008, 10:32 AM   #6
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It's great when you find a good nurse/dr/gp etc but I've heard so many horrific stories about young people being stiched and stapled without anesthetic and stuff.

I personally dont like my gp very much. She just gave me a prescription for some antidepressants and said that she will refer me to a psychologist. I think I was in there about 10 minutes.

When I went back sometime later to tell her things wern't working with the tablets, she just said 'well ive given you the tablets and sent you to someone who can help you, why arnt you cured.'

UGH sometimes you just want to shake someone!!



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Old 11-01-2008, 12:21 PM   #7
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I havnt had too many problems with the doctors over self harming but I do have my wrists pierced. That has caused them to have more bad attitude than the self harming.

One gp saw my wrists and asked me if I cut selfharm ( before he knew anything ) and my gp saw them for the first time (I saw him have a sneeky glance )and asked me if I thought my personality had changed - what ?!!!

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Old 11-01-2008, 12:48 PM   #8
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i know one said that this was all my own fault so she wasnt going to help me.

a cpn said to me " oh your never going to get better"...yeah like that helped





"Its not how long a star shines, what is remembered is the brightness of the light"


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Old 11-01-2008, 02:07 PM   #9
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Yeah, the CPN's are really just too cynical and hard to be much use. I think they should only use people who have been through the same thing.

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Old 11-01-2008, 02:37 PM   #10
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I've had good and bad experiences. My current CPN is an absolute star, don't know what I'd do without her. The first CPN I had was awful. She asked me not self harm whilst I was seeing her as she didn't think she could cope... The first Dr I ever told said I self harmed because I was bi-sexual, also not the most helpful thing I've ever been told. The one time I went o a&e I felt more like a curiosity for them to look at than anything. Overall though I think I've been lucky. None of the Dr's I've yet spoken to have really understood but for the most part they've not been horrible about it either.

Sian
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'I can always kill myself tomorrow, today I shall look for reason to live. Of course, tomorrow never comes ... '

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Old 11-01-2008, 03:30 PM   #11
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its been a long time but from what i remember the doctors and nurses that treated me were always good with me and treated me the same as they would treat another.

I do get the odd comment now though, like when i have to have an injection i get '' im guessing you arent bothered about needles'' ect..



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Old 11-01-2008, 03:34 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by True View Post
I do get the odd comment now though, like when i have to have an injection i get '' im guessing you arent bothered about needles'' ect..
I actually HATE needles, and none of the nurses can fathom this when I tell them. They'll get it out and I just recoil, they find it sort of funny, really. I once got asked why I didn't like them, and I kinda said, uhh, they hurt. She looked pointedly at my arm and then kinda, tutted at me, but in a nice way and yeah. It was kinda funny.

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Old 11-01-2008, 03:55 PM   #13
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My experiences have kind of been weird.........
I've never really spoken to my GP about it. But I have been to Hospital.
People have been better with me, when I've been in because of OD......maybe they take it more seriously or something.
I always just feel like I'm wasting people's time when I go, so I think any bad reactions from doctors/nurses or whoever are generally because they're trying to help me, and I won't accept the help being offered.

On the other hand though, my councellor was awful, she wouldn't talk about SI at all it was as if it didn't exist. I only went a couple of times, and also when I was with CAMHS (I only got refered after I was 16) despite promising not to contact my parents/tell them I was going she rang my mum, and at that time I was pretty stable, so there was no point.

So yeah, anyways......Hospital was better than CAMHS, but I've left there now anyways.





"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Make us all feel wonderful. We'll never forget."




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Old 11-01-2008, 05:38 PM   #14
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I had a hardcore christian counsellor hehe [nothing against christians] but: *ahem*
"If you bring god into your life you will stop harming yourself."

yuh. at least she wasn't obviously trying to be mean or anything... she was actually really nice. and really old.
I had a really kind hearted but wierd doctor... he was nervous when he saw my cuts and as he was about to stich them he said "you wont need any anaesthetic, you like pain, dont you?" incredibly wrong thing to say, but he was just trying to break the ice and he was a complete dork so i just laughed

Bad ones: a doctor that didnt even look at or talk to me when he was doing my stitches, the: "you did this to yourself and therefore dont deserve help" one and the worst was probably waiting for 3 hours, then when they did finally do my stitches they didnt clean the wound and it got infected. looks a bajillion times grosser when you have stitches >.<

other than that, they've all been awesome =]

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Old 11-01-2008, 05:54 PM   #15
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Well my normal doctor is lovely but I dont feel I could talk to her. Shes very practical and youd need your head hanging off before she'd show any sympathy. She saw my scars while taking blood pressure asked if they were self inflicted and just left it at that. My aunt is also a doctor. Whenever I need stitches she does them because my parents know the people working in A&E and seem to be ashamed bout me SIing... She is always sooo nice to me and dresses wounds real gently. She also referred me to the best psychiatrist she knows and got me bumped up the waiting list! I havent been unlucky with doctors but I do wish I could just feel comfortable bout my SI around my local doctor...






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Old 11-01-2008, 07:48 PM   #16
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just asked me loads of questions then concluded i had depression x





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Old 12-01-2008, 06:38 PM   #17
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It's all about finding a good Dr really. I've had some bad ones(ER docs tend to be the worst of them). The one doc was rather violent with the litocane needle and didnt speak to me the whole time except to ask me if I was alone(but he was old and I guess he still thinks people who SI are either psychotic or attention seeking) the ER nurses tend to be much nicer than the docs. The other time I went to the ER the doc verbally attacked me...I'm not one who is often speechless but I was speechless...I could barely defend myself. And she was a tad clueless...another doc insisted I must have borderline personality disorder(i don't). But when I started going to an emergent care place(like patient first) the people were much nicer and got to know me as I came by about once a month. They don't care how my injuries occured and even numb me up a little bit before giving me the litocane needle. Unfortunately I had to move far away and can no longer go there. So now I have a new gp who isn't totally clueless but tries to push me into anti-depessants which I don't need right now. I'll have to start looking for a new emergent care place though...the best part about them is they can't really ship you off to the psych ward either so it's less threatening to go there.



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Old 12-01-2008, 10:48 PM   #18
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I've never needed treating for wounds in the A+E

When I O'D'd the doctors all saw my scars and fresh cuts , but everyone was actually really nice, nurses pretty much saw that I was upset, one nurse sort of tutted when she was attatching the heart moniter things when she saw more cuts on my chest, but it was in a nice way if that makes any sense? she just said so you've been self harming there too, kinda in a sad way?

The doctor made me cry he was so nice, he just said that he would try and get me some help so maybe I don't have to keep hurting myself.
It was kinda funny when he put a needle in, he kept trying to reassure me that it wouldn't hurt then kinda realised that I was used to it , we both had a laugh :-| lol

The only bad experience was a doctor who assesed me before I left who really *really* upset me, he just made me feel like a silly little girl, tutted at my scars and very unhelpfully told me that I'd have them forever (like I didn't know already?) He made me feel terrible.

My GP I don't think fully 'gets it' but he's really nice too

Mostly good experiences really

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Old 13-01-2008, 01:30 AM   #19
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Just to add my $.02...

I've had basically good experiences, when I first went to my GP about it, I was didn't exactly know how to start, so I just pulled my pants up and asked him if these scars were healing....probably not the best way, but it worked. He asked me some questions, how, why, etc, nothing mean though, he's a nice guy, young-ish too. From reading around, that's seems to be one of the factors, the younger docs kind of "get" why some people do some of the stuff that they do, even if they don't like/understand why they do it.

At college, I went to the health center once and one of the nurses saw it and was just like "They're so straight", I didn't really have a reply to that one........I'm guessing she was just nervous (or something, I don't know, but it always just seemed like a very funny thing to say to someone).

I really have to recommend this page, http://www.palace.net/%7Ellama/psych/er.html Incredibly helpful, especially the checklist, and for everyone who's had a bad experience in an ER or wherever:

"Unfortunately, some people in emergency care are ill-informed about self-harm. If someone is treating you roughly (stitches without numbing, rough cleaning of wounds, rude remarks), it's okay to ask to be seen by someone else. This is a time when it would be good to have a friend to advocate for you."



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Old 13-01-2008, 04:02 PM   #20
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My experiences have been, for the most part, bad ones. Doctors have either been dismissive ('teenage troubles' when I was younger) or tried to palm me off with anti-depressants. One particularly bad time was when I went a doctor telling her I had a suicide plan etc etc... she risk assessed me then just prescribed different anti-depressants... that did not end well!

As for A&E, it's been mixed. Nurses have been the best - after one suicide attempt I was pretty distraught but there was a nurse there that was consoling to me. The psychiatric team I found to be a bit of a let down, I either lied to them and they bought it or they said they'd refer me for counselling but never did (something a GP did to me also).
When getting stitches one time it wasn't cleaned beforehand so the wound got badly infected. Luckily the doctors I saw a few days later were much more helpful than the people at A&E were. I've also experienced getting stitches without enough anesthetic - there were times when it had clearly run out and I was wincing but nothing was done. I've also had nerves 'assessed' (in an open wound) without any painkillers, but that might be standard practice.

The good experience I had was with my therapist. I went through a charity rather than the NHS and he was brilliant, I wouldn't be where I am now without his support. I was treated maturely and professionally.

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