My team have offered me a respite admission three times since Friday. I really don't see the point of these. Has anyone had them and did you find it helpful or not? If so how/why?
I was offered respite admissions when I was last under 136 but I declined because I felt like if I took a break from life I wouldn't be able to pick it back up again and I'd rely on admissions for a long time.
I think they're helpful if there are certain things in your life which are stressful/have negative effects on your MH - in the past for me this has been a relationship, work and family life - but as I find all of life hard to deal with at the moment I don't see how taking two or three days out would be helpful.
Take care of yourself.
x x x
♥It's the ups and downs of living life this way. Promise me you'll never go away. Just stay with me through one more night because it's always darkest before the light and now I promise you I'll never turn away. I won't let you give us one less heart to break...♥
I've never had a respite admission, but just wanted you to know that I'm thinking of you really. And I hope that if you decide to go for it, that it helps. Take care Emma xxx
Thanks for the replies. I don't see how a respite admission would help particularly because there is nothing specific that's stressing me out. Just life in general. My Uni support team have basically requested extensions/special provisions for the rest of this term and my support worker has taken over a lot of practical stuff, like filling in my benefit forms etc. I feel an admission to the day hospital may be helpful but it's recently been closed. They have increased my meds and I'm seeing someone from CMHT two or three times a week and psych review again in 11 days.
They did say to me today that if things get worse I won't have a choice and will be having an 'actual', slightly longer admission. Which I also don't really want especially because I feel like I'm actually working with them generally. I think I would feel better if I knew where an admission would be but it could be one of three towns and one ward is horrendous (it's actually ring closed next month for not offering 'an appropriate level of care').
Could you not say "if there is a space on x ward today I will go in".
I did that in my last admission and there was one bed free so I got it. It may work the same it your situation.
Also if a short admission will prevent a long admission then surly it's worth it?
What are you struggling with (if you don't mind saying)? Is it anything we could help you with?
The average,
well-adjusted adult
gets up at 7.30am feeling just plain terrible.
Call me Kate.
I have dyslexia so please excuse my poor spelling and sometimes poor understanding.
^ I was thinking this, if you tell them you will not accept a stay in the ward that is going to be put under special measures, but you could possibly consider an admission to the other two, maybe they can keep you updated on the situation of where.
Admissions are not for people who are unco-operative, it sounds like they feel you'd benefit from more support, its not meant to be punishing, though it sounds like it feels this way because of how hard you are working.
Would it be possible to have an admission, but included in this, plenty of home leave? I mean, if you find evenings and night times hard, you could have lots of leave in the day, and still get support at night.
Last time I was admitted I said I didn't want to go to Ward 10 (the ward that is being shut down) but they said if I needed an admission then the ward I was admitted to was irrelevant and then a few days later threaded to put me on a section 2 to that ward. Then whilst I was there I was stuck in dorms, didn't see a doctor even once for admission assessment and saw a patient be resuscitated and then die literally at my room door because of a bad reaction shed had to a med for a few days but no doctor had been available at all in that time. Because of my own issues (and I'm aware this is my responsibility), I won't sleep in a dorm. I would rather not sleep. Which is what happened last time. It's in my care plan that I won't benefit from an admission to ward 10 or in a shared room but you have to go where the beds are. One of the other wards is also closing this year. If I knew I would be at the other hospital then I would probably agree because I feel almost totally out of energy. They said you can't pick and choose though.
I'm struggling with my mood and mainly with self harm thoughts. My self harm has escalated to a pretty dangerous level. The reasons why depend on how I'm feeling. Sometimes it is to get rid of the evil within me. Sometimes it is to keep myself and people safe and other times I just need to shut up the command thoughts. I feel like I'm going round in circles. I just can't continue like this but I don't see things can ever change.
Perhaps for a more planned admission, they'd be able to keep a better eye out for a bed that wasn't on ward 10? I think it's worth weighing up the risks of needing an 'actual' admission at some point if you don't agree to this. It sounds quite worrying that your self harm is so severe. Would anything help with that, such as harm minimisation?
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 for the replies. I saw HTT today and we talked about things. She wants me to try and reduce the self harm to the level it was before Christmas but we didnt really talk about how. She just said to call them before harming. We spoke about hospital again and she said it was 'a shame' I didn't find it particularly helpful, at least not in one specific ward and she said because of beds you can't pick and choose which I kind of understand but at the same time I did think it might be possible for a planned admission. Apparently not. Then she asked if I wanted them to call tomorrow and said she would see how things went with my support worker on Friday. I'm a little confused because I was under the impression from my psychiatrist that they would be seeing me almost every day. She kept going on about being in crisis and then didn't arrange any further contact. I'm not really sure what to think. Oh well.
Do you think anything would help you reduce the severity? I think calling them when you are feeling particularly bad is a good idea. Would it be worth taking the risk of going onto Ward 10 (30%) and then discharging yourself if you ended up there and it wasn't helpful?
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.
Something that's helped me and my partner was having a planned list of things to do/try before resorting to self harm. Making a deal with yourself that you have to try everything on that list before giving in.
Her list contains such things as; phoning her CPN, going for a walk, spending 30 mins on the Wii fit dance game, ringing her mum or talking to me, making hot chocolate and practicing self soothe techniques [candles and music, fluffy blanket, and teddy], writing down how she feels, cuddling our cat, looking through photo albums of happier times and planning a 'fun day' where we'd eat out, go somewhere nice, bake cakes or see a film.
Other ideas could be colouring books, using fun and distractions, chatting on here or replying to threads [I find this distracting, but that may just be me], creating a playlist of music for your ipod/phone etc, watching a series back to back or making craft things/cards.
It can be short term or long term, but having to do things before resorting to harmful behaviours can give you a bumper zone where there is opportunities to feel better, change your mind or at least seek support.
I think Sophia's idea of taking a risk then self discharging if you do end up in the ward that is very unhelpful, is a good one, maybe that would be worth considering.
Further to what has already been mentioned, do you have practical plans in place for when you self harm? I mean, is there someone who can take you to hospital if needed. Here we have planned that I am in the house when my partner self harms, and I know what is going on so she can scream for me if she's in trouble, all the first aid/cohesive bandages are out, and the phone is in the room so I can call/help at the same time. We always have £20 on the side for taxi's and all the possible phone contacts needed are saved on our phones.
I don't know anything about your living situation, but had supported accomodation ever been considered for you.
