My Scary Sectioning Experience

[Speranza]

Hi Steve, great pics - I would put some of my room but it seems to double as a shed and everything is all over the place...

You are doing great, thank goodness you have your charger now! Hope it goes well re the meds.

[steveo]

There is no one in here what so ever even remotely close. I do get very lonely but try to chat with the nurses for as long as I'm able some days although they are always very busy. I haven't seen a single patient who doesn't smoke either so everyone congregates outside to 'ave a faaag' as they say. On the first day I considered taking up smoking for some strange reason but gladly and quickly came to my senses.

It does look alot like halls of residence come to think of it! I've got used to the single bed thing. It seems like a king sized bed compared to the bench I had to sleep on in the police cells. I think when I'm back in a double bed however I will realise what I've missed!!

So a BIG update for me and one which I'm absolutely scared to death about is that I've just seen my consultant.

Despite only having doubled my dose of Escitalopram to 20mg, 8 days ago, he has assumed that because it hasn't worked yet I need an antipsychotic in the meantime. Instead of bothering to wait to see if the drug does start working, I'm now going to be given 25mg Quetiapine at night. I fail to see the logic. I sleep very well at night. I eat very well during the day. I feel that the escitalopram MIGHT just start to be having an effect.

Being a stupid nurse, I decided to do a quick bit of research on quetiapine and from what I can gather at very low doses, quetiapine acts primarily as a histamine receptor blocker (antihistamine) and α1-adrenergic blocker which neither will touch the serotonin or dopamine receptors. The histamine receptor blocker would be the cause of high sedation. Also I've read that use of low-dose quetiapine (<150 mg) is not recommended except temporarily during drug titration period (less than 30 days).

I feel I'm trying to be rushed out of hospital whilst numb and dumb enough to not realise I'm anxious.

I don't feel I'm in their best interests. I'm someone elses problem as soon as I'm out of here but for now it's there job to get me out as soon as possible.

Really not happy. Really bloody nervous about having to take one tonight.

On a separate subject, my room is so hot that a bar of chocolate has completely melted....

Steven x

[Lissa101]

If you're sectioned do you have a minimum stay period or can they send you home whenever they think it's the right time? Have you discussed going home with your dad or is it too much to think of right now? Sorry, lots of questions!

Good luck with the new med, I know its scary. I always research them too which means I never get the placebo effect from thinking 'this is going to make me better!'

x

[SarahH]

Blimey Steve that room is positively 5 Star compared to the one I had in Wiltshire!!!!
And you have ensuite....we had communal !!!But the furniture looks quite familiar

Just thinking that 3mgs of diazepam a day is a VERY tiny dose. Normally doses are 2-5mgs each dose 3/4 times a day. If that is the case then you are on a small dose which you should not worry about at the moment. You know it's Ok to take it at a time of crisis.
Hope the anti-psychotic works tonight

By the way it's bloody hot everywhere!!!

Take care Steve xx

---------- Post added at 14:14 ---------- Previous post was at 14:12 ----------

PS...I thought the minimum stay if sectioned is 28days!????

[Kim51]

Hi Steven I have been taking Quetiapine for the last six weeks started at 25mg and am now on 100mg each morning it knocked me out the first couple of days at. 100mg but my body has adjusted now. It has helped with my anxiety which was through the roof, I was climbing the walls. I also take Mirtazapine 45mg at night. Hope it works/benefit's you. I have not had dealings with other major illnesses or health problems apart from this and it seems such a minefield of trial and error of so many different drugs for us all
Take care Kim xx

[steveo]

God I really don't want to be on Quetiapine. Really really don't want to. I don't want to be a guinea pig for all these powerful drugs. I'm sedated enough as it is all day. It might control the anxiety slightly but at the price of making me not human. I'm really upset and really anxious about it. I know that it's going to make me panic regardless of whether it causes it or not. I am petrified.

I don't see it as a long term solution either. I assume that if it doesn't cause me too many problems, the doctor is going to keep upping it. It's not an ends to a means. It's wallpapering over cracks.

The consultant is failing to listen to my concerns. He seems to think I'm suffering a relapse. It's NOT a relapse!! This is a result of me coming off the medication last year! He's failing to listen to my concerns of diazepam. It doesn't matter what does I'm on, long term use WILL cause a flare up of the previous problems.
Just because I'm not out of my room jumping for joy, they chemically cosh me up! I'm absolutely dreading it. What choice do I have? No one is really offering me anything other than medication in here. The nurses pop their heads in twice a day to tell me its time to eat or to give me my meds. Today I went to an 'Art' Class and it was just absolutely surreal and made me feel awful afterwards.
It was basically, pick an image to colour in from the colouring in book. It was my and that large girl who came in to laugh during the stretch and relax class I did last week. She came in, turned the radio up really loud and starting bouncing a huge exercise ball up and down, up and down for about 20 minutes. Then finally she left thank goodness. Then I was left with 2 patients from the downstairs ward. They are alot older and have problems such as dementia. So I was sat in a room, colouring in a boat with 2 ladies with dementia. I got asked my name and age about 40 times. The last time I was sat in a room with people with a pen in my hand was a few years ago doing a nursing degree at Cardiff Uni.
This place is wearing thin but I'm so scared of the outside world. I don't want any of this. Oh god I'm so scared.

Steven x

[Speranza]

Hey, we are here Steve. It sounds grim. You are a good writer - on your better days why not fictionalise it and use it as therapy? I'm writing a book called 'OFSTED! - the Musical' which is great fun even if nobody else ever reads it...

When did you last work as a nurse? What was your specialism?

[Magic]

HELLO Steveo,
So glad you got the charger for your laptop and for giving us updates.
Just wanted to let you know I am thinking of you.
You are a very good writer like sparanza says.
You could start to write a book about your experiencesyes?
Lots Love

[DavidJames]

Hi Steve,



Your situation sounds very familiar to mine not long ago (like last month!) right down to the terrible bed sheets, the wet room, the congregation of chain smokers (I’ve no problem with that though as it is boring there!) and the nurses popping their heads in to say “dinner time”.



As for the police – I had the same treatment; stripped naked, made to stand to the side to be ‘checked’. They never dropped my charges though so I’m in court tomorrow (3rd time in so many months for disturbing the peace).

It's good you have a phone with internet access; I did and it's an absolute godsend. I buried my head watching TV in the evenings on my phone until the meds kicked in: tvcatchup.com - don’t know if it’s of any use.

It sucks about your father being too wasted to come to your aid. When I needed picking up from hospital to get home my dad said he couldn’t as he was going out on the piss to Chester races... the similarities! My few friends were great though and brought me things just like yours :-)

I really hope it all pans out for you mate and I’ll be following your thread.


Take care,
Dave

[Speranza]

Glad you found it David, was going to point you here. Ye gods, you two have been through the mill haven't you.