Thinking about hospital

I’m thinking about going to
The hospital. Everyday is difficult and all i can seem to do is sleep and watch tv. I’ve missed a lot of work and the thought of it is dreadful and makes me feel worse that I’m missing it and not being productive.
I’m on a slew of medicines (for years of trying this and that) and have no idea if they’re working. I wanna be in a hospital to i can wean off of them, cleanse from my system and start over under drs care.

Whose gone to a
Hospital ?

How does it work ?

Did you benefit ?

Hi Oranged,

I have been in the hospital twice, once for mania and once for depression. I can tell you about my experience about being hospitalized for depression. I did consult with my psychiatrist about whether i should go. I told him how hopeless I felt and that I had one thought about suicide. He agreed I should go into the hospital if that's what I wanted to do. I said yes.

I did have to talk to one of the doctors in the hospital before they admitted me. I think this was to make sure that I was sufficiently depressed to be admitted. I don't know if other hospitals do this.

Day to day in the hospital, we had morning check in, breakfast, then different kinds of therapy during the day. You didn't have to go to any of the therapy but of course they encouraged you to. They put you on a regimen of pills that's supposed to make you better. I met with my hospital psychiatrist (one assigned to me) every few days. My insurance only covered about a week or 10 days of inpatient care, so after that I transitioned to a partial day program.

If you have any particular questions, answer me back and I'll try and tell you what I know. I do hope you feel better whatever you decide to do.

Love, Rich aka Older Guy

I agreed to voluntarily admit myself last December. The junior doctor and my then support worker assured me I would get support and help whilst inside. Ha. No I didn't. I spent nearly 3 weeks without any therapy or support whatsoever. The staff didn't care about the patients. They weren't actively cruel or mean, they just didn't care. They regarded the 'difficult' patients as nuisances (e.g. the ones with schizophrenia and having delusions that were beyond their control). As for the psychiatrist, I saw her once a week and found her a strangely unpleasant person. She couldn't or wouldn't answer a question directly to save her life. She also did not care and couldn't even get my name right.

More than anything else, it was boring. There was an activity room, with things like colouring in books, paints, jigsaw puzzles, etc. but it was only open for a couple of hours in the afternoon. The rest of the time there was nothing to do. There was a TV room, but only rubbish was ever on. The only chance you got to go out for a walk was with an allocated member of staff at a pre-arranged time (this applied even to me, even though technically it shouldn't have done). Slots were often limited due to staff shortages and patients would be literally begging for a slot - particularly the smokers, as it was their only chance to have a smoke.

I didn't even have a medication review whilst inside: I just got given the same medication inside that I had been taking outside. I did ask about it and the psychiatrist seemed slightly surprised that anyone would even ask such a question: she just fobbed me off with a non-answer and didn't review anything.

If I got any benefit at all from going inpatient, it was from being around other people. However, that was offset by the boredom, the lack of therapy and the feeling that I was in a prison. Also being around other people is a temporary benefit, which can't last beyond the hospital stay. After I was discharged, I went to day hospital for 3 weeks, where we did CBT-type stuff about depression and anxiety. Well, in theory we did - literally more time was spent sitting around doing nothing than doing lessons. What work we did do was usless for me personally.

Well that's my experience. I'm in the UK, so if you are outside the UK your experience will probably be different. If you can afford to go private, go private - you will certainly get more personalised care for the money.

Thanks Karen.

It's certainly made me not want to go inpatient again, that's for sure! Particularly as I'd probably have to go back inside the same hospital. Even if I expressed a desire to go somewhere else, I doubt they would listen to it. It's a fairly new facility as well - it was only built a few years ago, replacing a much older Victorian building nearby. It makes me sad that they didn't use the opportunity to update their treatment methods as well.

Yes ncot. Same here. ..but more in the nintees. Better...but same #@$! With treatment and psychiatrists...but most are boring mundane and staff want you out. Healing thoughts Karen and friends.

Thank you for
The feedback everyone. I’m in New York so I’m hoping the experience will be good. I’m just so anxious and scared about everything and the hospital is the only
Thing i haven’t tried. I meet with my Therapist tonight to see what she thinks.
Has anyone ever gone to detox maybe from all of the medicines there on ? Does a place like that exist ?

Karen - I hope your bil makes a full recovery. My (only) local friend died last year of a heart attack. He was forever necking down Gaviscon but maybe what he thought was indigestion was really heart disease. He was very overweight and his diet was all over the place. Wish I had been able to help him :/

Jamie - Yes, staff wanting you out definitely sounds familiar. Hence why most people aren't in for very long, apart from the occasional sad soul who's in there for months and months and has become institutionalised.

Oranged - I haven't heard of a psychiatric hospital where people go inpatient specifically to detox from medication. What did your therapist say? Most people who come off their medication do it very slowly, as otherwise the symptoms can be unbearable. (It varies though - I've been able to stop antidepressants cold turkey without any withdrawal symptoms. But I wouldn't recommend going cold turkey, particularly if you are on a cocktail of meds.)

I feel much the same about medication. No point in being on it if it's blatantly not helping with my depression or dark thoughts.

You could try going inpatient anyway without necessarily coming off the meds. Maybe it might help. But if you don't want to do that, then I would find a psychiatrist that's sympathetic to your aims and willing to work with you to achieve them. There's no point in seeing someone who just wants to prescribe more meds or tweak doses.

safer inpatient with major detox and such. keep strong. ht.

Going for disability for not being able to work is a good idea. I hope you get it. It can be a long road, but don't give up. I wish you the best with the hospital stay. Sounds like you have a good plan.

Hang in there Oranged. Best wishes.

Hugs, Karen...

Have you talked to your therapist anymore about going inpatient? I know it is scary but it could really help. I would think you would get evaluated and from there they would figure out a treatment plan. I hope you start feeling better Oranged. Keep us posted on what is going on.

Hugs, Karen...

I hope that you find a place you like. Keep us posted...

Hugs, Karen...