Lived Experience Forum

[Findingmyway]

Hi, 

this is my first post. I am having difficulty finding a medication that I do not have a reaction too. Migraines and hayfever type symptoms. Does anyone else have this problem? The psychiatrist says its mood disorder. 

I was taken off anti-depressant medication as I developed Seratonin Syndrome,  and now cant seem to find one that suits. 

My psychiatrist has suggested that I go into hospital as we have been trialling different meds for 5 months now.. 😞  I do not have private health insurance though and I am very scared about the thought of being in a hospital for my mental health issues. Im sure its unfoundered but I have terrible thoughts about what it would be like.

I am currently in a very low cycle... finding it difficult to hide symptoms from others now. :(.. Im lucky i have a wonderful husband and children. My family is fantastic.. 

I woudl very much like to hear from anyone who has experienced hospital, both public and private. I m very apprehensive about it..

Thank you..

[CherryBomb]

Hi Findingmyway,

Welcome to the forums! 

Making decisions about getting treatment can feel pretty overwhelming. All of us all want to get good treatment, so feeling worried is only natural. 

I think it can be pretty hard making a clear desinction between private and public. From what I hear, people have good and bad experiencs in both. It can be a pretty personal and individual experience for people. What one person finds helpful and great, another can find useful and stressful. But at the same time, I think it's important to ensure that you get the appropriate treatment. Some ways of doing this:

-  is to talk with your doctor to clarify the processes involved, and get a clear idea of what treatment will involve (how long it will take, can you leave, what will happen if you choose to leave early, what will a typical day look like in there etc). 

- write down any concerns that you have and take it your next appointment with your doctor and go through each one. It may also help to take this list to hospital.

There's an interesting post, that you might helpful too. @zipper any thoughts?

CB

[zipper]

Hi Findingmyway

You have found a good place to voice your concerns. 

I have had a husband in and out of both private and public hospitals for depression over the past 10 years as he too found medications very difficult to get right.  The doctors were fast running out of ideas

Hospital is the best place to get your medications right in this case.  It may take up to 2 weeks to get the dose correct and if not correct, you have to be in supervised conditions to get them out of your system.  No matter where you are your health is everyones concern

A hospital stay may be the best place for everyone to rest and regroup.  To know that you are well looked after and safe may be a major relief to your family and friends. Their part in your recovery will be vital and they may need a bit of a rest too

If you have concerns about a hospital stay, I would suggest private may be the best way to go.  You say you arent covered.  Please do so tonight, do it online asap, as they have a 2 month waiting list. They do not ask about previous conditions.  You must ensure you have unlimited psyciatrictric hospital cover, usually the highest cover.  It must be unlimited as we ran out of cover mid hospital stay and it was a mad scramble to get recovered. It is expensive but you will not be able to afford a private hospital without it.  One of my husbands stays was $38,000. I am not recommending Medibank Private but we havent had any problems with them and that is who we are with

We have had a bad public hospital stay, although my husband was extremely unwell, but he was a 58yr old depressed and anxious man alongside psychotic drug users.  Everyone was treated extremely well but it wasnt the best place for him.

Private hospital will be calm place, with your doctor seeing you as many times as required and as I said it might be the ideal place for you to rest and regroup

please take care and you are in our thoughts

ZZ

[kristin]

Hi Findingmyway,

Welcome to the forum. 

I can really understand why you are feeling scared. i would be too.

Sorry I can't offer any personal insights into hospital for MI because I've manged by grace to avoid going.

I see you mention migraines, I thought you might find some of this thread http://saneforums.org/t5/What-s-new-services-research-and/Mental-Illness-and-Migraines/m-p/2183/high... helpful

Take care. 

kind regards,

Kristin

[Findingmyway]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it..Very good advice too.. 🙂

[kenny66]

This is a good place for advice.

I have had stays in both public and private facilities. My public admissions were always under severe episodic conditions so I presented to Accident and Emergency first. I am then put into the public acute care mental health ward until I stabilise a bit, then go into a private facility as I have private health cover.

The public system was great and the on duty psychiatrists first class. It was a good place for suicide watch and the staff couldn't have been better.

I had psychiatrists and nurses hovering over me all through the night to make sure I didn't get into any trouble. It compared very favourably to the private clinic for psychiatric treatment.

The private clinic is like a first class hotel and the staff are great. The food and accommodation are outstanding. The psych sees you all the time and, as in my case, where I have to be supervised until I get over the initial episode, the attention and monitoring is outstanding.

The previous post was right though, the cost is prohibitive if you don't have private cover. Where I was is $1000 per day with extras for medication and some procedures. This can add up to big bucks. One stay I had was for 3 months so I needed to be privately covered to stay there.

However I would not hesitate in staying in the public hospital mental health ward if I couldn't afford the private system. I really liked my stay in the public hospital.

[Uggbootdiva]

I've only done private but that's not helpful for you sorry? I think the main feeling from people I have interacted with is that private tend to be calmer places with more time for you. Public hospitals sound very stretched for their poor staff to try and provide quality care.

I would question why you need to be in hospital to trial medications? I have withdrawn from 2 types of medicine at home. I let my family and close support network know, sometimes take some annual leave from work if I need to. It is hard but I get SO bored in hospital.

It may be that your medications have more serious side effects?
Also just to let you know there are other parents out here struggling with bipolar, I feel we are very underrepresented as a group!

[CherryBomb]

Uggbootdiva raises a good point about home based withdrawal. There are other types of facilitaties and options outside of hospitals (see link) so it might be helpful to check in with your doctor if any of these are available in your area. 

@Uggbootdiva (cute name btw) was your home based withdrawal organised through a community centre, or did you get a referral from your GP? 

[zipper]

I agree with you Kenny66, public hospital care is what is absolutely needed in an emergency situation.  We unfortunately didnt have the level of care you did with weekend nurses sitting behind closed glass with only basic contact with patients and not even a TV (smashed by a fellow in psychosis) to watch

Uggbootdiva and Cherrybomb - may I make the suggestion that homebased withdrawal may not be the best solution with children in the house? My children found it very distressing to see their father in an extremely anxious state. He also couldnt be pleased and wouldnt take advice from anyone, let alone his wife! Also sometimes family and friends are not able, or dont wont to, offer this extreme type of support. 

take care

ZZ

[kristin]

Hi Uggbootdiva, 

Love the choice of name! Makes me look down at my own moccies and woollen socks (The temperature here has plummeted and we are nearly back to winter after a few promises of sunshine. That's Melbourne weather.) Welcome to the forum!

I'm also a parent (of 3, aged 6 - 17) with bi-polar. Sorry I'm wondering where we are under-represented?

Take care!

Kind regards,

Kristin