We all need to be heard for a little while.

Waves_and_Smiles

Wow, that's a lot, tea. Some may be on them for pain relief, etc but I wonder how many of them are taking them for psychiatric reasons? Where is the support in other ways? As you can tell, this is really bothering me today. I don't do well with thinking people are suffering, I feel like I should be doing something.

Amitriptylene has become a very common drug for pain, when I took it was solely an anti-depressant. It did work for a while but didn't help at all with psychosis and by then I was on a stupidly high dose so was given Seroxat plus Chlorpromazine. The main thing I remember as I was a late teenager at the time was I couldn't drink on it! A quarter of pint of lager and I would have terrible hangover symptoms. Not that I was supposed to drink on it but I was 19 and supposedly knew better.

This is what upsets me, elsien. Anti-depressants can be invaluable when someone is in crisis but people seem to be left on them for a very long time these days with no other support offered. WaSp's gaming friend is 30 and was put on them when he was 23. He now has them on repeat prescription and just orders them every month. He has never been offered counselling, doesn't see a psychiatrist and his doctor just keeps handing them out. He isn't even being given the chance to see if an alternative would work.

tea_lover

Waves_and_Smiles wrote: »

Wow, that's a lot, tea. Some may be on them for pain relief, etc but I wonder how many of them are taking them for psychiatric reasons?

It is a scary big number. I couldn't believe it when I first started looking at the figures. There's no doubt that some of it is for MSD issues (another side effect of the type of work these people have done for years, unfortunately), but my uneducated estimate would be that most are taking them for psychiatric reasons.

Another part of my job is organising private counselling for employees. As a business, we arrange and pay for this where it's thought it would help and the NHS isn't providing it (or the waiting lists are too long). In the 2.5 yrs I've been doing this the numbers have gone up dramatically. I don't know whether that's due to more demand, or less availability of NHS services - probably a bit of both.

elsien

When I was unwell some years back, I had a long conversation with my GP about whether the anti d's were psychologically addictive. He said no, but it was long drawn out not entirely sure sort of a no. I don't know if there's more evidence on this nowadays, and whether that might also be a factor?

Waves_and_Smiles

Well done for being part of the service that gets help to people, tea. I don't think more people are being unnecessarily diagnosed at all, I think the alternative resources that were there even 10 years ago to help people are no longer available so it seems to be easier and sometimes the only option to give out a pill instead. I think it's also important to realise that communities are a lot more split up then they were, before many people had friends that they could talk to for hours about how they felt and push out all the painful feelings. People are a lot more isolated now and there is a lot more pressure to achieve and keep going no matter what the cost. Doctors are far more pressed for time, too. My GP used to see me for 30 minutes every week for 4 years just to talk about how I felt so he knew exactly how my health was, they just don't have the time for that these days.

Addiction is a factor, elsien. I am thoroughly addicted to my anti-depressant. If I miss a dose I go into withdrawal and these days everyone is told to taper them off if you have been on them for a while. Things were far more reckless when I was first on them. When I swapped from the highest possible dose of Amitriptylene to a maximum dose of Sexorat I was told to just stop one and start the other the following night. The effect was a complete manic high, I didn't sleep for over 24 hours and was cleaning the kitchen and singing at 3am! I had to keep sitting down because I was so full of energy that I was very dizzy, had sweat pouring off of me and was shaking like a leaf, it felt as if every cell in my body was on overdrive and as if I could conquer the world. Although I remember it fondly because after months of psychosis and depression it was like a miracle, these days it would be rightly seen as very unsafe to do that. Now the old medication would be tapered off and the new introduced in small amounts.

Waves_and_Smiles

*Waves quietly to metalswan.* Good to see you, my friend!

Stoodles

Waves_and_Smiles wrote: »

Stoodles, please do not let the labels people give you make you feel down. All they are is just that-names professionals put onto a series of symptoms to lump people into one category or another. They don't take into account the whole individual at all, just isolated aspects that they think fits into a little box.

It's not having the label, it's the fact that, now I've acknowledged that the label fits, I can't pretend the symptoms aren't there. It feels as though I've moved up a grade of instability.

There is also a lot of fear about whether I will now lose support. I've had a long battle to get to get treatment, because our NHS provider is in a mess. What if they say I no longer fit into the particular category that they can afford to treat?

Waves_and_Smiles

I really hope that doesn't happen Stoodles. The good point is the struggle is usually getting into the system in the first place. Once you have got a foot in the door then if necessary agencies can refer to others more suitable, and it tends to be a lot faster than when you are first referred by a GP. Also agencies overlap, it doesn't mean that your current support won't be suitable. They may add something else or decide that what you currently have is enough but now you have a form of treatment they rarely just stop it dead, they usually keep you supported until something else takes over.

I have been handed from pillar to post over the years but even if deemed unsuitable my current support has always been continued until a date has been set for the next. I am really hoping that it will be the same for you. Also, don't be afraid to say that you feel that you need ongoing help, tell them that you feel that you need continued treatment without a gap. You have a right to that.

My favourite psychiatrist told me that one of the biggest obstacles he faces with treatment is that the nature of mental illness makes people hide it. He said he can't read minds so if someone is desperate it helps an awful lot if they tell him that they are. He is the reason I am so honest about my own mental health, he drummed into me that I need to tell professionals everything that I feel I need. They are relatively good at guessing through education and experience but it is far better for all concerned if their clients can manage to tell them as much as they can about how they feel and what they want. If a client doesn't think something will work for them or needs something different he far preferred them to tell him rather than go along with it or not turn up because he could then offer something different.

I do understand about the feelings of instability. As I have said I get in a terrible state every time my benefits are due to be reviewed. Then it goes fine and I have an hour of relief before I feel absolutely dreadful that people really feel that I am that unwell. It is like being diagnosed all over again and makes me feel very depressed. As much as I know I need the benefits a tiny part of me would rejoice at being turned down for them because it would mean someone thinks I am well.

Remember nothing has changed between before and after your diagnosis. The symptoms didn't suddenly appear, the person you are hasn't changed because if it. It means that if it feels right for you that you now have more chance of dealing with the difficulty, things have actually improved although I know it doesn't feel that way in the slightest right now. When I was first diagnosed with OCD I felt awful and completely insane but it explained my years or rituals and checking and meant that I finally could start dealing with it. Now I am so grateful for that diagnosis, without it my life would be an even bigger mess than it is.

Stoodles

I've been in the secondary MH system for over three years, before that in the primary for nine months. The situation here is such a mess, and has been for so long. Many people, like me, had no Care Co-ordinator for months, and mine has changed so many times. A year ago, when absolutely nothing was happening, or had happened for months, my GP said - "All our MH patients are being let down, but you seem to have been let down more than most." She said she would chase them, but didn't expect to hear much as that were no longer sure who their contact was after the last restructure.

After such a long battle, I finally got offered the current 16 weeks of therapy, and the Psychologist doesn't yet know if she will be able to extend it for another 16 weeks.

I know of so many people who have had the same sort of experience.

I don't want the fight with services to be my focus, I want to concentrate on what I need to do to recover. I used to be a contented person, with a full life, good friends, useful and interesting job, lovely family. I want that back.

mellymoo74

On way to legal advice.
HA at 3pm
Interesting fact, MIL'S was advertised before they were notified of death, next doors hasn't been.....

Waves_and_Smiles

Oh, that's horrid Stoodles. It's awful because when one feels ill you are using all of your energy for fighting to function and survive. You have little strength left to fight red tape and limited services, too. Have you ever considered an advocate? MIND can offer these, I was one myself a while back and they can often be your voice when you don't have the energy to deal with the treatment battle.

Good luck, Melly! It sounds like HA have some explaining to do. Do try a smoothie if you can later as you will be out and about and needing the energy. Also, have a big cuddle with your lovely pets when you get home.