Mental Health Just got out of the hospital

[aihfl]

Yeah SM, the place was extremely unprofessional. I never saw a doctor, only three different nurse practitioners. The third was ok, but the first two were clueless. The third expressed concern about my blood pressure and lipid levels and I told him that they were aware at intake that I am on lisinopril and simvastatin, but no one had ordered it for me. On the next-to-last day I was there, he said he was going to order both and I told him there was no point because I had a ton of each at home, with refills left. But he said he had to do it to cover their asses. At least after seeing him, I got a decent night's sleep because he prescribed 100mg of Seroquel. The other two kept ordering trazodone and mirtazapine, even after telling them that those stopped sedating me long ago and that my own pdoc prescribes me Ambien for sleep (which they wouldn't do because it's a scheduled med). Oh, and they didn't send me home with my leftover gabapentin, which they were supposed to, but I didn't know until I dropped off a prescription for gabapentin at Walgreens and was told that a script had been filled a week and a half before (the detox center filled it) and that I had to wait until Feb. 20th to refill it (this was on Jan. 31st). I called them and raised hell about it and they let me stop by and pick up a 10 day supply so at least I got satisfaction on that end.

Also didn't mean to imply that you couldn't have a book, I just didn't have one, because my neighbor took me there at the ass crack of dawn and grabbing a few books couldn't have been further from my mind. I have been in places, though, that don't let you read anything other than recovery literature. One therapist who used to work in the corrections system and still acted like it singled me out in one group and asked me how seriously I was taking recovery and how much of the NA text or AA Big Book I had read while I was there (he put everyone on the spot, he wasn't necessarily picking on me) and I came back at him and told him I've read both cover to cover multiple times and had no desire to do so again at that moment. Other places I've been had shelves of donated paperbacks, but not here. And the common room was taken over by 4-5 loud, obnoxious twentysomethings who blasted rap videos from YouTube on the TV and talked at the top of their lungs (and were obviously not serious about recovery; one even said the only reason he was there was to avoid serving the rest of his state time), so hanging out in there wasn't an option.

I did meet a few people that I hope keep in touch. In fact, one (he's a transplanted Newyorican) invited me to his birthday party last week and I got stuffed full of Puerto Rican home cooking while watching the Iowa-Rutgers game (go Hawkeyes!). I always enjoy listening to him talk because he's had some interesting life experiences. He did time in Arizona, part of which was spent in Joe Arpaio's jail in Maricopa County, so hearing about that was pretty interesting, and yeah, he had to wear the pink boxers and everything. But for the most part, I couldn't relate to the vast majority of people there.

 

[cj]

Meeting interesting people is always the best part to me. This time my roommate was a vice principal at a local middle school. He was black and we had some interesting conversations on the issue of race in the US

 

[VastEmpty]

For the first time in forever I'm hopeful about the future

I love this, cj! I?m so happy for you.

- VE

 

[CoastTwoCoast]

Meeting interesting people is always the best part to me. This time my roommate was a vice principal at a local middle school. He was black and we had some interesting conversations on the issue of race in the US

I'm sure we could have some interesting conversations about race too. haha I'm really glad you're well and got the help you need. Always remember you are valuable, you are loved and you have a lot to offer.

 

[CoastTwoCoast]

I'm on 450mg lithium 300mg wellbutrin 2mg Suboxone and I have an ativan script I take as needed

Damn, they hooked you up!
I've read about how hard it is coming off of suboxone. Some people are saying kratom helps them get off suboxone so keep that in mind.

 

[sarcophagus.heels]

So glad that you had a positive experience! I was pretty scared before my hospital admission years ago, but I also found it to be way less scary than I imagined once I actually got there, and it's especially helpful if you need your meds adjusted. Glad that you found a solid sober living place, that business is often run by the wrong people and gets really exploitative. Good luck in Minnesota

 

[CoastTwoCoast]

The only thing about hospital admission is you never know when you're getting out. A few years ago, I was there for amphetamine psychosis and there were 3 group meetings a day. They check on you all day long, it gets annoying. It was a good psych ward, it's just that I get uncomfortable and can't stand being stuck with strangers. I had a scary encounter with another patient in the hallway who threatened me for absolutely no reason and every one just stared. You never know what type of people you will be around. They always give me a room with another person. I never want to go back.

So far my hospital stays have only been a few days, then they let me out. I've learned to play the game. If the doctors think something is wrong with you or if you act out crazy in group, they're not letting you out. I had to calm a guy down in group. He was angry and had outbursts, then wondered why the doctors kept him there. You gotta play it cool.

The doctors there didn't give me a ton of drugs. I respect that actually. They had klonopin waiting, but only if I really needed it and that was about it.