First of all, thank you to all who responded to my first post on this site. The week i posted, i went into hospital for first time & had no access to computers.
which brings me to main issue of this post - pain & hospitalisation. the hospital was set up for psychiatric only & i have major pain management issues to do with spondilitis (spinal degeneration) & fibromyalgia (muscle weakness & insomnia).
an electric blanket & heat pads are the best way for me to ease pain & stay mobile. i could not use these in hospital due to fire hazard concerns.
my partner & i talked to chief nurse & she bought a microwave so heat packs could be used. then a group of staff refused to use it due to fear of burning themselves.
lying on a cold hard bed was no good & my pain became severe. only way i could warm myself was in the shower. staff became crancky when i asked for my pads. i also waited 1.5 hours for pain meds & on 2 occassions my sleeping tablets were not administered so i had to negotiate for them in the small hours of the morning.
though it was intended i stay 4-8 weeks originally, i was happily discharged after 2 weeks to continue upping bipolar meds at home. problem is that this puts immense pressure on my partner to care for me & my sons (one is in a major depressive state).
doctor offered rehospitalisation yesterday so partner can have respite. i was horrified at the thought of going back & will try anything to stay at home. it has taken me nearly 2 weeks at home to get back to normal levels of pain. i don't want to go backwards again.
i would really like to hear from others about hospital experiences, especially anyone with combined pain/psych issues - good & bad experiences. have you found any strategies that help you?
I had a friend who has the same physical illness as you, and Bipolar. She had problems with her pain, but you need to find a hopital with a psych ward in it, even if it is out of state to go too. They offer the best care imo and I have been in 6 different institutions 15 times. if you need to go, make sure it is to a HOSPITAL not just a psych institution. and make sure that they have an MD on hand for emergencies and that do weekly physical health evaluations. good luck
hey momofbub - thanks for good suggestions about hospital with psych ward in it. from now on i will know more questions to ask. the first time around i had no idea what to expect of hospitalisation.
Sorry to hear of your times in hospital. hope things are going well for you at present time.
Kannastoy, welcome to MT! Sorry I'm a little 'late', I don't read through all the topics too often. I don't have experience with hospitalization but there are others here who do. I would like to post a link (with your permission) to the social forum where it is most busy. I hope you are getting some relief from your pain. There are resources for your partner, we had a topic about that recently. I will dig that up for you if you'd like. What about going to a different hospital or facility? And checking ahead of time so that the staff understands your needs.
I have been through similar things in a state hospital rather then a regular one. In a regular one to me it felt they were more apt to hear what thw issues were. A bad experience can change how you see future treatments. Don't let the bad experience ruin any chance of future progress. Talk to your doctor letting them know the issues and that might be the best way to helping you in treatment planning.
Bad experience with first hospitalisation
Posted - 08/05/2010 : 21:19:43
