Posted by S. Howard on January 16, 2001, at 21:45:39
In reply to Re: What is hospitalization for depression like?, posted by Christina on January 16, 2001, at 15:35:54
Haha, the thing about the ceramics reminded me of "hairdryer girl". My first day on the ward, I was standing in the hallway teary-eyed and spooked as hell. There was a girl with wet hair doing the "thorazine shuffle" up and down the hall. She would stop and say to me, "You know, they don't let you have hairdryers in here," and then she wandered off. A few minutes later she was back and she goes, "Do YOU have a hairdryer?" and I said, no I don't have a hairdryer. So she shuffled off for awhile, then she was back. She sidles up to me and goes, "You know, they don't let you have hairdryers in here. Do YOU have a hairdryer?" I said no I don't have a hairdryer. Then she leaves and sure enough, 5 minutes later she was back. She says, "You know..." and I said, "I know, I know. I can't have a hairdryer in here." So she left and then she came BACK. I said, "I don't have a hairdryer!!" I was thinking, my God, what have I gotten myself into?After the first day, I started to calm down some and it wasn't so bad. I had been suffering from terrible insomnia and they gave me something to sleep. I said, "I'll tell you right now, these pills don't work for..." wham, I was out cold. It was beautiful, marvelous to finally get a good night's sleep. I saw the doctor the next day and she put me on some medication for my anxiety, and to help me sleep. I started feeling better almost right away.
After a few days, I almost felt like I was on vacation. You don't have to worry about cooking or cleaning or going to work or anything. There were "classes" to go to, but they weren't a big deal. Sometimes we cried and sometimes we joked around. It was interesting to see the kind of people who were there with me. One woman was a Fortune 500 company executive - she cried a lot and carried her teddy bear with her everywhere.
There was an RN addicted to percocet and a medical student addicted to heroin. I sat up with her one night and held her hand while she was
de-toxing (they gave her something that was supposed to suck all the heroin out of her body at one time - to cut down on withdrawal symptoms -but she was still in pretty bad shape).After a week I felt like I was pretty much at home! I wasn't sure I wanted to leave. I had all these friends, I had all these people to wait on me and to listen to my problems. When not in class or with the doctor, we spent the day eating, smoking, playing cards, watching TV, talking to each other. It was set up to be pretty much as stress-free as possible. And I was sleeping, I was sleeping! Blessed relief.
I hope you go to the hospital if you feel that you should and I hope it's a good experience for you. Like I said, it was a little spooky at first,
but I'm glad that I went. I was in pretty bad shape when I got there, but I had a doctor and future appointments and medication and new friends when I got out.Good luck,
Gracie
poster:S. Howard
thread:3958
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010105/msgs/4007.html