A&E were rubbish. There’s nothing else, is there?

[InsolentAnnie]

DH took me to A&E yesterday as the stress of the past few months has properly hit me and I keep having meltdowns where I hurt myself. They told me to just take propranolol, which I already have and makes no difference. After I sobbed they agreed to give me a sleeping tablet but I still only got five hours (had had two the night before).

I literally cannot cope. They just told me to go to the gp but I can’t see the nice one til Wednesday and DH wouldn’t be able to go with me. I keep having meltdowns where I hit myself and throw stuff across the room and he has to restrain me because I’m so angry about everything that’s caused this. He had to stay off work yesterday and he can’t keep doing that. Samaritans made me feel worse when I phoned them, sertraline takes too long to work. There isn’t anything else, is there?

No I was certainly never offered anything better than this. So sorry to hear this. Are you able to get out of the house with dh today? We walked round the streets for maybe 10 hours. I would be so exhausted by the end I had literally no energy left to do anything but sleep. If I didn't sleep then up and out again in the middle of the night. Gp and a&e beyond useless. Counselling (nhs) of some use but very over simplified. Teenage ds saw me self harm one time and called an ambulance. He was horrified. I could not let that happen again. I decided fake it til you make it type thing. 'Yes I'm feeling much better' I wasn't. But with the talking therapies eventually I was a bit better. Baby steps. Ten years ago now. But lasted about four years Im sorry to say. Can you keep yourself safe today? One day at a time x good luck x

The NHS website says "How a mental health emergency is treated in A&E....If you go to A&E, the staff should treat you with respect and look after any immediate physical and mental health needs. They should also refer you to a liaison psychiatry service or local crisis resolution and home treatment team (CRHT)."

So what they have done is not good enough in my opinion.

I have experience of having to send a family member to A&E with mental health issues to get help. A&E were told that we were unable to provide care or support and that meant they had to get other services involved which sped up the process of getting proper help (this family member had been waiting over a year to be seen and assessed). It's dramatic but it seems it's literally the only way to get help from the mental health services. We had to call the police because of the risk of harm, who called an ambulance to get them taken to A&E.

Tbf OP A&E isn't really a mental health service. They will of course admit you if you are an immediate risk to yourself or others but when they say risk, they mean suicide. They are desperately under resourced and simply don't have the beds.

They are right in saying that ongoing care does need to be accessed through your GP.

Can you self refer to MH services? Many areas have MH teams who will come out and make a triage assessment.

There will be a crisis team. Can you google the number or tell us where you live so we can look.

Have you experienced anything like this previously? Any strategies that helped?

We rang the mental health crisis line. They told us to go to A&E. So we did, and they seemed to want me to say I wasn’t at suicide risk because of DH and the kids, so that’s what I told them. Really the only thing stopping me is that it’s scary.

They will have a home treatment team. Can you call them back?