Hi everyone. Having a bit of a tough time at the moment, so any advice welcome! Was recently hospitalised (voluntary patient) for acute episode of psychosis. I am not a professional and I’m not saying I know more than the doctors but I don’t feel comfortable with the diagnosis because my care plan wasn’t shared with me & the term ‘psychosis’ wasn’t even explained to me- I had to google it after I came out of hospital! I made it abundantly clear to the consultant that I have been through trauma and stress since I was a child. I also detailed how a recent situation made me feel helpless and worried and it triggered something in me. I ended up being sleep deprived and demonstrating pressured speech and seeming hyper, which is what worried my family and made them take me to A & E.
I also explained to hospital staff that although undiagnosed, I strongly believe I have ADHD, which can cause hyper type behaviour. My DB, DS, DH and close friends all agreed with this belief as far back as a year ago once they had read about ADHD and I have school reports etc which support this. When I tried to explain the extreme stress of been under of late, the past trauma and the ADHD, no one at the hospital wanted to know- no questions asked, nothing. Consultant desperate to stamp a label on me and put me on a very specific medication. Not willing to consider alternatives. When I asked what the side affects were, he fobbed me off with “all medications have side effects” and “even paracetamol has lots of side effects”. Hospital stay= terrible experience.
Anyway, sorry for the rant lol. I just wanted to know something. This wasn’t explained to us properly in the hospital, but I have recently found out that I need to inform the DVLA of my diagnosis because it may affect my ability to drive. I am really confused as to how this all works- will I be allowed to drive at all? I feel alert, calm and my clarity of thought feels the same as before this whole episode. I have always been fully functional and coped well with stress before this & this was my first admission to psychiatric care. Does anyone know how my fitness to drive will be assessed? Also, does anyone have any advice re: my diagnosis situation. Any advice welcome. Thanks 💐 xx