Does anyone know of an organisation or group or just bloody anyone who can help my brother?

[Rhubarb]

He's now getting anxiety attacks around twice a week, but these are HUGE attacks. To all intents and purposes he is having a heart attack. He's been taken to A&E that many times he might as well just move in! He's had ECGs and blood tests and consultant after consultant tell him that he's fine, but to no avail. He's been like this for months now. He feels ill every day, he gets chest pains every day. He knows it's anxiety, but he doesn't know what to do.

My sister is the only one really helping him, our mother has pissed off to Spain (she was in Canada just 4 weeks ago) because she needs the break, despite her doing bugger all. My poor sister is getting to the end of her tether, yet she daren't let our brother know just how down she is feeling in case he decides he is a burden to everyone. We feel as though the health professionals have washed their hands of him.

He needs to speak to others who have gone through this or are going through it. He needs support. But we can't find anything. He won't talk through the pc, so forums are no good. He really needs face-to-face support, someone to help see him through it and give my sister a break.

Is there anyone out there who can help?

www.emdr-europe.org/

I take your point about the mental health act assessment - and after reading your latest post it sounds as if they probably wouldn't assess him anyway unless he did start voicing suicidal thoughts again.

Sometimes there are no easy answers (pathetic understatement I know). At present, your brother is very unwell, but has enought insight to decline some of the help offered. Obviously this "help" can't be forced upon him as he has human rights and ultimately it wouldn't work trying to enforce it anyway.

In your position I would still consider referring him to the local Crisis Team (either self referral or via GP). He should be offered an assessment and this might help to give a clearer picture of what the issues are and realistically what help is available. Your brother will need to be upfront though if there are certain approaches he would not be prepared to consider.

Is the CPN from some sort of army team or from primary care or from a mainstream NHS Community Mental Health Team (CMHT), Rhubs? I don't know a lot about army provision but if it's a CMHT could your sister contact them and explain how concerned she is? I know services vary across the country and goodness knows that sometimes what's available doesn't seem to be enough or the right intervention but where I work most people in his sort of situation would at least be offered some sort of medication prescribed by a psychiatrist, some sort of therapy, some sort of social inclusion work- vocational work scheme, befriending scheme, tenancy support team etc. (It sounds like he could maybe really use the social inclusion help to me if the medication and counselling side have been tried already.) And your sister would be offered a carer's assessment. If he's not with a CMHT could he or your sister contact the GP and ask for a referral?

Thanks guys.
The cpn was from primary care. He has a psych who he feels understands him, but she's based at Hollybush House in Scotland and only gets to see him when he's there, about once every 3 months I think it is now. She knows all of his background and that comforts him. But they won't extended his stay in this place and tbh he doesn't enjoy going.

The army have been very backward in coming forwards. Hollybush House is all they've offered so far.

My sister knows the details of his care plan more than I do, and she has been named as carer so is in the position to talk to his GP and psych, but she's so good at doing this that I rather think they've shifted the onus of his care onto her.

She knows about this thread, but I'll remind her again and hopefully she'll come in and post. Sounds like you have come up with a few good suggestions to try, if she hasn't done so already.

Does your brother have any comittments to staying at home. Work,family obligations for example?
Would he be averse to going into a religeous based retreat house.There are some with websites that are run by religeous orgs ,but dont push it on you. Effectively you get the structure but also the peace with people who care but in a less psych way.
There is a great one in Scotland that im thinking of.

A big NO there, sorry. Long story but no, nothing religious.

He has a wife and 3 teenage daughters.

Pity, still see your point ,will keep thinking.

Rhubarb, what I'm about to say may not apply to your brother, but it may help somebody somewhere who has depression in their family.

Our 31 year old son recently committed suicide. By the merest chance, after his death, we discovered that he had been impotent all his life (or at least during the four years he'd had a girlfriend) and we have found recent research that shows that this was almost certainly because he had a bad head injury in childhood. Damage to the pituitary gland is far more frequent than previously thought, and it means it doesn't produce enough testosterone.

Now if we had known, or if our son had known, of this risk, I don't think he would have hugged this miserable confidence-destroying secret to himself as he did. He would have gone to the GP and had a hormone test, and then he could have been successfully treated. But we had no idea.

So our message is: depression plus history of traumatic brain injury in childhood equals Go to the doctor for a hormone test! It would have saved our son - now we just hope it may save someone else.

Sorry to hear that, I really am. I suppose the most dangerous thing my brother could do right now would be to stop communicating. So long as he is still communicating then we know he's ok, but once he stops, that's a time to worry.

Suicide doesn't just destroy one person's life does it? Neither does depression for that matter.

Hope your post NKf strikes a chord with others.

Nkf- I'm so very very sorry to read about your son's death. It's so brave of you to post. I hope it helps others too. I did not know that and I will remember it always. I work in mental health so I will tell colleagues as well.