Mental health and hospital admission

[nutcracker]

If someone who is being treated for manic depression gets ill again, and i mean ill to the point of thinking she is someone else and being as high as a kite, what is likely to happen ??

A dcotor has been out to this person this morning and left after about 10 minutes. That can't be it surely.

If he thinks she needs to be hospitalised he will have to get the mental health team in to deal with it. If she won't go willingly and needs to be sectioned then the police have to be there as well. One doctor on his own can't do anything. At least, that's what we've found with my sister.

Have they been offered admission?

Voluntary admission can be that simple (if the person is aware they are ill and is willing to go in) if a place is available.

Otherwise a section is needed, and only then if the person is "a danger to themselves or others". Then an approved s/w and dr need to agree and sign (the police can also do a very short one for assessment). Also difficult as a place may not be available (sad but true).

Are they accepting /complying with treatment at home?

Ok thanks for that WWB. IMO from what her Dd has told me today she does need hospital treatment urgently. Her family are not coping with her behaviour at all which is why they called the doctor.

If the doctor has said she needs hospitalization, how long will it be before someone comes to take her ??

I didn't realise police got involved it the patient wasn't willing

My friend's father was sectioned several times. I think there had to be at least 2 doctors/psychiatrists present before the process could begin. As WWB says, the police also need to be there

They are definatly not coping with her at home. The youngest child has had to be removed from the house and is staying with different relatives or here sometimes as the elder kids are adament the 8 yr old doesn't see her like this.

Apparently she has been on Lithium for over 10 years, which I only found out today.

I'm not sure what treatment if anything they have been offered yet.

it's actually very difficult to get hospitalised even if necessary and you want to go, sad but true

I think there is definate worry she will harm herself or do a runner from home and there is only her dp there to care for her full time at the mo and he hasn't slept for over 48 hours, because she won't sleep either.

hopefully she will get the treatment she needs, but it's pretty common for the burden to be on the family or the individual if they have no friends and family..even suicide attempts don't necessarily lead to a hospital place.

yes, sadly they can, unless they think ther person is likely to harm themselves or others.

If they will not go on their own, they have to be sectioned and doctors can be very reticent to do this.

My MIl has freinds who's daughter has schizophrenia. She is well controled under her medication, but often stops taking it. They have no right to make her take her meds unless she is sectioned, And her social worker keeps telling them it would breach the daughters human rights. OK for her to sat that, she doesn't have to cope with the woman when she goes totaly 'out of it'.

My mother is totaly demented, and in 4 years was 'sectioned' only once

It is a few years since I have had to do this, but I suspect things have got more difficult , not better
If she needs sectioning you need approved s/w and drs, and if they know there are no beds availabe they will not be willing to come out unless she is in the street threatening people.
All I can suggest is that her dp keeps calling gp/ her psychiatrist/ hospital .

Blimey, this is just awful. I mean the g.p was there for 10 minutes, what bloody use is that to them, unless he has gone away to make arrangments.

I just can't believe it. I have known her for 5 years and never knew about her depression, certainly didn't know she was on lithium. She went a little bit odd last year but then after a few weeks was fine and it was certainly nothing like this time.

I know i thought she was ill but I just didn't think it was this bad. She thinks she is the twin of a very famous dead man. She has adored this man for years and plays his music, talks about him and other things you'd expect a fan to do but this is just so hard to get a grip on.

they normally give quite powerful anti-psychotics when manic depressives get like this - did he give her any medicine?

I was discussing this with dp last night..we concluded that threatening to kill the docotr and his family was the most likely to produce results if done convincingly, threatening to kill "someone" doesn't work..

less drastically if she wants to go into hospital then a sit in at the gp surgery may work

there are precious few mental health beds left - it's one of the 'easy' places that health authorities cut funds from

the dose for lithium is quite finely tuned so can go out of balance which is probably why she has gone manic

I was just wondering that Fio.

I don't think she would go willingly to hospital. I don't know if they have given anymore medication as haven't been able to speak to her dd since the g.p left. From what everyone has said though, i think thats what has happened, they have given more medication and thats it.

The behavoiour described aslo fits with a manic phase for someone with a history of MD.

All the drugs in the world won't help if she doesn't take them (not likely at the moment, I would guess)
So sorry I can't give good news/ positive advice, but things may well get worse before she could be sectioned.

Thank you all.

I will update once I know what is happening.

nutty if it is only the gp coming out they need to get in touch with the community mental health team or even if possible present themselves at A+E in order for a psychatrist to asses the risk etc.

Right, ok nemo, I will tell her dd that if i see her. I don't think taking her to a&e is an option at the mo tbh.

nutty if not she should be able to phone and get a number for the mental health crisis team and explain to them that she is at risk etc. Gps are crap due to limited understanding of mental health.

The GP may well have seen enough in 10 mins. She may have agreed to an admission so he's gone off to arrange it. If she didn't and she was clearly sectionable he may well have gone off to arrange that too. He would need to contact her psychiatrist or the duty psychiatrist and the approval social worker, and they would all need to visit her. That's how it worked when I was a psychiatrist's secretary anyway.

If you have any information about how she's been and you think it might be helpful you might want to think about phoning the GP. We often used to get relatives and neighbours phoning us if they were concerned about someone. We couldn't disclose any information about the patient or their treatment, but we were able to listen and make a note of what they said. It was often very helpful in assessing how ill someone was, especially if they presented as not too bad during interview.

I am really hoping it is the case that the g.p has gone off to arrange admission because from what her dd has said she desperatly needs some help urgently.

When i had their younger dd this morning, her sister pulled up that close to my house she was nearly in it in the car. They are adamant that their sister does not see the mother (my neighbour) and admant that their mum didn't know she was even in the close let alone next door but one which speaks volumes to me.

My neighbour is such a lovely kind hearted person who has helped us many a time and I just hope they can get her the help she needs.
I think the elder dd is planning to come and update me later on and let me know if she needs me to have the younger dd, so I will pass on all the info you've all given about getting help.

Thanks ever so much.