Mental illness seems to be open for discussion right now after the school tragedy last week. I want people to open their eyes to the plight of the mentally ill. I would rather it not be from such a violent action. I still have not heard what they think the shooter had. I am going to guess there were delusions involved!
I am always shocked by the laws surrounding mental illness in our State. The more I read, the more I discover many States go too far in protecting the mentally ill. I understand that we do not want it to be easy to put people away. There just needs to be some common sense to the system. I was very impressed with how quickly Uncle's Nurse and Counselor got him hospitalized. Very happy. The longer a person is in a delusional state, the harder it is to get them back to any sense of normalcy. They start believing their delusions. Here are some shocking things a family faces when their loved one is hospitalized.
We did not know where Uncle was sent. Because of all the laws to protect privacy, no one can tell us where he is. We knew where they were doing the evaluation, we did not know where they would send him. Luckily his Counselor from the Center he goes to, called me. She said since she had permission to speak to me, she would tell me everything she knew. If she had not, we would not have heard anything. He was sent somewhere we did not know about. It was three days before he called us. Took another day for him to sign a permission form. We could have gone all that time not having a clue where he was or what they were doing to him. I called the facility. They said we cannot tell you if we have anyone here by that name. Nice! They sure don't mind using my insurance to pay for his stay.
The Doctor does not talk to us. We are his caregivers. It is obvious he is not making decisions for himself. He took him off 4 medications and put him on a new one. I kept asking the Caseworker if he was having changes. She said they took him off two.
The new medication they put him on has some dangerous side effects. One is that it can deplete white blood cells. We know about that problem from TS. IF, anyone had cared to talk to me about it, I would have mentioned that neutropenia is in the family. Should that be something to worry about. No one asked!
At all the facilities we have been to, I cannot say that I think the staff is compassionate. I think they could do better in calming the patients. When Uncle is out of it, they treat him like he is nothing. I just want to show them a picture of him playing Barbies with the little girls. See, he is a person. He has people he loves and they love him. Your job is to help bring that person back out.
We went to see Uncle on Saturday. He still had delusions. He was still angry and mean with me. He said he was getting out Monday. I called his Caseworker on Monday. She said she did not know if he was getting out. She called me later to say, he would be let out on Tuesday. She asked me if I was comfortable with that. I said, NO. Mentioned some problems we saw on Saturday. I said they should keep him a couple of more days to make sure the medication is going to work. She said she would pass along my concerns to the Doctor. The Doctor told her there was no medical reason to keep him. And he released him Tuesday.
When you hear about mentally ill hurting people or themselves or living on the streets; keep in mind, they probably have family that tried to help them. The homeless sometimes just walk away and their families do not know where they are. When my son is in bad shape it is hard to keep him safe. It is hard to keep our house and belongings safe. He takes things apart. He has damaged our cars. He needs to be watched 24 hours a day and we can't do that. That is why homes are needed for the mentally ill. Places they can be kept safe. If we were not in our small town, my son would have been arrested last year. He did not do anything that hurt other people. If he was in a controlled environment, he would be kept safe. Many mentally ill people break the law when they are off medications. They end up in prison. In most instances they do not get the help they need.
I will say this,we would never have guns in our home. We have never had guns because we are not "gun" people. If we were gun people, we still would not have guns now. You cannot have guns around someone that is mentally ill. Too easy for them to go off and shoot themselves or someone else. I do not know why any family member of someone that is mentally ill would have guns.
I have finished my rant. In the next few months if you hear people talking about mental illness, think about some of the things I have said. This might be the opportunity to educate people on the lack of assistance for the mentally ill and their families.
Maybe this time the medication will work. I pray that he is finally on the right combination of drugs. Time will tell. Today Uncle is calmer than yesterday. He was not happy with me yesterday. Today he has been fine. I can see there are improvements. He has more of an attention span. He is trying to watch TV. He has not been able to concentrate on TV in months and months. Hope this continues. It would be wonderful to see him in the stands watching The Kid play basketball! I would love to see that.
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