The crisis line I call is offered by the mental health facility I see my pdoc through. They have an 800 number. If you ask your pdoc, I am sure they can turn you on to some hotline.

If I am wrong, and the crisis hotline is unique to my facility then I greatly apologize for my presumption that it was a normal thing. To be honest sometimes the person that answers (the staff that works at a 24 hour in care facility are the ones who answer after hours) sometimes the person that answers isn't on their best game and I have to kind of steer them into telling me what to say. Like I will remind them of their own pamphlets by saying things like - I am breathing, or I just feel so bad and I know its my illness causing me to feel x and I just needed someone to talk to - then I will talk myself through it, they usually jump in part way faking like they felt in control the whole time.

I try to be extremely in control of myself. It is very hard sometimes, to the point where, if I am on the verge of screaming I will state in a cold and matter of fact way, " I need to yell about something, but I will yell for just a moment then I will stop - if you want to take the phone away from your ear for this moment, it might be best - I will give you 3 seconds to move the phone from your ear, ready? . . . Then I will friggin cut loose over the phone if I need to. I keep in mind that I don't want some emergency crew coming to my house. I just need a human outside of the family to share my extreme mood without them freaking out and sending someone. So I am very explanatory about what I need and why.

I am unique I guess, but ya - that is how I handle it and who I get to talk to. The phone calls have been fairly short. But what they did was not only remind me of the data I already know, but also help me to feel like I am in control of my symptoms when they started feeling out of control. Just that other human in the world sharing my experience - that I would owe nothing to later, was right for me.

I HAVE CALLED CRISIS HOTLINE BETWEEN 3 AND 7 TIMES IN A YEAR. I HAVE NOT GONE INTO A FACILITY ANY OF THOSE TIMES, BUT MY SYMPTOMS WERE STRONG ENOUGH THAT I NEEDED MORE THEN MYSELF TO CALM DOWN.