[BeyondtheRainbow]

We've got quite the discussion going about crappy food. What else?

I complain even though I shouldn't because my place is pretty nice compared to others. Mine are:
1) No electronics although there is a computer to share
2)The nurse named Cynthia (like all the others but she is fake and mean)
3) Not enough space to move around if agitated. The whole unit is 168 steps and yes I counted. A bunch. OCD and I walked so much I wore out a pair of new slippers in one admission.
4) Auto-on faucets that don't work well so that if you want to brush your teeth you either have to do a dance to keep the water running or cover the sensor with wet paper towel. In one room you have to do a specific set of moves to ever get water just to wash your hands.
5) Doors being left open during night checks and beds by doors not having a curtain to separate from the light in the hall.

[cashart10]

Oh my word...I have only been IP once as an adult and I went to a ward with patients that were the sickest of the sick. It was, to an extent, frightening because some patients were so out of control. I talked to almost no one. One of the few people I did talk to was horrible for me and they put her in a room with me. She was out of her mind manic and particularly hyper religious and since I have a rich history of hyper religiousity and was already psychotic, she was rubbing off on me (and making me exceptionally paranoid with all of the scripture quoting and damning). The resident psychiatrist apologized to me, gave me my own room, and tried all he could to separate us. The ONLY therapy we had was twice a day for a half an hour but it was a joke. Like I mentioned, the patients very sick so no one came and at least one who did come was manic and interrupted any and everything that was expressed. We couldn't have shoe strings, of course. There were no electronics whatsoever. What I did like was you could use the phone for almost the entire day and you could have visitors almost all day until an evening cutoff time (I don't remember what time that was). The food was terrible. The staff was great.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

That's why I'm terrified of not being on mood disorders which means being admitted through my dr. I don't know how I'd cope on a regular floor. I'm jumpy at my best. I'd also potentially be there with my own former patients and avoiding that is considered or is supposed to be. I worked on those units long enough that I know exactly what it is like and I'd have a really hard time doing that without having the keys in my pocket. I fought tooth and nail against admissions for years for that exact reason. Then the mood disorders unit opened and there aren't so many excuses.

My staff except for Cynthia (and the night nurse can be obnoxious too but I think she really is frustrated because it is so hard to get me to sleep and she does try to help; I think she just has a low frustration threshhold) is great. THe social worker and I have had issues too but she's only 2 days per week and so she doesn't count unless she ever screws up discharge planning for a 3rd time. Then she's a Cynthia.

[Crazy Hitch]

Food.

That's it.

For real.

Food.

Did I say food

Everything else is minor issues. For me.

The lack of freedom
Having to go to group at their set times
The meds, they med me so much
The mean nurses (some are nice but its about half half)
The isolation
The bed checks
The stupid questions
Running out of smokes and not allowed leave to get more

[avlady]

having to ask for a kotex 10 times a day

The food was awful. The first couple of days it was okay, but the next 10 was like they were trying to kill us by heart attack with all the fat they were serving us. I got on the salad/ensure diet.

Only being allowed 3 outfits was appalling.

All the mandatory lame group meetings where it's the same form with the same answers over and over 3 times a day.

Techs that take blood pressure not really caring. My pressure was way up one night- the highest I've ever seen it, and like they didn't care.

Time crawls.

Everyone fighting over the t.v.

Everyone passing out on the couch from their "big dose".

The night shift yelling and laughing, having a party playing their phones real loud when we're trying to sleep.

The techs taking away all the books and games because a couple of inmates kept calling them theirs and throwing the stuff away.

No sky.

[raspberrytorte]

This nurse named Bill. He's such a ****. And he was my nurse both times I was inpatient at this hospital! Blah! At least the second time it was only one of the nights.

No smoking. No caffeine. Nurses that won't leave you alone.

Somewhat sleeping and waking up with someone screaming HELP ME! OH MY GOD! HELP ME!

And going out to investigate because obviously someone needs help and being ushered back to my room.

[secretgalaxy]

There wasn't really anything I hated there other than not having my stuffed animal for the first few days and the deodorant sucked. Also I needed conditioner severely but didn't have any. Those things weren't a huge issue though.

Oh! Being forced to gym when I had hip surgery 3 months beforehand. There was no place to sit and the hard floor was very painful, as well as, standing and walking for long periods, more than 30 minutes. They were really mean about that, but everything else was okay.

This was the kid ward though, so if/when I end up in the adult ward, I'll tell you the difference.

[bunnifoo]

My first experience was a really long time ago so I'm vague on it - showers without shower curtains (someone had tried to hang themselves and they hadn't worked out a solution yet), very low staff to patient ratio. Having to go to the cafeteria for food (don't remember the quality) and any snacks being locked up and having to beg for something.

There was one male patient who was very confused and needed to be on observation or a more secure wing and he'd move through the rooms and get confused and take your stuff out and throw them on different beds. This didn't happen to me but one patient was in therapy and started crying or screaming and the nurse burst in and interupted the session and told her to shut up (the doctor had been encouraging her to let out a lot of pent up anger).

Then there was the Queen Bee who'd been there awhile and she decided she didn't like me and I ended up shut out by everyone else. The social worker was nice.

Now, my last IP - the food wasn't bad - we got to pick what we wanted out of a limited menu and I started getting creative to make new things. We could get chips and stuff and keep them in our room plus there was kitchenette with drinks and healthy snacks. They are phasing out soda so that caused problems (it was caffiene free anyway) but you could bring your own food or have someone bring it. And if your food order got messed up or you got hungry you could order something else.

Groups weren't mandatory which is good because I really didn't like one therapist (she was nice just not my style). The only outside time was in this enclosed courtyard that was really small and it could get loud and not worth it for me.

When I was first in I was in a room wtih someone who was on one on one so I was too and that sucked. After a couple of promises of getting my own room I finally did. We could close our doors but there were checks every 15 minutes. And most of hte night staff was really respectful of us sleeping. Except for one prson (I don't know who) that as loud opening the door and left it on.

Very small area to walk in - 33 laps =1 mile (it was on the board). No one really watched tv much until I was almost out of there and then there were 2 patients really loud talkers who liked to watch tv at odd hours.

[wiretwister]

rock hard beds and every 30 minutes (even while a sleep) :"are you ok", checks.. even in bathroom ,

[fishin fool]

Just had my first ever experience with IP for a week.
It was hard to lose freedom and cell phone.
Cant shave without being watched.
The food sucked but the nurses were ok.
The thing I hated most was that I thought they were
very unorganized and that just adds anxiety to an already
bad situation.

[emptyspace]

.

• The number of meds ALWAYS increases

• The guy who is always watching NASCAR on the only TV

• When on suicide watch, bed checks at night every 10 minutes

• Group therapy with certain diagnoses who manipulate and talk the whole time

• Only having one hall phone that is shut down during activities

• The "leather" sofas and chairs (easy to clean)

• One time having to share a room with a patient that had another diagnosis and was throwing things, having fits, etc.

• No pets allowed

• Lights out time -- I'm a night person

• No computer access

[Angelique67]

Having no visitors.

[jacky8807]

when i am manic/mxed the staff getting aggravated at me....hello its a psych unit
one time i was there there was this girl who was having a psychotic episode....she made her mom come in and shave her head because she thought she was infested with mites ect
when she was having a troubled night the nurse told her "oh dont be so dramatic"

of course i screamed from the other end of the hallway where i was pacing like crazy "Shes sick how the **** can you say that!?"

all the other stuff im use to..so smoking no electronics blah blah

[jacky8807]

Originally Posted by emptyspace

.

• The number of meds ALWAYS increases

• The guy who is always watching NASCAR on the only TV

• When on suicide watch, bed checks at night every 10 minutes

• Group therapy with certain diagnoses who manipulate and talk the whole time

• Only having one hall phone that is shut down during activities

• The "leather" sofas and chairs (easy to clean)

• One time having to share a room with a patient that had another diagnosis and was throwing things, having fits, etc.

• No pets allowed

• Lights out time -- I'm a night person

• No computer access

hahhaha when im manic i am def one who takes over group therapy . They have to shut me up everytime lol

[wildflowerchild25]

All of my (many) experiences have been good except for one, and I forget why I hated that one so much now. And the state hospital of course, that was the absolute worst (which you would expect). This last time I was put on the acute care unit instead of my regular unit so it was a little worse for me. Only four smoke breaks and not being allowed outside when I wanted was really hard. And what I really hate about IP is I can't see my son. No children are allowed on the unit and even if I were able to get grounds (which I wasn't this last time) it would have been too much trouble to bring my son.

[HALLIEBETH87]

No visitors. No comes to see anymore.

Fights over what to watch on tv is annoying. When no one answers when I finally get a chance to use the phone. When in red band I couldn't do anything out of nurses sight at all and couldn't leave unit. I even had to eat finger foods sent up to me from dining hall. Showers supervised etc

1. The food. How the hell do you mess up a grilled cheese sandwich?
2. Certain people with the "its all about me" complex. Shut up and let others talk.
3. 15 minutes isnt enough alone time. Go away for at least 5 more. (accountability checks)
4. I'm a smoker. Let me smoke. And let me smoke more often than every 4 hours.

[Nammu]

The plastic beds, the one sheet, one thin blanket, one tiny hard pillow and AC on freeze setting.

The constant opening of doors at night

The noise, the constant noise and TV blaring

The lack of anyplace to be alone

The reactionary auto tackling of anyone they think is out of control without even talking to them first. This really triggers me, seeing the staff attacking patients without first trying to calm the situation down.

The need to be on constant vigilance from attacks

[whim]

I've actually had pretty good experiences, but only had 2 stays which were 3 days and then 4 days, so probably not long enough to get bothered by. Having a place to feel safe and be able to not worry about the mundane things in life was nice. The food wasn't great, but really not that bad...but I kinda like "bad" food.

I didn't like having to strip in front of nurse on intake to make sure I wasn't smuggling anything in, and I don't really like the group stuff. I'm not one for cheesy discussions led by people who don't experience the same problems. But really I just liked the worry free zone of it all. And I did actually get my own room both times too, probly would be different if I had to share.

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[loophole]

No freedom. . Things taken from me. Basically no outside contact. Felt like low level jail.. Hated it. Glad it only lasted hours before they got me in iop instead... That was great and a life changer for me. Plus I got to eat my own food

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[BipolaRNurse]

Those room safety checks they like to do in the middle of the night while you're sleeping (or trying to), where they go through your stuff to make sure you don't have anything you're not supposed to.

The loss of privacy and freedom.

No electronics except for a shared Kindle Fire at the nursing station. Man, I LIVED to get my 10 minutes of time on that thing.....it was all that kept me in touch with the rest of the world.

Otherwise, my experience with the psych unit was good, even the food was plentiful and decent.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

They do room safety in the middle of the NIGHT? That's ridiculous. Ours are done during group (that's required unless you have a good excuse like the resident accidentally prescribed 2 mg of Ativan for 9 AM or you are trying to attend group but mostly are pacing). I had an extra heavy one done during lunch once because a nurse filling in on the floor thought she saw me take a pill out of my mouth (I touched my mouth soon after taking the pill and then put my hand in my pocket so I had my pockets searched my they really searched my stuff) but I had swallowed it so it was pointless. If they started rifling through my stuff when I was supposed to be asleep I would never, ever sleep.

[HALLIEBETH87]

Yeah our checks were every 15 mins day and night and OMG if you were in a camera like me you had to have door open so bright light and you could hear the nurses opening and closing binders all dang night! lol