Have you ever been restrained at the hospital?

Mountaindewed · 02:21 AM

Just wondering if you ever have? I was a very mentally ill teenager and I was restrained quite a bit by staff members and on the bed. One of the ones that stuck out in my head was when I was 14 and I had just had a huge episode. I got a shot of something and my blood pressure dropped and I was restrained and I also had the blood pressure machine on one arm and I was just lying there not really not feeling great and every 15 minutes the counselor watching me had to check my vitals and then give me drinks of Gatorade. I swear I was there for a good hour just to make sure my blood pressure was ok.

Victoria'smom · Apr 26, 2020, 02:08 AM

I've only been hospitalized 2x but I've never been restrained.

ArtleyWilkins · Apr 26, 2020, 07:21 AM

I've never been restrained. In all of my times in the hospital (quite a few), I never saw physical restraints used. I did see patients who were moved into a quiet room for a time and I'm assuming given medication until they were calm enough to not pose a physical threat to the staff or other patients around them. While in the quiet room, they were not locked in, but rather simply supervised by a staff person who stayed with them constantly until they were able to go back to their own room - usually only an hour or so. The hospital also went over treatment plans and possible interventions upon admission, and this process was part of what was explained.

emmaleemochizuki · Apr 26, 2020, 02:06 PM

too many times. maybe because I was sectioned. and I was pretty chaotic.

Travelinglady · Apr 27, 2020, 03:17 PM

No, but I've seen someone else being restrained.

SlumberKitty · Apr 27, 2020, 03:35 PM

I have never been restrained but when I was in the ER awaiting transfer to a mental health facility there was a man there that was also waiting to be transferred and he was restrained.

Mountaindewed · Apr 27, 2020, 04:20 PM

Supposedly they rarely use them anymore? Like only 3-4 times a month now? I don’t know but that’s what my therapist said. Back in 2006-2009 they’d use them multiple times a day on the teenagers unit.

I am so out of touch with mental health hospitals. Only been once in 10 years.

StrawberryAnnie · Apr 29, 2020, 09:51 PM

I worked in an adolescent psychiatric unit for several years. There are certain criteria that have to be met before restraints are used. The frequency of use varied a lot. Sometimes there would be a few months between restraints, sometimes it would be multiple times per day. It really just depended on the patients on the unit.

Guiness187055 · Apr 30, 2020, 06:55 PM

Yes I had a psychotic episode while in the hospital for a kidney problem. I blacked out and found myself chained to a bed for three days until they sent me to the mental hospital.

*Beth* · May 02, 2020, 09:17 PM

Thankfully, I have never been in restraints. If I had I believe I would have been in a permanent psychosis. But I have seen others who were or had recently been restrained.

I remember one young man who had terrible bruises on his wrists from restraints. That has always stuck in my memory.

Loppol · May 03, 2020, 05:55 AM

I got restrained a lot. Even though i understand why they did it, it was very traumatic, and i still have flashbacks and nightmares of it.

Tamster · May 05, 2020, 04:54 AM

Have i ever been restrained , you bet!!!
I was in my 20s in the 1980s and they still used Straight jackets, 5 point restraints and the padded room. I can't count the number of times I was restrained back then. Not to mention the amount of times I was chemically restrained. But I don't blame anyone but myself, I was impulsive and didn't always think things thru to the end. I could have avoided most of those times.
I was always treated well when I was inpatient no matter the type of hospital I was at or facility. I was never really hurt.
As I have aged I have learned not to take things to far and do myself a favor and deal with impulses with some wisdom gained from the 80s .
If anyone needs to talk about how to avoid restaints I am always around you can write me here or on my profile page or in chat.
Tams

AceRimmer · May 06, 2020, 01:57 AM

No. I saw others get it. I remember on the secure ward one day this guy, Ray, kept asking a staff guy to put him in restraints. The staff guy said he couldn't do it but Ray kept asking. Finally Ray punched the staff guy in the eye. "You wanted to get 5 pointed - that's what you;re going to get!" yelled the staff guy. That's what they called it - 5 point. Each limb and the chest. They supposedly gave up the chest restraint years ago because people suffocate sometimes. Some of the borderline women would spend many hours in 5-point. It was a contest for them.

Raindropvampire · May 06, 2020, 02:09 AM

Yes I have and still have PTSD from it.

Mountaindewed · May 06, 2020, 07:04 AM

They still had the chest restraint in 2009 at least. Most my restraints were 5 point. I heard stories of some people staying in them for 15-18 hours.

In treatment centers they would put me in a bear hug and hold me in their lap against a wall and then if it escalated from there they’d hold me on the floor with several other people. I was also restrained against the wall.

I think it’s gotten a lot better in the past 10 years with the news and smartphones and viral videos and they don’t do that stuff as much anymore.

Dylan22 · Aug 13, 2020, 09:48 AM

I have been restrained twice. The first time I was 24 and I only know it happened because I woke up strapped to the bed. The second time was a few months ago. I felt like I was being assaulted and I did have alot of bruises. Now I know I was so out of control I would have ran away if they didn't do that. I try not to focus on the awful parts and look at what I've learned from that terrible experience.

neverending · Aug 17, 2020, 08:36 PM

Yes. When I was a teenager. It was the 5 point. Somehow I managed to get out of it but my roommate was in the room at the time and told me I would really be in trouble if they discovered me out of it. So I put myself back in.

That was way way long ago.

I knew I deserved it then so it didn't traumatize me.

Later on in other hospitals I would sometimes end up in the isolation room, which was actually a padded room with a mattress on the floor and a nurse outside the door.

Those times too were a long long time ago.

HD7970GHZ · Aug 25, 2020, 01:30 AM

My heart goes out to all of you - reading your stories is profound. I cannot imagine what it is like to be restrained.

Thanks,
HD7970ghz

princesscookie19 · Aug 30, 2020, 09:40 AM

Yes,When I was a teenager I ran away from the Centre and the staff would drive around town looking for me. I ran and ran and one staff held me down on a wall and I kept saying that he raped me coz I felt I was being sexual assaulted and it was fun for me even tho I knew he wasnt hurting me I still went crazy and someone drove past and parked the car near me so I wouldnt try to escape. I seen my friends get restrained and I would shout at the staff beacause she was my friend and I hated the staff

Yes,Iv been in hospital for insanity ,I was in one room with a toilet -i have to ask to use the toilet and being watched incase I hurt myself.-I use to fall off the bed and hurt myself even tho there was nothing TO hurt myself.

Another time the nurse was really kind and gave me a kit kat and a sleeping pill which worked in a few secounds and I was fast asleep.

InPain04 · Sep 14, 2020, 10:26 PM

Yes I was restrained once. I was in the ER for a a mental breakdown and I felt like the nurse was hurting me rather than helping me ( my mother had just died so maybe I was psychotic). I punched the guy so hard in the face I broke my hand. My wrist and ankles were bound and then they threw like 5 sheets over my face. I couldn't breathe. I was suffocating and started praying. I woke up the next morning on the psych floor and spent 4 weeks there. I hope to never do that again.

Esmme · Sep 23, 2020, 10:14 PM

I have been hospitalized for mental health reasons at least 10+ times,
I can only remember being restrained twice... but that doesn't necessarily mean that I haven't been restrained more than that.... Those are just the times I remember

MuddyBoots · Sep 24, 2020, 07:12 AM

Five times. First being when I was 18 and the last being a couple months ago. I don't really have any stories because usually I just wake up in four-point wondering what the hell happened.

princesscookie19 · Jan 23, 2021, 02:09 PM

I was restraint when I ran away from it all and then they gave me toast & tea when I got into my pj's. ANd asked me if I wanted a cigarette they were terribly nice to me compared to the other unit i was in they held onto me when I ran away to get drunk and they strapped me into the car and said safe home now!! kinda bit annoying when they used a lazer gun at me when I ran from again,a diffrent home my heart I htought was failing me.

avlady · Jan 23, 2021, 04:03 PM

the docs and policemen through me in solitare until i apologized to the nurse for chewing her out, i didn't think i deserve how she was treating me. got over it it was 30 years ago

ReveuseTroublee · Jan 24, 2021, 08:02 PM

I am lucky to say I just witnessed other people in restraints - I only have been in seclusion twice (the longest was 7 days) - and they made it hell for me - to stop me from doing what I did again which did not work... It just traumatized me and shut me up - I will never go back to that place voluntarily ever again or seek help. And no, I could not do anything about that, since I was sectioned.

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