Roll Call Take Two

Ha, wow. Freud would have a field day with you.

How's your son doing? I was thinking about him earlier when I saw my hands. I hope he's OK and his downward spiral is being well controlled.

fishsandwich - if you choose this other job, it doesn't mean you've given up, just that you've made a different choice. You don't have to be a lawyer unless you want to be.
Just think about your reasons. If you choose the other job because you fear failing at becoming a lawyer, then that might be a poor choice. If you choose the other job because it's something you'd really like to do, can make a good living at, and feel comfortable with, then that might be a good choice.
Either way, I think you've made great achievements in your education.

And no doubt he would be completely wrong.

He's still struggling. He's really scared the sz is going to win. In fact, he was using the word 'schizophrenia' today which he just hates. He's just really, really stressed, and when he gets stressed he wigs out a bit. I gave him one of my little pep talks and told him I have every confidence he will find a way to manage this thing over time and get a life for himself that will be full and satisfying.

About your career decisions: the only thing I would add to Gr3tta's comments is to ask whether you can change your mind later if you decide you want to pursue that final step. Or do you close that door forever if you don't continue now?

About seeing your pdoc tomorrow: I admire your courage. I think this is something you need to do right now. Good luck.

I had a healthy day. No complaints to post here. I hope posters here are feeling healthy also.

ug. It's late and I should be thinking about sleep, but I am the opposite of sleepy. My wife has been lying in bed with a migraine all evening. Lots of times I will lay in bed with her and read, or watch a movie with headphones, but I've been too antsy this evening. I think she's sleeping now, so I'm trying to be quiet. I've been playing games online with the tv turned down in the background, but I'm fairly bored. Which just makes me less sleepy. Bleh.

Here.

I was up way too late last night too. Something about knowing I don't have to go to work today.

Hi. I saw the pdoc. He said something about 'prodromal schizophrenia' when I was in the hospital and he admitted I've never had a full-blown psychotic break. There was also something about how my father had schizophrenia too, which I've never heard before and honestly have never witnessed from him. Then I yelled for the remaining 45 minutes about what a criminal he is, and I left undrugged.
No answers, nothing was resolved. Am very angry. I guess my next step will be contacting a lawyer.

I'm surprised he'd be able to have you involuntarily hospitalized with that flimsy evidence. Extremely disturbing. I'd be angry too.

I think you got your answer actually. They didn't have a legal justification for hospitalizing you. At least it wouldn't fly here.

Sorry that sucks.

My doctor doesn't label - I think that means he is giving me meds to **** me up.

He seemed to think I was on the verge of having a full-on psychotic break when I was hospitalised. He kept saying things like, "Well, you ran away and you yelled at people a lot and the nurse report says you had scars from cuts all over your legs." And then I asked him if he wouldn't do the same things if he was locked up involuntarily, and he said something about trusting professionals blah blah blah.

[The cuts on my legs are there, but are from my very injury-heavy childhood as a farm girl, and also stretch marks from a growth spurt!!)

Anyway, if what he said is really true and it's really written in my medical records, then I'm filing a malpractice suit.

Ah, I'm sorry to hear about your son. I hope he gets a way out.

I'm really sorry this happened to you.

One of those links I posted a few weeks ago (the one that had Elyn Saks and Fred Frese as panelists) was a Fred Friendly seminar. They gather a variety of experts on a topic and discuss it using hypotheticals as a vehicle for the conversation. One of the hypos on that program included exactly your scenario. A college-aged woman has been brought to the ER by her parents because she's manic and delusional. At some point she gets up and runs from the hospital. What happens? The panelists agree that in most ER's in the U.S. nothing would be done to stop her or to chase her. Refusing treatment and running out of the hospital isn't, in itself, sufficient reason to force treatment.

I remember the first time my son agreed to go to the hospital voluntarily. The mhc arranged for him to be transported to the hospital which is in another city. My son started to get on the bus. Then he noticed the other patient who was going and apparently didn't like his looks. So he told the driver he'd changed his mind and walked off. No one tried to stop him and no one called me to tell me he'd left (and he didn't have a car or cell phone). So... shrug. It's hard for me to imagine what happened to you happening here. Possibly it has. But it's really hard for me to imagine. Here, unless he'll admit to being an imminent danger to himself or others - and, of course, he's smart enough not to do that! - they'll let him leave, even if they have a pretty good idea he's suicidal.

Obvious signs of mental illness!

Thanks. We're working on it.

I think that's one of the better things about the US. You folks are really big on independence and personal liberty. It's different over here, I think. Much more of a communal outlook and I'm sure that's in part because our health care is single-payer.
Also, once you're in, you're really in. Once I got diagnosed, nothing I could do or say could convince them that I'm not mentally ill. I still get people who ask me if I need to "up my meds" just because I'm grumpy or unprepared or generally having a bad day. I mean, I did get forced treatment (some of the worst) in the US -- but that's because I was a 'non-compliant schizophrenic', I think. Also the drugs go a long way toward making a person look mentally ill. They really put you in a daze.

I need to work out how to get some insight - not sure how to do that though.

And Acosta sucks

I think the psychiatrist is going to have people watch me now that I yelled at him about being an incompetent, criminally abusive jerk.

This is one of my delusions, right?

I'm sorry your pdoc is more psychotic than you fish.

I'm glad things are going okay cos, even if they haven't been improving lately, at least it's somewhat stabilized

I'm here and okay. Can't sleep but sooo tired. And now my husband is in bed before me which makes it even harder. Maybe I'll just sleep on the couch tonight

Hi am new here ..though i would post here ..feeling okish at the moment , but last night forgot to take my medication so the voices are louder than normal
i have my psych this morning at 10.30 am kinda nervous about that

Yeah, right!

I hope they leave you alone, Fish.

Here, got all of 4 hours of sleep on the floor before the wake up call from my two year old came. I'm guessing he didn't sleep very well either because everything seems to warrant a tantrum. Thank God I have a doc and therapy appt to keep me occupied today.