St Patricks Hospital or St John of Gods

4976340

Hi, I am on the brink of having to admit myself into one or other of the only two mental hospitals in Dublin. I believe St. Vincents also has a unit for mental health. My problem is situational stress and anxiety which is worsening over the last few months while I try to resolve a work related issue. I am afraid for my health recently and I have three children who are all aware of my situation and are unhappy to see me not myself. That is the main reason that I would like the quickest most effective way to learn to cope. I am describing it to them that I am choosing to attend an intensive course on ways to cope and that is best done as an inpatient. I have childhood experiences of St Patricks as my mother and brother are both bi-polar and I have spent some scary time there over the years, however going back over 30 years. I smoke and want to be able to smoke. I don't want to be treated like a zombie and would like some control/involvment with my treatment. Has anyone please got any ideas, feedback or recommendations that would help me and make the decision any easier for me? Thanks very much if you can, smiley face.

Dave!

Hi OP,

I've moved your thread over to the Personal Issues forum (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=127) where it is more suited for.

Hopefully you get some useful advice there.

Best,

Dave

dudara

A gentle reminder to all posters that medical advice is not permitted

dudara

mrsmags16

See your GP first, as is the advice to anybody with a mental health difficulty. They can refer you onwards for specialist assessment by a psychiatrist then if admission to a public or private ward is deemed necessary.

4976340

Thanks for the good advice, I have been seeing my GP regularly and I have a referral from him. My question is about the options for the referral that I have.
Regards

nkav86

Hi OP, I'm afraid I can't offer you advice but I just wanted to commend you for having the courage and strength to seek the help you feel is needed. I wish you the best of luck and hope you feel much better very soon.

mrsmags16

In that case, they are much of a muchness. You can definitely smoke in Pat's. As somebody who works in the public system, we don't treat anyone like zombies!

Big Bag of Chips

Both hospitals are private psychiatric hospitals. There are public psychiatric wards available in various other hospitals too. You won't really get to decide to go the "quickest" route. Usually inpatient programmes have more or less a defined length. Sometimes people will have to stay longer if needed and sometimes you might be discharged earlier if your team thinks you are ok to be discharged and maybe attend programmes or clinics as an outpatient.

You can of course discharge yourself against medical advice if you want, but the hospital will do all they can to discourage you from this if they feel you would benefit from a longer stay. The only experience I have of John of God's is a friend admitted there almost 20 years ago. He then ended up being admitted to St. Patrick's afterwards, while I worked there.

I didn't work in the clinical side, but worked very closely with all wards, departments and programmes. As an employee, I saw lots of background stuff that patients mightn't necessarily see. I think the clinical staff are excellent, but they can only help patients who are committed to helping themselves. That means, if you're told you need to be admitted for 3 weeks/6 weeks/3 months whatever, you need to be on board with that. You need to listen to and take the advice of the professionals whose help you have asked for.

Very often I would hear and see patients complaining about their care. More often than not they were complaining about aspects they didn't like, rather than anything that was being done wrong. For example, people on the eating disorder programme complaining that the nurses were treating them like children during meal times sitting beside them watching them eating and 'forcing' them to eat and not allowing them to the bathroom immediately afterwards etc.

There are programmes and activities organised during the day, but, it is still a hospital, so there's a lot of time sitting around doing nothing too. I think some people have the impression that because it's a private hospital that they should be 'entertained' daily. It's a hospital, not a holiday package in a hotel!!

You seem like a sensible person who knows what needs to be done. But if you need to be admitted, and if you need inpatient care, you're unlikely to be 'fixed' in a week. Good luck to you. I hope your treatment goes well.

amtc

I have a distant friend who is in St Pat's..
Well in St Edmondsbury which is the offshoot. I've been once and whilst comfortable her greatest problem was the boredom. She's on medication for anxiety and they keep messing around to see different doses. She's been in and out now for lengthy periods over the last year. Goes home occasionally for weekends. Personally I think underlying issue is at home and not dealing with that and having time to think is not healthy.

4976340

mrsmags16 wrote: »

In that case, they are much of a muchness. You can definitely smoke in Pat's. As somebody who works in the public system, we don't treat anyone like zombies!

No disrespect to hard working health care people. I was just remembering 30 years ago and things were different then IMO. I really meant to enquire which options would be most patient inclusive. Thanks for the reply.

CorkFenian

The most patient inclusive will be a blend of both medical and holistic options in my opinion (with less emphasis on medical in the long term but not forcing anything, medication can be important too and work as an important tool), this will take time to develop and is really related to how much you have experienced\know yourself. Something which you probably don't want to hear.In my opinion, no psychiatrist will ever include your awareness of how things are in he how he treats you. If you're at an advanced stage of knowing what works for you, they may take it into account.

I am beyond that stage now purely because of the work I have done on myself. This is purely my opinion on what I have seen. I would always advise you to keep your GP\psychiatrist etc aware of whatever holistic courses you are doing.

Have you looked into any holistic options alongside the medical ones you're looking at? Are you undergoing any form of therapy counselling etc

<SNIP>

All the best

4976340

CorkFenian wrote: »

The most patient inclusive will be a blend of both medical and holistic options in my opinion (with less emphasis on medical in the long term but not forcing anything, medication can be important too and work as an important tool), this will take time to develop and is really related to how much you have experienced\know yourself. Something which you probably don't want to hear.In my opinion, no psychiatrist will ever include your awareness of how things are in he how he treats you. If you're at an advanced stage of knowing what works for you, they may take it into account.

I am beyond that stage now purely because of the work I have done on myself. This is purely my opinion on what I have seen. I would always advise you to keep your GP\psychiatrist etc aware of whatever holistic courses you are doing.

Have you looked into any holistic options alongside the medical ones you're looking at? Are you undergoing any form of therapy counselling etc

[Snip]

All the best

Thanks, I think you have helped me nail what my concerns are when you mention psychiatrists and my point of view. That's what I have been afraid of and it makes perfect sense now. This has been a really useful way to get diverse and valuable opinions. Thanks.
Has your journey been a long one?

dudara

@CorkFenian - while I believe your intentions were good, offering or soliciting PMs in Personal Issues is strictly forbidden.

dudara

CorkFenian

Yes it has its taken quite a while and is still ongoing.In the first story below the Indo didnt run childhood overview due to word count, and also used bipolar in online version when no mention of it at the end of the print article

I believe I was wrongly diagnosed and it took me a long time to realise it Despite the improvements in mental health in past 5 years its still quite a stigmatised place to be in and still pretty woefully organised on the whole

http://www.independent.ie/life/health-wellbeing/health-features/battling-bipolar-disorder-i-would-go-to-bed-at-7pm-cry-and-dream-of-better-days-and-think-about-suicide-31443312.html

http://www.tipperarystar.ie/news/news/207291/The-boy-with-the-thorn-in.html

I hope to do more in 2017

i didn't mean to break charter by offering PM, apologies for that Dudara, I believe unless you have first hand experience or advice from someone who has, a lot of time will be spent investigating conventionally....

I have now reduced to 800mg from 1200mg of Lithium in the past 13 months alone and I still engage everyside of the equation, holistic, psychiatry etc Become your own therapist is the best advice I could give you. Find out what works and find out whose methods help...No one can solve it for you but yourself and the sooner you begin this journey the more you will know....Best of luck

4976340

I have bi-polar family as I said in my first post and recognise a lot of what you say. I also have friends who work in the psychiatric system.
I agree, only a person themselves can truly understand what they feel and what they need and the system is full of funnels into which I don't want to be pushed.
Keep the sunny side out, and thanks for putting so much effort into my query. I definitely got perspective from you, thanks for sharing your experience.

CorkFenian

4976340 wrote: »

I have bi-polar family as I said in my first post and recognise a lot of what you say. I also have friends who work in the psychiatric system.
I agree, only a person themselves can truly understand what they feel and what they need and the system is full of funnels into which I don't want to be pushed.
Keep the sunny side out, and thanks for putting so much effort into my query. I definitely got perspective from you, thanks for sharing your experience.

No worries personally I don't believe in the diagnosis of bipolar for me and many others but thats another days work and merely my own opinion. I believed from 1997 until 2014. So thats quite a while.

You can't do what I have been doing, a couple of newspaper articles, local radio interviews etc speaking to 3rd level education psychology classes without keeping the sunny side out, but I know what you mean, keeping the sunny side out is really mental health 101 I have been doing that for years.I want to reach more people and I am investigating a blog but it will be a blog relating to the past. I have had no mood changes since Spring 2014.

The most important thing is to have perspective. I am through to the other side. I have always worked full time. I have been able to do things that even before I really worked on myself are beyond the vast majority of people diagnosed with bipolar, especially after spending 5 months in hospital. Just going by statistics, not ego here

Now i am looking to share my experiences, to help others, thats all this is for. The rest is up to you. You have a choice that most people never have.A choice I never had if I am being honest..I had to find this out the hard way.

For what its worth I don't believe the "bipolar" experiences your family have had will be worth much to you if anything it will blur what you need to do, but thats just my opinion from what you have said...I don't know the whole story..Best of luck