Sectioned in Hospital - Day 7

Written by Fox.

DAY 7 - 14th August

Wow. I prayed for a calm and non-disruptive day and instead the exact opposite happens. Keri was up at 4.30am and was pacing again. She couldn't sleep and by the time it hit around 9.30am she was extremely distressed; power-walking round the garden, punching her legs, punching her head. She was called in to have her medication in the clinic room but she said she didn't want it. She said "If it didn't work outside hospital I don't see how it's going to work inside it". She has a valid point. 

Because of the obvious amount of distress they added Lorazepam into her morning cocktail. 

She was rambling and talking extremely quickly, making it difficult to understand her, "I don't need the meds they don't do anything anyway and I don't know who to trust and I need to get this bug out of my head but none of you will give me a knife and I'm not allowed off the ward unescorted by staff. I've got to get out of here, I've got to get out of here, I've got to get out of here."

She'd already scratched her head so much that she'd made it bleed again and it had to be treated.

It took two members of staff to force her to sit down in the clinic room instead of pacing. She had the tablets in her hand but one nurse (let's call him Bill) was having to force her pot to her mouth to get the tablets in. It was extremely distressing but she had no choice but to take them.

Afterwards, she was allowed back out in the garden where she rapidly continued pacing and hyperventilating. Only 5 minutes had gone by since she'd had her medication. But this was long enough. She eventually resorted to grabbing the bin next to the door to the garden, carrying it to the opposite side of the garden and leaning it against the 8-foot wired gate. She doesn't have much muscle but the amount she was trying to use was unbelievable. 

Because of her distress, the staff had been watching her closely. After about a minute they noticed what she was doing and set off their alarms. Six members of staff ended up outside with her. Two on the outside of the unit on the other side of the fence and four on the inside. Two of them tried keeping hold of her ankles so she couldn't dig her heel into the fence to get any grip to climb up as she was still standing on top of the bin. 

They were very kind to her but she just couldn't understand why she wasn't allowed to go. After much persuading she still didn't get down and the bug was scratching so much she started thrashing her head against the fence. Bill ended up having to grab hold of both her legs to knock her balance over so she fell backwards off of the bin into the restraint of the three other staff there. 

Three of them took her to her room, although in between that time she managed to get out of their grip and shoot for the fire exit. You'd expect it to be accessible as it's a fire door wouldn't you? But it was locked. So they took her to her room and sat with her for a while and got a doctor to come and assess her medication. They did fuck all with it besides add her anti-depressants back on which were missed off when she was admitted, which probably explains why she's had more intense episodes of hysterical tears.

She had no visitors today, which is a good job too as with the state she was in she wouldn't have even been able to communicate with them. She's pretty calm now with all her medication, plus the two doses of Lorazepam she's been given which pretty much make her body go bleugh.

So, still sectioned, still psychotic, and as the days go on it's getting more and more difficult to understand what she's saying. The psych needs to change her anti-psychotics, or at least put her on a higher dose, just my opinion! With everything that's happened today I'm really hoping it means she'll sleep through sheer exhaustion! But again, the downside to her psychosis means she can't settle. She can't even sit still. It's heartbreaking to watch.