HSE Mental Health service

If somebody is self harming or suicidal I think a hotline is the very least they should have, although in that frame of mind they most probably wouldn't think about it. If you are physically ill in an emergency you most probably would call 999.

Yes, but 999 wouldn't usually be the response to severe infection or chronic pain. Usually, you would attend the GP, who knows you, and who will prescribe what works best for you. Waiting for hours on a trolley is about as useful as staying in bed and waiting for a GP appointment.

You've "No Other Option"??, what about south doc?

SouthDoc is certainly an option. However, I don't like using SouthDoc, and it's not really me "liking" going to my own GP or any of the rest of it. I try to use my GP because they know I need my antibiotics and steroids immediately. SouthDoc have left me without antibiotics before, "wait a few more days and see if it goes away". For the record, I fully support this because it is an attempt to stop the over use of antibiotics. However, I need them, because what starts as throat, ear and eye infections turn into chest infections, which turns into pneumonia. This turns into a hospital visit.
My GP knows my own history, and knows that waiting a week really isn't a viable option to me. My GP also prescribes strong pain medication that I need to function at times. SouthDoc need to approach patients with caution, they could be trying to abuse narcotics and not really be in pain at all. I need morphine during my bad times, and SouthDoc aren't going to give me that.

Ohh so you "prefer" your GP.

Above is why I "prefer" my GP. Not that I should have to defend that.

Are you studying telepathy?

I wish my lab work was that cool.

If you had such a major illness as you tried to make out at the beginning you would be seen by your GP

Okay this is ridiculous. It's insulting and I do not believe I should even have to justify my medical condition.

I have a condition which causes chronic pain, and the only thing that effectively helps this pain is morphine. I've been living like this for about a year now. I also have a tremor down my right hand, and a numbness that spreads through one of my legs. This means, at times, that I cannot walk.

When I have an "episode", the muscles in my back, down the trace of my spine, down into my pelvis, contract and do not relax. This leads to severe pain, which causes me to pass out, to vomit, or both. Attractive right?

My immune system is practically non existant, so I get a lot of infections which require the antibiotic and steroid treatment, as discussed above. This should be the least of my worries, but trying to get an appointment for a prescription can be impossible.

I also have hypothyroidism, and get severe headaches a few times a week.

If you haven't managed to match certain symptoms together, my doctor is thinking that I have a form of MS. I'm 20, and am about to face the testing process that will really determine a lot of what I'll do with my life.

How dare you insinuate that I am exaggerating my illness.

LexieOnRale wrote: »

That illness sounds horrific Lisa but what about a patient struggling to admit they're mentally ill? They might prefer speaking to their own GP, or having support from someone they know, and trust to help them. As horrific as your illness sounds, it's in no way more important than somebody else mentally ill.

I understand this, completely, like I know how difficult it can be to admit just how mentally ill a person is. Of course mentally ill people are entitled to use the GP, but this thread is an accusation that the state is doing nothing. A GP is a public service to help physically and mentally ill people. It's evidence that the state does provide something.

I didn't want to share about my illness by the way. I just felt the need to defend the accusation that I am exaggerating it.

LexieOnRale wrote: »

I don't think the state are providing adequate care.
I've broken my ankle, presented to a+e, been sedated, made comfortable and prepped for surgery.

If I feel suicidal, according to others on this thread, I'll be left for months to see a doctor qualified to help me.

In 2013 I was told I had tachycardia, and was admitted straight away to a ward, connected up to a heart monitor that night that was monitored all night long by coronary care. The following morning I saw a cardiologist.

It should be absolutely no different for someone will a mental illness, but it is.
Nurses in a+e do not treat patients who self harm very kindly, I've been horrified hearing the way some of them spoke to patients.

If you feel suicidal, you will receive immediate care if you present to the right places. I don't think any GP or A&E would send somebody home who was genuinely about to kill themselves.

I've had a few relations and a few acquaintances commit suicide, and I do not blame the state for what happened. They wanted to die, I know deep inside that nothing could be done for them. Would somebody severely suicidal, not just contemplating it, actually get help? They don't want their plans to be disrupted, they don't want to be talked around their idea.

And who says all nurses are the same? You seem like a lovely beauty therapist, but say I had a bad experience with a beauty therapist, you wouldn't be impressed if I said "Beauty therapists in salons do not treat customers with scars very kindly." It's a sweeping generalisation. I know nurses who are abrupt and bitchy, but then I know some lovely nurses who want the best for their patients, regardless of why they are seeking treatment.

Penny Tration wrote: »

That's not true. Guy from my area (pretty sure it made the news, can't be too sure though) went to Beaumont A&E begging for help because he was scared he'd kill himself but a small part didn't want to.


They sent him away. His body was found hanging around the corner from my house the next morning by a child walking his dog.


Suicidal people are very frequently left to their own devices after seeking help.

That's really a rough story, horrible thing to happen and utterly unacceptable. However, so many people reach out and get the help they need, and while he was obviously failed, so many people have been helped and have recovered from their mental illness.

Miah Swift Hamster wrote: »

I'm afraid this is simply just not true. I have seen "the right places" turn away suicidal and homicidal mentally ill person a number of time. It doesn't sound like you have much experience of acute and emergency adult mental health services in this country. Tbh you sound very naive about the whole thing.

As for nothing could be done for those people who committed suicide - is this based on any evidence or just your own opinion on writing off the mentally ill? Do you view depression/mental illness as a hopeless terminal illness?

Well if I viewed mental illness as a hopeless terminal illness, I'd have died when I was 8! I know it's possible to recover, I'm a recovered Bulimic and Self Harmer. I also have a friend who was admitted, attempted suicide many times, and he is graduating next year from a chemistry degree. Lovely guy, lovely girlfriend and I'm pretty sure he has his life on track and will do great things. He used public services the whole way through his recovery.

I know that those close to me could not have been saved. My cousin had endured a lifetime of abuse, his situation just wasn't nice, and he was definitely permanently damaged from his childhood. I still don't blame the state for not helping him, I don't blame anybody for his death really, because he made a
choice, and that's the end of it really.

LexieOnRale wrote: »

I understand what you're saying about generalisations but I've been in a bed next to a lady who was suicidal. I could hear absolutely everything they talked about, there was no privacy. Nurses that were really really nice to me, coming in and out making sure I was okay were the same ones looking after her, and I could hear them scolding her, how worried and upset her mother was, that she had a daughter who she should be thinking about before taking all those pills etc.
I can only talk about what I've experienced and I am sure not all nurses were like that but there was little to no understanding, and Jesus Christ the girl had just tried to kill herself, I'm no medical expert but I'd be willing to bet she felt pretty lousy already without guilting her even more.

That lady really wasn't treated well. I also know a nurse who refused local anaesthesia to a patient she was stitching after self harming, on the basis that the patient would "enjoy the pain". It's not acceptable, however it is not representative of the health service as a whole. However, I know some nurses that bristle with compassion, sympathy and empathy for their mentally ill patients, they even visit days that they are not scheduled to work.

PMBC wrote: »

A similar thought entered my head this morning but don't know if I was correct.
Do you have (even approximate) numbers of suicides versus road deaths?

There was 165 road deaths in 2015. I believe there is on average about 500 suicides per year, give or take.

I suffered from reactive depression over a decade ago and the gp referred me to local services. Some group therapy, some art therapy, a few one-ones with nurses. Some anti-depressants that made me feel peculiar. The sole time I had an appointment with a psychiatrist (as an outpatient), the clinic started 90 minutes late. When the doctor turned up, it was a young registrar. She cried for the entire fifteen minutes of my session because she hadn't been scheduled to cover the clinic that day, hadn't been told where to go and had no idea which rooms to use. Hadn't ever seen the patient files. I passed her tissues as she wept. Then I made an appointment with a private counsellor.