The Mental Health Unit

I was watching some videos on youtube and got a bit inspired to do a post talking about my stay in a mental health unit (MHU). I did talk about some of this in another post but thought I would go through it a little more.

I was first taken to the MHU around 3am. I was exhausted. I had just spent 11 hours in the ER and was totally out of it. I honestly don’t remember much about when I first got up there. I know I felt relieved. I was very nervous about committing myself, but once I did it meant that I had to take a break. I had no other choice. So yeah, I felt calmer than I had in weeks. From what I remember one person took my bag to check what was in it and another person showed me around. I don’t remember what exactly he showed me, but I was happy when we got to my room. There were two beds, but I didn’t have a roommate at that time. A woman came in and asked me a bunch of questions about my history and stuff. I remember thinking “why is she doing this at 3am?”.. All I wanted to do was go to sleep.

I slept until the afternoon. I woke a few times when people came to check on me (they check on you every 15 minutes, no joke). The psychiatrist came to see me at one point and told me that she was adding an antipsychotic to my meds. In the afternoon someone woke me and told me I had to go to a group. I said no but was then told that one of the ways they decide to release you is if you get involved in groups. So I went.

It was after this group that I really had a look around and learned about the place. There were the bedrooms, a tv room, an art room (which I wasn’t allowed in because of the sharp objects), a dining room, a kitchen, which had caffeine free soda and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You could keep your own food there but I learned quickly that people would eat each other’s food (the food my husband and sister brought I kept in my room). There was a med station, a couple of nice calming rooms, some locked showers (you had to get permission to use them), a laundry room. There was a little area with books and dvds and an exercise bike. There were two phone that patients could use that the staff were not allowed to answer.  Next to the phones were giant white boards for people to write messages if someone got a phone call and wasn’t around. There were a lot of motivational art on the walls. Generally it was a nice place. I had a real hard time being there, but it was a nice place.

The food sucked. I only ate what my husband and sister brought in for me. Which was just junk food. I lost 5 lbs while I was in there. Which was a lot for me cause I had already hit the underweight bar. The groups I had to go to were fine. Sometimes we played games. Other times it was simply sharing about your day. I never participated. But they still appreciated that I at least went.

I got a roommate on my third day (it may have been my second day, I can’t remember). I was fine with it at first, until I woke up in the middle of the night with her talking to one of the staff members saying how she was scared that all the patients there were going to get her and she didn’t know what to do to protect herself. Then I couldn’t sleep cause I was then paranoid that she was going to try to kill me. That’s another thing. I hated nights there cause your room is completely dark. You couldn’t even see the clock so if you work up in the middle of the night you would have no idea what time it was.

The patients were really nice. Even the "tough" looking ones were great. I think it was because no matter who you were, you were just like everyone else there. We were all on the same level. I kept to myself the whole time but people went out of there way to talk to me. In a way the place was comforting.

This is getting to be a really long post so I should probably stop. Sorry if this is kind of all over the place. I just decided to write and just took off. I’m sure there is more I could say but I’ll leave it for now. If anyone has any questions please leave a comment!