I just got home from being inpatient at a mental health facility. All we did was watch tv and Netflix and color. Sometimes a music therapist would come in and play the guitar and sing. Other times we gave song selections and the person running the group would pull them up on Spotify with their phone and a Bluetooth speaker. We got meds at 9, 5, and 9. There were a couple exciting episodes where one patient snuck out of the psych ward and almost made it outside but he got caught by security. We had to wear “beacons” around our ankles and every 15 minutes someone who worked there would do rounds with a special tablet the read a signal from each beacon. Last night my schizophrenic room mate was shouting and swearing and talking about “your son”. Most of what she said was nonsensical and she was always writing nonsensical stuff on a big envelope and she would talk to nobody. She got put in “the quiet room”- a special room with a thick metal door with a window and a stout bolt. We never talked with each other except for her telling me she has schizophrenia. The food wasn’t all that great but every day they would bring us a surprise breakfast and then we could chose between four choices for lunch and dinner. At least once a day they would take our blood pressure and temperature. When we weren’t having groups, we would watch TV. In fact most of our time was spent in front of the boob tube. We’d talk amongst ourselves. One of the patients had a tooth break in half. He got ambesol for the pain yet he still ate. In fact he and this other guy who talked really fast and who was in a wheel chair always ordered double portions at each meal. They would wake me up at 6:00 to give me one of my meds but otherwise we had to go to a little window down the hall where one of the employees would give us our medications in a tiny cup and with a styrofoam cup of water. We did this three times a day. It seemed like all we were doing was watch tv and eat. They’d bring us snacks twice a day too. In fact two nights ago someone came up with a portable freezer on wheels and let us choose what kind of ice cream we wanted. I chose strawberry shortcake on a stick. We did lots of art projects and colored a lot. We also had groups about stress management amongst other topic. I only saw the doctor assigned to me once via telehealth once and another doctor in person.
Now that I’m home, Ariel, my calico cat, is so glad to have me home! She is laying on my lap sleeping and purring. I had had her and all her stuff at my mom’s house. She is such a nice cat- even my mom’s neighbor who was feeding her twice a day while my mom was on vacation and when I was in the hospital said so.
I was put on Cogentin for akathisia. Seems to work well but it’s given me a terrible dry mouth. Aside from drinking lots of water, I used this mouth wash that’s specifically for dry mouth. It’s supposed to last up to four hours but it hasn’t. I was also put on Loxapine but unlike the cogentin they didn’t send me home with any. I called my psych nurse practitioner and left a message with the staff so she can write me a new script for it. Unfortunately, it’s the weekend so she probably won’t see the note until Monday so I’ll have to tough it out. I was taken off the Caplyta because it was giving me akathisia.
