[Stewie Griffin]
First I shall gather my fleet of helicopter gunships and, under cover of night, surround the hospital. You’ll be able to infer my further actions by the sounds of screams and stench of blood.
[/Stewie Griffin]
Even when the U.S. uses metric, we still have to be different. We measure blood glucose levels (BGL) in mg/dL as opposed to mmol/L like everyone else. The normal range is 80-120 mg/dL.
To convert mmol/L to mg/dL, multiply by 18.
To convert mg/dL to mmol/L, multiply by 0.055
Fabulous, just wanted to say that you are very lucky to have gotten out of that place. And, maybe you should try to find a therapist on the outside to talk to about being depressed. (I am not a big believer in drugs for depression altho I know some are; especially for someone with diabetes, why add chemicals to an already unstable mix?) But I did therapy for depression (almost 20 years ago), and it worked.
You really don’t have to go through life feeling like it’s not worth it. You really can get better and just talking to a trained person can help you do it. Really. I know many insurance programs don’t pay for very much therapy these days as they would rather give you drugs and move you on, but if you can figure out a way to pay for it, it would be truly worth it.
I guess there are free programs for people who cannot afford it but I don’t know how good they are or if they exist in Memphis, or if they would be like the psych ward! Aak. But, don’t just go back to feeling low and give up on the whole idea of treatment. That what you had there wasn’t treatment.
Well, most of the time I DON’T feel like life isn’t worth it. I have moments of despair, sure, but then I always think (even if I have to force myself), “Hey! I get to see my nieces & nephew this weekend!” or “Hey! The new X-men movie is coming out next month!” (Actually I didin’t even know they were making a third one, much less that it was only weeks from being released, until after my release from the ward.) or “Hey! I think I’m going to try to have sex with that brunette chick at the coffee shop!”
(Admittedly, that last thought is why my friend M. thinks I’m a sex addict, but that’s a whole 'nother story.)
I would further say to Fabulous that you shouldn’t feel like you’re a burden to people, especially family. That’s what families do.
The world isn’t here to make you happy, it’s up to you to do that. Don’t feel guilty doing whatever reasonable things that make you happy because no one else will. As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else of course.
Many thanks, Z. I should say, though, that I don’t consciously think of myself as a burden most of the time–just after a severe knock on the head. Most of the time I think of myself as the world’s greatest uncle, which my nieces agree with (at least they do after being bribed.)
HO-LY SHIT!!!
I cannot believe what you had to go through. Being kept in a cold bright with no beds for that long, with no bathroom or access to water or food, with no medical care? Unbelieveable!
I would be devoting myself to doing whatever I could to holding someone accountable for that inhumane treatment… making complaints up to the highest level (the state health authorities at least!), looking into a lawsuit, etc.
May I hazard a WAG here and venture that in some states, psych facilities are geared more towards the perceptions and prejudices of those outside than the wellbeing of those inside? And that a lot of that surely has to do with budgets and politics?
I’m sorry, I’ve looked at your post three times and I’m not getting what you’re driving at. Forgive me for being a little dense, but could you give a little clarity (if the OP doesn’t mind a slight hijack?)
One of the facilities where I worked was in a state that was 49/50th in mental health spending - it was very obviously not a priority. And we did the best we could (having cheap labor in the form of medical students and psych residents helps). But, yes, appropriate staffing (which in turn helps provide better care) depends on money - which comes in short, shorter, or shortest supply. 
That’s awful. I wonder what their definition of “informed consent” is? They take someone who’s been hit on the head and who they think is not thinking straight, they say “sign here,” and then later when you want to leave they say “you can’t leave because you signed this piece of paper” ?!?! @#*&(#^&#% !!!
Just goes to show that you should get in the habit of being very stingy with your signature. That still might not have been enough though, they could probably be forcefully admitted without a signature.
Disclaimer: I’m not Beware of Doug 
But the post makes total sense to me. (Maybe too much so for me to be able to explain it any more clearly, but I’ll give it a whirl nonetheless).
In many states (suggests Doug; I’d say all the damn states and most of the western hemisphere, myself), psych facilities are geared towards serving the average everyday person who is freaked out by the allegedly mentally ill, the raving lunatics and depressed despairing folk and so forth. They are not, therefore, in existence primarily to serve the needs of the people who are locked up in them. They are there to remove disturbing people so that the average everyday person doesn’t have to cope with them and the messiness that their presence and behavior brings to the everyday public world. And that employees and administrators and doctors and nurses in such facilities tend also to react to us not as people who have been emotionally ripped apart and are traumatized, but as creepy disturbing (or weak & whiny-pathetic, or both).
Incidentally, I found the OP description to be compellingly well-written and detailed and gut-wrenching, but not at all surprising. Par for the course. There may be involuntary wards that are different but this is how I’ve experienced them and how they’ve been described to me by other survivors of the experience.
I agree with AHunter3. Although, I’ve never experienced anything like Fabulous Creature (may I call you Fab?) describes, fortunately - when I was hospitalized for a suicide attempt, I was treated like a hospital patient - given a room, a bed with linens, a bathroom with toiletries, and nutritious-if-boring meals.
“Fab” is fine. or you could call me “asswipe” like my litle sister does. 
ou should get an award for an unintended pun such as this. Really. Because I’m almost certain that it does matter quite a lot.
Fabio! Way to take one for the team, brother! You owe it to the entire MI community to report this place not only to the proper authorities, but also to the media. In lurid detail. An overly-sensitive mix up resulting in your temporary sojurn in a posturpedic room with some monitoring could be accepted, but to put someone who is thought to be suicidal in a firm-room with easily provoked psychopaths is negligent all by itself! Seriously. If you’re looking fora purpose in your life you really should give some thought to putting your own shame aside and exposing yourself and this incident. Otherwise it won’t change because the gerneral public doesn’t care about freaks like me, them and you if you care to join us as long as they don’t have to SEE us.
And that’s not even to go into the dangers of leaving the diabetics to work a little harder on their insulin production/uptake self-help program; and the dehumanizing solitary room. Good God! As somebody has already noted, it’s no wonder the seriously ill prefer the street to some bizarro bullshit like that!
OOOoooooohhhhhh!! I feel a BIG old mood swing comin’ on! :mad: :mad:
I remind you that I’m evil. 
I am going to contact the local news weekly, though. The local daily is not the best resource one might imagine.
What a terrible, awful experience. I’m so very sorry! I too think you should bring this to the attention of someone who can do something about it. Hugs, and be well.
I can’t believe what I am reading in this thread, that noone has called “BS,” so to speak. Are there no SDMB mental health professionals about?
In the South, particularly in urban areas such as Memphis, mental health treatment is at a premium, it is essentially a luxury. There is hardly room in public hospitals for voluntary commitments, let alone involuntary! Accidental or mistaken commitals are the work of Hollywood.
I’ve had too many clients living on the street, attacking people with hammers, feces, etc., who I could only get institutionalized for two weeks until their meds stabilized them, only then to get kicked out into the enviroment from which they came, to buy too much of the pity party Fabulous Creature is selling. There are no Frances Farmers these days!
It is my personal experience that a lot of people don’t get hospitalized that should be, due to space and economics, and NOONE gets hospitalized that shouldn’t be. THERE IS NO PHYSICAL ROOM for “maybees.” At least that was my experience as a public defender in MS, and elsewhere. Due to his behavior, the other side of the story probably is Fabulous Creature required hospitalization. Better safe than sorry. At least he is now able to post and complain about his “treatment.”
Hmmm, a public defender in Mississippi has diagnosed an anonymous person in Memphis as requiring hospitilization based on his SDMB thread… :rolleyes:
Eh, what?