Pre-planning Emergency Visits

[Snoooopy]

Hi,

I'm wondering if other people with PTSD have gone through the process of pre-planning potential future emergency visits?

I was recently hospitalized and unable to advocate for myself, and as such was given multiple doses of a medication that made my symptoms worse.

If I was in the right frame of mind I would have been able to refuse this medication from the beginning.

I hope to never be in such a state again, however, given the extent of my physical injuries caused by my mental state at the time, I realize that I need to take pro-active steps as to avoid being given the wrong medication in the future should I be unable to advocate for myself during a future emergency visit.

There is only one mental health facility in my area which I would go to during a bad episode, so I only need to pre-plan with one medical facility.

I'm wondering if I should also consider wearing a medical alert bracelet for those times when I'm out of the local area.

Maybe this sounds silly, but given what happened to me during my last episode, I want to take the proper precautions to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

If I can't advocate for myself at the time, I want to make sure that my wishes are known in advance if at all possible.

Thank you for your consideration.

 

[digger]

Don't know which country you're in, but this may be helpful if you're in the UK

Planning for a crisis | Mind, the mental health charity - help for mental health problems

 

[R1Nurse]

Hi,

I'm wondering if other people with PTSD have gone through the process of pre-planning potential future emergency...

When you say "wrong" medication do you mean you are allergic to the medication?

 

[Sandstone]

I've thought about doing it, because things weren't managed very well when I was admitted as an emergency. In my case it was around not understanding how I respond to feeling trapped.
So far I haven't actually got it done. It feels very hard to admit to myself that I might ever need it again, so It is hard to focus and make decisions about what would help.

I did find a good template and sample at Link Removed and Link Removed

 

[Crow]

I wear a sports bracelet looking thing. It's an ICE bracelet for emergency responders. There's a bar scan inside that takes the medical personnel to a website with all my info. Very secure. I used to wear it all the time but now only when I'm not my best and traveling. People mistake it for a Fitbit. I'm able to list med reactions, triggers, general history, contacts, etc.

 

[Freedomfighter]

Yeah, I will create a medical ID card. I just hate spending money for things that I can create on my own. And I hate the fact that so many of these bracelets are sold for high dollar.

Not a rich person so making my own medical ID card just makes sense.

 

[Snoooopy]

Don't know which country you're in, but this may be helpful if you're in the UK

I apologize as I forgot this is an international website. I live in the USA.

 

[Snoooopy]

do you mean you are allergic to the medication?

Hi, sorry for not being clear. It is not an allergy rather I am sensitive to a certain medication that is oftentimes used in emergency settings to calm one down. Unfortunately it increases my irritability, agitation, and anxiety. I guess one might call this a paradoxical effect? While it calms down the majority of people, it ends up ramping me up.

 

[Snoooopy]

You've all given me such good feedback to work with. I will look into the ICE bracelets. I am also struggling with a bit of shame as part of me says that my last emergency visit was within my control and if I could just stay on the straight and narrow then pre-planning wouldn't be necessary. I am trying to fight against these thoughts as deep down I know it's good to plan ahead when it comes to taking control of my health. I remind myself that best case scenario, all of my planning is for naught and I won't have to take advantage of this pre-planning. I just want to avoid another situation like the one I'm trying to pull myself out of now. Thank you.

 

[joeylittle]

@CrowFeather - I think you mean your post to be in a different thread. Can you let us know where to move it to?

Snooopy - ideally, you will notice that you need to admit yourself to the hospital, before you do something that would require emergency intervention. Are you working with a psychiatrist who has admitting privileges?

 

[Crow]

Thanks @joeylittle . I moved the post to the correct thread

 

[Snoooopy]

Joey,
My psychiatrist is a number of counties away. I have had my psychiatrist for a number of years now. Every local health person I've spoken with over the last few weeks has stressed how dire the local (county) psychiatrist situation is and has stressed how I must not let go of my current psychiatrist. This is the reality of living in rural America. My psychiatrist may have admitting privileges but his hospital would not be one which I would go to in an emergency situation as it would be far away. I guess you could say that the psychiatrist situation is part of why I feel the need to pre-plan to an extent. I do not have the luxury of being treated by my psychiatrist when admitted, and truth be told I wasn't transferred to the psych wing this last time after being medically cleared, I am guessing due to a shortage of beds. That is, the doctors that treated me were not psychiatrists, and I only spoke to a psychiatrist during the final hours of my stay. I know that if there is another stay like this last one, I won't be so lucky and will have to spend some time in the psych wing. (Everyone in my family was shocked that I was released so soon given the severity of the incident.) Events like the current one are infrequent, my last one of similar magnitude was almost a decade ago. I hope to never go through anything like this again, but the practical side of me fears that the wrong medical treatment could cause more harm than good. (I'm still recovering on the physical side, and it's unknown if there are to be any lasting physical effects which could have been avoided if I was given the right psych meds from the beginning.)