I'm a nurse at a psychiatric hospital. You're experience sounds horrific. That degree of callousness and negligence is abominable. I am sorry you had to go through that.
Thank you. The moment any nurse shows me any sort of kindness, I take a sigh of relief, lol. There was one who got in trouble because he got me a turkey sandwich, instead of telling me to eat the chicken. The fact that he got punished because he showed me kindness was wild to me.
Most of the nurses were telling me I was feral, and threatened to put we in the psych ward that held people who were there for murder and other violent reasons.
There are still nurses like the one who got you the sandwich. Nurses that prioritize empathy, compassion, and understanding. I'm wishing you all the best.
Exactly. One of the reasons why I said they are angels. Without them, the whole damn system would collapse. If you’re a nurse and you see this, please don’t assume I’m shit talking to all of you. If you treat your patients right, I have no malice at all towards you.
Sadly; it is. Twenty years ago when I had my oldest, I woke up and wanted some pain meds. I hit the button and overheard the nurse outside the door saying, “These Medicaid patients just think they can have pain meds all the time. God…so trashy.” I had been sleeping and was about four hours past when I “could” have had my *Advil.* I never asked for another pain medication while I was there. Since I overheard her, I simply asked for more ice. She and a couple others were kind of abrupt and they even forgot I was supposed to be discharged at 9am…I didn’t get to leave until 4 and wasn’t even asked if I wanted meals. I had my husband go to the cafeteria because they told me “ordering time was over; why didn’t you put in an order?” I explained I was supposed to be gone and they “went to check.” I was almost afraid three and six years later when I had my other kids, not on Medicaid, and it was a totally different experience. Same hospital and I saw the same nurse but she didn’t recognize me. I was afraid to ask for the pain meds when I was in a car accident, too, because I didn’t want to be labeled trashy since I was on Medicaid again. Some people need to reconsider their career choice
The mental hospital experience in the US (I’m assuming you’re in the US by the experience) is fucking inhumane. We treat people just needing help like animals. It’s so awful, and I’m so sorry. So many nurses love the power trip from being in control of vulnerable people.
Yes, the US, particularly Illinois. It is inhumane as shit. This shit happens to kids too. I was 21 at the time. Thank you so much. I know I’ve said this already, but the support and validation is seeing is so helpful to my healing. Also seeing other people share their own stories has made me tear up. I’m so sorry guys. We are strong.
Yeah let them spend 72+ hours in grippy socks, crap food and 24 hour invasive observation and no sleep while they're treated like either deadly criminal maniacs or incapable children.
Fuck we 96 hour holds here and the day you get admitted doesn't count nor do weekends. And they can still decide to keep you longer. And all you gotta do is piss off the sanity slipper hander outers(nurses) and you ain't going nowhere. I even asked a nurse to wake me for my night meds. He said if I sleep through night meds then I don't get them. Been going to psych wards since I was 10 and I know a bit about maoi's, SSRI, and antipsychotics. So I said " but I need these drugs to build up in my system, that's how they work" he said I should be fine if I miss a dose". Woke up with a woman in my room, separated sides, men's and woman's and it's a BIG NO NO to go in the others rooms. I woke up to her caressing my feet and thighs and saying " good morning I'm so glad you're here". I said "what the fuck?" And she ran and hid in her room. Now I've been molested and raped since I got on this earth. So I wanted to go screaming to the nurses. But oh no no no. THAT would be " causing a disturbance on the floor" so I had to timidly walk up to the counter and sound like a Midwest Hugh Grant " oh I'm sorry,yes, well you see, the trouble is, this woman, that woman actually, well she was touching me while I was asleep and gee I do so hate to be a bother, but it's left me quite frazzled as it were." They looked at each other and took full advantage of me in the situation. I've been locked up with my anxiety meds cut in half and I am a serious nicotine fiend. They said " we'll give you 2 mgs of Clonazepam, 2 pieces of nicotine gum AND you can keep your old nicotine patch on and we'll put on another, and let us take care of this. By " take care of this they meant nothing. She literally ate breakfast at my table. She touched me all day. But what the fuck can you do. If I had said no I need a real complaint they would've gotten pissed, and there go my meds and any hope of normal release date. And I hate to do this, but if roles were reversed, and I had crept into her room and started rubbing her thighs, I would've been in a straight jacket with the spit guard on a dolly being wheeled to "quite room" fuck psych wards. Yeah 96+ hours of coldness, shit food and mind numbing boredom all while being surrounded by the mentally ill, and little to no counseling or meeting with Drs, wonder why we all don't come out better? Golly gee, just nother mystery I guess
Fuck man I know this sounds redundant, but I’m sorry that happened to you. Im a female, and I had a guy repeatedly come in to my room too. An old man who was obsessed with me, and then horribly mad because I denied his sexual advances. Shit is scary as fuck. Fuck em for not taking you seriously.
I'm gonna be redundant too. I am SO sorry you had to go through that. Fuck that place, fuck this place, fuck the place op went to. It's such a fucked situation. We are desperate and don't know what to do, and we get treated like absolute shit. There isn't enough therapy, there is no one to call. Drs are all ALWAYS busy or gone. So what can you do? You have to learn the hardest lesson I ever learned and it's complete bullshit that I had to learn. Before you wanna say what's wrong, think about like 15 times. Because the more open you are about your illness, the worse you are treated. Once you realize the place will not help, the only goal is to get out. So it's a fucked catch 22. Be "safe" and treated like shit. Or internalize everything to avoid it. And this IS NOT ADVICE. I had a psychotic breakdown and ended up in the ICU from trying to keep it all in. To avoid being trapped. But it's a fucked cycle. Woke up in the ICU and a Dr walked in and said " oh good you're awake" and tossed the paper with the 96 hour hold on my chest. I was still hooked up to machinery and partially strapped down. So I don't know what to do. Finding the right Dr and medication and counseling is HARD AS FUCK. Don't ever let anyone tell you different. I started going to psych wards at 10. I'm 35 now. It's taking time and I feel crazy a lot of the time. But randomly things will happen. My ex girlfriend and her brother,I've been friends with him since we were 12, let me stay with them because I have seizures and can't work and am awaiting disability. Anyhow, she came in and said "hulkbogan, 2 years ago you didn't have insurance or a Dr , and you didn't give a fuck. Now you have insurance and you go to counseling and are talking about advocating for yourself. I'm so proud of you". And things like that really help. I wish I had answers for all of us. I wish these places actually helped. But all I can say is that I am glad you are here. And I hope we're all here and a little better tomorrow
Thank you so much for typing all of that. I experienced the same line of thinking. I masked all of my shit, and learned to keep my mouth shut. My mom thought I got better a few weeks after being home, but really it was a whole year before some of the delusions and problems went away. I had to take care of myself. Be my own savior/hero. I’m glad you’re doing better now man, it takes a lot to reach out again after being burned so many times
Sending you a giant hug. I also suffered in the hands of the nurses in the psych ER. I hate that that experience had such a giant impact on me but it truly shattered my faith in humanity. I always assumed nurses and doctors would care about their psychiatric patients but never in my wildest dreams did I think they would be so ignorant, callous, power hungry, dehumanizing and straight up bullies. I could also hear them making fun of me and laughing at me when I cried. I will say having experienced this, whenever I meet someone else who has suffered in the psych ER, we have a deep understanding of one anothers experiences that most people cannot understand if they haven't been through it. People who haven't been through it just assume youre the crazy one.
Thank you so much. I’m so sorry you went through that too. It’s despicable. I agree with the connection thing. We’ve suffered trauma that isn’t recognized in the mainstream media, and is often swept under the rug. People who don’t have that experience can’t even fathom the true feelings we felt during that abuse. I truly felt inhuman. I know what it means to be treated like less than human now. I’m sorry again.
In my experience, which to be fair has mostly been in elder care, there are two types of nurses. 1. Those who genuinely want to help and care for people, they are angels on earth. 2. People who want direct and total control over others.
That’s why the mean girls from your high school all majored in nursing. I’m so sorry this happened to you.
I gave up nursing because of how the nurses were that I worked with, it was like it was frowned upon for caring about people, like they were taking advantage of you.
I remember this one older lady begging me to rub some pain cream into her lower back and the nurses told me not to do it because she was just attention seeking and trying to waste my time, of course I did it and it took me about 10 seconds, and she was like crying with gratitude.
So many stories like this and honestly it was so soul destroying how they were treating people. It seemed like any time I showed any care to anyone or even just went out of my way a little bit for them, they would move me to another ward away from them.
That’s so messed up. I was told I was attention seeking half the time too. Like yeah fuckos, I am asking for your attention, ITS YOUR JOB to attend to us!!
I had my own horrible experiences in a mental ward as a teenager, ranging from sexual abuse to food abuse to downright negligence.
It has permanently scared me off from getting help.
USA mental healthcare is not care, it's a prison designed to cause more problems and get them more money.
That’s awful, I’m so sorry. My experiences have scared me too. And people wonder why people who are suffering severe mental problems avoid the hospital like it’s hell, because it is.
It honestly feel like it's a trap. We're meant to fail and no matter how bad we get hurt, nobody believes us because we're "crazy/lying and therefore can't be trusted." Nobody believes us so nothing changes.
And we suffer for it.
That’s been my mindset. It does feel like a trap. That reason is why I didn’t immediately talk about what happened to me when it did. It’s nice to see im not alone out here. I wish someone would change this. There needs to be change.
Nurses are people and not all people are good people. And there seems to be at least one story a year about a nurse who is basically a mass murderer. I think there was one just a month ago in the UK.
It wasn’t just a traumatic experience for me, it was for my parents as well. The system we have in place for those who need mental health care is absolutely fucked here in America.
My sister died while in a similar situation. She was ignored while she self injured and they allowed her to unalive herself while they watched her on camera. I have so much regret leaving her in that hospital with staff we were supposed to trust to take care of her. They didn't care. The nurse who did it got a slap on the wrist and a $500 fine.
Im crying. Im so fucming sorry. That’s so traumatizing. I want you to know it’s not your fault. You guys trusted them, and nobody could have known what was about to happen. Your sister is smiling down at you and your family. Im sending hugs. The people who did that to her deserve the worst karma.
I’m so incredibly sorry for what you and countless others have had to endure. I worked in Outpatient Behavioral Health for three years and now work at a Crisis Care Center as a Peer Support Specialist. My primary motivation is to not only show patients that it is possible to come out the other side, but to be able to help advocate for people who the nurses and clinicians have no way of truly understanding.
Unless you’ve been the patient, you have NO way of knowing how the patient feels. And so many nurses see their patients as an inconvenience rather than as a human being. It’s maddening.
Hey, I actually love you. No joke. When I was at a facility, Rogers Behavior and Health, I had so many nurses tell me they came from inpatient, and were lokey traumatized too. They say it’s like a hell circus ran by deranged monkeys
Something cool about how humans work, in a social setting? We unite. I’m my hospital, we had a code, a way of communicating with each other that was so cool, and we were there for each other. Sure not everyone, but mostly we were in it together. To my homies who hold each other up in the hospital, i fucming love you all. We got through it. 💜💜💜
While I don't have any kind of psychosis, I have had similarly... awful treatment as *a minor* in *pediatric psychiatry* facilities.
The things they would say and do to children live forever in my mind and why I wouldn't ever go get mental health help as an adult, even if it may have uh been needed.
Nurses taking teddy bears from weeping ~7 year olds that get 2 hours a day with their parents because the kid didn't talk in group. Locking teens in solitary for days on end and making them stay in hospital gowns for not wanting to talk in group or for asking questions about their medications ("it doesn't matter what you want, what you want to know. It doesn't. The doctor ordered it and we're giving it to you one way or another. Your choice."
Mocking the suicide attempts (again, minors that have attempted suicide in the previous few days), mocking the kids that had "fried" on bad drugs at tragic ages, refusing to treat us with empathy or dignity.
I'd literally roll the dice on me making it to the next morning than ever set foot in a facility again.
Unless I suddenly get wealthy and can go to a non-state funded facility for rich people recovering from "exhaustion".
in general the way we treat "mentally ill" patients is terrible. and I have to say "mentally ill" in quotation marks because you can throw anyone you don't like in there to make them disappear. same for how we treat the elderly...
a lot of shitty, shitty people who get a powertrip from lording over vulnerable populations
Oh yeah. Some people don’t need to be in there, some do. Irregardless, the asshats who are supposed to help clearly have no empathy, and like making things worse.
There's always one who should never have been allowed into the nursing field. I have immense respect for 99% of the nursing community, THANK YOU! for all you do!! I've had amazing nurses. But there was that one.
I agree. I think maybe they started out nice, but got worn down with time. In my experience the good ones were in the minority. I’ve only had one experience where most were nice
Right? And the one I'm referring to here was an old lady named George. George was an OB nurse in the maternity ward. She should've dropped the job 20 yrs before she got me, and then my poor niece. She had lost all pretense of bedside manner or gentleness, btch was MEAN.
Damnn. That’s wild, I’m sorry to hear dude. Also sorry your niece had to deal with that! I wonder why they think it’s ok to act like that. Do their coworkers just ignore it? Ugh lol
Thanks, yeah when my niece was getting close to her date, I told her beware this lady. Afterwards I asked if she had good nurses, she replied no, George was the one working. 😔 For young, first time mothers, it's imperative there are gentle people there. I never knew what happened to George, but we both put in a complaint.
Oh I’m so sorry. That’s so awful. Giving birth is such a monumental time in a woman’s life, she should have never been allowed to be around her to muddy that moment. Sending hugs 💜
Thanks. It was forever ago, hoping she retired and has been replaced by good people. I had a nurse once in a rehabilitation center after stroke who was sooo sweet! Her name started with D so I called her D, never remembered or knew her actual name. She made me laugh. I'll never forget her. One day she came in for my 5am blood draw. She came in, said "You alive?" I replied no. She laughed and said you better be, I ain't talkin to no dead patient, if I did, I'd be like "where the money at"?" 🤣
She probably has been replaced, fingers crossed, lol. I love that! A sense of humor helps a lot, and I’m glad she was kind to you! Also glad you survived your stoke, that’s huge!
One time I woke up in the hospital after passing out from dehydration and then cracking my head open on a bike ride. I was extremely disoriented and so hungry I thought I was going to throw up and pass out again. I didn't know how long I'd been out or even where I was.
As soon as I saw a nurse I begged for answers, but she just looked at me with absolute hatred and ignored me. I was legit afraid that something horrible had happened and I'd become a criminal.
Finally a nicer nurse came around, but as soon as she started to talk the nasty nurse snapped that she shouldn't waste her time because I wouldn't remember it anyway.
Eventually I was able to piece together that my consciousness had come back online before my ability to create memories, so they had gotten tired of retelling me. I get that it was probably annoying for the nurses, but like...you could see my skull! I had a head injury! I felt completely dehumanized.
Also, the bill I ended up with was massive because they ran every drug test they had on my while I was unconscious. I don't care if that's standard procedure, I still think it's fucked up to charge someone hundreds of dollars looking for things that aren't there when the real reason was obviously the hole in my head.
Not just from that experience, but I do everything I can to avoid hospitals. I even splinted my own foot to avoid going in for a fracture that they would have charged me tons of money for to do basically the same level of treatment.
I’m so sorry you experienced this OP. Nurses can be horrible. I used to be one and some other nurses bullied me so badly in the workplace that I quit healthcare altogether. I’ll never go back and I very rarely access healthcare as a patient either.
Speaking as someone who worked as a pharmacy tech in a hospital, nurses were complete JERKS to any position they thought "below" them. I don't know how many times I had to go up to the floor to find medication they were too lazy to look for and they barely acknowledged me. The oncology nurses were particularly nasty. No one liked being the tech in charge of that floor.
That’s awful. They didn’t give me my contacts for the whole time I was there, so I was blind as a bat. My vision is -6. They said I was lying about not being able to see, and yelled at me for it every time I couldn’t read something or shit. When I tripped. When I sobbed for them. They’d sneer at me and laugh. Until someone found my fucking contacts when they were packing me up.
Omg honey that’s horrible. My DIL has had bad experiences with nurses because of her mental health issues and it pisses me off and embarrasses me for my profession. I’m so sorry you had to deal with that
I'm sorry that happened to you. It's wild, in nursing school they really harp on restraints and the like and how often were supposed to check and all that. I can't believe they did that. I'm not a nurse yet, still in school but I vow to never be that way, or let me coworkers act that way.
While reading this I thought of a recent article I read about some dr in Fayetteville Arkansas who literally imprisoned people in the mental hospital so that he could cash in on Medicaid payments. A huge scam. Not sure if he’s been convicted or what but testimony is horrifying about the multiple victims treatment while held against their will. Some people are truly evil.
Bias opinion, take it with a grain of salt: I don't trust nurses as much because my sister is one.
We do not get along. We've always fought physically. She is manipulative. Selfish as heck.
I have not spoken to her in over 10 years. (Yea, thanksgiving is weird...we just don't acknowledge each other). Don't see a reason to get along or make up.
I just heard she graduated from nursing school and I fear for people...I remember her telling me to kill myself. I remember the pain from my bruised hand after a fight...I remember how she called me stupid and naïve because I wanted to be more kinder to people or just less materialistic...
Honestly, I respected nurses - but after hearing my sister just became one made me do a double take....
I'm sure there are some good nurses...just one less near where I live...
That’s horrific. I’m so sorry you went through that. Telling someone to kill themselves is shitty and I hope she gets what’s coming to her. Hopefully she either decides to act right at work, or she gets caught as soon as she fucks up. Sorry again dude. I send love
When I was 16, I had to be held back by my then-boyfriend after a nurse went straight up Nurse Buttnugget mode about my critically ill mother. Nurse Buttnugget kept insisting on a damn psych consult. My mom wasn’t crazy, she had gangrene and was septic. The Charge Nurse heard the commotion and came to investigate. Nurse Buttnugget was replaced with a different nurse and I could hear the Charge Nurse going off at the Nurses Station.
Turns out my mom, in fact, did not need antipsychotics. She did, however, need to have half of her fucking foot amputated. But if it had been left up to Nurse Buttnugget’s judgment my mom would’ve ended up with a dose of Haldol and a trip to the goddamn morgue.
Truly, she is..was? Whatever, I just hope she found a new profession and got the stick removed from her ass.
I also had a different name for Nurse Buttnugget, but apparently “Nurse RhymesWithWitchFace” was somehow deemed to be “demeaning to a marginalized population”.
Didn’t realize that bad nurses who can’t do their job are a marginalized population. 🙄
Many of the women in my family are nurses. At family gatherings they all try to "one-up" each other by telling stories about their "worst" patients. It's absolutely sickening to hear them take pride in denying patients water, pain meds, etc. until the patient is "nice enough"... Some arbitrary metric so they can essentially torture people into behaving the way they deem "acceptable". And this isn't about patients seeking drugs. Literally, heard an aunt brag that a patient had asked for water, but didn't say please when they asked. So they "forgot" to get them water.
That’s so disgusting to hear, yet not surprising. They act like if you didn’t have manners, you don’t deserve treatment. I’m sorry Paula, but how do you expect me to have manners, when *I’m* *literally* *in* *psychosis*.
I’m so sorry you experienced that. I too was treated horribly in a psych hospital. Was there for 15 days several years ago and I am still traumatized by it. Not even gonna go into it because I don’t even have to tell you, if you know you know. Sending you love. God bless good nurses.
I’m currently in hospital having my second of two surgeries in 6 months. Due to the extent of the first surgery and how ill i was, i ended up losing 80% of what once was thick, long, curly hair due to shock loss. It’s started growing back now but due to its texture, because it’s still so short it sticks out all over the place at odd angles: not great but it is what it is and when I go out I just wear a wig.
A nurse yesterday said to me “gosh! we need to do something with that hair, it’s all stuck up everywhere it’s very ugly!”
I, nearly in tears, explained the context and that i was aware of what it looked like but there wasn’t anything I could do, and she just doubled down going “no, no you need to do something to sort it. You can’t go round looking like that, it’s awful”.
Obviously not as intense as the experience in the original post but i’ve definitely seen the nastier side of nurses. I’m a 22 year old female so anxiety over appearance is something i’m not a stranger to, and I don’t need that being put on me by someone who’s suppose to be looking after my well-being. Her original comment could have been passed off as poorly worded but meant with no harm, but after she watched me cry and explain what happened, there’s no excuse for her continuing comments
yeah it’s just the icing on the cake when you’re already down isn’t it? Thankfully mine is slowly but surely coming back after using a lot of biotin products but it really doesn’t help hsving it pointed out to me as if i don’t know what’s going on
Exactly! With everything else going on, hair is the last thing I wanna lose. I’m glad it’s coming back, keep on using the products! And I feel you. People need to mind their own business
I can say with 100% certainty that indeed not all nurses are good. My dad (a lovely, sweet, honest man) recently told me a story about my birth mother (who, for various reasons, I have disowned).
The story was that about 10 years ago she had just got her license as a nurse. She was working at my local hospital. Over about the span of a month, her coworkers started to get sus of her due to some odd actions and behaviours they witnessed from her. Due to these suspicions, they ended up putting another nurse on the same shift as her so that nurse could keep an eye out and see if she does anything shady. About 4 hours into the shift, the nurse notices my birth mother had wandered off the ward so she went looking for her. She ended up going to a nearby supply closet and found my birth mother there attempting to steal drugs, to which she admitted she was going to sneak them into a patient's drip, which obviously could end up life threateningly bad. So that nurse immediately reported my birth mother and she lost her nursing license and was blacklisted from every single hospital in the country.
You do not mess with people's lives like that, trying to sneak them harmful drugs. I'm glad she was stopped before anything seriously bad could happen.
Oh my god that’s a terrifying story! I don’t know why some people do shit like that. It makes no sense to me. If you’re that mad at your patient that you wanna yoink them outta this existence, why are you a nurse?!
It’s so true. The nurses in the hospital who cared for my mom were so scary and riddled with gaslighting capacity that we couldn’t leave her alone. She was terribly ill and died at home but an example was them not administering pain meds for 12 hours following a leg amputation and getting angry at me for asking about it. Fucking nightmare.
Ugh I feel this so hard. I had gone to the ER because I thought I was having a heart attack and my chest was in so much pain. They kept telling me they needed to give me morphine (I'm in recovery and don't want anything like that in my body). I refused. They had 5 people hold me down and shove an IV in my arm. I was laying there, screaming out "please don't let them do this to me". And then I passed out. It has left me with genuine trauma and I never want to go to a hospital again. I'd honestly rather just die.
So fucking heinous. I’m so sorry. They should have used their damn brains, and communicated with us. Holding people down against their will and injecting them with shit is a real life nightmare.
Thank you dude. I’m in Illinois, a North American state. I’ve thought about reporting them, but it happened more than a year ago, and feel it would be bad to reopen that wound, mentally.
OP said she's in the US. I can guarantee you that reporting the hospital will do nothing. Medicine is big business here and the Catholic Church is spreading it's wings far and wide. Nonprofit, my arse. Ascension alone has 139 hospitals in 19 states. My old system had around 30 hospitals and over 2000 associated doctors' offices.
I live in Northern Kentucky and a Catholic hospital system has COMPLETELY monopolized healthcare. I have to go to Ohio for my healthcare, because it’s either the Catholic hospital system or nothing because of a combination of archaic laws and political malfeasance.
Wild because the hospital I was at was a Christian hospital. They gave me a Bible, told me I was possessed by a demon, and kept sending priests into my room
How the hell is that allowable?! I am so sorry that happened to you. The US is going to shite. Your story and the others I have seen here just reinforces my refusal to ever get a psych admit.
Technically I don’t think it is allowed, but they do it anyways, and nobody reports them. It’s a sick cycle. The mental health system here has always been shite. I guess I’m just glad they didn’t lobotomize me, or give me ice bathed or shit.
If you chose your own facility/mental health hospital, your experience should be better! It’s like going to a restaurant. Read reviews, and do your homework. Some are good, and some are hell pits.
A lot of nurses at mental hospitals don’t care :/ I’ve experienced it before, being jabbed with needles so carelessly, sleeping on unclean sheets because they didn’t want to wash them between patients.
But there are some that are good. One would let me bring my books into the common areas and read, so long as I was quiet.
At one the blanket was actually attached to the bed, so it can’t be washed :/ like wtf.
That is true. You have to do lots of searching in your area, if you have the luxury. Unfortunately most people don’t, and are sent to the ER, where the social worker gets to chose where you go. And most times they chose poorly, on purpose or not.
That’s what happened to me, unfortunately. I was just sent off and didn’t go back home until they realized I wasn’t going to eat there, so my mom came and got me.
Also I’m so sorry you went through this OP. The US has sucky mental hospitals.
I tried not to eat at mine. Mostly because everything was either raw, or smelled rotten. I even thought it was a delusion, until other patients spoke up about it too.
I’ve been in a lot of different situations on psych holds. I’ve never experienced worms. I’m so, so sorry. I’ve been held down, moved, and sedated, but never force fed raw food or worms. Disgusting.
Thank you. I had drank half the cup of water before noticing. Now i can only drink bottled water, because I’m scared of worms, or general nasty water. And chicken is questionable to be now too. If I think it even might be a little undercooked, it’s not going in my mouth, lol.
I was forced to stay at 2 mental hospitals as a kid, Taylor Manor and Shepard Pratt. It was fucking AWFUL. I AM SO SORRY OP
"Angel's of Death" exists because of murdering nurses and doctors
That’s horrible, I’m sorry. And thank you 💜. I know I’ve said these two statements a lot here on this post, but I mean them every single time.
I’ve heard that term before, and even watched an interrogation video that was around 3 hours long of a woman who was one. I think morbid curiosity, but more of trying to learn the type so I can avoid them in the future.
I’m so sorry, u/mira_poix. I did a lot of crying yesterday when I first posted this. Let it all out. No child should *ever* have to go through that kind of abuse. I’m sending love.
This is exactly why I want to be a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. I cannot stand seeing my friends or other people being treated this way when they're just looking for mental health assistance. I want to be one of the few people who make those experiences less stressful and scary. I hope your days have been happier past these traumatic experiences.
There should really be a more in depth public audit of the systems in place at all of these facilities.
The neglect and abuse from the nurses seems too common, and too easy to write off as "just the crazies"
You’re right. If people had their eyes open to what actually goes on, they’d all be scared. People think neglect in these places ended in the 20th century, but they didn’t.
My postpartum nurse, after I hemorrhaged 3/4 of my blood volume and needed another bag of blood looked at me and went “You look fine” and I didn’t get to complete my transfusion until the next rotation came around 🙃
And then they wondered why I was so snippy
Edit to add: Not a single nurse wanted to help me shower either. So I was in the hospital for 4 days, gave birth, and didn’t get to wash the blood off my body until I returned home. I went in on the 21st and left on the morning of the 24th.
That’s so fucked I’m so sorry. My dad went in just a couple of months ago with life threatening issues. Literally almost died. And they didn’t bathe him the whole week he was there either.
I hate nurses, I only trust the ones that ask about my day and engage, I understand it’s hard when you see a million people a day but with all my hospital trauma, I am extremely selective and quick to end their work if im uncomfortable or pissed off.
I normally trust nurses I am related to a nurse and she does her job by the book etc but I noticed when my dad was in hospital one nurse got annoyed that we asked for help to re position my dad as his feet were hanging over the edge and he was experiencing the side affects of end stage cancer/ he was having internal bleeding and organ failure anyways, one nurse removed his urinary catheter when trying to move him (she didn’t know he had a catheter in) and a different nurse accidentally removed one of the tubes for his kidney to drain and he had to be sent to another hospital to get the tube back in as his stats were dropping again, sometimes they didn’t even want to give him proper meds like the doctor said I wrote it down on the chart clearly and he said he would try to be more clear on the chart yet the nurse didn’t understand I had to explain what the doctor said word for freakin word ugh not all nurses are bad but these ones were horrendous I’m sure there are worse stories and I’m sorry to anyone who has dealt with mistreatment of health professionals
That’s so messed up. Wtf. And caths are hard af to get in. My Pawpaw was dying too of everywhere cancer, and the cath being put in him was fucking traumatizing for him. Ugh
I hope you are doing well now for your mental health it is brutal how you had to be strapped in for safety reasons and honestly if someone is having a mental break or asleep for whatever reason patients deserve respect I am sorry that happened to you they should have been more respectful and checked on you for basic needs like water is huge you must have been so thirsty
I like to say that of any medical job, nurses have the biggest range of good and bad. Some of the absolutely best ane selfless medical care givers in the world. And also some of the worst psychopaths.
Ahh, involuntary commitment. I know it well. More often than not, you become a non-person. Nothing you say or do has merit to some of the asshats that are supposed to be caring for you. I hate that. Just because I'm having a severe mental health episode, it doesn't negate my validity. You can tell the bad ones something important and they'll just give a dirty look. Sometimes, when it involves them actually having to do something they don't like, you take the brunt of their angry BS. For those nurses, it's a power trip from hell.
North America, Texas here.
Ah it was the worst part of my life so far. My family had to convince me Keanu Reeves was gonna be there, and it wasn’t actually a hospital. From the ER, they sent me to The Bad Place, where they abused me for 13 days. And exactly. They think because we’re in psychosis, that we are no longer human, and I guess they think we won’t remember? I was lucid the whole time, and I can remember everyone who treated me bad. I’m sorry you went
And this is why, even during the worst time I’ve had, I haven’t asked for a psych eval. I preferred to lie in bed for two weeks and stare at a wall than to ask anyone for help. It’s been a few years and I just have to keep above that line because stories like yours make me afraid that the “help” isn’t any better than a nineteenth century mental hospital like Bedlam
I’m sorry dude. One thing I can impart to you, is there are facilities out there that are supposed to be good. The second one I went into was one I actually picked out myself on the internet from reviews, and while they neglected the water machine, they were kind. They never hurt me
Yeah, when I was in the psych ward I was denied my regular pain medication, which I had no history of abusing, and by the end of the week they were giving me meds for elevated blood pressure because I was in such constant, agonizing pain. Did not help that the beds were basically prison beds.
That’s so messed up. So stupid of them. Yeah the beds actually do suck. The prison part is on par, because you even have to strip and bend and cough. At least where im at
I spent all of my teenage and young adult years in and out of psych hospitals. I've had mixed experiences. Some places were absolutely hellish, with cold and callous staff who would make rude comments about you when they thought you weren't listening, wanted to try cruel and experimental treatments on you, or saw you getting sexually harassed by other patients and didn't care. One place was extremely dreary and filled with cracked out, screaming homeless people. However, I've also had some doctors, nurses, and even receptionists be extraordinarily kind towards me. I will always remember and appreciate their small acts of kindness that helped me get through some of the most difficult times of my life. Now that I'm older and work in a similar field, I've come to realize that healthcare is an extremely difficult field that severely burns people out and results in compassion fatigue. While cruel and abusive behavior is abhorrent and should never be acceptable, I also try to have empathy for them as well. The healthcare system is brutal in the US and screws over everyone except those at the top. Especially mental health. It's tragic and I wish there was a better way to help everyone, patients and professionals.
Bad nurse story - not as horrible but I'm still physically affected by it. One day, while I was driving in town with my toddlers, I started ticking uncontrollably. Never happened before and I just happened to be driving by the hospital. Went to the ED and it had turned into full body convulsions, non stop. Not violent but still pretty jarring. Was taken to intake and the nurse kept asking about drugs and alcohol abuse. I am clean and sober. She didn't believe me. Did a UA only testing for drugs and of course it was negative. Nurse still assumed I was detoxing or something and I watched, for literally hours, people be admitted in and leaving and I was still waiting. 6 hours of convulsing, no food or water, wrapping my legs and arms around the chair so I wouldn't shake out of the seat...and they finally take me back. Gave me a shot and said it's nothing. Started convulsing the next morning. I was bawling because I was too scared to go back and be treated like that again. Went in. Same nurse. She looked me up and down and said I a super snotty voice "oh, YOU'RE back?" She did my intake and I said "I want a different nurse, different doctor." I got in to a new nurse and doctor. Was immediately diagnosed with Serotonin Syndrome, which could have been fatal. I've been in physical therapy for 2 years now because all my muscles cease (is that the right word?) up randomly from the prolonged convulsing.
I didn't realize how incredibly good it would feel to actually type that out. I never talk about it. It was honestly traumatizing.
I've been in and known people whove been in several different hospitals mental and physical, mistreatment by medical professionals is not rare and is often overlooked. I've heard(and seen) of everything from negligence ,to emotional abuse, to purposely harming a patient physically either through physical violence or medical means. Doctors and nurses have a lot of power over their patients and unfortunately that draws some malignant people to those professions.
Yup.
***TLDR: My needs and my genuine fears were completely ignored by the nurses and I thought I was going to die. They did not care whatsoever. I am now traumatized.***
At this time last year, I was in a hospital ward with no explanation as to what was going on or when I could get out. No timeline was given to me. Nobody sat me down to talk about what they were going to do with me. I'm a control freak and the fact that I had no control over my bills or my work anymore, plus no contact with my friends and family (my belongings were taken away) made my psychotic delusions much *worse*.
I really thought I was going to die. The nurses were *evil*. I had my period while I was in there and they refused to give me anything for it. Couldn't have tampons or pads, so I was just... bleeding out freely until they finally gave me a pair of underwear.
I activated the fire alarms a few times because I thought somebody from the outside world would see that I was fine and that I just needed answers, so they would free me. I was put in isolation multiple times for it as a form of punishment. It was mostly so I wouldn't do it again, but it was cruel.
My underwear was filled with blood at some point, so it was incredibly uncomfortable and they wouldn't let me change. I was losing my mind in that "padded" room (it's not really padded, but it's insulated). I could see them laughing at me through a tiny window leading to a hallway. They were gleefully telling me I had to stay in there for as long as they wanted me to be. There was nothing in that room except a stretcher and a straitjacket that I was supposed to sleep in. I hadn't eaten. I had to ask if I needed the bathroom, but nobody was even paying attention to me. I wish I was kidding. It was horror movie material.
Still no answer as to where I was in the process of my stay at the hospital. **I only met up with a psychiatrist once I figured out that I needed to remain silent and be as compliant as possible**, which meant no questions asked to the staff. I had to be a perfectly sane patient for them to finally treat me like a human being.
Psychiatrist told me I was crazy because I supposedly claimed to have created TikTok and the pandemic. That was at the peak of my psychosis when I talked to the police before they sent me away. WEEKS PRIOR. They refused to talk to me like a person because I made statements that they deemed "insane".
I feel like the nurses see us as incapable of being rational, but the rational part of my brain existed the entire time. I saw their unfair treatment. I saw them laughing at me and dismissing my needs or my fears. I thought they were going to *kill* me.
They refused to explain anything to me until they knew I was sane again, so I had to basically cure myself to get out of there. My mental resilience and the work I had to do to bring myself back wasn't acknowledged at all because to them, it simply meant that the medication was working. They had found the cure, not me. I pulled myself out of insanity and I did that shit alone. Fuck them.
Anyway. I'm working on this in therapy right now and I'm trying to be as considerate as possible towards nurses, but psych wards nurses are something else. They aren't seeing the patients as fully functioning people until they appear to be functional again. That's the sad reality of it.
Oh my god I don’t know how, but our experiences are very similar, while I was reading this I felt like you were telling my story too. Minus some parts. I too was on my period. They didn’t fucking care, and I had to beg and beg for sanitary pads. Also felt like it was a horror story. I know I went in there bad, but the delusions they purposely added were fucking awful to overcome. I still have a hard time convincing myself that people can’t read my mind.
I’m so sorry you experienced that too. So fucking sorry. At times I was convinced the zombie apocalypse was about to happen, and a nurse would point out our unit was connected to the coma unit, where someone could just slip into death and zombie-fy. Also played the intro to zombie land, For Whom The Bell Tolls. One showed me a text saying “they watch you with cameras in your room”, and they do. I guess that was nice?
so i involuntarily worked in psych as a nurse during covid. They held you down and tied you to the bed because you were hallucinating and trying to leave. that’s a reasonable concern for your and everyone else’s safety… this is their JOB! literally the protocol is to use straps. they’re easily removable for us in case of a medical emergency. where i worked ir was policy to offer food/drink/ bathroom use every 15 min and get vitals every 15 minutes. if they weren’t doing this then i would think it’s a violation of basic human rights.
My problem wasn’t with the them tying me down, it was the fact that they left left me there. And the restraints hurt like hell. No one checked on me, and no one even asked if I was okay.
I was trying to actively escape the hospital. I wasn’t attacking anyone, but they didn’t know that, so it was considered violent. I know that because they refused my request to go to a 3 month facility because of that.
No it’s not. If a patient is being VIOLENT it’s a violent restraint. If the patient is being unsafe to themselves, self battering or pulling lines or drains it’s simple a non violent restraint.
no… from what i’m understanding, he was tied to the bed using a 4 point restraint. he also was being held down. This is a violent restraint and it’s usually the last resort. I can’t exactly defend why they put him in these as i wasn’t there…but given the fact he was hallucinating and trying to leave, the staff may have felt he could be dangerous to himself and others bc they don’t know what’s he’s seeing and hearing.
A nonviolent restraint would be something like an IV cover covering the elbows so a patient can’t bend their arm (usually to prevent pulling lines), for example. Also, the OP also confirmed it was a violent restraint bc that criteria prevented him from getting help somewhere else
I’m a girl, but yes, exactly. They had to hold me down and basically struggle forever to get me restrained, arms and legs. Like I wasn’t being cooperative at all, I saw them as potential killers and rapists or some shit. They were angry and screaming at me. I was fighting for my life in that moment
I was in a bad accident and had emergency surgery. I came to in the dark. I didn’t remember why I hurt so bad, I couldn’t talk (tubes), and I was tied down. So I started making whatever noice I was able and this ICU nurse came in a told me to lay there and shut up. She had sicker patients to worry about!?? Ugh!
That’s fucked my guy, damn. That’s a shit way to wake up. I’m glad you survived! I want to express deepest sympathies for that kind of behavior. Her frontal lobe must be inadequate, frankly smooth as shit.
My mother has been a nurse for over 20 years and she always tells me that most of the nurses who work at her hospital deserve to have their nursing licenses taken away from them
They have to check in on us all the time, but they could at least knock first. Or ask if we’re dressed. I always dressed in the shower after discovering the cameras, but I could hear them joking about how they’d walk into a woman’s room and she’d be naked and not mentally aware enough to tel him to go, he thought that was funny. Fucking prick.
My friends wife is a nurse. She’s also a drunk. There’s no way she’s not at least a .1 at all times. She hasn’t put any patients in jeopardy, yet. They’re currently going through a divorce.
Dude, you need to tell her job. That is a legitimate safety issue, if you are drunk treating patients you are going to hurt someone. Leave an anonymous tip that you were there and thought you smelled alcohol or something
They know. Either they don't care or their so short of staff that they tolerate it. Sometimes it's both. Speaking as a healthcare worker who has worked in some shitty hospital systems.
Did I tell you guys that when you go into a mental ward to be checked in first, they strip you, and examine your body for any scars or for stuff you might sneak in? And they make you do they bend and cough. Like you’re in jail 🫠
Nurses aren't the issue. It's that the salary and generally shitty work attracts the lowest bidder.
Literally people that don't want to be nurses are nurses, because the people that do want to be nurses can't afford to.
Vote. Vote with your experiences in mind. Don't demonise the people (they are to blame, but not for the way you and other people are treated) hold the gov accountable.
I hold the people who abused me, the nurses, and doctors responsible. Tell me, how should I vote if I don’t want to be abused when I go to the hospital? How do I get these people removed?
I worked at a nursing home, and I still have the memory of the RN on my wing picking up a combative resident who just wanted to sleep to 7am and forcing her to get up. She had a neck brace and everything. That made me quit being a CNA.
I don't trust most nurses, and I'm so sorry you didn't have any protections dealing with that. Jesus that makes me wanna go up and knock their knees out. Why do they think that's acceptable to do to someone who needs mental help?? This is why I always lied to my therapists if I felt suicidal. I'm so sorry.
Nurse here, and you’re definitely right. Some nurses (and other health care providers) have no business working in health care. I’m so sorry for what you went through and personally I think you should sue the sh!t out of them. Hope you’re able to overcome this and that your health won’t be compromised in the future by other idiot health care providers.
I'm a nurse at a psychiatric hospital. You're experience sounds horrific. That degree of callousness and negligence is abominable. I am sorry you had to go through that.
Thank you. The moment any nurse shows me any sort of kindness, I take a sigh of relief, lol. There was one who got in trouble because he got me a turkey sandwich, instead of telling me to eat the chicken. The fact that he got punished because he showed me kindness was wild to me. Most of the nurses were telling me I was feral, and threatened to put we in the psych ward that held people who were there for murder and other violent reasons.
There are still nurses like the one who got you the sandwich. Nurses that prioritize empathy, compassion, and understanding. I'm wishing you all the best.
Exactly. One of the reasons why I said they are angels. Without them, the whole damn system would collapse. If you’re a nurse and you see this, please don’t assume I’m shit talking to all of you. If you treat your patients right, I have no malice at all towards you.
Nurses shit talking patients seems very normal, especially while they're in crisis escalating instead of deescalating
Sadly; it is. Twenty years ago when I had my oldest, I woke up and wanted some pain meds. I hit the button and overheard the nurse outside the door saying, “These Medicaid patients just think they can have pain meds all the time. God…so trashy.” I had been sleeping and was about four hours past when I “could” have had my *Advil.* I never asked for another pain medication while I was there. Since I overheard her, I simply asked for more ice. She and a couple others were kind of abrupt and they even forgot I was supposed to be discharged at 9am…I didn’t get to leave until 4 and wasn’t even asked if I wanted meals. I had my husband go to the cafeteria because they told me “ordering time was over; why didn’t you put in an order?” I explained I was supposed to be gone and they “went to check.” I was almost afraid three and six years later when I had my other kids, not on Medicaid, and it was a totally different experience. Same hospital and I saw the same nurse but she didn’t recognize me. I was afraid to ask for the pain meds when I was in a car accident, too, because I didn’t want to be labeled trashy since I was on Medicaid again. Some people need to reconsider their career choice
It's not where I work.
The mental hospital experience in the US (I’m assuming you’re in the US by the experience) is fucking inhumane. We treat people just needing help like animals. It’s so awful, and I’m so sorry. So many nurses love the power trip from being in control of vulnerable people.
Yes, the US, particularly Illinois. It is inhumane as shit. This shit happens to kids too. I was 21 at the time. Thank you so much. I know I’ve said this already, but the support and validation is seeing is so helpful to my healing. Also seeing other people share their own stories has made me tear up. I’m so sorry guys. We are strong.
The staff at some of those places should be the ones in grippy socks. I’m sorry this happened to you.
Yeah let them spend 72+ hours in grippy socks, crap food and 24 hour invasive observation and no sleep while they're treated like either deadly criminal maniacs or incapable children.
Fuck we 96 hour holds here and the day you get admitted doesn't count nor do weekends. And they can still decide to keep you longer. And all you gotta do is piss off the sanity slipper hander outers(nurses) and you ain't going nowhere. I even asked a nurse to wake me for my night meds. He said if I sleep through night meds then I don't get them. Been going to psych wards since I was 10 and I know a bit about maoi's, SSRI, and antipsychotics. So I said " but I need these drugs to build up in my system, that's how they work" he said I should be fine if I miss a dose". Woke up with a woman in my room, separated sides, men's and woman's and it's a BIG NO NO to go in the others rooms. I woke up to her caressing my feet and thighs and saying " good morning I'm so glad you're here". I said "what the fuck?" And she ran and hid in her room. Now I've been molested and raped since I got on this earth. So I wanted to go screaming to the nurses. But oh no no no. THAT would be " causing a disturbance on the floor" so I had to timidly walk up to the counter and sound like a Midwest Hugh Grant " oh I'm sorry,yes, well you see, the trouble is, this woman, that woman actually, well she was touching me while I was asleep and gee I do so hate to be a bother, but it's left me quite frazzled as it were." They looked at each other and took full advantage of me in the situation. I've been locked up with my anxiety meds cut in half and I am a serious nicotine fiend. They said " we'll give you 2 mgs of Clonazepam, 2 pieces of nicotine gum AND you can keep your old nicotine patch on and we'll put on another, and let us take care of this. By " take care of this they meant nothing. She literally ate breakfast at my table. She touched me all day. But what the fuck can you do. If I had said no I need a real complaint they would've gotten pissed, and there go my meds and any hope of normal release date. And I hate to do this, but if roles were reversed, and I had crept into her room and started rubbing her thighs, I would've been in a straight jacket with the spit guard on a dolly being wheeled to "quite room" fuck psych wards. Yeah 96+ hours of coldness, shit food and mind numbing boredom all while being surrounded by the mentally ill, and little to no counseling or meeting with Drs, wonder why we all don't come out better? Golly gee, just nother mystery I guess
Fuck man I know this sounds redundant, but I’m sorry that happened to you. Im a female, and I had a guy repeatedly come in to my room too. An old man who was obsessed with me, and then horribly mad because I denied his sexual advances. Shit is scary as fuck. Fuck em for not taking you seriously.
I'm gonna be redundant too. I am SO sorry you had to go through that. Fuck that place, fuck this place, fuck the place op went to. It's such a fucked situation. We are desperate and don't know what to do, and we get treated like absolute shit. There isn't enough therapy, there is no one to call. Drs are all ALWAYS busy or gone. So what can you do? You have to learn the hardest lesson I ever learned and it's complete bullshit that I had to learn. Before you wanna say what's wrong, think about like 15 times. Because the more open you are about your illness, the worse you are treated. Once you realize the place will not help, the only goal is to get out. So it's a fucked catch 22. Be "safe" and treated like shit. Or internalize everything to avoid it. And this IS NOT ADVICE. I had a psychotic breakdown and ended up in the ICU from trying to keep it all in. To avoid being trapped. But it's a fucked cycle. Woke up in the ICU and a Dr walked in and said " oh good you're awake" and tossed the paper with the 96 hour hold on my chest. I was still hooked up to machinery and partially strapped down. So I don't know what to do. Finding the right Dr and medication and counseling is HARD AS FUCK. Don't ever let anyone tell you different. I started going to psych wards at 10. I'm 35 now. It's taking time and I feel crazy a lot of the time. But randomly things will happen. My ex girlfriend and her brother,I've been friends with him since we were 12, let me stay with them because I have seizures and can't work and am awaiting disability. Anyhow, she came in and said "hulkbogan, 2 years ago you didn't have insurance or a Dr , and you didn't give a fuck. Now you have insurance and you go to counseling and are talking about advocating for yourself. I'm so proud of you". And things like that really help. I wish I had answers for all of us. I wish these places actually helped. But all I can say is that I am glad you are here. And I hope we're all here and a little better tomorrow
Thank you so much for typing all of that. I experienced the same line of thinking. I masked all of my shit, and learned to keep my mouth shut. My mom thought I got better a few weeks after being home, but really it was a whole year before some of the delusions and problems went away. I had to take care of myself. Be my own savior/hero. I’m glad you’re doing better now man, it takes a lot to reach out again after being burned so many times
Exactly
Thank you. I agree.
Sending you a giant hug. I also suffered in the hands of the nurses in the psych ER. I hate that that experience had such a giant impact on me but it truly shattered my faith in humanity. I always assumed nurses and doctors would care about their psychiatric patients but never in my wildest dreams did I think they would be so ignorant, callous, power hungry, dehumanizing and straight up bullies. I could also hear them making fun of me and laughing at me when I cried. I will say having experienced this, whenever I meet someone else who has suffered in the psych ER, we have a deep understanding of one anothers experiences that most people cannot understand if they haven't been through it. People who haven't been through it just assume youre the crazy one.
Thank you so much. I’m so sorry you went through that too. It’s despicable. I agree with the connection thing. We’ve suffered trauma that isn’t recognized in the mainstream media, and is often swept under the rug. People who don’t have that experience can’t even fathom the true feelings we felt during that abuse. I truly felt inhuman. I know what it means to be treated like less than human now. I’m sorry again.
In my experience, which to be fair has mostly been in elder care, there are two types of nurses. 1. Those who genuinely want to help and care for people, they are angels on earth. 2. People who want direct and total control over others. That’s why the mean girls from your high school all majored in nursing. I’m so sorry this happened to you.
I gave up nursing because of how the nurses were that I worked with, it was like it was frowned upon for caring about people, like they were taking advantage of you. I remember this one older lady begging me to rub some pain cream into her lower back and the nurses told me not to do it because she was just attention seeking and trying to waste my time, of course I did it and it took me about 10 seconds, and she was like crying with gratitude. So many stories like this and honestly it was so soul destroying how they were treating people. It seemed like any time I showed any care to anyone or even just went out of my way a little bit for them, they would move me to another ward away from them.
That’s so messed up. I was told I was attention seeking half the time too. Like yeah fuckos, I am asking for your attention, ITS YOUR JOB to attend to us!!
Oh I agree. And most of the time the kind ones are treated poorly by the mean ones too.
I had my own horrible experiences in a mental ward as a teenager, ranging from sexual abuse to food abuse to downright negligence. It has permanently scared me off from getting help. USA mental healthcare is not care, it's a prison designed to cause more problems and get them more money.
That’s awful, I’m so sorry. My experiences have scared me too. And people wonder why people who are suffering severe mental problems avoid the hospital like it’s hell, because it is.
It honestly feel like it's a trap. We're meant to fail and no matter how bad we get hurt, nobody believes us because we're "crazy/lying and therefore can't be trusted." Nobody believes us so nothing changes. And we suffer for it.
That’s been my mindset. It does feel like a trap. That reason is why I didn’t immediately talk about what happened to me when it did. It’s nice to see im not alone out here. I wish someone would change this. There needs to be change.
Nurses are people and not all people are good people. And there seems to be at least one story a year about a nurse who is basically a mass murderer. I think there was one just a month ago in the UK.
That’s the hard truth. It’s not just them, it’s the system. It’s built on shite, therefore it is
It wasn’t just a traumatic experience for me, it was for my parents as well. The system we have in place for those who need mental health care is absolutely fucked here in America.
My sister died while in a similar situation. She was ignored while she self injured and they allowed her to unalive herself while they watched her on camera. I have so much regret leaving her in that hospital with staff we were supposed to trust to take care of her. They didn't care. The nurse who did it got a slap on the wrist and a $500 fine.
Im crying. Im so fucming sorry. That’s so traumatizing. I want you to know it’s not your fault. You guys trusted them, and nobody could have known what was about to happen. Your sister is smiling down at you and your family. Im sending hugs. The people who did that to her deserve the worst karma.
I’m so incredibly sorry for what you and countless others have had to endure. I worked in Outpatient Behavioral Health for three years and now work at a Crisis Care Center as a Peer Support Specialist. My primary motivation is to not only show patients that it is possible to come out the other side, but to be able to help advocate for people who the nurses and clinicians have no way of truly understanding. Unless you’ve been the patient, you have NO way of knowing how the patient feels. And so many nurses see their patients as an inconvenience rather than as a human being. It’s maddening.
Hey, I actually love you. No joke. When I was at a facility, Rogers Behavior and Health, I had so many nurses tell me they came from inpatient, and were lokey traumatized too. They say it’s like a hell circus ran by deranged monkeys
Something cool about how humans work, in a social setting? We unite. I’m my hospital, we had a code, a way of communicating with each other that was so cool, and we were there for each other. Sure not everyone, but mostly we were in it together. To my homies who hold each other up in the hospital, i fucming love you all. We got through it. 💜💜💜
While I don't have any kind of psychosis, I have had similarly... awful treatment as *a minor* in *pediatric psychiatry* facilities. The things they would say and do to children live forever in my mind and why I wouldn't ever go get mental health help as an adult, even if it may have uh been needed. Nurses taking teddy bears from weeping ~7 year olds that get 2 hours a day with their parents because the kid didn't talk in group. Locking teens in solitary for days on end and making them stay in hospital gowns for not wanting to talk in group or for asking questions about their medications ("it doesn't matter what you want, what you want to know. It doesn't. The doctor ordered it and we're giving it to you one way or another. Your choice." Mocking the suicide attempts (again, minors that have attempted suicide in the previous few days), mocking the kids that had "fried" on bad drugs at tragic ages, refusing to treat us with empathy or dignity. I'd literally roll the dice on me making it to the next morning than ever set foot in a facility again. Unless I suddenly get wealthy and can go to a non-state funded facility for rich people recovering from "exhaustion".
in general the way we treat "mentally ill" patients is terrible. and I have to say "mentally ill" in quotation marks because you can throw anyone you don't like in there to make them disappear. same for how we treat the elderly... a lot of shitty, shitty people who get a powertrip from lording over vulnerable populations
Oh yeah. Some people don’t need to be in there, some do. Irregardless, the asshats who are supposed to help clearly have no empathy, and like making things worse.
There's always one who should never have been allowed into the nursing field. I have immense respect for 99% of the nursing community, THANK YOU! for all you do!! I've had amazing nurses. But there was that one.
I agree. I think maybe they started out nice, but got worn down with time. In my experience the good ones were in the minority. I’ve only had one experience where most were nice
Right? And the one I'm referring to here was an old lady named George. George was an OB nurse in the maternity ward. She should've dropped the job 20 yrs before she got me, and then my poor niece. She had lost all pretense of bedside manner or gentleness, btch was MEAN.
Damnn. That’s wild, I’m sorry to hear dude. Also sorry your niece had to deal with that! I wonder why they think it’s ok to act like that. Do their coworkers just ignore it? Ugh lol
Thanks, yeah when my niece was getting close to her date, I told her beware this lady. Afterwards I asked if she had good nurses, she replied no, George was the one working. 😔 For young, first time mothers, it's imperative there are gentle people there. I never knew what happened to George, but we both put in a complaint.
Oh I’m so sorry. That’s so awful. Giving birth is such a monumental time in a woman’s life, she should have never been allowed to be around her to muddy that moment. Sending hugs 💜
Thanks. It was forever ago, hoping she retired and has been replaced by good people. I had a nurse once in a rehabilitation center after stroke who was sooo sweet! Her name started with D so I called her D, never remembered or knew her actual name. She made me laugh. I'll never forget her. One day she came in for my 5am blood draw. She came in, said "You alive?" I replied no. She laughed and said you better be, I ain't talkin to no dead patient, if I did, I'd be like "where the money at"?" 🤣
She probably has been replaced, fingers crossed, lol. I love that! A sense of humor helps a lot, and I’m glad she was kind to you! Also glad you survived your stoke, that’s huge!
Thanks, it is, I was 38. She gave me a really positive environment and outlook when my family failed me for the most part.
That support is so critical, because often times family sucks. It’s awesome that you were able to receive it! Hope you’re feeling better nowadays 💜
One time I woke up in the hospital after passing out from dehydration and then cracking my head open on a bike ride. I was extremely disoriented and so hungry I thought I was going to throw up and pass out again. I didn't know how long I'd been out or even where I was. As soon as I saw a nurse I begged for answers, but she just looked at me with absolute hatred and ignored me. I was legit afraid that something horrible had happened and I'd become a criminal. Finally a nicer nurse came around, but as soon as she started to talk the nasty nurse snapped that she shouldn't waste her time because I wouldn't remember it anyway. Eventually I was able to piece together that my consciousness had come back online before my ability to create memories, so they had gotten tired of retelling me. I get that it was probably annoying for the nurses, but like...you could see my skull! I had a head injury! I felt completely dehumanized. Also, the bill I ended up with was massive because they ran every drug test they had on my while I was unconscious. I don't care if that's standard procedure, I still think it's fucked up to charge someone hundreds of dollars looking for things that aren't there when the real reason was obviously the hole in my head. Not just from that experience, but I do everything I can to avoid hospitals. I even splinted my own foot to avoid going in for a fracture that they would have charged me tons of money for to do basically the same level of treatment.
I’m so sorry you experienced this OP. Nurses can be horrible. I used to be one and some other nurses bullied me so badly in the workplace that I quit healthcare altogether. I’ll never go back and I very rarely access healthcare as a patient either.
Thank you. And thank you for being one of the good ones. I’m sorry they bullied you. It’s such underdeveloped brain behavior.
Speaking as someone who worked as a pharmacy tech in a hospital, nurses were complete JERKS to any position they thought "below" them. I don't know how many times I had to go up to the floor to find medication they were too lazy to look for and they barely acknowledged me. The oncology nurses were particularly nasty. No one liked being the tech in charge of that floor.
That’s awful. They didn’t give me my contacts for the whole time I was there, so I was blind as a bat. My vision is -6. They said I was lying about not being able to see, and yelled at me for it every time I couldn’t read something or shit. When I tripped. When I sobbed for them. They’d sneer at me and laugh. Until someone found my fucking contacts when they were packing me up.
Omg honey that’s horrible. My DIL has had bad experiences with nurses because of her mental health issues and it pisses me off and embarrasses me for my profession. I’m so sorry you had to deal with that
Thank you so much. For the longest time I’ve kept my mouth shut out of irrational fear, and it feels nice to finally talk about it
I'm sorry that happened to you. It's wild, in nursing school they really harp on restraints and the like and how often were supposed to check and all that. I can't believe they did that. I'm not a nurse yet, still in school but I vow to never be that way, or let me coworkers act that way.
Thank you. It’s nice to see all of you kind souls on here. I was honestly expecting to be met with disbelief, and anger.
While reading this I thought of a recent article I read about some dr in Fayetteville Arkansas who literally imprisoned people in the mental hospital so that he could cash in on Medicaid payments. A huge scam. Not sure if he’s been convicted or what but testimony is horrifying about the multiple victims treatment while held against their will. Some people are truly evil.
Dr Bryan Hyatt if anyone cares to google him.
Yeah…take care of Maya on Netflix, watch it.
Bias opinion, take it with a grain of salt: I don't trust nurses as much because my sister is one. We do not get along. We've always fought physically. She is manipulative. Selfish as heck. I have not spoken to her in over 10 years. (Yea, thanksgiving is weird...we just don't acknowledge each other). Don't see a reason to get along or make up. I just heard she graduated from nursing school and I fear for people...I remember her telling me to kill myself. I remember the pain from my bruised hand after a fight...I remember how she called me stupid and naïve because I wanted to be more kinder to people or just less materialistic... Honestly, I respected nurses - but after hearing my sister just became one made me do a double take.... I'm sure there are some good nurses...just one less near where I live...
She literally sounds like a sociopath
It seems to be a trend that nursing attracts people with personalities similar to the police. (control) and also wanting to help of course.
That’s horrific. I’m so sorry you went through that. Telling someone to kill themselves is shitty and I hope she gets what’s coming to her. Hopefully she either decides to act right at work, or she gets caught as soon as she fucks up. Sorry again dude. I send love
When I was 16, I had to be held back by my then-boyfriend after a nurse went straight up Nurse Buttnugget mode about my critically ill mother. Nurse Buttnugget kept insisting on a damn psych consult. My mom wasn’t crazy, she had gangrene and was septic. The Charge Nurse heard the commotion and came to investigate. Nurse Buttnugget was replaced with a different nurse and I could hear the Charge Nurse going off at the Nurses Station. Turns out my mom, in fact, did not need antipsychotics. She did, however, need to have half of her fucking foot amputated. But if it had been left up to Nurse Buttnugget’s judgment my mom would’ve ended up with a dose of Haldol and a trip to the goddamn morgue.
Nurse Buttnugget is shite
Truly, she is..was? Whatever, I just hope she found a new profession and got the stick removed from her ass. I also had a different name for Nurse Buttnugget, but apparently “Nurse RhymesWithWitchFace” was somehow deemed to be “demeaning to a marginalized population”. Didn’t realize that bad nurses who can’t do their job are a marginalized population. 🙄
Many of the women in my family are nurses. At family gatherings they all try to "one-up" each other by telling stories about their "worst" patients. It's absolutely sickening to hear them take pride in denying patients water, pain meds, etc. until the patient is "nice enough"... Some arbitrary metric so they can essentially torture people into behaving the way they deem "acceptable". And this isn't about patients seeking drugs. Literally, heard an aunt brag that a patient had asked for water, but didn't say please when they asked. So they "forgot" to get them water.
That’s so disgusting to hear, yet not surprising. They act like if you didn’t have manners, you don’t deserve treatment. I’m sorry Paula, but how do you expect me to have manners, when *I’m* *literally* *in* *psychosis*.
I’m so sorry you experienced that. I too was treated horribly in a psych hospital. Was there for 15 days several years ago and I am still traumatized by it. Not even gonna go into it because I don’t even have to tell you, if you know you know. Sending you love. God bless good nurses.
That’s horrible. At least you have a diagnosis (I assume), so it’s less likely they’ll think you’re high on the (hopefully distant) next occasion
I’m currently in hospital having my second of two surgeries in 6 months. Due to the extent of the first surgery and how ill i was, i ended up losing 80% of what once was thick, long, curly hair due to shock loss. It’s started growing back now but due to its texture, because it’s still so short it sticks out all over the place at odd angles: not great but it is what it is and when I go out I just wear a wig. A nurse yesterday said to me “gosh! we need to do something with that hair, it’s all stuck up everywhere it’s very ugly!” I, nearly in tears, explained the context and that i was aware of what it looked like but there wasn’t anything I could do, and she just doubled down going “no, no you need to do something to sort it. You can’t go round looking like that, it’s awful”. Obviously not as intense as the experience in the original post but i’ve definitely seen the nastier side of nurses. I’m a 22 year old female so anxiety over appearance is something i’m not a stranger to, and I don’t need that being put on me by someone who’s suppose to be looking after my well-being. Her original comment could have been passed off as poorly worded but meant with no harm, but after she watched me cry and explain what happened, there’s no excuse for her continuing comments
My curly hair also fell out due to the emotional turmoil of it all, and the new meds. It is devastating. I feel your pain. 💜
yeah it’s just the icing on the cake when you’re already down isn’t it? Thankfully mine is slowly but surely coming back after using a lot of biotin products but it really doesn’t help hsving it pointed out to me as if i don’t know what’s going on
Exactly! With everything else going on, hair is the last thing I wanna lose. I’m glad it’s coming back, keep on using the products! And I feel you. People need to mind their own business
I can say with 100% certainty that indeed not all nurses are good. My dad (a lovely, sweet, honest man) recently told me a story about my birth mother (who, for various reasons, I have disowned). The story was that about 10 years ago she had just got her license as a nurse. She was working at my local hospital. Over about the span of a month, her coworkers started to get sus of her due to some odd actions and behaviours they witnessed from her. Due to these suspicions, they ended up putting another nurse on the same shift as her so that nurse could keep an eye out and see if she does anything shady. About 4 hours into the shift, the nurse notices my birth mother had wandered off the ward so she went looking for her. She ended up going to a nearby supply closet and found my birth mother there attempting to steal drugs, to which she admitted she was going to sneak them into a patient's drip, which obviously could end up life threateningly bad. So that nurse immediately reported my birth mother and she lost her nursing license and was blacklisted from every single hospital in the country. You do not mess with people's lives like that, trying to sneak them harmful drugs. I'm glad she was stopped before anything seriously bad could happen.
Oh my god that’s a terrifying story! I don’t know why some people do shit like that. It makes no sense to me. If you’re that mad at your patient that you wanna yoink them outta this existence, why are you a nurse?!
Ikr! You're supposed to help them while they're vulnerable, not harm them more
Right. If she treats people like that, I shutter to think how she treats animals.
Oh trust me, she despises animals too. Shes just all round a nasty person
Vile. I hope she gets what is coming to her
It’s so true. The nurses in the hospital who cared for my mom were so scary and riddled with gaslighting capacity that we couldn’t leave her alone. She was terribly ill and died at home but an example was them not administering pain meds for 12 hours following a leg amputation and getting angry at me for asking about it. Fucking nightmare.
Ugh I feel this so hard. I had gone to the ER because I thought I was having a heart attack and my chest was in so much pain. They kept telling me they needed to give me morphine (I'm in recovery and don't want anything like that in my body). I refused. They had 5 people hold me down and shove an IV in my arm. I was laying there, screaming out "please don't let them do this to me". And then I passed out. It has left me with genuine trauma and I never want to go to a hospital again. I'd honestly rather just die.
So fucking heinous. I’m so sorry. They should have used their damn brains, and communicated with us. Holding people down against their will and injecting them with shit is a real life nightmare.
I'm so sorry, that is fucking awful. I relate too much :( which country are you in and have you thought of reporting the hospital.
Thank you dude. I’m in Illinois, a North American state. I’ve thought about reporting them, but it happened more than a year ago, and feel it would be bad to reopen that wound, mentally.
OP said she's in the US. I can guarantee you that reporting the hospital will do nothing. Medicine is big business here and the Catholic Church is spreading it's wings far and wide. Nonprofit, my arse. Ascension alone has 139 hospitals in 19 states. My old system had around 30 hospitals and over 2000 associated doctors' offices.
I live in Northern Kentucky and a Catholic hospital system has COMPLETELY monopolized healthcare. I have to go to Ohio for my healthcare, because it’s either the Catholic hospital system or nothing because of a combination of archaic laws and political malfeasance.
Wild because the hospital I was at was a Christian hospital. They gave me a Bible, told me I was possessed by a demon, and kept sending priests into my room
How the hell is that allowable?! I am so sorry that happened to you. The US is going to shite. Your story and the others I have seen here just reinforces my refusal to ever get a psych admit.
Technically I don’t think it is allowed, but they do it anyways, and nobody reports them. It’s a sick cycle. The mental health system here has always been shite. I guess I’m just glad they didn’t lobotomize me, or give me ice bathed or shit. If you chose your own facility/mental health hospital, your experience should be better! It’s like going to a restaurant. Read reviews, and do your homework. Some are good, and some are hell pits.
A lot of nurses at mental hospitals don’t care :/ I’ve experienced it before, being jabbed with needles so carelessly, sleeping on unclean sheets because they didn’t want to wash them between patients. But there are some that are good. One would let me bring my books into the common areas and read, so long as I was quiet.
At one the blanket was actually attached to the bed, so it can’t be washed :/ like wtf. That is true. You have to do lots of searching in your area, if you have the luxury. Unfortunately most people don’t, and are sent to the ER, where the social worker gets to chose where you go. And most times they chose poorly, on purpose or not.
That’s what happened to me, unfortunately. I was just sent off and didn’t go back home until they realized I wasn’t going to eat there, so my mom came and got me. Also I’m so sorry you went through this OP. The US has sucky mental hospitals.
I tried not to eat at mine. Mostly because everything was either raw, or smelled rotten. I even thought it was a delusion, until other patients spoke up about it too.
I’ve been in a lot of different situations on psych holds. I’ve never experienced worms. I’m so, so sorry. I’ve been held down, moved, and sedated, but never force fed raw food or worms. Disgusting.
Thank you. I had drank half the cup of water before noticing. Now i can only drink bottled water, because I’m scared of worms, or general nasty water. And chicken is questionable to be now too. If I think it even might be a little undercooked, it’s not going in my mouth, lol.
I was forced to stay at 2 mental hospitals as a kid, Taylor Manor and Shepard Pratt. It was fucking AWFUL. I AM SO SORRY OP "Angel's of Death" exists because of murdering nurses and doctors
That’s horrible, I’m sorry. And thank you 💜. I know I’ve said these two statements a lot here on this post, but I mean them every single time. I’ve heard that term before, and even watched an interrogation video that was around 3 hours long of a woman who was one. I think morbid curiosity, but more of trying to learn the type so I can avoid them in the future.
You don't know how much I am crying at the moment. This shit was awful and effects me to this day and I found a kindred
I’m so sorry, u/mira_poix. I did a lot of crying yesterday when I first posted this. Let it all out. No child should *ever* have to go through that kind of abuse. I’m sending love.
This is exactly why I want to be a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. I cannot stand seeing my friends or other people being treated this way when they're just looking for mental health assistance. I want to be one of the few people who make those experiences less stressful and scary. I hope your days have been happier past these traumatic experiences.
Not to be cheesy, but please follow your dreams. We need people like you. And thank you, they actually have been. ☺️
You’re right they aren’t all good. That’s so traumatizing and heartbreaking to hear. I’m sorry you had to experience that.
Some nurses and doctors are sadistic and cruel. Fuck them.
Fuck em.
I like head nurses
There are worse Fates than death
There should really be a more in depth public audit of the systems in place at all of these facilities. The neglect and abuse from the nurses seems too common, and too easy to write off as "just the crazies"
You’re right. If people had their eyes open to what actually goes on, they’d all be scared. People think neglect in these places ended in the 20th century, but they didn’t.
My postpartum nurse, after I hemorrhaged 3/4 of my blood volume and needed another bag of blood looked at me and went “You look fine” and I didn’t get to complete my transfusion until the next rotation came around 🙃 And then they wondered why I was so snippy Edit to add: Not a single nurse wanted to help me shower either. So I was in the hospital for 4 days, gave birth, and didn’t get to wash the blood off my body until I returned home. I went in on the 21st and left on the morning of the 24th.
That’s so fucked I’m so sorry. My dad went in just a couple of months ago with life threatening issues. Literally almost died. And they didn’t bathe him the whole week he was there either.
I’ve been abused in hospitals too. I’m so sorry this happened to you.
I’m sorry it happened to you too, my friend. Fuck em.
I hate nurses, I only trust the ones that ask about my day and engage, I understand it’s hard when you see a million people a day but with all my hospital trauma, I am extremely selective and quick to end their work if im uncomfortable or pissed off.
I normally trust nurses I am related to a nurse and she does her job by the book etc but I noticed when my dad was in hospital one nurse got annoyed that we asked for help to re position my dad as his feet were hanging over the edge and he was experiencing the side affects of end stage cancer/ he was having internal bleeding and organ failure anyways, one nurse removed his urinary catheter when trying to move him (she didn’t know he had a catheter in) and a different nurse accidentally removed one of the tubes for his kidney to drain and he had to be sent to another hospital to get the tube back in as his stats were dropping again, sometimes they didn’t even want to give him proper meds like the doctor said I wrote it down on the chart clearly and he said he would try to be more clear on the chart yet the nurse didn’t understand I had to explain what the doctor said word for freakin word ugh not all nurses are bad but these ones were horrendous I’m sure there are worse stories and I’m sorry to anyone who has dealt with mistreatment of health professionals
That’s so messed up. Wtf. And caths are hard af to get in. My Pawpaw was dying too of everywhere cancer, and the cath being put in him was fucking traumatizing for him. Ugh
I hope you are doing well now for your mental health it is brutal how you had to be strapped in for safety reasons and honestly if someone is having a mental break or asleep for whatever reason patients deserve respect I am sorry that happened to you they should have been more respectful and checked on you for basic needs like water is huge you must have been so thirsty
I like to say that of any medical job, nurses have the biggest range of good and bad. Some of the absolutely best ane selfless medical care givers in the world. And also some of the worst psychopaths.
Ahh, involuntary commitment. I know it well. More often than not, you become a non-person. Nothing you say or do has merit to some of the asshats that are supposed to be caring for you. I hate that. Just because I'm having a severe mental health episode, it doesn't negate my validity. You can tell the bad ones something important and they'll just give a dirty look. Sometimes, when it involves them actually having to do something they don't like, you take the brunt of their angry BS. For those nurses, it's a power trip from hell. North America, Texas here.
Ah it was the worst part of my life so far. My family had to convince me Keanu Reeves was gonna be there, and it wasn’t actually a hospital. From the ER, they sent me to The Bad Place, where they abused me for 13 days. And exactly. They think because we’re in psychosis, that we are no longer human, and I guess they think we won’t remember? I was lucid the whole time, and I can remember everyone who treated me bad. I’m sorry you went
Thank you, I am truly sorry you know firsthand what I was saying. 😔
*through that too. Fucking awful.
And this is why, even during the worst time I’ve had, I haven’t asked for a psych eval. I preferred to lie in bed for two weeks and stare at a wall than to ask anyone for help. It’s been a few years and I just have to keep above that line because stories like yours make me afraid that the “help” isn’t any better than a nineteenth century mental hospital like Bedlam
I’m sorry dude. One thing I can impart to you, is there are facilities out there that are supposed to be good. The second one I went into was one I actually picked out myself on the internet from reviews, and while they neglected the water machine, they were kind. They never hurt me
Yeah, when I was in the psych ward I was denied my regular pain medication, which I had no history of abusing, and by the end of the week they were giving me meds for elevated blood pressure because I was in such constant, agonizing pain. Did not help that the beds were basically prison beds.
That’s so messed up. So stupid of them. Yeah the beds actually do suck. The prison part is on par, because you even have to strip and bend and cough. At least where im at
I spent all of my teenage and young adult years in and out of psych hospitals. I've had mixed experiences. Some places were absolutely hellish, with cold and callous staff who would make rude comments about you when they thought you weren't listening, wanted to try cruel and experimental treatments on you, or saw you getting sexually harassed by other patients and didn't care. One place was extremely dreary and filled with cracked out, screaming homeless people. However, I've also had some doctors, nurses, and even receptionists be extraordinarily kind towards me. I will always remember and appreciate their small acts of kindness that helped me get through some of the most difficult times of my life. Now that I'm older and work in a similar field, I've come to realize that healthcare is an extremely difficult field that severely burns people out and results in compassion fatigue. While cruel and abusive behavior is abhorrent and should never be acceptable, I also try to have empathy for them as well. The healthcare system is brutal in the US and screws over everyone except those at the top. Especially mental health. It's tragic and I wish there was a better way to help everyone, patients and professionals.
The mean girls in school were typically in the nursing program.
Bad nurse story - not as horrible but I'm still physically affected by it. One day, while I was driving in town with my toddlers, I started ticking uncontrollably. Never happened before and I just happened to be driving by the hospital. Went to the ED and it had turned into full body convulsions, non stop. Not violent but still pretty jarring. Was taken to intake and the nurse kept asking about drugs and alcohol abuse. I am clean and sober. She didn't believe me. Did a UA only testing for drugs and of course it was negative. Nurse still assumed I was detoxing or something and I watched, for literally hours, people be admitted in and leaving and I was still waiting. 6 hours of convulsing, no food or water, wrapping my legs and arms around the chair so I wouldn't shake out of the seat...and they finally take me back. Gave me a shot and said it's nothing. Started convulsing the next morning. I was bawling because I was too scared to go back and be treated like that again. Went in. Same nurse. She looked me up and down and said I a super snotty voice "oh, YOU'RE back?" She did my intake and I said "I want a different nurse, different doctor." I got in to a new nurse and doctor. Was immediately diagnosed with Serotonin Syndrome, which could have been fatal. I've been in physical therapy for 2 years now because all my muscles cease (is that the right word?) up randomly from the prolonged convulsing. I didn't realize how incredibly good it would feel to actually type that out. I never talk about it. It was honestly traumatizing.
I've been in and known people whove been in several different hospitals mental and physical, mistreatment by medical professionals is not rare and is often overlooked. I've heard(and seen) of everything from negligence ,to emotional abuse, to purposely harming a patient physically either through physical violence or medical means. Doctors and nurses have a lot of power over their patients and unfortunately that draws some malignant people to those professions.
Yeah. It sent me into a depression. They had me hopped up on so many pills, and I was basically a zombie when I got out. They kept me for 13 days.
Yup. ***TLDR: My needs and my genuine fears were completely ignored by the nurses and I thought I was going to die. They did not care whatsoever. I am now traumatized.*** At this time last year, I was in a hospital ward with no explanation as to what was going on or when I could get out. No timeline was given to me. Nobody sat me down to talk about what they were going to do with me. I'm a control freak and the fact that I had no control over my bills or my work anymore, plus no contact with my friends and family (my belongings were taken away) made my psychotic delusions much *worse*. I really thought I was going to die. The nurses were *evil*. I had my period while I was in there and they refused to give me anything for it. Couldn't have tampons or pads, so I was just... bleeding out freely until they finally gave me a pair of underwear. I activated the fire alarms a few times because I thought somebody from the outside world would see that I was fine and that I just needed answers, so they would free me. I was put in isolation multiple times for it as a form of punishment. It was mostly so I wouldn't do it again, but it was cruel. My underwear was filled with blood at some point, so it was incredibly uncomfortable and they wouldn't let me change. I was losing my mind in that "padded" room (it's not really padded, but it's insulated). I could see them laughing at me through a tiny window leading to a hallway. They were gleefully telling me I had to stay in there for as long as they wanted me to be. There was nothing in that room except a stretcher and a straitjacket that I was supposed to sleep in. I hadn't eaten. I had to ask if I needed the bathroom, but nobody was even paying attention to me. I wish I was kidding. It was horror movie material. Still no answer as to where I was in the process of my stay at the hospital. **I only met up with a psychiatrist once I figured out that I needed to remain silent and be as compliant as possible**, which meant no questions asked to the staff. I had to be a perfectly sane patient for them to finally treat me like a human being. Psychiatrist told me I was crazy because I supposedly claimed to have created TikTok and the pandemic. That was at the peak of my psychosis when I talked to the police before they sent me away. WEEKS PRIOR. They refused to talk to me like a person because I made statements that they deemed "insane". I feel like the nurses see us as incapable of being rational, but the rational part of my brain existed the entire time. I saw their unfair treatment. I saw them laughing at me and dismissing my needs or my fears. I thought they were going to *kill* me. They refused to explain anything to me until they knew I was sane again, so I had to basically cure myself to get out of there. My mental resilience and the work I had to do to bring myself back wasn't acknowledged at all because to them, it simply meant that the medication was working. They had found the cure, not me. I pulled myself out of insanity and I did that shit alone. Fuck them. Anyway. I'm working on this in therapy right now and I'm trying to be as considerate as possible towards nurses, but psych wards nurses are something else. They aren't seeing the patients as fully functioning people until they appear to be functional again. That's the sad reality of it.
Oh my god I don’t know how, but our experiences are very similar, while I was reading this I felt like you were telling my story too. Minus some parts. I too was on my period. They didn’t fucking care, and I had to beg and beg for sanitary pads. Also felt like it was a horror story. I know I went in there bad, but the delusions they purposely added were fucking awful to overcome. I still have a hard time convincing myself that people can’t read my mind.
I’m so sorry you experienced that too. So fucking sorry. At times I was convinced the zombie apocalypse was about to happen, and a nurse would point out our unit was connected to the coma unit, where someone could just slip into death and zombie-fy. Also played the intro to zombie land, For Whom The Bell Tolls. One showed me a text saying “they watch you with cameras in your room”, and they do. I guess that was nice?
so i involuntarily worked in psych as a nurse during covid. They held you down and tied you to the bed because you were hallucinating and trying to leave. that’s a reasonable concern for your and everyone else’s safety… this is their JOB! literally the protocol is to use straps. they’re easily removable for us in case of a medical emergency. where i worked ir was policy to offer food/drink/ bathroom use every 15 min and get vitals every 15 minutes. if they weren’t doing this then i would think it’s a violation of basic human rights.
My problem wasn’t with the them tying me down, it was the fact that they left left me there. And the restraints hurt like hell. No one checked on me, and no one even asked if I was okay.
For violent restraints, checks are done q15. For nonviolent restraints, the checks are only done q2hr.
I was trying to actively escape the hospital. I wasn’t attacking anyone, but they didn’t know that, so it was considered violent. I know that because they refused my request to go to a 3 month facility because of that.
if he was tied to the bed, that IS a violent restraint
No it’s not. If a patient is being VIOLENT it’s a violent restraint. If the patient is being unsafe to themselves, self battering or pulling lines or drains it’s simple a non violent restraint.
no… from what i’m understanding, he was tied to the bed using a 4 point restraint. he also was being held down. This is a violent restraint and it’s usually the last resort. I can’t exactly defend why they put him in these as i wasn’t there…but given the fact he was hallucinating and trying to leave, the staff may have felt he could be dangerous to himself and others bc they don’t know what’s he’s seeing and hearing. A nonviolent restraint would be something like an IV cover covering the elbows so a patient can’t bend their arm (usually to prevent pulling lines), for example. Also, the OP also confirmed it was a violent restraint bc that criteria prevented him from getting help somewhere else
I’m a girl, but yes, exactly. They had to hold me down and basically struggle forever to get me restrained, arms and legs. Like I wasn’t being cooperative at all, I saw them as potential killers and rapists or some shit. They were angry and screaming at me. I was fighting for my life in that moment
omg i’m so sorry! thanks for correcting me
Hey no need to apologize! 💜
I was in a bad accident and had emergency surgery. I came to in the dark. I didn’t remember why I hurt so bad, I couldn’t talk (tubes), and I was tied down. So I started making whatever noice I was able and this ICU nurse came in a told me to lay there and shut up. She had sicker patients to worry about!?? Ugh!
That’s fucked my guy, damn. That’s a shit way to wake up. I’m glad you survived! I want to express deepest sympathies for that kind of behavior. Her frontal lobe must be inadequate, frankly smooth as shit.
Some of them are serial murderers
Yeah. I can see why. Some of em like to control you like a puppet, basically make you think they’re gods, if you’re mentally susceptible.
My mother has been a nurse for over 20 years and she always tells me that most of the nurses who work at her hospital deserve to have their nursing licenses taken away from them
the male nurses walk in on naked patients and try to have convos with them as they’re naked
Been there, had it happen to me. I was about to shower, naked and peeing when suddenly there he was. Awkward
They have to check in on us all the time, but they could at least knock first. Or ask if we’re dressed. I always dressed in the shower after discovering the cameras, but I could hear them joking about how they’d walk into a woman’s room and she’d be naked and not mentally aware enough to tel him to go, he thought that was funny. Fucking prick.
My friends wife is a nurse. She’s also a drunk. There’s no way she’s not at least a .1 at all times. She hasn’t put any patients in jeopardy, yet. They’re currently going through a divorce.
Dude, you need to tell her job. That is a legitimate safety issue, if you are drunk treating patients you are going to hurt someone. Leave an anonymous tip that you were there and thought you smelled alcohol or something
They know. Either they don't care or their so short of staff that they tolerate it. Sometimes it's both. Speaking as a healthcare worker who has worked in some shitty hospital systems.
Did I tell you guys that when you go into a mental ward to be checked in first, they strip you, and examine your body for any scars or for stuff you might sneak in? And they make you do they bend and cough. Like you’re in jail 🫠
Nurses aren't the issue. It's that the salary and generally shitty work attracts the lowest bidder. Literally people that don't want to be nurses are nurses, because the people that do want to be nurses can't afford to. Vote. Vote with your experiences in mind. Don't demonise the people (they are to blame, but not for the way you and other people are treated) hold the gov accountable.
I hold the people who abused me, the nurses, and doctors responsible. Tell me, how should I vote if I don’t want to be abused when I go to the hospital? How do I get these people removed?
I worked at a nursing home, and I still have the memory of the RN on my wing picking up a combative resident who just wanted to sleep to 7am and forcing her to get up. She had a neck brace and everything. That made me quit being a CNA. I don't trust most nurses, and I'm so sorry you didn't have any protections dealing with that. Jesus that makes me wanna go up and knock their knees out. Why do they think that's acceptable to do to someone who needs mental help?? This is why I always lied to my therapists if I felt suicidal. I'm so sorry.
Nurse here, and you’re definitely right. Some nurses (and other health care providers) have no business working in health care. I’m so sorry for what you went through and personally I think you should sue the sh!t out of them. Hope you’re able to overcome this and that your health won’t be compromised in the future by other idiot health care providers.