Battles

Thankyou @heartathome sweet ❤️

Hi @MissGremlin

so glad you got a little bit of sleep and I did think you had a puppy - trying to calm is so important, remember it is about accepting things are tough, and being mindful that the thoughts and visions ARE only that - and like waves on the beach they come and they go, we cannot rush a wave, so focus on your puppy and his breathe, feel his fur and be kind to you 🙂

Mindee

Hey @MissGremlin , sounds like the telehealth referral didn’t pan out? (sorry, I’m not up to date on what happened, but I had thought somewhere had accepted your referral this time and was willing to do it as telehealth?)

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@MissGremlin wrote:

But then I was left feeling so hurt after they suggested that I get some sleep and I told them that I've been trying but i can't cos I keep having panic attacks, their response was 'I don't think i can do anything to support you, I hope you have a restful night' then they ended the chat. It took so much strength to reach out in that moment and to get that response after opening up and sharing how I'm thinking and feeling really, really hurt.

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Wow. I have no words for how shocked I am at that crisis line person’s response to you. Wow. They don’t seem to have understood how scary sleeping is when you have frequent nightmares and panic attacks?! What an utterly unhelpful thing for them to suggest you needed to get some sleep! (Like you don’t already know that?!) And to say they didn’t think they could do anything to support you??? I mean, like… sit with you on the phone whilst you calmed down and perhaps help guide you through some grounding exercises or something??? I mean, I have zero training in this and also do not have lived-experience of anxiety or panic attacks (other than a 2 month period) — but even I know a few things that can maybe help. And I also know that saying “I can’t help you; have a good sleep” is about the WORST thing that could be said to someone who is having panic attacks and nightmares preventing sleep! 😳😵

… if you wanted to give the organisation some feedback on your experience for them to review & in future improve their staff training & services… that would be totally warranted!

@AlwaysMyself they did accept it then I couldn't answer the call when they rang and despite me ringing back to explain what happened and why I couldn't they just don't seem to want to try to help now. I guess my fault for ruining it and not being able to answer.

That's just it, i reached out cos I was scared and just didn't want to be alone. I'd been sitting with things for hours trying to manage alone rather than bothering a crisis service but it got to a point where I just needed to be heard and to not feel alone. I had already told them that i was having a panic attack over the thought of going to sleep so for them to just say get some sleep even after I'd shared that I couldn't just felt so dismissive then to say that they couldn't help, well it hurt so much.

I've done that previously but when you are struggling trying to provide feedback is the last thing you want to try to do.

Aww hun, I am so sorry @MissGremlin . I don’t perceive it as you ruining it - not because you weren’t able to answer when they called. I can understand they may then have concerns around “reliability” of attending appointments, but if that is their threshold for not even trying a service that someone with anxiety really needs… shame on them for that. Again, this is something that the advocate within me strongly says “that is not fair on @MissGremlin , and the org need to understand this better and the impacts this “policy” or behaviour on their end has”. 😭

I have literally this afternoon just submitted a “feedback” (complaints) form about my recent experience with a MH service who was meant to call me back over a week ago and have not, as well as that they were meant to check-in 2 weeks ago to follow-up on how a referral panned out (or didn’t) and they have not. Will wait and see what response I get 😏 - but even a “oops, we dropped the ball. so sorry! and this is what we’re changing to help prevent it happening to anyone in the future…” is enough for me — I just want to know why and how they will improve services/process in the future to ensure it doesn’t keep happening to others too.

I rarely give formal feedback to a place, but in this case I was explicitly promised multiple times that I would be called back / check-up for how things pan out.

I am proud that you did reach out @MissGremlin , because I know it isn’t easy.

Given that the crisis lines are explicitly there for helping people with overwhelm or anxiety or thoughts, i wonder whether calling them earlier before it gets so bad would be possible?

I mean, they’re there anyway - whether or not you call. i don’t think they perceive it as a “bother”. And I reckon they’re probably better equiped to help when things are less-severe, so maybe reaching out before it gets to higher anxiety-panic levels mights actually help them with being able to help you? 🤔

You know what I googled last night?
“When is it OK to call a crisis line?” 🤣😅

I kid you not. I struggle with that a lot! And yet I know i would encourage others to call when they have thoughts like mine. But because I know there is no “solution” to mine and that logic just makes it escalate, i feel like I can’t/shouldn’t call a crisis line because all they can do is listen to me and perhaps “appreciate” my different perspective and experience to the typical caller with SI.

@AlwaysMyself I'm going to have to reply a bit later I'm sorry. Things are crashing here at the moment, I'm back to seeing things and hearing things. Today has been so hard and I'm honestly struggling to make it through the day. I just want to be able to sleep but I can't. I've tried to do things to relax but nothing is helping, I tried to do a drawing but got frustrated and ripped the page out of my book, I have a movie on but even the noise is annoying me, I had a shower in the hopes that it would help to calm me down, I listened to music, i talked to a friend on the phone, reached out to a crisis line, had a cool drink but nothing is providing any relief. I'm at a loss as to what to do but I can't take much more of this 😞.

I'm safe (for now) and laying on my lounge with Casper on top of me.

Glad Casper is with you @MissGremlin .

I hear you are doing everything you know to do but it’s not currently helping.

I wish I knew how to help you. Please know I care a lot.

Hey @MissGremlin 👋

I just wanted to let you know that I am listening. And I'm so sorry for all that you are currently going through.

Such a difficult time for you. And the support, or lack thereof, from the crisis line is very poor I have to say. It shows a distinct lack of understanding of someone going through what you currently are. If only they knew how hard it is to actually call them at all 😕

Anyway, that was last night. I trust that tonight is much improved for you and that you manage to get some rest. At least your puppy would be some comfort to you and I'm glad you have each other.

You are welcome to tag me anytime 💕 Although I am not on here a lot these days, I do respond to tags.

I am having a lot of sleepless nights myself of late, and frequent nightmares. So I can sympathise.

Take care ❤️

Thankyou @AlwaysMyself sweet ❤️

Hello @Emelia8, thankyou ❤️.

It really has and is so hard at the moment. It doesn't matter whether it's day time or night time but if I sleep I wake up having full on panic attacks. It took alot to reach out to the crisis service last night and after that happened it left me feeling like why did I bother.

I really hope tonight is better but it's been like this for a while now and each night just seems to be getting worse. It definitely helps to have Casper, he's always by my side.

Thankyou sweet ❤️.

I'm sorry you are having alot of sleepless nights and nightmares, it's absolutely horrible to go through. Sending you hugs ❤️.

Hope Hannah is doing well too ☺️