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I haven’t written about my sister for a while but it’s not because she isn’t still interesting. Or embarrassing. It’s more that I just get tired of the crazy and sometimes writing about it starts to feel like crazy overload. Lynne was have trouble with the police recently and was calling me all the time to tell me about it. She would complain that they were always driving by and watching her. I doubt that was the paranoia. I think that if they have any idea at all it would behoove them to keep an eye on her.
She was bothering neighbors this year and evidently a couple of them actually turned her in. One neighbor saw my dad outside and told him that he needed to do something about her. That brings me back to something that really pisses me off. People always seem to have this idea that the family just doesn’t know or want to be bothered. The reality is that you can be pretty crazy and there is nothing that anyone can do to help. If you’re new here, please check out a few of these stories to get an idea of the frustration involved in trying to get help for a mentally ill family member. Here's a good one.
Lynne’s harassment of the neighbor’s continued and the police continued driving by. Then they stepped it up a notch and started knocking on her door. Which in turn stepped up the crazy phone calls to my house.
Lynne- “I don’t know what those people want but they were at the door.”
Me- “What people?”
Lynne- “The police.”
Me- “Didn’t you answer the door?”
Lynne- “Hell, no, I didn’t answer the door! For all I know, they might want to haul me off.”
Me- “So you just pretended not to be home? Like Grandma used to do when we had to play the “hiding game” when the Jehovah’s Witnesses were in the neighborhood?”
Lynne, sounding smug.- “Yep.”
A few days later there was another frantic call.
Lynne- “Jesus Christ, they were here again!”
Me- “Huh? The police?
Lynne- “Yes, those bastards.”
Me- “Well, what did they want?”
Lynne- “I don’t know! I didn’t answer the door. Do you think I’m crazy or something? I just know that I didn’t call them and I don’t want any part of it.”
Me- “Well, if you don’t answer the door then how are you going to find out what they want?”
Lynne, screeching- “I don’t give a fuck what they want! I just climbed out my bedroom window for Christ’s sake!”
I couldn’t respond for a while because I was laughing too hard. They eventually caught up with her outside and just advised her to leave the neighbors alone.
My mom called a few days ago to tell me that there were a couple of murderers loose in Lynne’s small town.
Mom- “It was in the paper. They beat some guy to death and they haven’t found them yet. I’m not telling Lynne.”
I thought that was pretty funny but still, I thought maybe she should have a head’s up on actual killers loose in town, as opposed to the regular thing where she just thinks the neighbors are trying to kill her.
Showing posts with label crazy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crazy. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Crazy Neighbors and I Mean REALLY Crazy
Last night I was entertaining Andrea with stories about the neighborhood EH (ex-husband) and I used to live in.
Back when we were both graduate students, we rented a house that was pretty nice and in a fairly decent neighborhood. One block further east it got a little dicey. Then another block east after that one and it was getting into really scary stuff.
But back to our block in our not-so-scary neighborhood. It was a large Spanish-style house with the tile roof. The house to our left was brick and so large that it was pretty close to being considered a mansion. That was where Crazy Freddy lived. Of course we didn’t know that he was crazy until he came over for a visit.
I remember one evening standing in the back yard pruning the roses growing on the fence. The fence was close to Freddy’s driveway and he came over to introduce himself. He was probably in his fifties at the time but since I was so young it seemed like he was pretty old. He seemed all right at first but it wasn’t long before he was telling me about his upcoming trip on the Concord. It was still flying back then so I was buying the story because clearly the guy had some money. Then he mentioned that the purpose of his trip was to go to London and meet the queen. I decided to quit my pruning early because I could not wait to get in the house and tell EH. I had already made a diagnosis of bi-polar disorder but really, going to meet the queen? I still can’t believe that I didn’t laugh.
Freddy kept to himself for the most part and we didn’t see much of him. Then one day after getting out of the shower EH mentioned seeing Freddy
EH- “Well, you missed it.”
Me- “Missed what?”
EH- “Freddy just walked across the street, picked up seed pods and threw them up in the air.”
Me- “What’s so interesting about that?”
EH- “Well, he was completely naked at the time. Then the ambulance came to get him.”
I was sorry to have missed that.
Freddy was gone for a while but eventually returned. A few months later, as expected, Freddy went nuts again. He went crazy in the house he shared with his mother, breaking things, etc. He ended up in our driveway at some point and was arrested, naked again. I missed the whole thing but the nanny filled me in when I got home. Veronique was French and when she got excited she would speak rapidly in a mixture of French and English. She was pretty excited that day and all I caught at first was ‘Freddy’ and ‘naked’. I had to ask her to slow down and repeat things before I had any clue what she was saying. Then she said something about fish since Freddy’s son came over and gave her the fish that were rescued from their shattered tank. We had no choice but to take in the now homeless fish. Freddy was arrested because he had tried to strangle his mother that he shared the house with. I didn’t even know that she had lived there. I don’t remember seeing Freddy after that. Maybe ho went to see the queen after all.
The neighbor on the other side, Susan, lived in a big two-story house and seemed normal. She was in her thirties and a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines. She seemed nice and we would chat when I was out watering the tomatoes. Then as the season changed from summer to fall, I noticed that there was something a little unusual about Susan.
I remember being in the back sun porch room facing her house one night and seeing her walking around topless with all of her lights on and blinds open. I called EH, saying, “You’re not going to believe this. We’ve got another naked neighbor.” She was rather buxom and evidently proud of her hooters.
The nudity continued on a fairly regular basis and I continued alerting EH when she was naked. It wasn’t much later that her teenaged nephew and his girlfriend moved in with Susan. She stopped walking around naked and her nephew’s girlfriend started babysitting for the boys on occasion. She was a nice girl and started sharing information on just how nutty Susan was. There was a lot of drinking and crying. One of the other things she shared is that Susan talked about EH and how she thought he was hot. I had no clue that she was putting on a show intended for him. The ironic things is that the only reason he even saw anything is because I would yell for him to come look, just thinking it was funny.
Before we moved out of that house there was a man carjacked and killed just one block over. We also got a new mailman because ours went nuts and hit his mother over the head with a VCR, killing her. Shortly thereafter, the landlord put up our house for sale and we were forced to move. This time is was to an even better house in a better neighborhood with a couple more crazy neighbors. Part two next time. Or maybe I should call it Colleen and that old goat Walter.
Back when we were both graduate students, we rented a house that was pretty nice and in a fairly decent neighborhood. One block further east it got a little dicey. Then another block east after that one and it was getting into really scary stuff.
But back to our block in our not-so-scary neighborhood. It was a large Spanish-style house with the tile roof. The house to our left was brick and so large that it was pretty close to being considered a mansion. That was where Crazy Freddy lived. Of course we didn’t know that he was crazy until he came over for a visit.
I remember one evening standing in the back yard pruning the roses growing on the fence. The fence was close to Freddy’s driveway and he came over to introduce himself. He was probably in his fifties at the time but since I was so young it seemed like he was pretty old. He seemed all right at first but it wasn’t long before he was telling me about his upcoming trip on the Concord. It was still flying back then so I was buying the story because clearly the guy had some money. Then he mentioned that the purpose of his trip was to go to London and meet the queen. I decided to quit my pruning early because I could not wait to get in the house and tell EH. I had already made a diagnosis of bi-polar disorder but really, going to meet the queen? I still can’t believe that I didn’t laugh.
Freddy kept to himself for the most part and we didn’t see much of him. Then one day after getting out of the shower EH mentioned seeing Freddy
EH- “Well, you missed it.”
Me- “Missed what?”
EH- “Freddy just walked across the street, picked up seed pods and threw them up in the air.”
Me- “What’s so interesting about that?”
EH- “Well, he was completely naked at the time. Then the ambulance came to get him.”
I was sorry to have missed that.
Freddy was gone for a while but eventually returned. A few months later, as expected, Freddy went nuts again. He went crazy in the house he shared with his mother, breaking things, etc. He ended up in our driveway at some point and was arrested, naked again. I missed the whole thing but the nanny filled me in when I got home. Veronique was French and when she got excited she would speak rapidly in a mixture of French and English. She was pretty excited that day and all I caught at first was ‘Freddy’ and ‘naked’. I had to ask her to slow down and repeat things before I had any clue what she was saying. Then she said something about fish since Freddy’s son came over and gave her the fish that were rescued from their shattered tank. We had no choice but to take in the now homeless fish. Freddy was arrested because he had tried to strangle his mother that he shared the house with. I didn’t even know that she had lived there. I don’t remember seeing Freddy after that. Maybe ho went to see the queen after all.
The neighbor on the other side, Susan, lived in a big two-story house and seemed normal. She was in her thirties and a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines. She seemed nice and we would chat when I was out watering the tomatoes. Then as the season changed from summer to fall, I noticed that there was something a little unusual about Susan.
I remember being in the back sun porch room facing her house one night and seeing her walking around topless with all of her lights on and blinds open. I called EH, saying, “You’re not going to believe this. We’ve got another naked neighbor.” She was rather buxom and evidently proud of her hooters.
The nudity continued on a fairly regular basis and I continued alerting EH when she was naked. It wasn’t much later that her teenaged nephew and his girlfriend moved in with Susan. She stopped walking around naked and her nephew’s girlfriend started babysitting for the boys on occasion. She was a nice girl and started sharing information on just how nutty Susan was. There was a lot of drinking and crying. One of the other things she shared is that Susan talked about EH and how she thought he was hot. I had no clue that she was putting on a show intended for him. The ironic things is that the only reason he even saw anything is because I would yell for him to come look, just thinking it was funny.
Before we moved out of that house there was a man carjacked and killed just one block over. We also got a new mailman because ours went nuts and hit his mother over the head with a VCR, killing her. Shortly thereafter, the landlord put up our house for sale and we were forced to move. This time is was to an even better house in a better neighborhood with a couple more crazy neighbors. Part two next time. Or maybe I should call it Colleen and that old goat Walter.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Acting Up
My sister has been acting up again. If you have been reading my blog for a while, then you know “acting up” is my family’s code for crazy. She started acting crazy last summer and since then it has been intermittent but never gone away. Some weeks are worse than others. This week is already starting off as a bad one.
Lynne has had the idea now for a while that she is being poisoned. First it was arsen*ic poisoning (Sorry about the asterisk but I can’t risk her finding my blog). She claimed that a blood screen for mercury detected the arsen*ic and her levels were elevated. Since then she has been talking about it non-stop, including accusations that her family is poisoning her. She even accused me despite the fact that I haven’t even seen her in over a year. She thought that I might be involved because I don’t show enough interest in helping her get to the bottom of her nonsensical issues. It is beyond me how to act interested in an imaginary illness and therefore I am aloof and disinterested. My nephew says,”Arsen*ic, arsen*ic, arsen*ic, that’s all I ever hear.”
Lynne has also developed a preoccupation with lawn chemicals. She has decided that the neighbors are trying to kill her by spraying their yards. She has been making numerous phone calls trying to get them to stop. She has called the county prosecutor to try to have them charged with assault. When that didn’t work she then moved on to the police, the CDC and the FBI and probably others.
Here is the ironic part. Last week police officers were visiting her neighbors about the spraying incident. It wasn’t because the police were concerned about the spraying but it was because the FBI had called them. The FBI had requested that they talk to the neighbors about Lynne to determine if she was a danger. I can’t help but find it mildly amusing that after all the times that she has thought that the FBI was watching her, now they kind of are.
Lynne has had the idea now for a while that she is being poisoned. First it was arsen*ic poisoning (Sorry about the asterisk but I can’t risk her finding my blog). She claimed that a blood screen for mercury detected the arsen*ic and her levels were elevated. Since then she has been talking about it non-stop, including accusations that her family is poisoning her. She even accused me despite the fact that I haven’t even seen her in over a year. She thought that I might be involved because I don’t show enough interest in helping her get to the bottom of her nonsensical issues. It is beyond me how to act interested in an imaginary illness and therefore I am aloof and disinterested. My nephew says,”Arsen*ic, arsen*ic, arsen*ic, that’s all I ever hear.”
Lynne has also developed a preoccupation with lawn chemicals. She has decided that the neighbors are trying to kill her by spraying their yards. She has been making numerous phone calls trying to get them to stop. She has called the county prosecutor to try to have them charged with assault. When that didn’t work she then moved on to the police, the CDC and the FBI and probably others.
Here is the ironic part. Last week police officers were visiting her neighbors about the spraying incident. It wasn’t because the police were concerned about the spraying but it was because the FBI had called them. The FBI had requested that they talk to the neighbors about Lynne to determine if she was a danger. I can’t help but find it mildly amusing that after all the times that she has thought that the FBI was watching her, now they kind of are.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Crazy- It's the New Black
A couple of days ago we attempted to get help for my sister and nephew. It’s difficult to even explain to anyone that hasn’t been through it but it is an incredibly frustrating experience. The laws make it difficult to force anyone to get psychiatric help against their will. This makes sense because we wouldn’t want people to easily get someone locked up just out of spite, etc. The problem comes in the balance between personal liberty and the safety of the mentally ill person and those around them.
The criteria for involuntary commitment vary by state. The key requirements for most states are the question of whether the person poses a threat to self or others. Remember, there is no law against being crazy. The difficulty lies in clearly demonstrating that there is a danger. Too many people confuse crazy with stupid and there is a difference.
When my sister is having an ‘episode’, she becomes hyper-alert and paranoid. She watches everything going on around her and draws erroneous conclusions that make no sense to the rest of us.
I spoke with someone in the psychiatry department at the hospital she goes to and he advised to have the police pick her up and take her to the hospital for a 48-hour hold. My dad went to the police station and made the arrangements. I spoke with the ER doctor at the local hospital and explained Lynne’s history and let him know that she would be brought in. Everything was done to facilitate Lynne’s transfer to the big hospital inpatient psych unit. Then it went wrong.
The officer decided that he would go over to Lynne’s house (without telling my dad) and check on her. He told her that he was there because her family was concerned. He questioned her about having suicidal thoughts, which she denied. Then he left. He called my dad and said that she was fine.
Lynne was very upset by the visit. She tried to get J, in the car with her. Fortunately, my mom and I had told J. that if there was ever a situation when she was crazy and trying to take him somewhere that he had to lie to avoid getting in the car. The lie that we had decided on was that he had diarrhea. If she did manage to get him in the car it is impossible to even guess where they might end up. The last time she was on her way to Canada when the car caught on fire. Even the burning car wasn’t enough to cause her to pull over.
I’m disgusted that the cop decided that he was qualified to judge Lynne’s mental status. Not only did he not help, he made it worse. Clearly she’s smarter than he is and she knows enough to not volunteer just how crazy she is. It’s my opinion that he never had any intention of taking her to the hospital. I think anything short of her answering the door drooling and brandishing a steak knife was not going to be considered to require any action.
The real problem here is that Lynne is crazy and lives with a child. The child is afraid and asking for help but no one will do anything. Someone left a comment here on the previous post about the reluctance of family’s to address the issue of mental illness due to shame or embarrassment. I do not believe that to be true. I am not embarrassed by my sister’s illness. My parents are not either. Anytime I have mentioned my sister’s illness to anyone I usually hear about someone in their family or a friend’s family that has the same issues. Certainly the stigma of being a psychiatric patient still exists to some extent, but it has lessened over the years. The number of people treated for depression and other mental illness has increased dramatically over the years. There are some mental illnesses that aren’t quite as innocuous or socially acceptable. Unfortunately we don’t get to choose.
If you are one of the lucky people that has never had to give this issue much thought then I want you to remember one thing. Anytime you hear a horror story like the one of the woman throwing her baby’s into the San Francisco Bay, keep in mind that there is likely a family that tried everything they could to prevent a tragedy. The families of the mentally ill have far more important things to worry about than what someone might think. We're worried about getting someone to listen.
The criteria for involuntary commitment vary by state. The key requirements for most states are the question of whether the person poses a threat to self or others. Remember, there is no law against being crazy. The difficulty lies in clearly demonstrating that there is a danger. Too many people confuse crazy with stupid and there is a difference.
When my sister is having an ‘episode’, she becomes hyper-alert and paranoid. She watches everything going on around her and draws erroneous conclusions that make no sense to the rest of us.
I spoke with someone in the psychiatry department at the hospital she goes to and he advised to have the police pick her up and take her to the hospital for a 48-hour hold. My dad went to the police station and made the arrangements. I spoke with the ER doctor at the local hospital and explained Lynne’s history and let him know that she would be brought in. Everything was done to facilitate Lynne’s transfer to the big hospital inpatient psych unit. Then it went wrong.
The officer decided that he would go over to Lynne’s house (without telling my dad) and check on her. He told her that he was there because her family was concerned. He questioned her about having suicidal thoughts, which she denied. Then he left. He called my dad and said that she was fine.
Lynne was very upset by the visit. She tried to get J, in the car with her. Fortunately, my mom and I had told J. that if there was ever a situation when she was crazy and trying to take him somewhere that he had to lie to avoid getting in the car. The lie that we had decided on was that he had diarrhea. If she did manage to get him in the car it is impossible to even guess where they might end up. The last time she was on her way to Canada when the car caught on fire. Even the burning car wasn’t enough to cause her to pull over.
I’m disgusted that the cop decided that he was qualified to judge Lynne’s mental status. Not only did he not help, he made it worse. Clearly she’s smarter than he is and she knows enough to not volunteer just how crazy she is. It’s my opinion that he never had any intention of taking her to the hospital. I think anything short of her answering the door drooling and brandishing a steak knife was not going to be considered to require any action.
The real problem here is that Lynne is crazy and lives with a child. The child is afraid and asking for help but no one will do anything. Someone left a comment here on the previous post about the reluctance of family’s to address the issue of mental illness due to shame or embarrassment. I do not believe that to be true. I am not embarrassed by my sister’s illness. My parents are not either. Anytime I have mentioned my sister’s illness to anyone I usually hear about someone in their family or a friend’s family that has the same issues. Certainly the stigma of being a psychiatric patient still exists to some extent, but it has lessened over the years. The number of people treated for depression and other mental illness has increased dramatically over the years. There are some mental illnesses that aren’t quite as innocuous or socially acceptable. Unfortunately we don’t get to choose.
If you are one of the lucky people that has never had to give this issue much thought then I want you to remember one thing. Anytime you hear a horror story like the one of the woman throwing her baby’s into the San Francisco Bay, keep in mind that there is likely a family that tried everything they could to prevent a tragedy. The families of the mentally ill have far more important things to worry about than what someone might think. We're worried about getting someone to listen.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Why Crazy People STILL Have VCR's
My 13 year-old nephew called me just before 1 AM to tell me that my sister has gone completely crazy again. She found a box of old VHS tapes that belonged to my mom and was watching them. Lynne thought that the tapes were suspicious and was carefully watching because she was convinced that they had information about people breaking into her house. The delusion of intruders is common for her when she is in a psychotic episode.
Joel said that he saw his mom rewinding the tape and watching certain parts more that once thinking that it would solve the mystery. When he questioned her about what she was doing, she became angry and told him that it was her house and she had every right to watch.
According to Joel, she hasn’t been sleeping or eating with any regularity. She has been suspicious and paranoid. She has nstructed Joel to not talk to any of us. The most disturbing thing is that Joel saw Lynne painting a few days ago and was surprised to see that the subject was a woman crying tears of blood. He asked her who it was and she said, “Me.”
I feel sick to my stomach and this time it's not the flu.
Joel said that he saw his mom rewinding the tape and watching certain parts more that once thinking that it would solve the mystery. When he questioned her about what she was doing, she became angry and told him that it was her house and she had every right to watch.
According to Joel, she hasn’t been sleeping or eating with any regularity. She has been suspicious and paranoid. She has nstructed Joel to not talk to any of us. The most disturbing thing is that Joel saw Lynne painting a few days ago and was surprised to see that the subject was a woman crying tears of blood. He asked her who it was and she said, “Me.”
I feel sick to my stomach and this time it's not the flu.
Monday, December 08, 2008
The Cow
I’m taking a few minutes away from my current obsession, which is “Lost”. I’m kind of sorry that I got started with that since apparently I can’t stop. Fortunately, I’m almost done with the fourth season and the next won’t start until January. I was thinking of waiting until after my knee surgery before watching the rest of the season but I have proven that I have no self-restraint when it comes right down to it.
I look forward to the time that the baby naps because it means that I can watch another episode. It’s as bad as when Andrea got me hooked on “Twilight”. I didn’t even want to read a silly teen book about vampires, for God’s sake. Of course I ended up reading them all. I’m even toying with the idea of “Harry Potter “ now. I might even move on to Judy Blume. I hear “Are you There God? It’s me Margaret” is pretty riveting.
Since I broke away from the TV, I guess I might as well make this a real update instead of the brief thing I was planning. I have been meaning to mention my sister and her crazy status. My mom called me last week to say that Lynne suspected someone had been breaking into her house. The last report was that Lynne was going to the lumber yard to see if they carried finger printing kits. I come from a family of do-it-yourselfers.
Speaking of crime (or crime-fighting, whatever) I had to call the police a few days ago. Last Friday I was driving on the highway and saw a cow with his head stuck in the fence. Although, I guess that was technically a ‘her’ not a ‘him’ since I didn’t see any horns. I’m not terribly up on the bovines. I can only imagine that the cop that got that call had to be rethinking the career choice. Or possibly wishing to be in an area with actual crime.
Cows always remind me of Ogden Nash. The following is one of my favorites.
The Cow
The cow is of bovine ilk,
One end is moo, the other, milk.
I look forward to the time that the baby naps because it means that I can watch another episode. It’s as bad as when Andrea got me hooked on “Twilight”. I didn’t even want to read a silly teen book about vampires, for God’s sake. Of course I ended up reading them all. I’m even toying with the idea of “Harry Potter “ now. I might even move on to Judy Blume. I hear “Are you There God? It’s me Margaret” is pretty riveting.
Since I broke away from the TV, I guess I might as well make this a real update instead of the brief thing I was planning. I have been meaning to mention my sister and her crazy status. My mom called me last week to say that Lynne suspected someone had been breaking into her house. The last report was that Lynne was going to the lumber yard to see if they carried finger printing kits. I come from a family of do-it-yourselfers.
Speaking of crime (or crime-fighting, whatever) I had to call the police a few days ago. Last Friday I was driving on the highway and saw a cow with his head stuck in the fence. Although, I guess that was technically a ‘her’ not a ‘him’ since I didn’t see any horns. I’m not terribly up on the bovines. I can only imagine that the cop that got that call had to be rethinking the career choice. Or possibly wishing to be in an area with actual crime.
Cows always remind me of Ogden Nash. The following is one of my favorites.
The Cow
The cow is of bovine ilk,
One end is moo, the other, milk.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Crazy Again
This is not the post that I was planning on writing today. If you came here looking for funny, please skip over this one. Go directly to “Old People Feet”.
My sister is crazy again. Just to clarify for any new readers, when I say ‘crazy’, I mean really crazy. She is having a full-blown psychotic episode and it’s not pretty. You can read some of the crazy history here, here and here.
She has gradually been going in that direction for the last couple of months. I was not aware of just how bad it has become until today when I spoke with Lynne on the phone. She described waking up feeling as if she had been poked with a needle. She told me that she thought that someone had given her a shot. Because that can happen when you are sleeping at home in your own bed.
She had told my thirteen year-old nephew, J., the same story. He emailed my mom asking for help. He’s scared to be with her. My dad went to my sister’s house this afternoon and managed to talk to J. without my sister hearing. This may sound like a simple task but it’s not so simple when my sister has extreme paranoia. She had to be distracted by a friend so J. was allowed out of her sight for ten minutes.
J. told my dad that Lynne took him out of school early one day this week. He said that she took him to get his haircut and explained, “it’s for security reasons.”
It’s likely to get a whole lot worse.
My sister is crazy again. Just to clarify for any new readers, when I say ‘crazy’, I mean really crazy. She is having a full-blown psychotic episode and it’s not pretty. You can read some of the crazy history here, here and here.
She has gradually been going in that direction for the last couple of months. I was not aware of just how bad it has become until today when I spoke with Lynne on the phone. She described waking up feeling as if she had been poked with a needle. She told me that she thought that someone had given her a shot. Because that can happen when you are sleeping at home in your own bed.
She had told my thirteen year-old nephew, J., the same story. He emailed my mom asking for help. He’s scared to be with her. My dad went to my sister’s house this afternoon and managed to talk to J. without my sister hearing. This may sound like a simple task but it’s not so simple when my sister has extreme paranoia. She had to be distracted by a friend so J. was allowed out of her sight for ten minutes.
J. told my dad that Lynne took him out of school early one day this week. He said that she took him to get his haircut and explained, “it’s for security reasons.”
It’s likely to get a whole lot worse.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Lynne Resists Technology
My sister had the ADT guy over today to give her a quote on an alarm system. He was going over all the different types of equipment that they had available for their systems.
ADT guy- “We have keypads or you can even have the kind of controller that you talk to.”
Lynne- “I can’t even figure out how to talk to my phone. I sure as hell don’t need something electronic in my wall talking to me and I DON’T EVEN WANT TO EXPLAIN THAT ONE.”
ADT guy- “We have keypads or you can even have the kind of controller that you talk to.”
Lynne- “I can’t even figure out how to talk to my phone. I sure as hell don’t need something electronic in my wall talking to me and I DON’T EVEN WANT TO EXPLAIN THAT ONE.”
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Crazy Break
As many of you know (my two regular readers, anyway) my sister, Lynne, has battled with mental illness for the last few years. I haven’t talked about her much lately and that is simply because she is doing well right now.
She is a bit unusual in that she isn’t “crazy” all the time. I refer to her as part-time crazy. I have had to readjust my thinking of what it means to be mentally ill. I always thought that you were either “normal” or “crazy”. What else could there be, right?
Since then I have learned that my sister can be entirely normal (a bit quirky though) or entirely crazy. The only time that she is anywhere in between is when she is in the process of slipping into psychosis. At that point, she will begin to express some paranoid beliefs that might be so mild, that if those thoughts were from anyone else, you wouldn’t consider them alarming. So as her family, we tend to get caught up at times in analyzing her words for fear of what might come next.
It’s odd that when she is back to normal, she seems to have little memory of all the crazy things that she did and said. She will deny and try to rationalize what happened. Sometimes she will accuse us of blowing things out of proportion to make her look bad. But, really, that’s not the case. The only value in going over the things that happened in the past is that perhaps it will finally occur to her that we don’t enjoy getting her “locked-up”. The other hope is that she will develop enough insight into her condition that she will catch the early warning signs and manage to avoid a full-blown psychotic break. Most of the time when we talk about the things that happened, we will all be laughing. I don't mean that we truly find it funny but we can find the humor when she is back to normal.
Last year was the first year that she has not had an episode since 2001. She showed some symptoms but was able to get it under control before it became bad. Her psychiatrist has really stressed the importance of a proper diet, plenty of sleep and keeping her stress levels down. She is no longer court-ordered to take the anti-psychotic medication but she claims that she does take a low dose at times. She is very afraid of going back to being crazy as well as being forced back to the psych. ward.
She is on Social Security disability now, which has been wonderful for allowing her to keep her stress level down. It’s kind of ironic because you would never guess she was disabled. But if she started a job again it would be just a matter of time before her paranoia resurfaced to the extent that she would be unable to work.
The problem now is that she’s bored. She has been looking at jobs online and keeps finding things that she would like to apply for. She called me a few days ago to tell me about a job that she was interested in that would require moving to Florida.
Lynne- “I’m thinking about applying for this job as a _________ (something like VP of some department in a large company).
Me- “Oh, yeah?”
Lynne- “Yeah. It’s in Florida.”
Me- “Ok. You really think that they would hire you?”
Lynne- “Yes, I think they might. They do a lot for disabled people you know and maybe the fact that I’m disabled would work in my favor.”
Me- “Just because they help disabled people doesn’t mean that they want them running the place.”
Lynne, laughs- “Yeah, you might have a point there.”
Last night I was talking to Lynne about the possibility of applying for another job out-of-state. She then started talking about how what she really wanted was not a job but to have another baby.
Lynne- “I could just take your baby.”
Me- “No, I think you’ll have to get your own.”
Lynne- “Darn it.”
Me, bringing up a past delusion- “Hey, remember when Katie was a baby and you kept telling me that you were lactating and that you could feed my baby?”
Lynne-“Well, I WAS!”
Me- “I had to keep telling you to keep that freaky breast-milk away from my baby. By the way, that goes for this baby, too.”
Mom, silent up until now- “Yeah, and stay away from my cat. You’ll probably be trying to feed her next.”
Stay tuned for Part-2: Lynne explains what REALLY happened when she ended up crazy, wandering the streets of L.A. Now THAT is a wild story.
She is a bit unusual in that she isn’t “crazy” all the time. I refer to her as part-time crazy. I have had to readjust my thinking of what it means to be mentally ill. I always thought that you were either “normal” or “crazy”. What else could there be, right?
Since then I have learned that my sister can be entirely normal (a bit quirky though) or entirely crazy. The only time that she is anywhere in between is when she is in the process of slipping into psychosis. At that point, she will begin to express some paranoid beliefs that might be so mild, that if those thoughts were from anyone else, you wouldn’t consider them alarming. So as her family, we tend to get caught up at times in analyzing her words for fear of what might come next.
It’s odd that when she is back to normal, she seems to have little memory of all the crazy things that she did and said. She will deny and try to rationalize what happened. Sometimes she will accuse us of blowing things out of proportion to make her look bad. But, really, that’s not the case. The only value in going over the things that happened in the past is that perhaps it will finally occur to her that we don’t enjoy getting her “locked-up”. The other hope is that she will develop enough insight into her condition that she will catch the early warning signs and manage to avoid a full-blown psychotic break. Most of the time when we talk about the things that happened, we will all be laughing. I don't mean that we truly find it funny but we can find the humor when she is back to normal.
Last year was the first year that she has not had an episode since 2001. She showed some symptoms but was able to get it under control before it became bad. Her psychiatrist has really stressed the importance of a proper diet, plenty of sleep and keeping her stress levels down. She is no longer court-ordered to take the anti-psychotic medication but she claims that she does take a low dose at times. She is very afraid of going back to being crazy as well as being forced back to the psych. ward.
She is on Social Security disability now, which has been wonderful for allowing her to keep her stress level down. It’s kind of ironic because you would never guess she was disabled. But if she started a job again it would be just a matter of time before her paranoia resurfaced to the extent that she would be unable to work.
The problem now is that she’s bored. She has been looking at jobs online and keeps finding things that she would like to apply for. She called me a few days ago to tell me about a job that she was interested in that would require moving to Florida.
Lynne- “I’m thinking about applying for this job as a _________ (something like VP of some department in a large company).
Me- “Oh, yeah?”
Lynne- “Yeah. It’s in Florida.”
Me- “Ok. You really think that they would hire you?”
Lynne- “Yes, I think they might. They do a lot for disabled people you know and maybe the fact that I’m disabled would work in my favor.”
Me- “Just because they help disabled people doesn’t mean that they want them running the place.”
Lynne, laughs- “Yeah, you might have a point there.”
Last night I was talking to Lynne about the possibility of applying for another job out-of-state. She then started talking about how what she really wanted was not a job but to have another baby.
Lynne- “I could just take your baby.”
Me- “No, I think you’ll have to get your own.”
Lynne- “Darn it.”
Me, bringing up a past delusion- “Hey, remember when Katie was a baby and you kept telling me that you were lactating and that you could feed my baby?”
Lynne-“Well, I WAS!”
Me- “I had to keep telling you to keep that freaky breast-milk away from my baby. By the way, that goes for this baby, too.”
Mom, silent up until now- “Yeah, and stay away from my cat. You’ll probably be trying to feed her next.”
Stay tuned for Part-2: Lynne explains what REALLY happened when she ended up crazy, wandering the streets of L.A. Now THAT is a wild story.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Crazy Dating
I realize that my last few posts have been more serious than most and not very funny. So with that in mind, I have decided to share a more amusing story.
Last month my sister, Lynne, made arrangements to travel to Florida to meet a man that she had been emailing. She met him through an online dating service and things progressed to the point that it was time to really meet in person. Of course this man knew nothing of her psychiatric history and she planned to keep it that way.
We were all concerned about Lynne traveling since she doesn't always travel well (understatement). Sometimes she is guilty of driving while crazy, which should be considered some sort of offense.
It was a huge relief that she made it back after an enjoyable weekend. The guy she visited was also kind enough to pick up a couple of souvenirs for Lynne to take back to her son.
Lynne suggested to my nephew that a thank you note would be appropriate so 11 year old Joel went ahead and wrote one. Here it is.
Last month my sister, Lynne, made arrangements to travel to Florida to meet a man that she had been emailing. She met him through an online dating service and things progressed to the point that it was time to really meet in person. Of course this man knew nothing of her psychiatric history and she planned to keep it that way.
We were all concerned about Lynne traveling since she doesn't always travel well (understatement). Sometimes she is guilty of driving while crazy, which should be considered some sort of offense.
It was a huge relief that she made it back after an enjoyable weekend. The guy she visited was also kind enough to pick up a couple of souvenirs for Lynne to take back to her son.
Lynne suggested to my nephew that a thank you note would be appropriate so 11 year old Joel went ahead and wrote one. Here it is.
Dear Pete,
Thank you for the shark. I really, really like it. Thank you for the Florida
t-shirt. I used to have one but it burned up in a car fire last year.
Your Friend,
Joel
Saturday, July 28, 2007
If You're Crazy and You Know it, Clap Your Hands
I wrote recently about my sister’s trip to California. This is a continuation of the same story. The crazy did not end with my sister’s arrival back home. It continued to grow and take on a life of it’s own. Or take over her life.
She continued to have delusions and saw diabolical plots everywhere she looked. Once again, she became unemployed. According to my sister, that was a good thing since at least one of her co-workers was plotting to kill her.
She went to see her psychiatrist but that was not helpful since Lynne refuses to take the medication. So her delusions continued. A few weeks later my nephew had to call 911 since he could not wake his mom up. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance and it was determined that she had taken a combination of a sleep medication, an anti-anxiety pill along with a beta-blocker. They kept her in the hospital for a few hours to make sure she was ok.
When she finally woke up, she was acutely delusional and psychotic. I talked to the nurse and the nurse told me that she was psychotic. We discussed a transfer to the hospital where Lynne’s doctor was and started the process of moving her. Then the hospital attorneys became involved and decided that they could not keep her. She was released from the hospital and walked home in her pajamas.
I was completely disgusted that they would let someone in that condition just go home because of the fear of a lawsuit. It crossed my mind that they really did not stop to consider the type of lawsuit that they could be facing if something happened to my sister or her son as a result of that decision.
Once again we were in the position of having to wait for something bad to happen in order to get Lynne to have to wait too long.
A few weeks later, Lynne decided to take her son and go visit my mom who lives about an hour away. My mom was expecting them but they never arrived. I finally got my sister on her cell phone and asked her what had happened. She told me that she had decided to apply for a job in another state so she was on her way to drop off the application. This is obviously not something normal people do.
I explained to her that she would not be likely to get an interview right away and even if she did, you can’t take a kid for that. She said that was ok, they needed a vacation anyway. I made her promise that she would go home and she promised. I knew she was lying though. I kept calling back to see where she was and she would say she was back in the state and just an hour or so away. I finally made her put my nephew on the phone and found out which side of the car the sun was on. That confirmed it because she was still going north.
Later that night, my mom got my nephew on the phone and he volunteered the name of the hotel they were staying in. As soon as that happened, my sister loaded him into the car and they were off again. My sister was very suspicious about one of my mom’s neighbors and therefore my mom could not be trusted.
The next day I received a phone call from my sister who was completely hysterical. She was screaming, “There was a bomb wired in!” I told her to calm down and was able to get part of the story from her. Her car had been on fire and she was screaming that her ex husband had done it. After several minutes of her shrieking in my ear, a cop got on the phone. Before Lynne handed the phone over to him, she said in a threatening voice, “Don’t you dare tell him anything!” I am well aware of just how vindictive my sister can be and I was afraid to talk to the officer.
He asked, “Does Lynne have any mental problems?”
Me, “Uhhhhh. I think you better talk to my mom.”
I gave him my mom’s phone number and that pretty much sealed my sister’s fate. The police officer had decided that Lynn was going to the hospital. Unfortunately, it can never be simple with her and she was not going without a fight.
She made up a story about needing a restroom and the cop stopped at a gas station. Lynne and her son went to the restroom and decided to make a break for it. They took off running through a field but the cop had called for backup. It took some time and ultimately four cops to wrestle her into the back of an ambulance.
She was then evaluated at the local ER (kind of like the quick exam that prisoners get, called the “okey-dokey for the pokey”) and she was sent to a psychiatric hospital for a three day evaluation and my nephew was sent to foster care. This time they decided that she was crazy, as in dangerous crazy. This was when the real challenge began because they had decided that she was way too crazy to be released to travel to her home state for treatment. It was a dramatic change from the previous hospital that sent her home in her pajamas when just as crazy.
A few days later there was a commitment hearing. It was determined that she was a danger and she was committed to the state that she had been traveling through. They sent her to a big, scary looking state hospital and were planning on keeping her there for a period of at least six months. I was working with Lynne’s regular psychiatrist to help get her moved home but I was running into roadblocks. The state did not have a program to transport mental patients by ambulance and they thought that she was too unstable to go with a family member. So we began yet another observation period with a state psychiatrist.
I had the pleasure of trying to talk to the state doctor on the phone and was disturbed to find that it was much like trying to converse with one of the inmates (patients). She kept telling me the background on my sister and would not listen when I tried to tell her that I already knew that. She would continue talking over me in a horrible drone with a Pakistani accent. I finally just started talking at the same time asking over and over, “Can I talk now? Is it my turn yet?”
On the subject of employees on the psych ward, my dad says,” Sometimes they are on the wrong side of the desk.” I think he might be on to something.
We had a few days to wait for the crazy doctor to make a decision. In the meantime I was calling every agency that I could think of to get them to pressure the hospital into transferring her back home. We were finally able to arrange a hospitalization in her home state with the help of her regular doctor. My dad picked her up and drove for hours to get her admitted by her psychiatrist.
After she got back home, we got more information about what had happened. She admitted that she was running away to Canada. Fortunately, she saw a message on the side of the truck that she took to mean that she should not cross the border so she turned around. She was going back home when her car caught on fire. No one knows exactly why that happened but we are grateful that we didn’t end up with two funerals that week.
Lynne was incredibly happy to be out of the scary state institution because Lynne says,” I don’t want a roommate that’s pulling out her eyes.”
She continued to have delusions and saw diabolical plots everywhere she looked. Once again, she became unemployed. According to my sister, that was a good thing since at least one of her co-workers was plotting to kill her.
She went to see her psychiatrist but that was not helpful since Lynne refuses to take the medication. So her delusions continued. A few weeks later my nephew had to call 911 since he could not wake his mom up. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance and it was determined that she had taken a combination of a sleep medication, an anti-anxiety pill along with a beta-blocker. They kept her in the hospital for a few hours to make sure she was ok.
When she finally woke up, she was acutely delusional and psychotic. I talked to the nurse and the nurse told me that she was psychotic. We discussed a transfer to the hospital where Lynne’s doctor was and started the process of moving her. Then the hospital attorneys became involved and decided that they could not keep her. She was released from the hospital and walked home in her pajamas.
I was completely disgusted that they would let someone in that condition just go home because of the fear of a lawsuit. It crossed my mind that they really did not stop to consider the type of lawsuit that they could be facing if something happened to my sister or her son as a result of that decision.
Once again we were in the position of having to wait for something bad to happen in order to get Lynne to have to wait too long.
A few weeks later, Lynne decided to take her son and go visit my mom who lives about an hour away. My mom was expecting them but they never arrived. I finally got my sister on her cell phone and asked her what had happened. She told me that she had decided to apply for a job in another state so she was on her way to drop off the application. This is obviously not something normal people do.
I explained to her that she would not be likely to get an interview right away and even if she did, you can’t take a kid for that. She said that was ok, they needed a vacation anyway. I made her promise that she would go home and she promised. I knew she was lying though. I kept calling back to see where she was and she would say she was back in the state and just an hour or so away. I finally made her put my nephew on the phone and found out which side of the car the sun was on. That confirmed it because she was still going north.
Later that night, my mom got my nephew on the phone and he volunteered the name of the hotel they were staying in. As soon as that happened, my sister loaded him into the car and they were off again. My sister was very suspicious about one of my mom’s neighbors and therefore my mom could not be trusted.
The next day I received a phone call from my sister who was completely hysterical. She was screaming, “There was a bomb wired in!” I told her to calm down and was able to get part of the story from her. Her car had been on fire and she was screaming that her ex husband had done it. After several minutes of her shrieking in my ear, a cop got on the phone. Before Lynne handed the phone over to him, she said in a threatening voice, “Don’t you dare tell him anything!” I am well aware of just how vindictive my sister can be and I was afraid to talk to the officer.
He asked, “Does Lynne have any mental problems?”
Me, “Uhhhhh. I think you better talk to my mom.”
I gave him my mom’s phone number and that pretty much sealed my sister’s fate. The police officer had decided that Lynn was going to the hospital. Unfortunately, it can never be simple with her and she was not going without a fight.
She made up a story about needing a restroom and the cop stopped at a gas station. Lynne and her son went to the restroom and decided to make a break for it. They took off running through a field but the cop had called for backup. It took some time and ultimately four cops to wrestle her into the back of an ambulance.
She was then evaluated at the local ER (kind of like the quick exam that prisoners get, called the “okey-dokey for the pokey”) and she was sent to a psychiatric hospital for a three day evaluation and my nephew was sent to foster care. This time they decided that she was crazy, as in dangerous crazy. This was when the real challenge began because they had decided that she was way too crazy to be released to travel to her home state for treatment. It was a dramatic change from the previous hospital that sent her home in her pajamas when just as crazy.
A few days later there was a commitment hearing. It was determined that she was a danger and she was committed to the state that she had been traveling through. They sent her to a big, scary looking state hospital and were planning on keeping her there for a period of at least six months. I was working with Lynne’s regular psychiatrist to help get her moved home but I was running into roadblocks. The state did not have a program to transport mental patients by ambulance and they thought that she was too unstable to go with a family member. So we began yet another observation period with a state psychiatrist.
I had the pleasure of trying to talk to the state doctor on the phone and was disturbed to find that it was much like trying to converse with one of the inmates (patients). She kept telling me the background on my sister and would not listen when I tried to tell her that I already knew that. She would continue talking over me in a horrible drone with a Pakistani accent. I finally just started talking at the same time asking over and over, “Can I talk now? Is it my turn yet?”
On the subject of employees on the psych ward, my dad says,” Sometimes they are on the wrong side of the desk.” I think he might be on to something.
We had a few days to wait for the crazy doctor to make a decision. In the meantime I was calling every agency that I could think of to get them to pressure the hospital into transferring her back home. We were finally able to arrange a hospitalization in her home state with the help of her regular doctor. My dad picked her up and drove for hours to get her admitted by her psychiatrist.
After she got back home, we got more information about what had happened. She admitted that she was running away to Canada. Fortunately, she saw a message on the side of the truck that she took to mean that she should not cross the border so she turned around. She was going back home when her car caught on fire. No one knows exactly why that happened but we are grateful that we didn’t end up with two funerals that week.
Lynne was incredibly happy to be out of the scary state institution because Lynne says,” I don’t want a roommate that’s pulling out her eyes.”
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Escape From LA
I have written previous posts about my sister and her problems with mental illness. I hesitate to refer to it as a struggle with mental illness, because for her it is not much of a struggle. It’s more like she embraces the craziness. She resists any treatment and insists that there is nothing wrong with her. It’s the rest of us that struggle trying to keep track of what she’s doing and where she is.
Let me now remind you that there is no law against being crazy. That means that crazy people are allowed to do everything that any other person is allowed to do. For example, sometimes crazy people might decide to travel.
Last year my sister, Lynne, decided to travel across country for a job interview. She had been doing alright and seemed stable at the time so it seemed like maybe we didn’t have to worry too much. I was a little bit apprehensive since she had made a couple of comments that sounded a little bit strange and paranoid in the days before her trip. This was typical of her before going crazy. I thought back to the other times that she has had a “breakdown” and I recognized that it was usually at least a few weeks of subtle crazy before she developed the full blown psychosis.
Lynne had been told by her psychiatrist that it was very important that she keep her stress level down and get plenty of sleep in order to prevent a relapse. She had been doing well for several months prior to interview and we all hoped that she would continue to do well.
Unfortunately, Lynne had an early morning flight and stayed up all night in order to make sure that she didn’t oversleep. She called me after arriving in California and told me that she was in her rental car driving to the hotel where she had a reservation. She sounded fine and was enjoying her drive.
She then disappeared for the next 36 hours. She didn’t answer her cell phone, did not check in to the hotel, and did not show up for her job interview. She finally called with a crazy story about running out of gas and then having her rental car stolen from the side of the highway. She told me that someone broke in to her hotel room and injected her with drugs and then she woke up in a different room. Someone else had threatened her with a gun. She said that the person with a gun was a man dressed as a woman. That was certainly possible since it was California after all. She thought that she was sick from being drugged and went to the hospital only to leave again before being seen. She had three trips to hospitals total but always left prior to being seen. She called again from a cab driver’s phone (hers was in the "stolen" rental car) and said that she was out of money. She then became a pedestrian in L.A. Not a good thing.
My mom tried to get her to go to a hotel and told her she would pay for the room. Lynne instead wandered around L.A. lost. Eventually she was discovered in the post office in the middle of the night by a postal worker. He could tell that there was something wrong with her and he got my mom’s phone number and called. He was nice enough to then take my sister to the airport and my mom arranged for airport security to watch her and make sure she got on the plane. It was then arranged for security at the next stop to take over so she wouldn’t wander off and miss her connecting flight home.
This ordeal became a nightmare because of the fact that my sister would not stay in one spot. We were all on the phone with the police, hotels, airports, hospitals, cab driver’s etc. trying to catch up with her. I really thought that we were going to have to have someone travel to L.A. to try to find her. We encountered a few people that did not seem to care but quite a few that were willing to do a little extra to try to help. It was because of these people that we were able to get her home safely.
We still don't know what happened in California. We do know that the car company eventually found the car and it was damaged. It is possible that Lynne just walked away from it thinking that she was being followed.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Turning Japanese (Well, Chinese)
I was talking to my sister today and the subject of my son’s trip to China last summer came up. That was last year when she had a psychotic break or what we like to call “one of her crazy vacations.”
When I mentioned the China trip she said, “Oh, yeah. That was back when I thought you were talking in code and that meant that my kid was going to be Chinese.” She laughs about that now but it was not funny at the time.
The scary thing is that she really thought that. No kidding.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Crazy Talk
The following is a list of things my sister has said while having an "episode" or psychotic break. Most were conversations that I personally had with her. One was with my mom. The last one is my favorite. Now if that doesn't say crazy, I don't know what does.
1. The mountain Dew truck is circling the house.
2. The school bus routes have been changed so they now drive by the house.
3. Andrea Yates is an attorney now and has an office not too far from here.
4. JFK is really my father.
5. Someone broke in and put frosting in my refrigerator.
6. Someone broke into my car and stole a candle. (It’s summer and almost 100 degrees. Do you think there just might be another explanation?)
7. The neighbors have some mob connections from Chicago. I think they are working out of the car dealership.
8. The guy I went out with a couple of months ago was standing outside the bedroom window. Yes, the guy from Indiana. Yes, I know how far away that is.
9. I noticed something odd today. The neighbors painted their living room exactly like Larry’s (old boyfriend). I don’t know why they would do something like that but it sure was strange.
10. I was just threatened by this woman from work. I think she wants to kill me. No, I don’t know why.
11. I went by my ex-husband’s house today and for some reason it had a bunch of antennas all over it. I don’t know what that’s all about but I don’t want any part of it.
12. My sister telling my mom about my dad running over something black on a highway- I don’t know what it was but maybe you should check and see if John (her black friend) is all right.
13. Someone firebombed my car! It was wired!
14. We decided to go to an amusement park today. Yes, we took the cat with us.
1. The mountain Dew truck is circling the house.
2. The school bus routes have been changed so they now drive by the house.
3. Andrea Yates is an attorney now and has an office not too far from here.
4. JFK is really my father.
5. Someone broke in and put frosting in my refrigerator.
6. Someone broke into my car and stole a candle. (It’s summer and almost 100 degrees. Do you think there just might be another explanation?)
7. The neighbors have some mob connections from Chicago. I think they are working out of the car dealership.
8. The guy I went out with a couple of months ago was standing outside the bedroom window. Yes, the guy from Indiana. Yes, I know how far away that is.
9. I noticed something odd today. The neighbors painted their living room exactly like Larry’s (old boyfriend). I don’t know why they would do something like that but it sure was strange.
10. I was just threatened by this woman from work. I think she wants to kill me. No, I don’t know why.
11. I went by my ex-husband’s house today and for some reason it had a bunch of antennas all over it. I don’t know what that’s all about but I don’t want any part of it.
12. My sister telling my mom about my dad running over something black on a highway- I don’t know what it was but maybe you should check and see if John (her black friend) is all right.
13. Someone firebombed my car! It was wired!
14. We decided to go to an amusement park today. Yes, we took the cat with us.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Crazy Law
The first time my sister was hospitalized for mental illness was not as awful as the many times that have followed. She was initially taken to the local hospital ER for a possible drug overdose. Then my parents had to get the involuntary commitment in order to place her in a psychiatric unit. There were forms that had to be approved by a judge to obtain a “72 hour hold”. There must be evidence that a person is a danger to self or others or there will not be an involuntary hospitalization.
This can make it difficult to get proper treatment for a sick family member. It is important to keep in mind that there is no law against being crazy. The law very clearly states that involuntary commitment hinges upon the ability to establish the fact that the person is a danger to self or others.
I have had the experience of taking my sister to the hospital before when she has been delusional and paranoid. She would keep her delusions to herself in front of the mental health screener and basically just stare off into space as if she were in a trance. Then the minute the screener would leave, my sister would threaten me and tell me to keep my mouth shut. After all, she was positive she had seen that same woman in a public restroom two hundred miles away. For those of you that don’t understand crazy logic, that means the screener was part of the conspiracy. It was her job to keep tabs on my sister and make sure that she did not share any information that could compromise the “company.” To further clarify, the company would be my sister’s former employer. Any former employer became implicated in conspiracies anytime she had an “episode” of mental illness.
So, the screener never got the full picture of what was going on with my sister. I remember trying to hint to her in the hallway that maybe she should spend a little more time with my sister but her mind was made up. My sister was just suffering from some anxiety.
My parents, both together and separately, have had many experiences just like mine. They had her in one hospital and the doctor actually noticed that she was acutely psychotic but they did not have a psych unit equipped to deal with patients that ill. He then suggested another area hospital that could take her. Incredibly, by the time she was seen at the next hospital, she was only suffering from anxiety again. The reality here is that crazy people do not have insurance. Hello! So the trick is to call it something far more benign than acute psychosis like maybe, oh, I don’t know… Anxiety? Great, we don’t have to hospitalize for that. After all, that is the mental health version of a hang nail. This is a great way to protect the bottom line. The thing that makes it so effective is the fact that no one can prove that someone was ‘that crazy’ in the ER. No, they didn’t get ‘that crazy’ until they got home and picked up a butcher knife. See? No liability.
This leaves the family in the unfortunate position of waiting for something bad to happen. You don’t want really, really bad. Just bad enough that you can prove your point that “it’s not anxiety, for GOD’S SAKE!” This is the part that makes it so dangerous for everyone involved. There is just no way of knowing what is coming next with psychosis. The next time you read a story about a crazy mother killing her children (Andrea Yates or the woman that threw her three small children into the San Francisco Bay) stop and think before you automatically condemn the mother or the family. The family in the Bay incident had made repeated calls to Social Services regarding the mother’s mental illness expressing concerns about her having custody of the children. Obviously, Social Services did not take this seriously. Andrea Yates had been seeing a psychiatrist and was very open about her delusions that the devil was trying to get to her kids. She was trying to protect their souls. Yet, no one intervened to prevent the tragic deaths of her children.
So, my sister’s first hospitalization took place without as much drama as subsequent hospitalizations. If it looks like a suicide attempt then they really don’t have a choice. Only because they can’t get away with labeling it anxiety.
This can make it difficult to get proper treatment for a sick family member. It is important to keep in mind that there is no law against being crazy. The law very clearly states that involuntary commitment hinges upon the ability to establish the fact that the person is a danger to self or others.
I have had the experience of taking my sister to the hospital before when she has been delusional and paranoid. She would keep her delusions to herself in front of the mental health screener and basically just stare off into space as if she were in a trance. Then the minute the screener would leave, my sister would threaten me and tell me to keep my mouth shut. After all, she was positive she had seen that same woman in a public restroom two hundred miles away. For those of you that don’t understand crazy logic, that means the screener was part of the conspiracy. It was her job to keep tabs on my sister and make sure that she did not share any information that could compromise the “company.” To further clarify, the company would be my sister’s former employer. Any former employer became implicated in conspiracies anytime she had an “episode” of mental illness.
So, the screener never got the full picture of what was going on with my sister. I remember trying to hint to her in the hallway that maybe she should spend a little more time with my sister but her mind was made up. My sister was just suffering from some anxiety.
My parents, both together and separately, have had many experiences just like mine. They had her in one hospital and the doctor actually noticed that she was acutely psychotic but they did not have a psych unit equipped to deal with patients that ill. He then suggested another area hospital that could take her. Incredibly, by the time she was seen at the next hospital, she was only suffering from anxiety again. The reality here is that crazy people do not have insurance. Hello! So the trick is to call it something far more benign than acute psychosis like maybe, oh, I don’t know… Anxiety? Great, we don’t have to hospitalize for that. After all, that is the mental health version of a hang nail. This is a great way to protect the bottom line. The thing that makes it so effective is the fact that no one can prove that someone was ‘that crazy’ in the ER. No, they didn’t get ‘that crazy’ until they got home and picked up a butcher knife. See? No liability.
This leaves the family in the unfortunate position of waiting for something bad to happen. You don’t want really, really bad. Just bad enough that you can prove your point that “it’s not anxiety, for GOD’S SAKE!” This is the part that makes it so dangerous for everyone involved. There is just no way of knowing what is coming next with psychosis. The next time you read a story about a crazy mother killing her children (Andrea Yates or the woman that threw her three small children into the San Francisco Bay) stop and think before you automatically condemn the mother or the family. The family in the Bay incident had made repeated calls to Social Services regarding the mother’s mental illness expressing concerns about her having custody of the children. Obviously, Social Services did not take this seriously. Andrea Yates had been seeing a psychiatrist and was very open about her delusions that the devil was trying to get to her kids. She was trying to protect their souls. Yet, no one intervened to prevent the tragic deaths of her children.
So, my sister’s first hospitalization took place without as much drama as subsequent hospitalizations. If it looks like a suicide attempt then they really don’t have a choice. Only because they can’t get away with labeling it anxiety.
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