A Long Weekend on a Psychiatric Ward: which left me feeling over-medicated.

Hello - I am back and blogging!

Nicola Edwards

As you may have seen on FYM's previous post I (Nicola E.) was sectioned, again, for the 6th time.

I have been sectioned once previously since launching this blog; but, I have not spoken about my experiences of that time.

My reason for this is that although I do have something to say based on my experiences during that time, I am still working on how it would be best to express my opinions.

This most recent sectioning, however, was the shortest amount of time I have stayed under a section whilst on a psychiatric ward.

It was a long weekend, but one which left me feeling over-medicated.

I wrote notes in a diary during that weekend about the treatment I was receiving on the ward.

The following is an account of the weekend; edited and compiled using notes from that diary.

I remained on the ward and, on a Section 2, from the 3rd-November-2011, to the 7th-November-2011

Quote from diary:

This (long) weekend has felt like a (cliched) POV rave scene from a drug movie... [sic]
[one in which] the protagonist is [stumbling] around being offered all kinds of illicit substances; but, instead of dealers around every corner, [instead] there were nurses with pills and injections. [sic]





Thursday; 3-Nov.-2011.
I was given two (2) Lorazepam almost immediately after my arrival to the psychiatric ward - which the staff on the ward felt I needed.

I asked for a "sleeping aid" that same evening, and I received two (2) Promethazine and one (1) Zopiclone.

I feel asleep that night, but did not wake up until late the following evening.

Friday; 4-Nov-2011.
Shortly after waking - and once having eaten a couple of slices of toast - I requested the same medication they had administered the night before in order to help with my sleep.

Saturday; 5-Nov.-2011.
For reasons, which I honestly cannot remember (although it is possible that I could have been ranting and raving; in other words, shouting and making a lot of noise ), I was forcibly medicated that same Saturday evening.

Quote From Diary:

My head was held back, and both pills [2 Lorazepam] and water were forced down my throat...
...which I did swallow - although I did feel reluctant in doing so.
After swallowing ALL of the tablets I had been given. The restraining nurses falsely accused me of not taking [the] medication; they, therefore, held me down for an injection (its is unknown to me what medication they had administered with the syringe). [sic]


I was asleep/unconscious/knocked out after receiving the injection.

I will be frank with you; my recollections/memories of the events during this period are "fuzzy" and disjointed.


Sunday; 6-Nov.-2011
I woke up shortly before midday on Sunday.

Not long after midday, however, I fell into an argument with a fellow patient, whom I believed, judging from from her behaviour, was prepared to say anything to try and push my buttons,


I took myself away from this patient, in order to avoid a fight; so I moved myself into the hospital ward's "courtyard" to smoke a cigarette.

Unfortunately, I was still full of anger; which was probably due to myself becoming oversensitive with her words, and then found myself dwelling too much on the (offensive) things that had been said to myself.

So, I inevitably got wound up and was no longer able to keep my cool; and, I ended up releasing my anger onto a couple of wall flower baskets, by kicking them both and then watching each basket fall to the floor.

Following the above incident, I was administered two Lorazepam.

Later on that day, in the mid-afternoon, I was admittedly rather bored; so, as a way of cheering myself up and to alleviate my boredom

Quote from Diary

...with Magic FM loudly playing on the psychiatric ward's radio - I jumped up onto the table to sing,
"I want to break free!"
It was spontaneous of me, but it [worked] as a release; and soon after I'd sung along to those five words to the song being played, I leaped down off of that coffee table. [sic]

Upon leaping from the table, I was approached by a nurse, who told me she felt that I needed PRN - I was given two more Lorazepam.

Monday; 7-Nov.-2011.
I'd not long been dressed and out of bed on that Monday morning; but, as I was walking from one part of the ward to another, I was stopped by a nurse who was stood inside the clinical room with its hatch open. The nurse offered me two Promethazine - which I initially (kindly) declined, as .I felt that I did not need the medication at that moment in time.

But the Clinical Nurse insisted I needed the medication to calm me down. However, I was calm (wasn't shouting or being aggressive) and, it was for this reason that I decided to comply with the medication which was currently on offer.

Later on, that same day; I attended a "ward round" meeting, with the ward Psychiatrist. It was at this meeting I was taken  off a Section and informally discharged.

It took a couple of days after returning home to overcome my fuzzy-medication-head and stop feeling so spaced-out.

I find it hard to believe that all of the medication I received over the "long weekend" were in-fact necessary. I genuinely felt like I was over-medicated.


"Part Two" of this post can be found here - Part 2 is an explanation of why I feel angry at the way I felt I was 'over-medicated'. ~ 03/12/2011.