Skip to main content

Lessons from Inpatient Therapy

I spent a few days this week in an inpatient psychiatric treatment program, and I have a few major takeaways.
1. I need a set schedule.
Having a set schedule while inpatient helped me a lot. I don't need every hour scheduled; that would be stressful and overwhelming. I need landmarks in my day to keep me on track. Here's the schedule my autism coach and I created:

8:00am      Wake up
8:20am       Coco out
8:30am       Morning medication
10:00am     Coco out
1:00pm       Coco out
3:30- 4:00   Cleaning
4:00pm       Coco out
5:30pm       Evening medication
7:00pm       Coco out

2. I would gain more independence by getting my pills in the pouches where each time's dosages are pre-packed. ExactCare Pharmacy is one way to do this, and they accept Medicaid and Medicare without charging extra for delivery.
3. The psychiatrist wants me to keep a voice and hallucination journal where I list what I see or hear, how intense it is, how I feel, how I respond, and what happens when I respond that way. He wants me to try responding different ways to my hallucinations and see if that has different results.
4. I'm on new medication, Zyprexa. It will take a few weeks to be totally in my system, but it already seems like an improvement from my old medication.  
I think this time could serve as sort of the reset button I needed. I hope I'm able to maintain better mental health on this new medication and with the coping skills I was reminded of during my brief stay. I only completed 3 days of the 7 day program, so I feel there are more benefits to be gleaned there if I ever need to go back. And maybe what I learned this time around will help other people, too.
 
 

 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Increasing my Testosterone Dosage

TW: Body changes, sexual changes, suicide mention   I started low-dose testosterone on February 1, 2016 . My step-dad had just taken his own life, and I felt the need to take control of mine. I was on testosterone for a long time before I was sure that I really wanted to be on it- that it was the decision that would reduce dysphoria the most for my nonbinary self. Part of this indecisiveness came from my autism; I've always had trouble making decisions due to being overwhelmed by the options and fearing regret. I talked a lot with my therapist about my uncertainty around testosterone, and the ongoing theme was that I was happy about the current changes; I was just afraid that I would regret future changes. So, I stayed on testosterone, reasoning that I could always go off of it if the changes started causing dysphoria from being too masculine. Since then, I've started trying my hand at online dating. Through answering the many, many questions on the sites, building my profil...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ten Hurricaines- A Poem for Spoken Word

TW: Psychiatric Medication I wrote this rough draft of a poem a few years ago for spoken word and never came back to edit it, but I really like it. To me, it represents finding the balance in my psychiatric medication and sort of losing myself by being over-medicated but losing my ability to maintain my relationships with people who matter to me by being under-medicated.     This is the time of day When the oceans roar The messy crash of salty waves is pain But the tearful surge is the herald of my reward   They're coming back My thoughts are riding on the clouds Where I used to live My wonderings crashing in the pattern of my name   Here comes the Storm   Boatless, I'm dead man's floating out to sea Will I go into that hurricane? Will I float until the waves lift me to the clouds, Not into the eye of the storm, but in the swirling winds?   The swirling of that storm is where I once discovered lightn...
Post a Comment
Read more

Autism and Teaching English

In many ways, autism makes me a good teacher. I explain things clearly and systematically. I keep detailed notes on each student because I have to do so to remember. I have formulas for everything and provide data-based feedback on student progress after every lesson. It also makes me a good English as a Second Language teacher. I pinpoint specific, recurring issues in students' speaking (accent, pronunciation, and oral fluency) and take a structured approach to addressing these issues. I do the same with academic writing (structure, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, coherence and cohesion). However, it makes me a lousy literature teacher. I'm good at poetry, but stories are not my thing. I take them at face value. It's hard for me to see symbolism behind the words. A story about talking rabbits ( Watership Down ) is, to me, just about the talking rabbits, and I'm totally into the narrative of those rabbits. I also cannot empathize with character emotions unless I...
Post a Comment
Read more