Well what a day to be me!
Discussion
Just decided to come here and vent as i sit and wonder.
Today started at 8.10am with a phone call from some detox place my brother was recently admitted too. Turns out he lost the plot and absconded, he is suffering from self inflicted alcoholism.
4 days into his detox he starts hallucinating, alcohol worker is not allowed to physically restrain so lets him go. He then thinks he is being chased by some guy, try's to climb a railing and ends up impaling himself.
Police help him down and take him to hospital, after very basic treatment he does a runner from there. Needle still in his arm, 1 leg cut off his jeans. I found him in the hallway outside his flat and he starts telling me his mate is inside doing some painting. Took him back to the hospital at around 10am and sat there until 9pm.
I leave and within an hour i am getting a phone call from my mum telling me he turned up there. I phoned the hospital and asked if they knew where he was. "he is just outside having a smoke". No he isn't he just turned up at mothers house!. "Oh god can you get him back?" (By now he is full on shakes needing his medication) <--- READ not a chance!!
Me the detox worker and his home nurse have been trying to get him sectioned all day. I sat there for 13 hours waiting on some mental assesment guy who never turned up. Now it seems the hospital nor the police nor the emergency doctor can physically take him back to hospital. Even tho he is booked in for surgery tomorrow morning due to the gaping hole in his leg.
So here i am just getting back in from making sure he is ok as he is now sat in his flat. He is unsteady on his feet, curtain twitching in case the two guys outside come in his flat. Talking absolute b
ks about nothing, and wouldn't know what day it is. Yet this does not warrant two guys with a straight jacket to come take him away for few month. 
Today started at 8.10am with a phone call from some detox place my brother was recently admitted too. Turns out he lost the plot and absconded, he is suffering from self inflicted alcoholism.
4 days into his detox he starts hallucinating, alcohol worker is not allowed to physically restrain so lets him go. He then thinks he is being chased by some guy, try's to climb a railing and ends up impaling himself.
Police help him down and take him to hospital, after very basic treatment he does a runner from there. Needle still in his arm, 1 leg cut off his jeans. I found him in the hallway outside his flat and he starts telling me his mate is inside doing some painting. Took him back to the hospital at around 10am and sat there until 9pm.
I leave and within an hour i am getting a phone call from my mum telling me he turned up there. I phoned the hospital and asked if they knew where he was. "he is just outside having a smoke". No he isn't he just turned up at mothers house!. "Oh god can you get him back?" (By now he is full on shakes needing his medication) <--- READ not a chance!!
Me the detox worker and his home nurse have been trying to get him sectioned all day. I sat there for 13 hours waiting on some mental assesment guy who never turned up. Now it seems the hospital nor the police nor the emergency doctor can physically take him back to hospital. Even tho he is booked in for surgery tomorrow morning due to the gaping hole in his leg.
So here i am just getting back in from making sure he is ok as he is now sat in his flat. He is unsteady on his feet, curtain twitching in case the two guys outside come in his flat. Talking absolute b
ks about nothing, and wouldn't know what day it is. Yet this does not warrant two guys with a straight jacket to come take him away for few month. mildmannered said:
My only thinking was that they give methadone to heroine addicts to wean them off. Maybe just bringing him a small amount, may make him more manageable...
It's not the sort of thing resolved overnight.
I was going to make a little joke about needing some methadone to get me off Wonder Woman... It's not the sort of thing resolved overnight.
Anyway, no, methadone is specific to opiate addiction, you'd effectively be making a non-addict into an addict by giving him that s
t, he'd be a junkie as well as an alcoholic. Also, it really wouldn't be good should he manage to find a few cans of lagerSorry to hear about this, as without the medication/alcohol it can be very serious for the patient to go 'cold rurkey' if they haven't had their meds. Could you not call the Police, say you fear for his safety. He may be detained (not arrested!) under SEC136 of the MHA and then have to be assessed at the Police station (but won't leave the police station till he is deemed fit enough to do so!)
It's worth noting that he probably won't be considered mentally ill as he's suffering withdrawal symptoms.
Alcohol withdrawal can actually kill you. Yet withdrawal from opiates can't.
Police hate having alcoholics in the cell for that reason.
You could give him a drink but better to give him the meds his doctor would prescribe.
Alcohol withdrawal can actually kill you. Yet withdrawal from opiates can't.
Police hate having alcoholics in the cell for that reason.
You could give him a drink but better to give him the meds his doctor would prescribe.
Nad that as he has a caring family who are looking out for him, he is not a risk to himself or others.
The system would onloy step in and force care by sectioning if this was not the case. Being sectioned is no small matter - those who have the power to do this use it as sparingly as possible, and rightly so.
It appears that whilst a section order might be attractive, in these circumstances I would be exptremely surprised to see one enforced. You certainly would not see one from the police.
Having been through something very similar, and you have my full condolences - it is a truly awful thing to be around, the only solution is more of your time and support. Your brother is likely to fall off the wagon a few times, get into these situations and worse a few times on his road to recovery.
In my circumstances it took the person concerned to be given two weeks to live, drink or no drink, as far as the hospital were concerned his liver, kidneys and other organs were done. Somehow, he went clean immediately (a bad thing in normal circumstances) and defied the odds and is still being a pain in the arse, but in different ways.
Good luck.
The system would onloy step in and force care by sectioning if this was not the case. Being sectioned is no small matter - those who have the power to do this use it as sparingly as possible, and rightly so.
It appears that whilst a section order might be attractive, in these circumstances I would be exptremely surprised to see one enforced. You certainly would not see one from the police.
Having been through something very similar, and you have my full condolences - it is a truly awful thing to be around, the only solution is more of your time and support. Your brother is likely to fall off the wagon a few times, get into these situations and worse a few times on his road to recovery.
In my circumstances it took the person concerned to be given two weeks to live, drink or no drink, as far as the hospital were concerned his liver, kidneys and other organs were done. Somehow, he went clean immediately (a bad thing in normal circumstances) and defied the odds and is still being a pain in the arse, but in different ways.
Good luck.
I sometimes wonder if the actual act itself, of removing any choice the addict has in whether to take, or to not take, the substance they crave, becomes a much bigger issue to them than the actual craving.
Don't get me wrong, if it were heroin he craved so badly then different ball game, as that really can be game over in one hit.
However, from what you say, it doesn't sound like he's in any state of mind that is ready and prepared to shake off his addiction. In the longer term you need to help get him to that point.
IMHO: In the immediate term, a little of what he craves might help the poor bugger pull out of the flat spin he's found himself in.
Don't get me wrong, if it were heroin he craved so badly then different ball game, as that really can be game over in one hit.
However, from what you say, it doesn't sound like he's in any state of mind that is ready and prepared to shake off his addiction. In the longer term you need to help get him to that point.
IMHO: In the immediate term, a little of what he craves might help the poor bugger pull out of the flat spin he's found himself in.
Edited by JudgeMental on Saturday 25th February 12:04
Afternoon to you all,
I have made a few phonecalls and it has been decided that i am to take responsability for his medication. This will hopefully get him through the weekend and allow him back on to the detox programme on monday.
Now i have to try and get on the OH good side! She seems incapable of understanding the situation, and this is something i should not be doing (running round).
I have made a few phonecalls and it has been decided that i am to take responsability for his medication. This will hopefully get him through the weekend and allow him back on to the detox programme on monday.
Now i have to try and get on the OH good side! She seems incapable of understanding the situation, and this is something i should not be doing (running round).
Handie Andy said:
Afternoon to you all,
I have made a few phonecalls and it has been decided that i am to take responsability for his medication. This will hopefully get him through the weekend and allow him back on to the detox programme on monday.
Now i have to try and get on the OH good side! She seems incapable of understanding the situation, and this is something i should not be doing (running round).
It's not something you should be doing but it's something you want to do because of your love for your brother.I have made a few phonecalls and it has been decided that i am to take responsability for his medication. This will hopefully get him through the weekend and allow him back on to the detox programme on monday.
Now i have to try and get on the OH good side! She seems incapable of understanding the situation, and this is something i should not be doing (running round).
Good luck.
Just thought i would update to put some closure to this.
My brother seemed fine this afternoon when i went to see him. I did a bit of negotiating with him, and he said he would go to the hospital. First i had to take him for a haircut and a "Turkish shave".
He is now safe and in a stable mind, willing and coorperative at the hospital waiting to go for his op tomorrow.
After a good chat with him during the long wait, he told me that one of the other patients at the detox center had given him a handful of diazepam. This was to help him sleep on the Tuesday night, he then gave my brother another handful of diazepam on the Wednesday and a "large brown tablet".
After taking them that is when he started hallucinating and going off the rails. Which explains why the detox nurse had never heard of a case like this before. I reported this to the detox manager who assures me it won't happen again.
Thank you all for reading/listening to my ramblings, it seems strangers over the internet have a better understanding of the situation than the OH does. I am now in the dog house and have had nothing but aggressive phone calls all day.
My brother seemed fine this afternoon when i went to see him. I did a bit of negotiating with him, and he said he would go to the hospital. First i had to take him for a haircut and a "Turkish shave".
He is now safe and in a stable mind, willing and coorperative at the hospital waiting to go for his op tomorrow.
After a good chat with him during the long wait, he told me that one of the other patients at the detox center had given him a handful of diazepam. This was to help him sleep on the Tuesday night, he then gave my brother another handful of diazepam on the Wednesday and a "large brown tablet".
After taking them that is when he started hallucinating and going off the rails. Which explains why the detox nurse had never heard of a case like this before. I reported this to the detox manager who assures me it won't happen again.
Thank you all for reading/listening to my ramblings, it seems strangers over the internet have a better understanding of the situation than the OH does. I am now in the dog house and have had nothing but aggressive phone calls all day.
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