72 Hour Hold, by Bebe Moore Campbell, is a must read for anyone who cares about the mentally ill, their struggles, their families. But especially for law enforcement who often have contact with them during their worst moments and psychotic breaks.
A recent tragedy reminded of my father-in-law in his lifetime, suffering from dementia, who was placed on medication meant to calm and help him sleep. The medication had the opposite effect. He tore up my living room one weekend. When I called the home healthcare nurse she advised me to call for an ambulance and police instead. The HHS also advised me to get myself and the children out of the house and wait for them to arrive. They too understand, because they've dealt with it often enough.
When the EMTs arrived, the police stood back. The EMT spoke quietly and gently with my father-in-law, but he still refused to take the medication, liquid form in a glass of juice. Which actually would later turn out to be good thing. My father-in-law told the EMT "You drink it! You ain't gonna poison me!" The EMT patiently, pretended to drink a little, then offered it to my father-in-law. To which my father-in-law told him "Now you drink the rest of it!"
I can't remember now how, but the EMT calmed my father-in-law without the medication. He must have realized to insist would have only agitated my father-in-law more.
Only later when my father-in-law was hospitalized and had another psychotic break, that it was discovered he was actually having a reaction to the medication prescribed to calm him and help him rest. One of those medications was the same medication Andrea Yates, the Texas mom who drowned five of her children, had been on and was being weened from in preparation to be placed on a different medication.
We ended up with a broken glass coffee table. Magazines were strewn all across the living room. Figurines were broken, but no one was hurt. That day turned out to be a very chaotic and scary day, but because of how the EMTs and police responded it also turned out to be a very good day for everyone.
72 Hour Hold is great reading, and gives a perfect insight in describing the struggles for families and victims of mental illness and mental diseases.
Brenda Washington
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Even though she's a card carrying lib, I've written and received several emails from Ms. Brenda Manghane Washington. Turns out she has a large, beautiful, African heart that I love. Now she is my friend. We agree and disagree and smile and laugh and sometimes I almost cry. I trust her emphatically. If she says read 72 Hour Hold, I will do as instructed. Thank you, Ms. Brenda!
I have written several posts in Chattanoogan.com about extremely positive and life altering experiences at Double G Ranch many years ago. After about five summers there I figured I was a professional on the subject of mental illness. No sir. Not even close. As Roy Exum (also a buddy of Brenda's) has written many times, tons of families out there are in a permanent and silent choke hold called psychosis. Medication works but the illness will not go away. Forever. Like for the rest of your life. Jails are full of sufferers and this illness looks brutal and it is not well understood by me. There really aren't a lot of obvious options that I can see but I really don't know. Thank God, I've never been there or done that. I recently read a story in the Signal Mountain Mirror about a group of beautiful, strong women who are self helping and it's a real tear jerker of a concept. This thing really, really needs attention.
Either way, I'm going to read 72 Hour Hold because I want to know and Brenda said I should. Also, I would love to know how to be like the EMT and policemen/women Brenda described. They are certified heroes.
Savage Glascock. Sr.
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My favorite story of a medicine going wrong (relatively harmlessly) involves a friend, his wife, and their cat -- all taking a trip from Chattanooga to Miami. I’ve never made that drive, but he told me it’s 800 miles and 12 hours on a good day. And they didn’t anticipate a good day, having to take the cat with them.
A thoughtful friend advised giving the cat a bit of Dramamine to make it sleep during the long drive. The cat saw things differently, and pulled a 12-hour cat fit, treating the inside of that Camaro as a playground and 3-D race track. Then, when they all got to Miami late in the evening, Kitty went to sleep for the next 24 hours. Yes, my friend and his wife were equally exhausted by that time. Dramamine simply wasn't the proper medicine for that cat.
My own experience with medicines, both prescription and unregulated, is similar to their cat’s. Hospital pain-killers have made me higher than a kite; acetaminophen may work once for me, but not the next time it’s needed; and the liquid ‘sleep aid’ I tried last week spiked my nerves more than caffeine ever did.
So, in spite of advertisements and popular conceptions, different medicines may affect different people in different ways – and surely that’s not the patient’s fault. I support Mrs. Washington’s position on this one hundred percent, and thank her for the public heads-up. Hopefully the message will get out to all those who may have to deal with such unexpected results.
Larry Cloud