Complex Needs Service

[Lily Kym]

So had my assessment today.
Looks like I'll be starting group therapy in a few months.

It's a minimum commitment of 18 months, three days a week. Goes up to three years.

Feeling very triggered from bringing up things I had buried after last years therapy. Not sure how to deal with it

[behindthewall]

I'm glad things are finally moving forward for you Lily though it is a shame it all takes so long to happen.

It isn't really helpful for you to have everything stirred up by your assessment then being left to deal with it for a few months before therapy. Do you have any professional support in the mean time? Someone you could talk to? 

[Lily Kym]

Thank you for replying xx really means a lot.
I use to come on here so much but now hardly come on do didn't expect anyone to reply as I don't have capacity to offer support to others xx

No not help. GP is ok but she's mainly concerned with my f****d up liver caused by ODs and my heat murmur. BP is still sky high too, and I'm being referred for the possible tumour on adrenal glad

Too much going on

Am off venlafaxine now too. That was so hard. Going on mirtazapine

Been off work 7 wks following surgery - so used that time to come off completely

Brain zaps last so long.

[inmythirties]

I hope you soon feel much better and that the therapy will be helpful to you. Will you have to give up work (once well enough to return) as the therapy is quite intensive? Do apply for benefits if there is that reduction in your income and change of circumstances.
That does sound worrying about your liver. Will it replenish itself over time? Can you stop/reduce the ODs to give your liver a break? You deserve so much more and not to feel physically ill, the mental stuff is more than difficult enough.
I hope the mitrazepine works for you. You should be getting support from the cmht in the meantime until the psychotherapy programme starts.

[Je7]

Thinking of you xx

[diamondwithaflaw]

I was just wondering how you are now? Complex Needs Service is tough going but, there is something that seems to work afterwards although it can seem to be a while after completion of their therapy. Wishing you well as you take this journey forward.

[Lily Kym]

Still on assessment phase

Until I'm off of mirtazapine and mis use of non prescription and prescription medication they won't have me on the group

Thank you for asking though x

[inmythirties]

Do you have to be off Mitrazepine as a prescribed antidepressant? That does sound very strict and inflexible. I think that PD/complex needs programmes can leave people without support unless they conform to various rules which wouldn't be imposed on others with a different psychiatric diagnosis. You deserve all the support possible and if you are misusing other drugs then that is a symptom of distress rather than a behaviour that should exclude you from getting that support. Forgive me if this sounds hard on my part. I hope the 'assessment phase' does offer some options in terms of talking therapies and crisis support. Do you know how long this phase lasts and what happens if you are not 100% off meds? Witholding support until you comply would be the wrong approach and just leave you in the same place for longer maybe with tragic consequences.

[Lily Kym]

They basically keep forgetting about me. Was supposed to have an appointment sent before Xmas to see her early January. I'm so tired of chasing them.

No self harm at all or you're out
No mis use of meds or you're out

"You're very lucky to be given this opportunity Gemma don't mess it up"
Psychiatrist has finished with me as I'm under complex needs

I have no crisis care. Nothing

Gp took me off venlafaxine as it made my bp sky rocket, according to her. But it's still pushing 190/110 daily, despite bp meds. I think it would be easier all round for them if I was gone tbh

Save nhs money. Give someone a slot with complex needs who deserves it.

[inmythirties]

I don't think it sounds as though you are lucky to be given 'the opportunity' of this complex needs service given their exclusions. It is shameful if this service rejects people if they express distress through self harm or other so called behaviours. It seems like blackmail to exclude someone in that way when they are already down and desperate. I was in a therapeutic community in the past and now refuse to even think of going back to one. I know this may not sound very pro recovery on my part, but some services let really vulnerable people down and then there are no alternatives. I think with PD this is more likely to happen and the mantra goes about 'taking responsibility'. For some people that may work, but there are casualties to this kind of approach.

Could you get your GP to write to the CCG to complain about the lack of care for you? You need to make a formal complaint and see where that gets to you. The complex needs service probably isn't forever so you would hope to have a backup before, during and after. If you don't last the programme then what happens?

The way you feel forgotten by the service and don't get appointments through doesn't bode well.

You could try the programme and avoid all forms of sh for the duration but I would hope there was enough support and you had other coping strategies in place for when things got trying.

You are worth the help and more. Noone should suffer with such extreme distress.. this isn't your fault. Mental health services amount to a rubbish system though there are good people who work within it who do want to make a difference to people's lives. You are on the wrong side of that system at the moment and just getting a very limited/no choice.