Elizabeth stayed with the rest of the family this weekend. This has given me a break and lots of opportunity to catch up on things in the home Saturday I met up today with some members of Speak Out Against Psychiatry.
It is usually impossible for me to get on with so much as I only have the weekends and I am alwayst taking Elizabeth to various places over the weekend.
Not having Elizabeth has given me to get on with some writing and I have had lots of letters to write this weekend. I will tell you more about these in due course but one letter I had to write was to the Neurologist and put him in the picture regarding the referral of the larger scanner. I keep having to put the appointment back and I am getting fed up with this and it would seem that the GP is asking the Neurologist to do the referral and now he is asking the GP. I can see I may have no option but to take some time off to sort this out. I have requested from both the names of those concerned in authorising such referral.
Anyway Elizabeth had a nice time away with the rest of the family and we had a visit today from my guest blogger, Stephen who has been advising Elizabeth on healthy eating.
I have heard from the Professor in Holland but I will tell you all about this when I get the full results in due course. At least I know these results will be based accurate and not on a trial and error basis. These tests could benefit everyone and ultimately save money. Not one doctor would help with the analysis but when you are prepared to pay you find there are doctors who are very good in helping.
There are a few events coming up which I wish to attend and I will write about these due course. I have always to ensure that someone is with Elizabeth as such events at the end of the day would be too much for her.
I am in touch with a quite a few mothers right now who have sons and daughters incarcerated in “secure” wards when they should not be on such wards and have never committed any crimes or are a risk to society. There is a real need for change in the system that keeps such young people incarcerated for many years to the point of disablement and there is no consideration given to the physical health of these vulnerable patients who are given enormous quantities of drugs. I am hoping to share what I am doing in due course and hope such establishments will listen and take on board the need for accuracy in assessing. I can tell you that I am already pleased with what I have been told so far.
There also needs to be more legal support available for families who wish to have their sons/daughters/relatives out from hospital. It is totally unjustified to write someone off like rubbish when there are many who have not committed crimes and are stuck in their situation because they have become dependant and cannot manage in the community to look after themselves properly. It would cheaper to give support to families and carers instead. Whilst we have no support in my area if I can have Elizabeth home then so can some of the other mothers. How can anyone get better if they are put in an environment where family contact is discouraged and security is so tight- worse than prison. The parents I am in touch with should be given support and assistance if it is the wish of the patient to come home and the patient should be listened to and given that chance. It is very wrong to use coercion in trying to influence someone vulnerable in their decisions and someone who is weakened by high levels of drugs. When Elizabeth first came home she was very quiet but she is speaking up now and it is good for her to come to the conferences I have been attended and meet the wonderful professionals who I cant thank enough – other professionals should learn by their good example and this is what I like about the organisation ISPS – when you have had a bad experience it is very encouraging to meet those who are in favour of change and supportive of things like open dialogue.
There needs to be transparency but confidentiality can sometimes be played upon for the wrong reasons.
I posted on Twitter about Court of Protection today. I have certainly not had bad experiences as far as this Court is concerned however I am critical of a system that does not protect the weak and vulnerable and allows discrimination and the outcome of some such cases should be looked at very carefully – I cannot say too much at the moment as I am waiting to hear more but I definitely feel disabled people are not treated fairly and when some have been made disabled because of being drugged for many years, misdiagnosed etc then I feel this should be carefully looked at to ensure a fair outcome in court.