Crisis Point

Trauma survivors inevitably reach crisis point at some point in their lives. I reached that point two nights ago. It was truly a confluence of life events:

- I had been ill for over a week with a respiratory issue, I was exhausted from lack of sleep.

- we spent a night at a veterinary emergency center Wednesday night with our beloved Cockapoo who was extremely unwell with a mystery series of problems (he's okay now - still a mystery)

- I'm starting a new job Friday and was under a LOT of pressure to get a ton of online training certifications done before I started the job. I failed the exam about 6 times that day (9 times in all)

- I suffer from increasingly difficult anxiety as I age especially since my mum's death in February 2020.

So I broke, panicked and totally crumbled.

It was so bad I checked myself into the local hospital ER and was held overnight on a mental health order. 

The next morning after seeing a terrific staff psychologist I was discharged into my fabulous husband's care. 

What do I want to share about that experience?

- if you have access to a mental health crisis center don't go to your average ER, I didn't know the city I live in has quite a few crisis centers!

- ERs aren't the place to be when you are suicidal and they are so busy ambulances are diverted to other hospitals.

I learned even a small about of time with a trained mental health professional is much more useful than any amount of time with general doctors or nurses in an ER. It's sad to say but I only learned to not trust ER doctors  with my mental health that night. The fact is mental health issues are misunderstood by many, EVEN professionals in the health industry.

I'm doing well today. But every day is another day as a trauma survivor. You never know when you'll be totally overwhelmed by seemingly normal life events.