Action Needed Urgently. Please Help A Fellow Blogger

This post is written by a friend of Alison Hymes, Tina. Please sign the petition here.

We need to get behind our sister psychiatric survivor, Alison Hymes of Charlottesville, VA. I just got off the the phone with Alison, and she authorized me to share her information to get support and assistance.

Alison is currently at Martha Jefferson Hospital. She had the independent psychiatric evaluation today, and they are definitely sending her to Western State Hospital. They didn’t have the commitment hearing yet…that’s Monday. But she says it’s just a formality. This is WSH, where they wish to send her for 6 months

Alison had a kidney transplant in October 2008 for loss of kidney function due to psychiatric malpractice many years ago. She was sucked back into the psych system at UVA by commitment  in 2009 when she had a reaction to the steroids prescribed for the kidney transplant. It was also due to neglect by her psychiatrist that the issues were not addressed. Instead of addressing it as a steroid reaction, they decided it was a “bipolar episode” and gave her drugs that nearly caused the loss of her transplanted kidney and bladder. She was totally re-traumatized.

She has been highly anxious ever since, and her outpatient doctor raised the klonopin to a high dose since that time, but she also lost her therapist of 9 years over the summer and had little or no family/friend support. Before she took this recent downturn, she was highly anxious, but still driving, shopping, cooking and taking care of herself, including daily walks. When her psychiatrist saw her mid-January, Alison reported anxiety and sleeplessness and was prescribed a low dose of Seroquel, and within 2 days, the round of ER visits, crisis center stays and threats of commitment began. She was suddenly unable to drive, cook, bathe properly or take care of herself, and it was directly caused by the addition of Seroquel. The response was to raise the dose, hospitalize her and keep raising the dose. They currently have her loaded up on Seroquel and made her cold turkey off klonopin last night.  This would be a six month commitment.

With her medical needs and her traumatic psych history, I fear Alison will not survive at Western State, especially not for six months. I have contacted her attorney, as well as a CCHR Representative, and I will request a Mindfreedom Shield Activation at her request, but we need all the support, assistance and suggestions of the survivor community right now.

Please sign the petition here.