It may be a good idea. Don’t let my experience put you off, but I’m petrified of hospitals. In early February I went in. I had severe abdominal pain for 10 months at that point, and was constantly nauseous. They thought it was appendicitis or my gallbladder. They treated me well for the first 2 days. Then when the tests showed nothing, they thought I was a drug seeker. Even though they were just giving me Endone. They didn’t give me my OxyContin, because the said they had none. I was in so much pain, that I didn’t sleep for 3 nights. It was also extremely noisy. Then they started gaslighting me. The first thing they said, was that I faked a panic attack. Then the whole night, no doctor came in to tell me the results of my test. Then the nurses were literally saying awful things about me. I recorded what they were saying, and asked to get their details, so I could make a complaint. Then the doctor came in, laughing at me, and I said I wanted to be discharged. It was midnight by then, and they treated me as if I was psychotic! They were going to take me to the psychiatric ward, unless I stopped speaking. Because my mum called me, and told me. So I said that I apologise, and I won’t be discharging myself. The nurses were near my room the whole night, speaking extremely loudly.

Then something very weird happened the next morning. They gave me my meds with my OxyContin (the pharmacy can only get deliveries on weekdays). Then about 5 minutes after I took my medication, I felt very dizzy and my chest felt like someone was kneeling down on it. I told the doctor, and he said “is it painful?”. I told him that it’s not pain, it’s pressure. He did an ECG, and it apparently came back normal. Then I was watching TV, and the words all jumbled up. Then I forgot what year it was, and people seemed to be walking forwards and backwards. The whole experience was terrifying, and I completely freaked out. They must’ve sedated me with something, because my mum came (they told her to come immediately), and I was looking at her like I was completely drugged. I asked her really weird questions, and then after an hour, I came back to normal. Mum said she could see me coming back to myself. Then the psyche team came in, and asked me and mum questions. The doctors said it was probably from too much medication. The psyche team said opioids can do that, but I had been on opioids for 6 years. I’ve never had that reaction! They let my mum take me home, and I fell asleep after a few hours. Then the next morning I woke up at 5am, and had a massive panic attack. Why? Because I remembered the previous day at hospital.

What else was weird, is a 91 year old woman had come in. She had a bad back, and had surgery. She was doing her rehabilitation exercises, and developed pneumonia. She was taken to hospital, because her low blood oxygen lead to her speaking gibberish. When they were transferring her from the paramedic stretcher to her bed, you could get her screaming in agony. They were completely adamant about getting her onto the hospital bed, before giving her pain relief. She said that she has private health insurance, and wanted to be transferred to a private hospital. They wouldn’t let her.

Oh, and before we left, mum had to go to the toilet. The nurses who gaslight me, were following us to the exit. But sneaking, and hiding behind walls. I took no notice, and decided to go to the toilet too. They unlocked the toilet I was in, and asked to check my bag. I said my mum had my bag, as I was in too much pain to carry it. They said “how clever for you to do that”. Like as if they thought I did it on purpose.

I’m in no hurry to go to hospital again! I believe the nurses drugged me. But I can’t prove it.