In 2011 /2012 I had become pregnant at 24 after coming back from volunteering abroad. I had suffered a very severe depressive episode before this. My behaviour started to change overnight. I was cold angry full of rage which was not my personality. My mother had taken me to St Tydfil’s hospital in Wales. I was also suffering with severe morning sickness. I had been in an abusive relationship before i was pregnant. I was not offered any mental health help.
During that time the temperatures were below freezing. I became homeless, I walked around in the bitter conditions in the day and night. It got to the point that I was so cold I lay down outside a veterinary practice. I had given up I hadn’t been believed when I tried to tell people that my ex had being physically and mentally abusing me. I was trauma bonded to my ex. I had also been getting counselling from women’s aid before I went volunteering abroad. Someone had seen me outside the veterinary practice, he was a fire fighter so I got up and went to a phone box to phone an ambulance for myself. Still I was offered no mental health support.
I was actually going through mania but the mental health services did not believe I was mentally ill. My ex took a restraining order out against me but I broke my bail conditions. I was arrested taken to the police station. I was put in a suit that’s supposed to stop you hurting yourself. The next day I went to court. Mental health services refused to come down to the court as they said there was no evidence that I was mentally ill. As I was a danger to myself I went to prison for a couple of days. I was on a hospital wing just to stop me from making myself more ill and walking around in the bitter cold. I still was refused any mental health help. I was still suffering with severe morning sickness.
Whilst in prison I got seriously ill I was taken to a hospital in Bristol. I was severely dehydrated and I was put on a drip. My weight had gone down to 6 and a half stone. I spent a month on remand. I was seen by a psychiatrist whilst in prison who said I had a personality disorder. I was given a suspended sentence and had to go to probation. The judge could see I was clearly unwell but still was not taken in as an inpatient in St Tydfil’s hospital. I kept getting more and more ill until I was going through psychosis. My mother had to plead with mental health services to see me. This was now March 2012.
I went through a very traumatic time and I also had an overactive thyroid. From the December till the March I was not given the mental health treatment I clearly needed and I could have died from hypothermia they let me down. I made a complaint to the health board about 3 years later. They said they did not make any mistakes. If they had given me the support and treatment I urgently needed I would never have gone to prison and I was very lucky that I survived this traumatic time.
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2013.
This is my story as a: Patient
NHS Trust (or Provider): Don’t know/prefer not to say
Timespan: It happened in 2011
Did you complain?: Yes
Did the Trust (or Provider) retaliate?: No
Would you recommend PALS as an impartial intermediary?: No
After investigation, did the Trust (or Provider) respond satisfactorily?: It wasn’t investigated
Did you take your complaint to the Ombudsman (PHSO)?: No
Your ethnicity: White British
Have you experienced suicidality due to this?: Thoughts/feelings
Are you autistic?: No
Are you disabled as defined under the Equality Act 2010?: Yes
