Kitchen Garden Forum

you know OH you make me lol most days
so no-im glad i know you, and the others on here-well most of them!

jopsy wrote:mad people are much more fun!
im sure you know that tho

Yes they are amusing sometimes, in the same way that accidents are interesting to rubberneckers, but not when they are your relatives, trust me on that.

When you have to apologise to a family friend of forty years standing for your mother appearing on his front lawn at 5am in her nightie, demanding that he come and stop the water coming out of the switches and lights in her house, because he has made it happen.....

When after driving people demented by ringing them ten times an hour all evening to demand they come and get her a drink, has five in reach, she rings the police at midnight because, something must be wrong, they are not answering the phone......
... and the police turn out to investigate.

I know what you mean. My grandfather was barking in the last few months of his life bless him. My gran was at her wits end trying to look after him and then found him in the road in his jimjams telling anyone who'd listen that she starved and beat him. He was convinced that there were hundreds of childred running through the house all the time and that someone was stealing the contents of his shed. His shed was chock full of crap that he then moved bit by bit into the house (until she found out) to stop it being stolen.

Thirty years down the line and my Gran is hopeless at knowing who anyone is, the day, the month, etc etc until she's having an assessment and she gets every question right! Crafty? Sane? Mad? Who knows, but my Mum and Auntie can't cope any more, they're pensioners themselves.

Another 45 years and that'll be me...

peter oh dear!
chantal thats sad for your mum

Jopsy, when she was in hospital and rolled Prince Charles, Tony Blair, her Psyciatrist and Harold Shipman into one composite person with the physical manifestation of the psyiciatrist it was quite amusing even for me.

Out to take over the world, by killing her, thus taking over the ward, killing the other patients & staff thus taking over the hospital,........ you get the picture.

All this delivered with 110% conviction every time I visited.

Remember mental illness is brushed under the carpet, yet people will cheerfully discuss their piles.

The brain is just another bit of the physical body which can go wrong, and it is somewhat more complicated than other bits.

It surprises me how many people are normal, for a given value of normal.

peter i know all about mental illness having a sister who suffers badly
as for piles-do not get me started!!
all things should be discussed openly and correct treatment given as and when appropriate-regardless of cost or waiting lists or targets-im sure that must be another thread!

Jopsy, have a vodka & prune juice.

Haven't I shown restraint - staying out of this thus far.........?

I'm sure you already know this but 1 in 10 of us will have some sort of serious mental illness in our lifetime and as many as 1 in 4 will experience psychological distress (anxiety, mild to moderate depression, severe reaction to a bereavement, obsessional tendencies, etc).

If we're lucky enough to get to 80 years of age, 1 in 4 of us will have some sort (and there's many types) of dementia.

Up until the last few years, the greatest cause of absence from work (ie., registered by sick notes) was back pain. It's now mental health problems. I would be the first person to say that a proportion of those are not what the folk in the trade would consider to be genuine, but the rest are and there's a debate to be had about why people would want us to believe they were mentally ill when they weren't - isn't that some sort of psychological problem in itself?

I know we have Munchausens and Munchausen's by Proxy in our midst, but they are still relatively few.

Take a look at the numbers of people who present at A&E with self harm and the numbers of people who successfully take their own life - especially young men and those elderly folk recently bereaved. It's a sombre lesson for us all.

Make the most of your mental health - happiness and good friends, support, employment, good diet and social status are really important.

Sorry.........end of lecture for today.

phew tigger im tired and depressed (just kidding-tho i know its not a jovial matter) just reading that!
smiles to you all

Thanks Jopsy - sorry - not intending to preach but a reasonable balance is good. There are some who need our help and others who would ultimately be better off without it.

Let's hope we can assist people in identifying their place in the queue.

i agree my lil sis has been poorly for 10 years
only now has she begun to get anywhere near back to normalish
thats because she got an understanding doctor

That's good to hear.

Tigger, you did preach.


Good sense.


Your restraint showed that you are a good Tigger.

Sadly there is still shame associated with mental problems, it should not be the case.

Thankyou Peter. I do try to be a good Tigger.

Sorry about the preaching. It's a bit of a hobby horse of mine.

It can all happen very suddenly, my second son was knocked of his bicycle at the age of 15 years old. (The driver was drunk; he had only got his licence back from being diqualified after a prervious drunken driving ban.) My son sustained serious head injuries that resulted in serious brain damage. Physically he is now ok but his face is slightly distorted and has a large metal plate inside the left side of his skull where they had to slice it open to reduce the pressure of the brain haemorrhage. Mentally he is a different person with a changed character who got in trouble with the police has become violent, with poor memory and concentration and is not expected to ever hold down a permanent job. His school, college and employers could not cope with him and I ended up kicking him out of my house. (I am not proud of this.) That was 7 years ago and now he lives in sheltered accommodation and visits us once a week. There is little help for him and it changed all my family’s lives. Incidentally the drunk driver received a fine and another ban. We got a life sentence of regret.

All the best

Barney