Please Take Care of Me Until . . .



One of the early achievements in recovery should be
 taking the medication without being forced to.

Please take care of me until I can . . . take my medication voluntarily and without being physically forced to via injection.



Please take care of me until I . . . have a healthy sleeping pattern.  Please monitor that I do indeed sleep at night and that I sleep through most of the night.  It is regular for persons with these types of issues to have problems with sleep.  Whether it is that they fight sleep and try to stay awake all night, or are just unable to sleep.



Sleeping is crucial especially to
mental health and getting little
cat naps in when you can are
very helpful.

 

Please take care of me until I can . . . take my medication by myself.

Look in the mouth,
check that it has been swallowed
and not just lodged in the mouth
 to be disposed of later.

To most people this would seem to be the obvious first and most important requirement of self-care for an ill person in need of medication.  As much as logic dictates that this should be the most important first step, the reality is that for persons with these types of challenges this is very likely to be achieved in one of the latter phases in their progression.  But keep in mind that the person may need to be reminded.

Please take care of me until . . . you see me follow all the Doctor’s orders as I should.  Question, is the patient taking their medication at the time they should?

Watch carefully to see how long a person will need close monitoring.  It may be 6 months, it may be a year; to actually see these first four crucial steps implemented.  But further the patient will need to take time to look objectively at one’s life and make the necessary changes for a more successful, lower stress life or one may end up in this same position again.  Also it is important to note that even with a lower stress lifestyle it is very possible to relapse.  Therefore, while a person is healthy and well it is important to take precautionary measures in case of a re-occurrence.  Now these are the first four steps to a successful recovery.  But keep in mind caretaker and patients; recovery is a lifelong process.  (Check blog entry entitled “Lifelong Recovery”).  Take it one day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time if necessary.