Postby mkfarnam on Fri Nov 13, 2009 9:58 pm

audrey wrote:Mike,
That had to have been horrid to be all closed up inside. So much was unknown then that it seems like you were treated like animals. They didn't know what to do so they just boarded you up in a building.


That's just about the way it was. The only time you were "almost" considered a "patient" was at medicine call, and during those few minutes you were more a guinea pig than anything. :roll:
User avatar
 

Postby audrey on Fri Nov 13, 2009 10:38 pm

[quote]
That's just about the way it was. The only time you were "almost" considered a "patient" was at medicine call, and during those few minutes you were more a guinea pig than anything. /quote]
But those pills they gave were just to control you. Even those who needed psych help were controlled by the medicine they gave to just make you numb. It's sad what they did back then.
It's also sad now how many do not have places to live now since the place is closed. I wonder if those who live in the woods and eat from the dumpsters of restaurants are happier now being free or if they were happier then in a warmer place with meals provided for them. :?:

Postby mkfarnam on Fri Nov 13, 2009 10:57 pm

Most of the pills we took were untested, we were the ones they used to test them on.
User avatar
 

Postby Kerbchek on Fri Nov 13, 2009 11:07 pm

mkfarnam wrote:Most of the pills we took were untested, we were the ones they used to test them on.


Just curious... did you know what the pills were? Did anyone discuss with you what the medication was for or why it was prescribed to you? Were there different medicines used for different people or for different reasons?

The only thing I can relate what your life may have been like is to think of movies I've seen which involve state hospitals... I keep seeing images of Nurse Ratched giving out the medicine to the patients saying, "Take your medicine, It's good for you," and that was that!
Kerby

Postby mkfarnam on Sat Nov 14, 2009 12:24 am

Kerbchek wrote:Just curious... did you know what the pills were? Did anyone discuss with you what the medication was for or why it was prescribed to you? Were there different medicines used for different people or for different reasons?

The only thing I can relate what your life may have been like is to think of movies I've seen which involve state hospitals... I keep seeing images of Nurse Ratched giving out the medicine to the patients saying, "Take your medicine, It's good for you," and that was that!

Back then, the only ones that had any clue about epilepsy were spedialists. Which the DR's at tcsh were not.

To answer your question:
There was only one medication I was told about. "Mellaril". It wasn't explained to me what it was, just that it would help control my seizures. Through the years different pills were added, there were many times when, one day a new pill was dumped in my hand and the next day it was gone. When ever I ask what it was, the nurses just said "Doctors orders!" and if you don't take it you'll spend the night in suclusion!
Not all of the nurses were like that, It;s funny thinking back,
none of the good nurses ever gave me new meds. :roll:

Epilepsy is a "physical illness" not a "Mental Illness".

 
Mellaril
Mellaril is a drug with the generic name of Thioridazine, which acts as a tranquilizer because it is foremost, a low-potency medication for treating psychosis. This is used to patients that cannot be treated with other types of anti-psychotic drug. This drug is used to treat a mental ailment called schizophrenia.
User avatar
 

Postby ronl on Sat Nov 14, 2009 7:31 am

we were 50/50
Mellaril and Thorazine and after 1966/67 it was in liquid format and it tasted real bad.
User avatar
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The liquid was so bitter the taste stayed in your mouth for hours! Some kids couldn't handle it, at least at first. The nurses made them step aside from the door when they took so their white uniform didn't get sprayed with red or yellow speckles if they spit it out. Some ended up getting injected.

Image
click image for a full-sized view
User avatar
 

Postby mkfarnam on Sun Nov 15, 2009 2:11 pm

I think Ron has mention that some songs were not allowed on the hall, but we always managed to sneak what every we wanted from strings lowered throught the bottom boards on the caged porch down to either halls 12or6.
One attendant use to sneak things in for us. I don't remember if that attendant was Tom who is signed up to this forum. He was one of our favorite attendants. :D
I wish he would at least post something on the new Hall-18 forum. :roll: http://www.hall-18.com/forums/index.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2bwLOagul8 :mrgreen:
User avatar
 

Postby wilycoyote4 on Sun Nov 15, 2009 5:31 pm

mkfarnam wrote:I think Ron has mention that some songs were not allowed on the hall, but we always managed to sneak what every we wanted from strings lowered throught the bottom boards on the caged porch down to either halls 12or6.
One attendant use to sneak things in for us. I don't remember if that attendant was Tom who is signed up to this forum. He was one of our favorite attendants. :D
I wish he would at least post something on the new Hall-18 forum. :roll: http://www.hall-18.com/forums/index.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2bwLOagul8 :mrgreen:

Great story Mike. I hope others, who were there one way or another, will post.

Postby mkfarnam on Sun Nov 15, 2009 5:53 pm

Hi Wilycoyote4:

""WELCOME to the forum!""
User avatar
 

Postby skishpaugh on Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:58 pm

Hello Ronl - I am writing because I had an Aunt who lived and died in an institution yrs ago. Not the one you lived in.. I was named after her. She was beautiful and engaged to be married when my grandparents put her there. I loved her. She loved me. I was taken to visit her in the mid 50's. I missed her so much; couldn't wait to see her. She was not the same person. She wouldn't make eye contact. I was young, but I knew she was sad. Very sad. I felt it through every part of me. That was the last time I saw her. I'm crying as I write this. I have a son, 25 yrs. old. He has Autism and so many people say, family included, that I should put him in an institution. I can't do this to him. I love him. He's my little boy in a young man's body. I am deeply sorry that you lived many yrs of your life in an institution. I feel...you did not belong there. Thank you for letting me know a little bit of your life. I only read the good parts so far..they made me cry.

Postby mkfarnam on Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:15 pm

Image
click image for a full-sized viewSkishpaugh=WELCOME!
Image
 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Postby ronl on Mon Nov 16, 2009 8:00 am

She was not the same person. She wouldn't make eye contact


Asylums and drugs had that effect on most who had to experience it.
The eye contact was "SHAME"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Postby mkfarnam on Mon Nov 16, 2009 1:04 pm

ronl wrote:
She was not the same person. She wouldn't make eye contact


Asylums and drugs had that effect on most who had to experience it.
The eye contact was "SHAME"


The "Shame" was brought on in several ways.
The most common was:
The tone of voice and the face gestures they used in the same sentence, made you feel guilty whether it was meant to or not.
User avatar
 

Postby djp59 on Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:08 pm

You are such strong people for telling your story. Do you feel like the "shame", was something you still deal with, does telling your story help that? Do you find there are still times you feel like the children you were back then?

For Mike and Ron, do either of you have children?