[mias]

Hi KLS

That's really good news. Thank you so much for letting us know. I hope you also managed to enjoy the weekend visit as well as help out.

great to know that Rethink were there to advise you.
Keep in touch.

Hi KLS

That's really good news. Thank you so much for letting us know. I hope you also managed to enjoy the weekend visit as well as help out.

great to know that Rethink were there to advise you.
Keep in touch.

[Olivia - Rethink]

Hi KLS,

That's good to hear that your sister is getting more support from the crisis team. Also, you said you are worried that your parents up in Bristol are finding it hard to cope. Do you think they might like to join our Bristol carer's group? It could be a good place for them to meet up with other people going through the same thing and this can be a great help.

You can find more details here: http://www.rethink.o...hink_carer.html

and you could also go with them to a group if you wanted to as well. I know you are all very focused at the moment on how your sister is coping, and that's important, but also talking about your own feelings after going through something like this can really help too.

We are currently setting up sibling support groups across England, but I'm afraid we do not yet have one in Newcastle. If you'd like to find out more about joining a sibling support group please message me on siblings@rethink.org.

You might also like to take a look around our sibling website www.rethink.org/siblings/ which has some blogs from siblings who have gone through similar experiences, and also more information and advice around some things you might be worrying about.

With all that has happened, your sister is lucky to have such a caring family around her.

Best wishes,

Olivia

[KLS]

Olivia - Rethink, on 28 September 2011 - 12:14 PM, said:

Hi KLS,

That's good to hear that your sister is getting more support from the crisis team. Also, you said you are worried that your parents up in Bristol are finding it hard to cope. Do you think they might like to join our Bristol carer's group? It could be a good place for them to meet up with other people going through the same thing and this can be a great help.

You can find more details here: http://www.rethink.o...hink_carer.html

and you could also go with them to a group if you wanted to as well. I know you are all very focused at the moment on how your sister is coping, and that's important, but also talking about your own feelings after going through something like this can really help too.

We are currently setting up sibling support groups across England, but I'm afraid we do not yet have one in Newcastle. If you'd like to find out more about joining a sibling support group please message me on siblings@rethink.org.

You might also like to take a look around our sibling website www.rethink.org/siblings/ which has some blogs from siblings who have gone through similar experiences, and also more information and advice around some things you might be worrying about.

With all that has happened, your sister is lucky to have such a caring family around her.

Best wishes,

Olivia

Thanks Olivia thats fantastic, i was thinking about support groups a few days ago and i will look into this over the weekend.

thanks again for the advice, it really has been a massive help. i'm not sure i would have been able to have coped with this as well if it wasnt for Rethink.

[ChrisB]

KLS, on 27 September 2011 - 08:41 PM, said:

Hi all,

I managed to get home for a few days to help out and things seem to be stable for now. The crisis team have been good and we're getting more help than before.

Hope you all had nice weekends

Xxxx

Excellent - well done to you!!!

[NKD]

Hi

You sound in a similar situation to me - my sister is 29 and was diagnosed with Borderline personality disorder with psychosis, although this diagnosis has changed over the past few years. She also has bulimia, an alcohol problem and recently diagnosed with drug induced parkinsons. Shes been in hospital about 5 times, once in intensive care , and has been in and out of secure units. I hope the crisis team are helping you as we didn't find them to be much use - they used to visit every day but just gave her more tablets, and 'the lady' would stop her speaking to her psychiatrists. Like your sister mine has liver function problems too. It is hard on the entire family, i thnk shock takes over really, and i still dread the middle of the night phonecalls to say she was in hospital again or had had another episode. I've only just found this site and its a relief to find i'm not alone with this kind of thing.

[KLS]

Hi NKD,

It's really difficult isnt it and phone calls past 9pm really frighten me these days. I'm glad you've found this site as it's been fantastic for me and my family. The first crisis team in Bristol were not very helpful at all so i know what you mean, fortunatly the crisis team in Wiltshire were much better. Have you tried calling the Rethink helpline for advice? they were very helpful when i called them.

You are definately not alone, this forum and the Rethink website made me realise this type of thing happens to more people than i thought and everyone has a lot of useful advice

xx

NKD, on 25 October 2011 - 04:30 PM, said:

Hi

You sound in a similar situation to me - my sister is 29 and was diagnosed with Borderline personality disorder with psychosis, although this diagnosis has changed over the past few years. She also has bulimia, an alcohol problem and recently diagnosed with drug induced parkinsons. Shes been in hospital about 5 times, once in intensive care , and has been in and out of secure units. I hope the crisis team are helping you as we didn't find them to be much use - they used to visit every day but just gave her more tablets, and 'the lady' would stop her speaking to her psychiatrists. Like your sister mine has liver function problems too. It is hard on the entire family, i thnk shock takes over really, and i still dread the middle of the night phonecalls to say she was in hospital again or had had another episode. I've only just found this site and its a relief to find i'm not alone with this kind of thing.

[NKD]

My sister lives in wiltshire and its nice to know that the crisis team do help some people. Be careful not to neglect yourself in this, especially if your parents are struggling to cope, it can get a bit much if you are dealing with your sister and the rest of your family also. I live away from them too and at first you feel guilty for not being there to help more but like you say theres only so much you can do. It does gets better - or you certainly learn to cope with it better!
Good luck

[mias]

Hi NKD, I know what you mean about dreading out of hour phone calls. These days it is for a different reason to yours but all the same I hate the phone ringing.

KLS. Wanted to ask you how things were today. How are you?

[KLS]

Yes it's been very difficult being so far away from home, we're a close family so not being able to help face to face has been really hard. Also i think sometimes on the phone my parents have said things are fine when i dont think they have been. But like you you say NKD there is only so much we can do and i think just being available and making sure people know we care is very valuble.

Things have gotten better but we are still taking it one day at a time. My sister is at home at the moment which is good in one way as at least we know she's ok. The scary bit will come when she gets a place back down in Wiltshire on her own.

But for now everything seems alright

Thanks again to everyone who replied on this thread to me, it was a huge huge help to have so many nice and helpful comments
xxxx

[young sibling]

KLS - I'm glad to hear that things are going better at the moment and I hope that it continues. Take care of yourself.