Atarax/JCAHO
Hoo boy, that shit is powerful. I’ve been having trouble sleeping due to anxiety and my doctor prescribed an antihistimine, Atarax. I like it because it sounds like a planet dreamed up by L. Ron Hubbard. I also like it because I slept, slept, slept — until right now. My dog has been loving this unemployment thing. We just bask in the nap-ness of life. Here’s a little something from a dedicated reader who has a finger on the pulse of the Ancora mess, especially in the context of accreditation:
Despite the Dept. of Justice’s [scathing] report on Ancora it maintains full Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations accreditation . The kick in the head is that JCAHO did its site inspection on January 9, 2009 and the DOJ did its inspection from January 12 to January 15, 2009. Apparently JCAHO perceived a completely different institution. Kings County Hospital’s Behavioral Health Department maintained full JCAHO accreditation despite the death of Esmin Green, its 2009 DOJ report, and a lawsuit filed in 2007 . Connecticut Valley Hospital similarly maintained full accreditation despite its August 2007 DOJ report .
Someday a reporter will consider what JCAHO accreditation means when it comes to mental hospitals and whose interests JCAHO is putting first, i.e. the hospitals who pay for the accreditation or the patients whose misfortune it is to be in these institutions.
liz | 12:44 PM | hospitals / hospitalization, media
Glad to hear Atarax is helping, Liz! If it’s of any interest, I’m quite certain I’ve developed REM Sleep Behavior Disorder, likely as a result of SSRIs. This is the thing where people tackle their dressers during football dreams, etc.
It hits mainly men in their 50s (I’m 33), but there’s been research over the last couple years strongly suggesting that the vast majority of folks who get it in their 30s get it from SSRIs.
Not the most serious problem in the world, & a little padded furniture won’t stop me from medicating my depression: RBD might give me a concussion some day, but suicidal depression *will* kill me.
Atarax? I think I saw those guys open at a Scorpions concert once.
I’m sorry that I didn’t know you were looking for work, Liz. Is this true?
Well, if it is true, I hope it’s a short-lived problem and that something better and equally satisfying comes to you as soon as you’re ready for it.
Ah, Atarax…it was an antihistamine that my brother could take when he didn’t do well on other meds — low dose, the little orange ones. Sometimes I’d get them, too [in those days, the ads for the drug sometimes featured little boys playing baseball, with the lead character itching and scratching his chest when he should have been running or sliding into home base]. Sometimes we’d get the ’sample packs from the allergist, and those were not always the dose we normally got.
Result? I think I was on 25+ mgs when I took my PSATs and felt stoned for much of the day. I don’t remember much of the tests, or my or the rest of the day, either, but I did get the highest score in the school…
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