I’m using this blog to ask for donations to my Just Giving page because it gets loads more hits than my new blog does. To cut a long story short, I’m running 5k for charity next month and would love … Continue reading →

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I’ve come to a big decision regarding this blog. Over the last two and a half years, I have written many blog posts about schizophrenia, hospital stays and my battles with mental health problems in the past and I believe … Continue reading →

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This is bordering on conspiracy theory territory and it may at first sound like I’m delusional. But hear me out before coming to any conclusions!One of the medications I currently take is quetiapine XL. I’ve taken it three times in … Continue reading →

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The last few days have been incredible. On Thursday, I was contacted by Huffington Post and asked if I would consent to them using one of my blog posts as part of their focus on schizophrenia for Mental Health Awareness … Continue reading →

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You’ve come to torture me again… Depression is something I have had an on-off relationship with since I was thirteen. And for the past six weeks or so, the relationship is back on. In simple terms, I’m depressed again.The timing … Continue reading →

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It’s 9:45 am when my mum comes into my room to wake me up. This is early for me. Despite my medication being quite sedating, I’m rarely asleep before 1 am. And because of the sedation, I need at least … Continue reading →

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The first time I took psychotropic medication was when I was 18. I had been suffering with depression for about two years and I was finally given help in the form of a prescription for fluoxetine (Prozac). I was put … Continue reading →

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My problems with my mental health started when I was 13. Not long after I started my third year of high school, I started suffering from depression. My problems worsened when I started being bullied, and this bullying lasted for … Continue reading →

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You may or may not have noticed that I’ve been silent on the blog and Twitter front for a while. This has been for personal reasons but now I’ve decided to come back. A few people messaged me to ask … Continue reading →

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*Trigger Warning* This blog post talks openly about suicidal thoughts and other matters that could be triggering so please don’t read any further if you are likely to be affected. Everybody gets intrusive thoughts. It’s the content and intensity of … Continue reading →

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I’ve seen a few of these types of blog post around, for various mental health problems, so I thought I’d do one for schizophrenia. These are ten things I’ve heard from people that, although sometimes said to try and help, … Continue reading →

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This afternoon, I did an interview on BBC Radio 2 about my experiences of being sectioned. The interview stemmed from a news story about how mental health patients sometimes have to travel hundreds of miles to receive care. That story … Continue reading →

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Those who have read my blog or Twitter recently will know that I came off my medication a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, things headed south quite quickly and as a result, I am now taking risperidone. I’m still gutted by … Continue reading →

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On Friday, I did another interview on Radio 5 Live about the effects bullying had on me. It was quite last minute and I was again quite nervous about doing it but once I got on air, my nerves eased. … Continue reading →

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Today has been a good day. This morning, I was finally able to drive for the first time in around three months and while I was a little bit rusty to start with, I soon started gaining confidence. I’ve probably … Continue reading →

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Two days before I was sectioned for the first time, I needed to buy some new trousers for work. The ones I was wearing were a UK size 10, but despite using a belt, they were far too big. The … Continue reading →

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To the Bullies, You probably don’t know who you are and what you did to me, but I remember everything. The names, the taunts, the threats. I remember so much. My last three years of school were miserable due to … Continue reading →

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I realise I’ve neither blogged nor given a real update on how things are going with me for a while. Things have been a bit chaotic here but here’s an update as to how I am. At the beginning of … Continue reading →

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WARNING: This post talks openly about suicide so please do not read if you are triggered at all by this topic. Also, SPOILER ALERT: this talks about the plot of *that* Coronation Street episode so if you haven’t watched it … Continue reading →

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To those not from the UK, A and E is Accident and Emergency, also known as the Emergency Room in other countries. Also, there is talk of hospital and psych wards throughout this piece so if you are triggered by … Continue reading →

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This blog post is about what it is like to hear nasty voices and may contain triggers. Some people hear voices which aren’t nasty and they can have a positive experience with their voices. This is about the nasty voices … Continue reading →

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In all three of my psych ward stays, I’ve encountered the banter between patients about our situations. Patients, or rather ‘inmates’, discussing the ‘jailers’ (nurses and HCAs) and the ‘prison’ (the ward) in a jokey manner. But underneath the jokes, … Continue reading →

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As you may have guessed from the title, I am being discharged from the psych ward soon. In fact, I’m being discharged this Tuesday (17th). It was a bit of a shock to be told last Tuesday (10th) that I … Continue reading →

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Today’s ward round went well, I went in hoping to get five hours of leave so was pleased when they gave me six hours. My meds are staying the same – 800 mg of quetiapine and my body is starting … Continue reading →

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A common symptom of schizophrenia that I’ve not really written about before is visual hallucinations, AKA seeing things. I’ve written about auditory hallucinations (voices) numerous times before and even created a YouTube video on the subject, which can be found … Continue reading →

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I put some tweets out last night explaining the basics of why I’m in hospital. There may be triggers in this for some. Please be careful. So for those not on Twitter, the tweets were this:I know I’ve not said … Continue reading →

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So yesterday, I blogged here saying about how I wasn’t 100% happy with my leave being unescorted, how I wanted to stay on my section and that I was going to move into a flat of my own. Those three … Continue reading →

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Just a quick update as to what happened at ward round today. My leave has gone to two hours unescorted again (as in, I can go by myself), which I’m not 100% happy with, but I did manage to go … Continue reading →

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Just a quick update as to what happened at ward round today. My leave has gone to two hours unescorted again (as in, I can go by myself), which I’m not 100% happy with, but I did manage to go … Continue reading →

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I’ve made it to the front page of the UK site of Huffington Post! I used a blog piece that had especially good feedback, tweaked it a little and sent it off. The piece can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/katy-gray/mental-patients-the-truth_b_4179147.html but if you’re … Continue reading →

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To celebrate hitting 30,000 views on here, I decided to set myself a challenge. I wanted to see if I could come up with 30 wishes for my future. It was a real challenge coming up with 30, but I … Continue reading →

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I thought I’d write a blog post about how things have been and currently are for any who aren’t on Twitter. Things seem to be looking up at long last. This last week, I’ve been allowed two hours of unescorted … Continue reading →

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Psych wards are daunting places to say the least and it can take several days or even weeks to settle in. But once you do settle in, you start noticing that as well as noisy patients and intimidating staff, there … Continue reading →

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I know I’m writing a lot about life in psych wards at the minute but it’s a topic that’s close to my heart right now. Probably because I’m in a psych ward myself at the moment! But I’m remembering my … Continue reading →

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As the title suggests, I will be talking about triggers in this post. So here’s the warning to leave this blog post now if you don’t feel strong enough. When I got out of hospital in 2011 after the 17-month … Continue reading →

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The first time I was on a psych ward was in 2008 when I was 20. If I’m honest, I was petrified. In my mind, the other patients were going to murder me in my sleep or I’d have to … Continue reading →

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This post is going to be one long potential trigger from start to finish, so please don’t read any further if this topic is likely to upset you. A lot of people with no personal experience of psych wards will … Continue reading →

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With all three of my psych ward stays, I’ve been brought in on a section. I’ve been brought in on a section 2 (28-day hold) twice, and a section 3 (six-month hold) once; this occasion I was brought in on … Continue reading →

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