BikerSkylla – Schizoaffective

straight into the good life as ecology-minded motorcyclist with mental illness

Help/Resources I know of

2–4 minutes

Support for Mental Health crisis

Germany

weltkehrt.de

Great German blog about mental health from a person with schizophrenia. There’s a list of useful things under https://www.weltkehrt.de/category/hilfe/

Helpline and information

https://www.telefonseelsorge.de/ 0800 111 0 111 or 0800 111 0 222
Telephone number: 116 123

116 117

If you need to know which emergency doctors are in service at the moment. Or where the next emergency clinic for you is.

I called them three times in my life:

  • First was 2020 for physical pain when my eye met a branch of a bush. It was during Corona and a Saturday, so we went to the next hospital. They didn’t have a optician at staff and told us to us the 116 117.
    After we explained them the situation I talked to a doctor on the phone. I got a prescription for eye drops and was instructed where the next emergency pharmacy was. Also I got an appointment in the local optician office for the next day. Everything healed perfectly.
  • Second was 2021 after I just moved straight out of the closed psych ward in Leipzig to my mother. My brother had moved my stuff for me. I had medication, but bounced back and forth, couldn’t sleep and was often very agitated. Also I had a very severe psychotic thought about my father. It was a process to get rid of this thinking. One night my physical and mental restlessness was so much that we ask via 116 117 for help.
    They sent an emergency doctor to our home and he gave me additional medication (diazepam). A few days later I got a spot in the clinic Winnenden. So the late night visit helped me to not need to go to the closed ward.
  • Third was in 2023 when I had slept for like 5 hours in 7 nights. It always bounces, one night I can’t sleep the next I get some. Back then only 1-3 hours even though I tried a lot. And then the following is difficult again with no sleep at all again. So after 4 days of that on Thursday, I called my psychiatrist for an emergency appointment. My medication clearly wasn’t enough. But he was out of the office till Monday. When I couldn’t sleep again on Saturday I decided to seek help via 116 117. Good then I was in total mania.
    I wanted to know where the next psychiatric emergency clinic was for me. I was a little bit disappointed cause they couldn’t tell me if the next one is open at night. Maybe I should have been more persistent, so they would get a doctor on the phone. But luckily a friend came and drove me to a clinic he knew was open at night.

112

I think there are only two reasons to call 112:

  • Have you tried getting an appointment with you primary care doctor or specialist? If so, is it right now server enough that it can’t wait till the next appointment? If so, and you aren’t able to make it yourself to the next hospital.
  • When you think someone else is in danger, you can’t get to them and think they need acute help.
    My best friend called the paramedics for me when I was psychotic in July 2021. She was in another city, but sent them to check on me. Unfortunately I had some moments of clarity at least in appearance and so I sent them away. But she convinced me to walk to the next psychiatric emergency on my own.

International

https://988lifeline.org
https://findahelpline.com/

Stay tuned. Stay curious. Stay healthy.