Allegra
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Allegra is in her early 40s and was ‘diagnosed pretty late’ with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
‘I was just so glad to have a reason. Just so many things were affecting my life,’ she told the Royal Commission. ‘I've had problems at work, problems sort of understanding and getting on with people – relationships … My emotional regulation was a challenge for a lot of my life.’
Because she had a university degree, people put it down to ‘bad behaviour’.
‘I've come up against that a lot and I still do and, you know, some of my behaviour was definitely poor. I got diagnosed and started taking medication and it was like day and night.’
But one day, as she grappled with ‘this big diagnosis’, Allegra was ‘exhausted’ and left her medication on the train.
‘Basically, it’s amphetamines. I had to go off these cold turkey and it was really unpleasant and I ended up in emergency at the [local] hospital.’
Allegra fell asleep at the hospital and ‘woke up about eight hours later’. Her partner had been calling her all night and thought ‘something terrible had happened’. Nurses made no attempt to contact her family, she said. No-one knew where she was.
‘I just grabbed my stuff and, like, ran for the nearest exit, and the door was locked. So, like, I was pretty panicked and the staff sort of … backed me into a corner. And I just flipped out and I started shouting and, like, throwing my stuff.’
Allegra felt she was being held against her will.
‘So, yeah, I was hysterical, crying, and they rallied security … Police turned up and, you know, like I don't think it warranted that. I wasn’t threatening people.’
Allegra ‘apologised to the staff’ and they discharged her.
During a follow-up with her mental health care team, she learnt medical staff had given her ‘about five different types of drugs’.
‘At one point, one of their doctors said, don't continue to give this particular drug because my reaction … I was really talking in gibberish and, like, really disorientated.’
Twenty minutes before her ‘anxiety’ attack, doctors administered more drugs including Valium and antipsychotics.
‘A whole lot of stuff that I never take … just to sedate me, basically.’
A few months later, police contacted Allegra and said the hospital was alleging she assaulted staff and broke equipment.
‘They charged me with assault and property damage. I was teaching at the time … If I get an assault charge … that's my job. It rocked my entire world.’
In a report, Allegra’s psychiatrist said she had ‘acute delirium from the cocktail of drugs’. The matter was ‘thrown out of court’.
Allegra believes hospital staff ‘labelled’ her ‘a particular way’ after she disclosed she was using a drug used to treat ADHD. That’s why staff ‘treated her so poorly’.
Allegra is now determined to avoid hospitals at all costs.
‘Like, if I had a psychiatric concern, I would never go to a hospital. I would tough it out at home.’
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.