My strange day...

[Black Angel]

Bear with me, this requires some explaining...

So yesterday (Saturday) I was at work, and my mother-in-law rang to ask me to go to dinner next week (to look after me while Coops is still away - I love my in-laws!). I proceeded to tell her that Wed night was out because I was going to a friends house for dinner.

[This (male) friend moved out of home about a month ago with his girlfriend, and she left him 2 weeks later. He has been devastated, so I have been going over once a week for dinner with his sister and cousin. Last Wednesday he seemed a lot better. Still unhappy, but actually cracking a smile every now and then.]

She sounds shocked, and tells me she didn't realise that I wasn't aware of this, but he is missing. It has been on the news that they are looking for him. She then gets off the phone so I can call his cousin. After speaking with her, I find out he has been missing since Thursday night. They have no idea where he is, and they have the police looking for him. He left his mobile phone behind as well, so they can't try to call him. There was a story on the news on Friday night (but I was at work) and they were going to put another one on Saturday night also. I offered to do anything I can to help, but obviously there's not a lot that can be done...

When I got home after work, I find messages from a lot of joint friends who had either seen the news story or been told about it, and who couldn't get in touch with his cousin. I spend most of the night calling them all to tell them what she has told me. Everyone was really worried, and hoping he hadn't done anything stupid.

At about 9.45pm, the cousin rings me to tell me they have found him in Alice Springs (a good 1000km away, in the middle of the country). Apparently he rang the ex-girlfriend and was threatening to kill himself, so his family got onto the police here, they contacted the police in the town, and they got to him in time (Thank goodness!!!). The police are now trying to keep him occupied until his family can get there (they can't admit him into the hospital or arrest him, because he was the one that called her, and he is quite lucid and fine otherwise). So now the family is trying to charter a flight to get up there asap to bring him home.

I then spent the rest of the night ringing everyone again (at his cousins request) to let them know that he had been found.

Very strange day...

Hopefully he will come home and be able to get some help, but I still haven't heard yet (12 noon on Sunday) if he is home.

[Northcott]

Shitty. :( Glad to hear he's alright, though. I hope he pulls through this to find a better life on the other side of what he's wading through.

[Martin]

Any idea why he went to Alice Springs?

[Black Angel]

Any idea why he went to Alice Springs?

None really... I think maybe because it is so far from everything and everyone he knows? Speculation only.

He had barely been sleeping for the past couple of weeks either (ie 1-2 hours a night only), and I think that was contributing factor in what has happened. That sort of lack of sleep does weird shit to the brain, in conjunction with his already unhappy state.

[Black Angel]

Shitty. :( Glad to hear he's alright, though. I hope he pulls through this to find a better life on the other side of what he's wading through.

Thanks.

[Martin]

I'm glad to hear that he's okay. I know what it's like to lose a friend that way.

I hope that it works out.

[FeatsofClay]

Damn, BA. Good for you for being the concerned one. I hope he gets the help he needs.

[Dawnstar]

I am so glad that they were able to get to him in time. I can only imagine how worried you were. I hope that he gets the help that he really does need and can get back to a normal life.

[mollygrue]

I helped take an attempted suicide friend to hospital--very upsetting- he had called to say goodbye after taking pills--, and I once involuntarily admitted a suicidal friend: he told me he would hate me forever--and i told him I hoped it would be a long and healthy hate. Hes still around. Policy here is anyone can be involuntarily admited for observation and eval if they are a danger to themselves or others. There is often little or no warning when someone choses to end their life--and a positive mood in someone who has been depressed is frequently not an indication of recovery, but of having reached the decision--because it is freeing: they know the pain is going to stop.
I wish you and your friend well. I will have you in my thoughts.

[Pigs in Space]

Aparently he's back with the fam now, so... hopefully things will be ok after this massive cray for help.

;)

[doc]

Glad y'alls friend is okay and with family

[NRG]

He had barely been sleeping for the past couple of weeks either (ie 1-2 hours a night only), and I think that was contributing factor in what has happened. That sort of lack of sleep does weird shit to the brain, in conjunction with his already unhappy state.

This is %1000 percent true. I have seen brains without sleep go badly awry only to function perfectly fine once they got a couple of nights of sound rest.

NRG

[Black Angel]

Just a quick update on this...

I had dinner with him and a couple of friends last night, and he seems to be in a much better head space about the whole situation. He says the reason he left is that he had found that that his ex was actually cheating on him for the last few months of their relationship, and he needed some space to think about it. When the police took him to the hospital, he had a really good talk with a counsellor there, and he feels like it really helped. He also said he was really amazed by how many people were worried about him, people he hadn't talked to in a long time, and it's made him realise he's not alone. So he's promised to never do anything like that again! :)

[Dr_Avalanche]

Sounds like it's turning out alright. When you're right in the middle of it everything can look hopeless, but once you get a little time and perspective you wonder what you were so devastated about. I hope he can see that too. A girlfriend who cheats on him isn't worth killing himself over.