Oh shit. I just accidently ODed on my drugs

[Dreambirdie]

.. Please guys if you dont hear by me by tomorrow night Australia time.. please bother the hospital of where i are.. as Im scared they may think Ive done this on purpose and lock me away. Ill be either at the royal adelaide hospital or flinders medical centre. Sth Australia

Nielk and everyone else--

I've bolded the name of the hospital, so we can find it more easily in case we need to.

As much as I hate hospitals and avoid them as much as I possibly can, I am relieved she went. Drug overdoses are something only the doctors know how to deal with.

 

[Merry]

Oh, and I sorta promised we'd all storm the hospital if they try to lock her up, so try to keep your schedules open

Thanks so much, Valentijn, for working to persuade tania. And your last sentence above made me smile.

 

[svetoslav80]

Wiki says the lowest reported toxic dose is 6.7 mg per kg body weight. For 50-60 kg weight that is about 300-400 mg. You've taken 125 so I hope you will be fine.

 

[heapsreal]

125mg isnt a dose to worry about tricyclic overdose which causes heart arrythmias and maybe seizures, I think many with depression take over the 100mg a day, but if she has a sensitivity to tricyclics then she may get serotonin syndrome where you get sweaty and pulse go's fast etc, probably not good for POTS. Tania hopefully it just knocks you out and you have a great sleep. Good luck girl, i hope the ambo's are as nice as that other ambo you know.

cheers!!!

 

[SOC]

Now that we know that tania is safely (?) in the hospital, I have to ask -- what doctor is prescribing enough of a tricyclic for an OD to a patient with a history of suicide attempts and who is sensitive to that kind of med? Although tania does not appear to have (accidently) taken a particularly dangerous amount, a sudden big increase in dosage can really increase the possibility of nasty side effects.

I wish she didn't have to go to the hospital -- I fully understand her reluctance -- but with the possibility of heart arrhythmia, I'm glad she's being monitored. Thanks to all those who persisted in encouraging her to call an ambulance. It's good to know this community is here so we can keep an eye on each other in times like this.

I hope she gets through this with a good night's sleep and nothing else.

 

[Whit]

This thread is such a good example of the terrifying position CFS patients are put in all the time where they need help but either can't find answers or are scared of being mistreated. Jesus.

 

[Valentijn]

Wiki says the lowest reported toxic dose is 6.7 mg per kg body weight. For 50-60 kg weight that is about 300-400 mg. You've taken 125 so I hope you will be fine.

She got to the hospital pretty fast after symptoms started, so she probably will be fine. But it's hard to figure out exactly what a dangerous dose is.

Wikipedia also said: "doses ranging from 1.5 to 5 mg/kg may even present a risk" for tricyclic overdose, and Amitryptiline is cited as being especially dangerous. And with us being so weird sometimes (especially with SSRIs), I wouldn't be surprised if some of us are at the low end. Plus the rarer adverse effects include things like seizures, hypotension, and arrhythmia, so maybe extra risky to get a high dose when already prone to those symptoms.

Definitely best to have doctors taking care of it.

 

[heapsreal]

She got to the hospital pretty fast after symptoms started, so she probably will be fine. But it's hard to figure out exactly what a dangerous dose is.

Wikipedia also said: "doses ranging from 1.5 to 5 mg/kg may even present a risk" for tricyclic overdose, and Amitryptiline is cited as being especially dangerous. And with us being so weird sometimes (especially with SSRIs), I wouldn't be surprised if some of us are at the low end. Plus the rarer adverse effects include things like seizures, hypotension, and arrhythmia, so maybe extra risky to get a high dose when already prone to those symptoms.

Definitely best to have doctors taking care of it.

I dont think the average doctor understands cfs/me sensitivities to antidepressants, also as many dr's treat cfs/me as a type of depression they then try to push higher depression doses on cfs/me people. Tania's doc treats many cfsers so i think he has a good knowledge base, but i think the problem she had was that she thought she was taking 10mg tabs but it was 25mg tabs, a mistake many of us could do when trying to work out correct doses and changing between different strengths. But when one of us has a problem like this and go to hospital, many hospital docs have know idea about cfs/me and think we are just having a crazy episode. Hopefully they should monitor her ecg and vital signs and the docs are atleast compassionate.

good luck Tania,
cheers!!!

 

[Nielk]

The regular recommended dosages that we see on Wiki does not apply to most of us who are so sensitive, Even the most seasoned ME/CFS specialists don't always know how we will react to even tiny dosages of meds. I was in a similar situation not long ago, on a very small dose of an SSRI where I had crazy, scary side effects on a very lpw dose. We have to be so careful with any meds we start or change. Weighing in on the fact that mistakes are likely to happen for many reasons, 1- we take so many meds and supplements. 2- with our cognitive problems, it's easy to forget whether we took a med already or not. This happens to me all the time and I have on occasion taken Benzos twice which is not a safe or pleasant experience. I hope we hear from Tania soon hat she is well and back home. Yes, this forum could be and has been a life saver. You can always find people on, no matter what time of day or night, Sometimes when you are facing an emergency, your mind is not thinking clearly and some words of reason from someone on the forum can make all the difference. Thanks to all who helped Tania.

 

[Valentijn]

The regular recommended dosages that we see on Wiki does not apply to most of us who are so sensitive, Even the most seasoned ME/CFS specialists don't always know how we will react to even tiny dosages of meds.

Yeah, it sounded like her doctor set 50mg as the maximum dose she should be on. So accidentally taking 2.5 times that much is somewhat alarming.

I was in a similar situation not long ago, on a very small dose of an SSRI where I had crazy, scary side effects on a very lpw dose.

I couldn't even handle 5mg when I tried Amitryptiline Nothing scary, and it worked, but it made me feel like dog poop all day.

We have to be so careful with any meds we start or change. Weighing in on the fact that mistakes are likely to happen for many reasons, 1- we take so many meds and supplements. 2- with our cognitive problems, it's easy to forget whether we took a med already or not. This happens to me all the time and I have on occasion taken Benzos twice which is not a safe or pleasant experience.

Fortunately I'm just on supplements and vitamins that don't really have side effects, since I didn't get along well with any real drugs so far. But I have done the same thing - taking something twice (I think!) or forgetting if I took something or not, in which case I assume I did take it and risk skipping a dose instead of risking doubling a dose.

I might try to get one of those weekly pill boxes to sort everything out, so forgetting is less of a problem. I just need to find one big enough to hold everything I take!

 

[alex3619]

Hi Valentjin, I wonder if some of us would do better with a fishing tackle lure box, one with huge numbers of small sliding drawers. That wouldn't be sealed though, so the meds would be vulnerable. Bye, Alex

PS products like this might have another problem, they might use non-safe plastics that outgas.

 

[taniaaust1]

Hi guys.. Im out of hospital now and good. thanks

I kind of got a bit stirred up as the ambulance arrived with the police even thou I'd told them on the phone my overdose was accident and due to my brain fog/concentration issues. (Police stir me up as it makes me think of the aggressive policeman who tore my shoulder tendon one time, the frozen shoulder took a couple of years then to heal).

When I rang the ambulance service, I told them I would not want them (refuse to go) if they were going to take me to the local hospital (out of fear of some idiot doctors there)... so they ended up trying to take me to the hospital in the next town, even thou that one had told me they wouldnt take me due to having no doctors there.

Due to what that hospital had already said to me about getting ambulance instead to take me straight to the city, they didnt warn the hospital I was being taken there till right on their door step. (the ambulance officers were very nice). Amazingly the hospital locked the ambulance people out, telling them they wouldnt take me. (Ambulance people were quite annoyed at hospital for that... hospital who wouldnt bother to call in the doctor who was on call).

When the hospital refused to take me, they ended up taking me to the ambulance station where the ambulance officers were switched and I was taken to the city from there.

In city hospital they did eegs regularly and keep testing my BP. I told them my BP usually swings high and low so they took it while I was standing.. and hence then hospital people got worried over my tachycardia which was happening (I'd already told them I have POTS but I dont think they knew what that was.. and tachycardia is one of the signs of OD of that med.. so they got worried). Then they took my BP while I was laying and they got a little more worried at how low it was thou I told them it was normal for me.

So at that point due to their concerns of the things which are actually normal for me, they put me on a drip and gave me 1 Litre of something throu it.

Before I was put on the drip, the dr/nurse? at the hospital had a lot of trouble taking my blood and finding good veins, so made a heap of unsuccessful attempts to take it, on one arm and once that arm went too sore, started on the other one (he even went looking for places he could take blood on other parts of my body). He did succede in the end but it was horrible.. he was trying to get blood or the drip thing in for 10-15mins.

The hospital has gave me a letter to take to my doctor about what had happened which of cause I opened to see just what they had to say. (they couldnt just send it themselves as I always forget my GPs name).... unfortunately they wrote on that letter also my old doctor name, so I wont be giving my current doctor that letter. I dont want my file transfered and dont want the past mental health stuff on my new records (much of it is incorrect) due to the bad treatment I then end up getting, so what has happened I probably now will have to keep to myself.

 

[Nielk]

Really happy to hear Tania that you are back home safely. We were all worried about you! It's unfortunate that you had to go through this whole experience, but the main thing is that you are alright.

 

[heapsreal]

good to hear from ya Tania.

cheers!!!

 

[taniaaust1]

But I have done the same thing - taking something twice (I think!) or forgetting if I took something or not

Yeah, I do that too. This was the second time in a week Ive messed up taking the Amitryptiline. When I was on the 10mg tablets, just before what has happened.. I kept on loosing count while taking the 5 of those 10mg ones.. so may of ended up taking an extra tablet due to confusion the other day.

umm not good..confusing my meds twice in just one week, brain issues really make things hard to stay on track with my meds.

I hate to think what Im going to be like when I start taking more meds (we are adding more to my medications due to trying to treat my symptoms... a POTS med is the next one which is going to be added to my meds).

 

[taniaaust1]

Now that we know that tania is safely (?) in the hospital, I have to ask -- what doctor is prescribing enough of a tricyclic for an OD to a patient with a history of suicide attempts and who is sensitive to that kind of med? Although tania does not appear to have (accidently) taken a particularly dangerous amount, a sudden big increase in dosage can really increase the possibility of nasty side effects..

Hi SOC,
It wasnt the doctors fault, he actually has no knowledge my past history as Ive purposely made sure it is kept from him. I dropped all the ones who were more focused on mental health with me and started medically afresh with things and made sure past medical history wasnt transfered.

The results of bad doctors not treating me and hence just leaving me in a hellhole with the ME symptoms (eg none of them bothered to try to treat my severe insomina till over 12 years of having this.. when I had FM real real bad in the past, no doctor treated it and left me in a state where my kids couldnt even hug or touch me). The lack of a medical supportive doctor, is something which helped to lead in the past to the suicide attempts.

Im very happy I have to doctor now who I know is trying all he can to help my ME stuff. It is thou I know a bad situation when one cant have ones medical notes transfered as they are so full of bullshit, much of the time the doctors havent even checked their facts so thought I was delusional about things.

My situation has been very much like one in England, "Brians" in many ways.. so I had to start all medically afresh. My old files contain things like I have borderline personality disorder (when in truth it was Aspergers so Im actually less likely to tell lies then other people. I detest lying.. and other things affecting me).

When they see Borderline personality disorder on a file, they then on reading it dont want me as a patient as they think Im going to make things up, con them or something!!!

Life things in my files which are actually true (my boyfriend DID sleep with my doctor!! and I DID live with the doctor for a while), they thought those were made up too and never checked. I can prove I lived with the doctor.

Ends up being harmful for me to be able to get the medical attention I should have for the ME. When I was locked away in mental ward in the past.. the ME was completely ignored.

 

[Calathea]

Tania, I'm so glad to hear that you're home safely. It sounds like a very unpleasant experience.

With regard to the letter, why don't you try ringing the hospital and telling them that they accidentally addressed it to someone who isn't your doctor (no need for backstory), and that you were too groggy to get this sorted out when you were still in hospital? I'd imagine that the letter will be on the system somewhere, and you just need an administrator to change the name on it and print out another copy. With any luck, it shouldn't go anywhere near a doctor at all, and no one should start asking questions. Clerical errors are common enough with this sort of thing.

I'm going to start a post about how to take meds safely, as this is a problem we all have.

 

[heapsreal]

So tania, did the larger dose of endep make you sleepy at all???

 

[Esther12]

I'm pleased to hear that the ambulance people were nice Tania, and it sounds like the doctors at hospital were good too, and able to make sure everything was okay.

A lot of people with CFS have those 'pill holder' things, so that they can count out a weeks worth of medication in one go, make sure that they've got it right, and then just take them each day.

 

[taniaaust1]

Tania, I'm so glad to hear that you're home safely. It sounds like a very unpleasant experience.

With regard to the letter, why don't you try ringing the hospital and telling them that they accidentally addressed it to someone who isn't your doctor (no need for backstory), and that you were too groggy to get this sorted out when you were still in hospital? I'd imagine that the letter will be on the system somewhere, and you just need an administrator to change the name on it and print out another copy. With any luck, it shouldn't go anywhere near a doctor at all, and no one should start asking questions. Clerical errors are common enough with this sort of thing.

I'm going to start a post about how to take meds safely, as this is a problem we all have.

Your how to take meds safely post is good. I'd love to see that one stickied somewhere for people. Lots of ideas on it and things I havent thought of.

As far as that letter goes, it is a sealed one which I werent supposed to open. umm oh boy now you got me thinking about doing something bad.. altering the doctors letter in a way which they wouldnt know and then putting it back in the sealed envelope.

Ive never gone altering doctors letters before. umm if i get caught out that Ive altered hospital letter, even if it is just to only remove and change the name of an ex doctor in it.. its going to look bad on me if found out.

Seriously now considering altering the letter and removing my ex doctors name from it.. at least I then would be able to give it to my new doctor and new specialist, so at least they knows I ended up in hospital due to my mental fog causing drug confusion.

I dont even understand why the hospital put my old doctors name onto it.. I told them when I got there that Ive changed doctors and have a different one.

LOL Calathea you are a bad influence on me.