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Old Nov 27, 2006, 08:45 PM
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Magnate
 
Member Since: Oct 2003
Location: Chicago
Posts: 2,134
I think most of you are aware that my time has been very stressful the past few months due to PTSD, as well as work, money and all other issues. Thoughts and life have been *very* difficult! If anyone read my post last Wednesday in the Self-Injury forum, I OD'd on acetaminophen (generic Tylenol). The next day--Thanksgiving--I woke up extra early and left the site and drove to the hospital. I sat in their parking lot for three hours before I managed barely enough confidence and courage to walk in to the ER to tell them what I did. As expected, protocol had to consider me a suicidal risk, so I had a sitter until a psychiatrist from the hospital talked to me the next day. Before I even left the ER, I already had the trust of doctors and staff there that I would be ok and didn't actually need one, but we all know protocol is protocol (or the doctor's butt should anything ever happen otherwise). I'd rather protect the doctor's butt, quite frankly. I was just discharged today after 5 days in the ICU!! I was never critical, but the medicine they need to give people in cases like this requires care in an ICU. I was the easiest-to-care-for ICU patient the nurses had--I pretty much took care of my self! That is, as much as all those wires and tubes would let me, LOL. They had expected me to be discharged late Friday or on Saturday for sure, but my blood levels of liver enzymes didn't cooperate, so the toxicology doc wanted to continue the antidote medicine. Come Saturday, they were still hoping/expecting to probably discharge me that day, but again, the level of liver enzymes didn't go down--they actually went up! BUT! on Saturday I didn't eat much for breakfast because I wasn't really hungry. What I barely even ate seemed to fill up my stomach and sat there. I was very tired and kind of lethargic, I guess, and developed a gradually increasing fever, also. Overnight that night--more like really early Sunday morning--my heart monitor kept going off intermittently yet almost continuously for a while, like back-to-back at times, with either PVC's (flip-flop palpitations) or arrythmias. Eventually they obviously silenced the monitor inside my room so it would only sound at the nurse's station. That stuff happened at other times, too, but not so frequently and bad as then. I guess being sick and having a fever aggravated my normal problem with that stuff. I need to talk to the doctor more about it and everything else. I have to see the doctor next week for follow-up and blood work. I am glad I went to the hospital! It was kind of refreshing, in a way. I won't do that bad thing again. That's part of why I went in. I've had enough of this life. Wish I could write more, but I am still tired and not quite feeling right, plus I've got more to do and get to the shelter site. I will try to write again on this tomorrow.
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My life and being formerly homeless