I went to the ER last night ( the words of a member here gave me the strength to go in )

I looked in my medicine cabinet to grab my meds to go to bf's house, I then realized OMG, I had accidentally taken 3 100mg pills of trazodone instead of my 3 lithium pills the night before!! Same bottles and I guess I wasn't thinking because the lithium was still in my purse, and the trazodone was beside the seroquel. I have never been able to tolerate an anti depressant. And have never made a mistake like this before. Sooo dumb.

So here at hospital using my phone, I am waiting for the pdoc to make rounds. They started me on 10 mg's of zyprexa and increased seroquel. Ugh not really what I wanted but maybe this will all end soon. Their idea is to get the zyprexa up to 20 mg. Feeling a bit better today, indeed I am rapid cycling.

Small town so they are bringing in my pdoc, gaaaaawd.Anxious to here what he has to say, I do want to go home but we'll see. I'm only allowed to use my phone for "outdoor breaks" I get 15 min. Then I have to turn my phone back over.

I am hoping I will not be here long. I'm going to miss my pc chatting.

[dragonfly2]

Unfortunately accidents happen. Glad to hear you are safe. Hopefully the pdocs there will talk some sense into the useless one you've been stuck with and get you back on track.

[Anneinside]

Originally Posted by Anika

I went to the ER last night ( the words of a member here gave me the strength to go in )

I looked in my medicine cabinet to grab my meds to go to bf's house, I then realized OMG, I had accidentally taken 3 100mg pills of trazodone instead of my 3 lithium pills the night before!! Same bottles and I guess I wasn't thinking because the lithium was still in my purse, and the trazodone was beside the seroquel. I have never been able to tolerate an anti depressant. And have never made a mistake like this before. Sooo dumb.

So here at hospital using my phone, I am waiting for the pdoc to make rounds. They started me on 10 mg's of zyprexa and increased seroquel. Ugh not really what I wanted but maybe this will all end soon. Their idea is to get the zyprexa up to 20 mg. Feeling a bit better today, indeed I am rapid cycling.

Small town so they are bringing in my pdoc, gaaaaawd.Anxious to here what he has to say, I do want to go home but we'll see. I'm only allowed to use my phone for "outdoor breaks" I get 15 min. Then I have to turn my phone back over.

I am hoping I will not be here long. I'm going to miss my pc chatting.

Once I got my lithium refilled - the first time they gave me 300mg capsules and I was to take 2 a day. The second time they gave me 600mg capsules. I wasn't doing well and obviously didn't read the label so I took two 600mgs of lithium every day until I was so toxic I couldn't remember my date of birth or stand unassisted. Luckily this didn't happen until I was already in the ER. We have to be so careful with our meds.

Ok, Like big YAY!!

I get to go home! I am soo happy. I have to ave the CRT come to my house once a day. But that's ok, I can handle that. If things don't improve I'll have to go back.

My pdoc wasn't very pleasant, but I think he may have got wind of plans T is making for a switch in Pdoc's.

So here's hoping the med changes work this time.

Anneiside, Yikes.. thank goodness you were already there, but scary none the less. I think I'll highlight all the bottles different colours.

[mgran]

I'm glad you're home. Don't feel bad about making a mistake, we all do it. Hope you're feeling a lot better.

[crazymusiclvr]

Originally Posted by Anika

I went to the ER last night ( the words of a member here gave me the strength to go in )

I looked in my medicine cabinet to grab my meds to go to bf's house, I then realized OMG, I had accidentally taken 3 100mg pills of trazodone instead of my 3 lithium pills the night before!! Same bottles and I guess I wasn't thinking because the lithium was still in my purse, and the trazodone was beside the seroquel. I have never been able to tolerate an anti depressant. And have never made a mistake like this before. Sooo dumb.

So here at hospital using my phone, I am waiting for the pdoc to make rounds. They started me on 10 mg's of zyprexa and increased seroquel. Ugh not really what I wanted but maybe this will all end soon. Their idea is to get the zyprexa up to 20 mg. Feeling a bit better today, indeed I am rapid cycling.

Small town so they are bringing in my pdoc, gaaaaawd.Anxious to here what he has to say, I do want to go home but we'll see. I'm only allowed to use my phone for "outdoor breaks" I get 15 min. Then I have to turn my phone back over.

I am hoping I will not be here long. I'm going to miss my pc chatting.

Don't feel bad. I think there are a lot of people with mood disorders who have been on meds for a long time that makes a mistake in the type of pill or dosage at one point. I know I accidentally took twice my lithium dosage once. I also accidentally took one of my meds I take for sleep, on the way to work instead of the one that doesn't make me drowsy and I thought I was going to fall out of my office chair. i hope you feel better soon.

Thanks I'm feeling good today, so far that is.

The med mix up wasn't the reason for the hospital. I was already having so many mood problems, I think is why I felt so dumb for making a mistake like that. There has some occasions of taking lithium doses twice if I've forgotten I had taken it already.

My bf also accidentally took took a sleep med before work once, and he had an important meeting that day. Funny to think about now, I'm sure it wasn't at the time.

[mokie]

Anika,

You can see that you are not alone here. Especially when my mood keeps changing I have done this plenty of times. I am just lucky that I did not overdose.

I like the idea of colouring the bottles. I love to color coordinate my notes. Can't believe I did not think of this.

[mgran]

That's a great idea, colouring the bottles. I think in my case it would be boxes, but it would certainly help when I'm not the most attentive.

[BlackPup]

I put my drugs into a dose box once a week for the whole week. Then i only have to concentrate once, I have forgotton one drug when filling them (because i had run out), but noticed that there were not enough tablets when i went to take them. the boxes are colour coded blue for morning and purple for night. when I don't have them in the boxes I am always making mistakes.

[jack123]

I started using a med doser too to keep from making mistakes with my medications.

Hmm pill doser box, good idea, I wonder if I'd remember to use it haha, I am terrible. I did see one online tho that had multiple alarm reminders that you could set and I thought that was pretty cool.

[Merlin]

I use the pill box as well.

[ladyjrnlist]

I took my night meds in the morning once including 250mg seroquel. That was an interesting day.

[lost in]

i think coloring your bottles is a good idea. mine all seem to come in those damn orange bottles and i can't tell one from the other unless i read the fine print. another idea is to write in large letters with a highlighter what's in the bottle and how much to take. the highlighter allows you to still see the print on the bottle when it comes to refills, hospitalizations, etc. mix-ups can be dangerous. best wishes finding a system that works for you.

[unaluna]

When I was staying with my mom, I saw her counting her pills to try to figure out if she had taken them that day or not. I was like, how does that plan even work? So I got her a weekly pill-box with 4 rows, for morning, noon, dinner, and bedtime. Now that I am taking so many pills myself, I got myself a similar box, except that I only take my meds at night, so it is really a monthly box. And since in the US they like you to get 90-day refills except for stuff like sleeping pills, it works out well. I don't have the patience to do it weekly. Or to open seven bottles every night, that WOULD make me crazy! I also have a smaller weekly box handy in case I will be out, you can keep in your purse and refresh as needed. Of course if you get stopped by the cops they want to see the bottle, I don't have an answer for that; I'm an old lady, the cops don't hassle me too much.