[UpDownAround]

I spent all of Saturday night in the ER with one of my sons. He had waken me in the middle of the night to tell me he had taken around 20 hydroxyzine tablets. He said he was taking one for anxiety and the others were in front of him and it was almost like watching a movie to see himself taking them all. It turns out that hydroxyzine is one of the safest anxiety medications in use. Other than monitoring for possible side effects, they did not have to do anything. But they did question him about intent; if it was a suicide attempt they would do an involuntary commitment to an IP facility. He maintained that it was only anxiety and he did not consciously decide to take the pills. They chose not to hold him and let us go home in the morning.

3 months ago, I had almost the same scenario with his brother who took a large amount of OTC pills that had acetaminophen in them and they did have to take some measures to detox to prevent organ damage. He said he did have suicide in mind when he took them but panicked and changed his mind and woke me up and I took him to the ER. Because he admitted it started as a suicide attempt, he was involuntarily committed and spent a few days IP.

So my concern is that the more recent event may also have been a suicide attempt and a change of heart but he knew that admitting that would land him IP. We are watching him closely as if that were the case. But I wonder if his story makes sense. Has anyone ever experienced an anxiety attack that led to you unconsciously doing something like that?

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I haven't but I had a friend in college who did. She described it the same way, that she was watching herself take the pills and just wanted to get some relief.

[Woolly Bugger]

I spent some time in Germany and got really wired. I was freaking out over some ridiculous things and had to get some relief. Three or four benzos did nothing for me, so I ended up taking 15 or 20, just to try to knock down the mania. I did it without thinking, and it had nothing to do with suicide. All it did was make me sleep, at long last.

[99fairies]

I once overdosed on sleeping pills for no reason at all. I just took 18 instead of 3. I was not suicidal or anything. They were just sitting there so I took them. Sorry about your sons. Big hugs.

When I was a teenager I took 8 acetaminophen at once for no reason in particular, aside from feeling a bit sad and wanting to self-injure in some way. I didn't want to die, just feel something. And boy did I feel something...it was awful. Would not recommend to anyone!

I think when we're at a younger age, we tend to act more impulsively on our emotions without thinking of the long-term consequences. I find that I struggle so much less with impulsivity now, at the age of 25.

[Victoria'smom]

My only time I OD'd as a kid is when I was in pain and time was going too slow and I didn't realize how many I took.

[~Christina]

About 5 or so years ago I was dealing with my fibro pain its always a level of 7 but that day it was at a 9 headed for a 10

I just had to sleep , I took a couple Xanax and apparently I kept taking them. Not a attempt I just wanted sleep. I didnt realize I had taken so many.

A friend on here actually tracked my husband down on Facebook and let him know I was making no sense and just took another one and so on . My husband was about an hour away.

Lia kept me talking on Whats Ap I kept saying I was going to lay down , anyway she kept me awake until my husband came home... I went IP and signed myself in, They were not sure how many I took .. But I was feeling more like me a couple days later

People overserve themselves meds at time, Not always an attempt.

[*Laurie*]

Some years ago I had severe insomnia. By the 4th day I was desperate to sleep. I was not suicidal. I took more pills (don't remember what kind) than I should have to finally get some sleep. Afterward, I realized I had done a dangerous thing.

[UpDownAround]

What really scares me is this could happen again. He no longer has access to more than a few of the hydroxyzine tablets at a time, but there are so many things that could be taken.He has a pdoc visit coming up soon. Hopefully we'll get some help there. He almost certainly needs to go on mood stabilizers as he has had some unpleasant manic swings. Poor kid inherited my BP without my tendency toward euphoric episodes.

[BipolaRNurse]

I overdosed on Ativan once when my sister publicly trashed me on Facebook. It wasn't an attempt, just that I felt so hurt and betrayed that I wanted to check out for a little while. My poor husband found out what I'd done, and he stayed up all night watching me sleep for 15 solid hours to make sure I didn't stop breathing. I didn't take enough for that, but HE didn't know it. I finally woke up around 3 in the afternoon and stayed groggy all day, so he fed me and cleaned up the house. I didn't go to the hospital...didn't see the need. If it happened now, knowing what I know about myself and my disease, I would go because it means I'm in deep doodoo. I've never done that again, although I've certainly lost my $#!+ a few times since then.