2nd February 2018, 3:31 AM
(This post was last modified: 2nd February 2018, 3:33 AM by Jessica Rocks. Edited 1 time in total.)
I almost died in March 2016.
Its a really long story...
It started with me being misdiagnosed as bipolar when I told my parents I didn't want to be a part of their religion any more. (Its sort of a cult... If you get kicked out the other believers aren't allowed to talk to you. I was afraid my parents might kick me out, not talk to me or let my little brother see me. I was understandably stressed and losing weight, having trouble sleeping before I had the talk with my parents. I looked like crap... my Dad decided someone must have slipped me drugs and had me taken to the hospital. I had a panic attack and couldn't explain much besides that I was stressed lately and not sleeping...)
Anyhow, I was prescribed Lithium, a really dangerous drug that's used to prevent mania in bipolar patients. Its really easy to overdose on. Overdosing causes your nerves to swell up. Getting dehydrated can cause the medication levels to build up and make you overdose. I did not know this and wasn't informed by my doctor. He actually warned me not to drink too much too fast or else I'd flush the meds out of my system.
In March I got the stomach flu. I ended up getting dehydrated because of this... I was slowly being poisoned.
the early symptoms of lithium toxicity are similar to stomach flu. Symptoms include "diarrhea, dizziness, nausea, stomach pains, vomiting, and weakness." I had all that and just figured it was from being sick. Things got worse... I started developing severe hand tremors and trouble speaking. I felt dead tired but couldn't fall asleep for days. Someone convinced me to take an extra Lithium pill... That was a mistake. I ended up blacking out soon after. I thought I was going to die then. I remember being surprised when I woke up a couple hours later.
I had been visiting family at the time. I took a plane home though because I was so sick. I was in bad shape when I got home. I could barely speak. I couldn't sleep. My nerves were all inflamed. Different parts of my body were numb and had a pins and needles feeling. I could barely use my left arm. I spent the time in bed believing I was going to die. I spent some time crying because of how terrible it would be for my mom to find my dead body and lose her child. What would happen to everyone when I was gone? I hadn't done enough in my life yet.
My heart wasn't beating right. I had no desire to breath. I had to mentally force myself to breath and it was difficult. My arms and legs kept falling asleep if I laid still for too long. My body was shutting down. (Late stage chronic lithium toxicity causes your organ systems to fail until you fall into coma and eventually die.) Part of me wanted to die too. I believed I had permanent brain and nerve damage... I didn't want to live like that. I thought my brain broke from being awake for so long. Thought I'd never fall asleep again... I'd just eventually die of sleep deprivation.
Its a really long story...
It started with me being misdiagnosed as bipolar when I told my parents I didn't want to be a part of their religion any more. (Its sort of a cult... If you get kicked out the other believers aren't allowed to talk to you. I was afraid my parents might kick me out, not talk to me or let my little brother see me. I was understandably stressed and losing weight, having trouble sleeping before I had the talk with my parents. I looked like crap... my Dad decided someone must have slipped me drugs and had me taken to the hospital. I had a panic attack and couldn't explain much besides that I was stressed lately and not sleeping...)
Anyhow, I was prescribed Lithium, a really dangerous drug that's used to prevent mania in bipolar patients. Its really easy to overdose on. Overdosing causes your nerves to swell up. Getting dehydrated can cause the medication levels to build up and make you overdose. I did not know this and wasn't informed by my doctor. He actually warned me not to drink too much too fast or else I'd flush the meds out of my system.
In March I got the stomach flu. I ended up getting dehydrated because of this... I was slowly being poisoned.
the early symptoms of lithium toxicity are similar to stomach flu. Symptoms include "diarrhea, dizziness, nausea, stomach pains, vomiting, and weakness." I had all that and just figured it was from being sick. Things got worse... I started developing severe hand tremors and trouble speaking. I felt dead tired but couldn't fall asleep for days. Someone convinced me to take an extra Lithium pill... That was a mistake. I ended up blacking out soon after. I thought I was going to die then. I remember being surprised when I woke up a couple hours later.
I had been visiting family at the time. I took a plane home though because I was so sick. I was in bad shape when I got home. I could barely speak. I couldn't sleep. My nerves were all inflamed. Different parts of my body were numb and had a pins and needles feeling. I could barely use my left arm. I spent the time in bed believing I was going to die. I spent some time crying because of how terrible it would be for my mom to find my dead body and lose her child. What would happen to everyone when I was gone? I hadn't done enough in my life yet.
My heart wasn't beating right. I had no desire to breath. I had to mentally force myself to breath and it was difficult. My arms and legs kept falling asleep if I laid still for too long. My body was shutting down. (Late stage chronic lithium toxicity causes your organ systems to fail until you fall into coma and eventually die.) Part of me wanted to die too. I believed I had permanent brain and nerve damage... I didn't want to live like that. I thought my brain broke from being awake for so long. Thought I'd never fall asleep again... I'd just eventually die of sleep deprivation.
Rock 'n' Roll
