Newbie.......sister in crisis
 

I am new here and do not know where else to turn.
My 37 yo sis is in ICU b/c she took a bottle of sleeping pills. She has epilepsy that was diagnosed at 16yo. She was on Depakote up until the last 6 months or so. She would occasionally quit taking her meds b/c of the side effects (mainly weight gain) We could always tell when she quit taking her meds b/c she would start accusing people of things and acting weird. 6 months ago she was put on Lamictal by a new doc, and at her 3 month follow up appt she added Topamax. For the past several weeks she has been exhibiting signs of increasingly worsening paranoia. She started saying that the people at work were trying to get her fired, her husband was trying to take her kids away, she then said that the people at work were drugging her and trying to frame her for having drugs, she then said that they were putting truth serum in herfood, she said her huband was poisoning her, she thought her house and cell phone were bugged........the list goes on and on. She told me on the phone that "nobody was helping her, and that we just think she is crazy". I am not sure if she has been taking her meds at all or correctly.....I know that a few months ago she went to some random doc and got RX diet pills.........then she took Zantrex 3 (over the counter diet pill) but am not sure for how long. We are at out wits end trying to figure out if she has gone off the deep end, or if this is a result of her med combination, or the diet pills and her meds........the ER did bloodwork 3 nights ago to test her lamictal levels and said they do not have results yet? She is currently in ICU to make sure that she did not damage her liver with all the pills that she overdosed on. While in the hospital last night, she woke up and said 'OH MY GOD" they have me handcuffed to the bed........(it was her blood pressure cuff) and she thought her IV fluids was truth serum.........anybody got any ideas PLEASE HELP

((((kat))))

first off i thought you could use a hug.

the mixing of meds has really thrown her off. especially taking the otc ones. i'm sure you have no real idea how many she was taking at time. :(

how long has she been in icu? it does take a few days to get all those meds out of her system and for her to detox. the icu is the best place for her right now. they will be keeping close tabs on her liver function.

i'm sure other will read this and post more about the mixed meds.

hi katmcneely
this must be a very scary time for all of you

I do hope all will stabilise for your sister

Others will have more qualified suggestions, but it sure sounds to me like all those meds may have interacted badly.
Thankfully she is under care

I am also going to copy your post over to our medications forum for further input from others

katmcneely, here is the link to your post on the Medications Forum as well

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ad.php?t=14564

Dear Sister in Crisis
 

Honey, I so feel for you now.
This must be so very difficult for you.
Hang in there and don't give up on searching for information, asking questions, demanding answers... and of course on your sister.
I lost my little brother last month to an accidental overdose. It is devistating!

Peace.

Hello katmcneely ~ I'm so sorry about this time for your sister and your entire family. I have epilepsy and have taken all the drugs you're talking about.

Currently I take Topamax and I'm doing fine on it but I know it has some very alarming side effects for a few people and her doctors should know about this.
(((kat))) I'm not lecturing you or your sister .... This can just be such a dangerous situation. Epilepsy drugs are NEVER stopped abruptly. And most of the epilepsy drugs should rarely be mixed with things like OTC weight drugs.

I'll be wishing you all well and praying for you safety. Please let us know you are doing.