Just the Ones They Can't Sell

Last summer, I was having dinner with my kids.  I got up and went to the kitchen to get more drink and took my plate with me.  Once in the kitchen, I abruptly dropped my food onto the linoleum floor.  Crash!  My then-18-year-old daughter ran in to see what was happening.  Earlier, my (then) 16-year-old son had stopped me from running a stop sign and hitting someone!   He had to yell "Mother!" quickly and loudly so I'd hit the brakes hopefully quickly enough.  After I'd dropped my food, my daughter said "I'm taking you to the hospital!"

So off we went in her car.  We ended up in the psych emergency services.  They asked me a bunch of questions, including who the president was.  I think I said "Eisenhower!" but frankly that day was kind of a blur.  I wasn't kidding either.  I felt "off" but I was REALLY off!  The PES diagnosed me with delerium and made steps to quickly transfer me to the regular ER.

Once there, they put me in a room right away.  The only thing I can remember is being in that room, my whole body shaking uncontrollably.  My arms especially were shaking "big"- very fast and above my body.  By this time a lot of medical type people were in the tiny room with me.  Alarms were going off on my vitals monitor.  I couldn't move voluntarily.  I lay there amidst the cacophony of alarms and silent blank stares from everybody that filled my tiny room, unable to do anything except to stare straight ahead of me blindly while I had this whole-body seizure-like event.  This went on for what seemed like forever.  More people squeezed in to look from the hallway.

I don't know what happened next.

My lithium blood levels were taken.  This is done at regular intervals by psychiatrists to keep an eye on these levels.  Mine were "sky high"!  I was diagnosed with Lithium Toxicity.

I do not know what they did to treat me.  I was taken off lithium completely right then and there.

My psych nurse practitioner called me once I was finally home again and appologized profusely.  She should've taken a lithium level the day she saw me, she said.  Well who knew?  I didn't.  Your body can react to the drug differently suddenly and the Lithium in your blood goes up.  There is a fine line between a level that is theraputic and one that is not.  This is why it is monitored closely.

I have never taken Lithium again and I never will.  Psych meds are no joke.  They are powerful chemicals with serious side affects.  They affect the whole body, not just one part of your brain- or even ALL of your brain.

These types of events aren't as rare as we think.  As my good friend has said, "Side effects aren't "side" effects.  They're just the ones pharmaceutical companies can't sell."