Tylenol Overdose. The diagnosis of the week it seems. In the past two nights, I have had taken care of 2 boys who have felt desperate enough for attention (love? help?) and used this method to gain it.
Where is the breakdown in communication between parent and child that causes the child to down 10,000mg-15,600mg of Tylenol at once in order to gain attention? Is that even the reason?
In the past two nights, I have had TWO boys with Tylenol OD. Of course, this buys them large bore IVs and IV fluids, multiple lab draws to watch for liver damage, clotting factors, and drug levels in the blood, stomach pumping if it JUST happened, a charcoal slurry if they came in a couple hours within taking the pills, and last but not least MORE pills (liver protectants). If the Tylenol level is high enough in the bloodstream the IV fluids will be replaced with an IV infusion of the same liver protectant.
The attention doesn't stop there. Not only will the medical doctors be visiting often but psychiatrists will make a pit stop, nurses will be coming in the room every hour. ALL of us ask the same question, "Do you want to hurt yourself?" "Do you have plans to hurt yourself?" Oh, and being alone is never an issue. If parents can't stay, then a sitter is provided to watch every move made.
After being cleared medically, the patient is then sent to the psych hospital across the street. There they will enjoy a journey into their mind by one on one sessions and group therapy. Who knows..I'm not a psych nurse, but I'm sure there is some form of self expression activity such as drawing or writing.
I am not going to lie and say I haven't made sarcastic comments about the Tylenol overdoses but I do find it truly sad that these children think they have to take these desperate measures to get the attention they are starving for. Not attention that says "Look what I can do" but the kind that says, "HEY, look at me I'm hurting and if you aren't going to listen to my words, hear my actions!"
However, I am glad that is was "only" Tylenol and not sleeping pills, antidepressants, etc. Also, it reinforces the fact that I am very grateful that my parents were easy to talk to and gave me plenty of POSITIVE reinforcement as I grew up. As socially inept as I sometimes felt, I knew that I still had self worth because my parents (especially Mom) helped me to build my self esteem on talents and skills I had, NOT attention from others.
Where is the breakdown in communication between parent and child that causes the child to down 10,000mg-15,600mg of Tylenol at once in order to gain attention? Is that even the reason?
In the past two nights, I have had TWO boys with Tylenol OD. Of course, this buys them large bore IVs and IV fluids, multiple lab draws to watch for liver damage, clotting factors, and drug levels in the blood, stomach pumping if it JUST happened, a charcoal slurry if they came in a couple hours within taking the pills, and last but not least MORE pills (liver protectants). If the Tylenol level is high enough in the bloodstream the IV fluids will be replaced with an IV infusion of the same liver protectant.
The attention doesn't stop there. Not only will the medical doctors be visiting often but psychiatrists will make a pit stop, nurses will be coming in the room every hour. ALL of us ask the same question, "Do you want to hurt yourself?" "Do you have plans to hurt yourself?" Oh, and being alone is never an issue. If parents can't stay, then a sitter is provided to watch every move made.
After being cleared medically, the patient is then sent to the psych hospital across the street. There they will enjoy a journey into their mind by one on one sessions and group therapy. Who knows..I'm not a psych nurse, but I'm sure there is some form of self expression activity such as drawing or writing.
I am not going to lie and say I haven't made sarcastic comments about the Tylenol overdoses but I do find it truly sad that these children think they have to take these desperate measures to get the attention they are starving for. Not attention that says "Look what I can do" but the kind that says, "HEY, look at me I'm hurting and if you aren't going to listen to my words, hear my actions!"
However, I am glad that is was "only" Tylenol and not sleeping pills, antidepressants, etc. Also, it reinforces the fact that I am very grateful that my parents were easy to talk to and gave me plenty of POSITIVE reinforcement as I grew up. As socially inept as I sometimes felt, I knew that I still had self worth because my parents (especially Mom) helped me to build my self esteem on talents and skills I had, NOT attention from others.
5 Comments:
As a teen, I tried to commit suicide several times in several different ways. At different times, I took combinations of everything in the house (pills, alcohol, stuff that wasn't supposed to be ingested, etc).
The only difference between me and these kids is that I didn't go to the ER after I took the pills because I never told anyone.
I WANTED to die. Just never "succeeded".
I don't know if I agree that this is a cry for attention. The kids are obviously in pain. They probably just got scared after taking the pills and then had second thoughts about suicide.
No one does this to get attention. They do it out of desperation.
I agree that there are some out there that do want to just die. I didn't give the history of the kids or the stories behind their overdoses b/c I believe that would be divulging too much info. Knowing what I know about their stories it was a cry for attention and yes, a desperate one. Definitely, desperate. Noone does this unless they are desperate. DESPERATE for ATTENTION in some way shape or form. I've talked to the psychiatrists, I've taken the classes, I've talked to the kids...they want to get someone's attention and this is a good way to say "HEY I"M SERIOUS HERE!"
Once again, I don't know how you do it. I'll never understand the urges of some to down a ton of pills. I can only hope that as a parent I always give my children the outlets they need for any pain they have so as to avoid behavior like this. I'm with you that it is a cry for help/attention.
I find it hard to believe that they are conscious enough about the world around them to really want to truly end it all. I hope both boys get the attention they need...better from the psych hospital than nobody at all.
I remember years ago when a kid came in from eating those wild mushrooms. Her only explanation was that she wanted to get high but ended up in some organ failure, can't remember which one now its been so long ago. It was a teenager.
I hope that the kids come out of this alright. :-o
By the way, I found you through MyBlogLog. Apparently you hit my lil blog, and I almost always pop over to my visitor's own web log.
When I was little, my brother and I both consumed half of a container of Tylenol. The difference in our situation is that, back then, the stuff tasted like candy. I don't think that they're allowed to make it taste like that anymore, are they?
I would be surprised if so..
Anyway, we were dumb kids who didn't have the sense to not get into the yummy tasting stuff. In fact, we were so small that we had to climb onto the sink just to reach the mirror so that we could get into the medicine cabinet.
So of course your post reminded me of my own experience with a Tylenol OD. It's like a dream now, thinking back to getting our stomachs pumped out and how worried our parents were...
Wow, I haven't thought of that in ages.
My best wishes to everyone involved.
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