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She took an overdose of paracetamol and sleeping tablets; fortunately she does not have the nous to realise that the combination of drugs would not prove fatal. A day in A&E, who were wonderful, had her bloods tested and declared non-toxic. I am in no doubt that she was convinced that she had taken a fatal amount, and declared as such to me as I was about to set off for my workshop. I am convinced that it was not a "cry for help", just an inept attempt to end her life.
I called an ambulance, which arrived within 30 minutes and transported her to the aforementioned A&E which is barely 2 miles from our home.
As an attempted suicide (which would have been a crime until 1962) she was interviewed by a Mental Health Liaison nurse who referred her to our local Older Adult Mental Health Team as an urgent referral. She is 82 by the way.
Having heard nothing by New Years Eve, I started rattling some cages; it transpired that the referral email had not gone through to whoever should have received it, therefore she was not given a Crash Team referral. The person I spoke to (the nurse who initially interviewed her in A&E) did get on her case and within an hour had arranged an urgent appointment for 2nd January, a.k.a. later today, so hats off to her.
My wife is very confused; she is in a loop complaining of aches, pains, and bladder problems in a sort of cross between Hancock’s Half Hour and Groundhog Day. She bitterly regrets taking the tablets and says that to her it seems like a bad dream. Good job they didn’t work then!
Her explanation for her overdose is that she was angsting over the death of her brother, who drank himself to death in Canada 20 years ago, and she thought that she was experiencing similar symptoms (she didn’t know where her liver was!) and didn’t want to die that horrible death. Exactly how bombarding her liver with paracetamol and sleeping pills would help with that shows just how irrational the whole affair is.
Messages of support from the appearance on the Dear Wife thread were voluminous, surprisingly numerous, and totally well received at this end. That so many who didn’t even know me were prepared to type supportive messages was really appreciated and most helpful. Even better, I had good advice from a few TZers who had found themselves in similar situations which have been most useful in the early attempts to plot my chart through this morass.
And that is about it up to now. I was encouraged to vent, so vent I have. I will update once the Nut Nurse has been.
