Looking for resources on LSD overdosing/induced breakdowns -if there is such a thing.

[hevans]

(Little about me - am 55, took LSD, Peyote, qualudes, smoked pot in college - so my mind is somewhat open) - The Problem - My 16 year old daughter went to college party and took 5-6 hits of LSD. She came home bug eyed and thought that was Jesus, here to save the world and her friends..... she went from a sports captain, leader of her peers, accomplished, and cheerful to angry, despondent, delusional, suicidal - overnight. She has since been diagnosed as bi-polar, but I'm convinced that there is a tie in to whatever happened that night at the college party. I think she short circuited or something. Its been 5 years, and she does not seem to go to the lows so much... ie. threatening suicide, but she is still obviously not right! I cant find any resources specific to drug induced breakdowns.... and treatments... Her Dr's and therapists will not even entertain or discuss the possibilities, despite the correlation of the breakdown to the "party" after which everything went haywire...... So am here looking to see if there are similar accounts of breakdowns.... Nowadays I do no not trust the street drugs... thee are so many recreational drugs and labs out there trying to make a buck - not even sure she did LSD.

 

[MoreAlkaloidsPLZ]

My understanding is that if you are going to counter something like that with supplements it needs to be pretty quickly after the dose. 5 years later is a bit late for trying to replace leached vitamins etc. With that said there is strong empirical data that supports the notion of entheogens triggering latent schizo effective and other mental or emotional disorders that were lurking and would likely have occurred later in life. The term bi polar gets slapped (inaccurately all too often in my opinion) on a number of other disorders and it isn't a bad idea to seek a second or even third opinion. There is a lot that can go wrong with the human brain and despite the psych community being often quite lazy with the throwing antidepressents at the wall to see what sticks, there are some brilliant therapists out there that could probably help. Couple things though:

She has to want help or it's a no go.
Have to find a skilled therapist that she is comfortable with. ( I can't stress this enough.)
Have to monitor meds closely and she can't be taking random street drugs and expecting whatever they give her to work.

Biggest thing though is having a therapist she trusts enough to be totally honest with. The current state of pharmacology as it relates to treating mental disorders with psych meds still involves a TON of guess work and trial and error with meds, combined with supportive encouragement not just from a trustworthy and relatable therapist but also a strong support structure at home etc. There is no way to reverse engineer what happened to her chemically with some random tab she dropped 5 years ago. Even if you could get your hands on whatever it was, half the stuff being passed off as molly or acid are novel substances and rc's. There isn't much empirical data on that stuff.

I know that's not what you want to hear and I am hardly an expert so by all means research further. But that is my honest assessment based on the limited data. I hope she can recover and find some peace and happiness. Good luck to you both.

 

[hevans]

I appreciate the thoughtful response. Whats mystifying to me is that the therapists/professonals, particularly those in health care networks seem to refuse to even consider that the taking of the drug had anything to do with the condition... and the extreme behavioral change - to the day - was a coincidence. Nobody asked what she took and what happened when she was on the med... whatever it was....I feel that if there is an indifference to the history leading up to the sudden change... then how could they possibly, be truly that vested in treating the current condition.... other than throwing lithium or seroquel or whatever at the problem.
I almost feel that she needs a sharmon or something, somebody who thinks outside the box and is empathetic to her current thinking paths.
It makes me wonder - in the 70's, in HS and college, there was always at least one guy or gal who had taken one hit too many and was perpetually in the ozone.. you could simply tell by looking at them while walking the corridors.... what happened to all these people and how were they treated?

This is not meant to be a knock per se... but accidents and anomalies happen and its very hard to find help.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

get her to a psychiatrist.

welcome to the community

 

[MoreAlkaloidsPLZ]

I appreciate the thoughtful response. Whats mystifying to me is that the therapists/professonals, particularly those in health care networks seem to refuse to even consider that the taking of the drug had anything to do with the condition... and the extreme behavioral change - to the day - was a coincidence. Nobody asked what she took and what happened when she was on the med... whatever it was....I feel that if there is an indifference to the history leading up to the sudden change... then how could they possibly, be truly that vested in treating the current condition.... other than throwing lithium or seroquel or whatever at the problem.
I almost feel that she needs a sharmon or something, somebody who thinks outside the box and is empathetic to her current thinking paths.
It makes me wonder - in the 70's, in HS and college, there was always at least one guy or gal who had taken one hit too many and was perpetually in the ozone.. you could simply tell by looking at them while walking the corridors.... what happened to all these people and how were they treated?

This is not meant to be a knock per se... but accidents and anomalies happen and its very hard to find help.

I agree. Also there is a precedent, medically. There is empirical data that points to latent mental and emotional disorders triggered by the use of psychedelics. I'd keep shopping therapists if you can afford to until you find someone more open minded to the possibility and skilled enough to try some varied approaches. Good luck, man.

 

[aq.]

hey -- i'm going to move this over to the dark side, you'll most likely get more responses there.

 

[herbavore]

My heart goes out to you and your daughter both. Having navigated drug induced psychosis and the mental health system with my late son I know how frustrating, confusing and downright depressing it can be. MoreAlkaloidsPLZ gave a great response and I would echo both of his points: she has to want to go and buy into herself and she has to work with someone that is intelligent enough to go beyond the status quo in the mental health field.

What i would like to address is your plight as a parent. The helplessness that comes with watching your child suffer from something that you can do very little about is hell. I encourage you to get help for yourself if you have not already. Having the support of other parents going through similar things can be a lifesaver.

Here is an anecdote that may provide some hope: One of my good friend's has a son that went off the deep end with cocaine and meth for several years. He became psychotic and was diagnosed bipolar. He was put on very heavy medications and ordered to treatment for his drug use. He got clean but remained on disability, unable to work. It has now been about 7 years and he has been able to cut back his medications to practically nothing, he has his son back in his life and is close to being able to hold a job and provide for himself again. 7 years ago, he was facing institutionalization. Whether or not that diagnosis was accurate remains a question.

 

[nygiants1313]

Im sorry this happened to your daughter along with yourself . I dont have experience with this thing but id suggest however many therapists it takes to find one to listen. There have to have been others this happened too out there.

 

[MoreAlkaloidsPLZ]

If it's not too much to ask, I'd love to hear of any updates or breakthroughs on your situation. If you don't want to share publicly I'd invite you to pm with such as well. I'm rooting for your daughter to get well. Good luck.