I know I’m real new here and I don't know any of you well. But, I am desperate for help at this point and I am reaching out in a proactive way to try and find advice/information.

On Tuesday, my 15 year old son took over 300 different pills from the assorted medication bottles in our home. My husband and I found him comatose in his bed 30 min after he ingested them and dialed 911 not knowing yet what was wrong with him. My son was dying in my arms on our front lawn while we waited for the ambulance to arrive. When we got to the hospital finally, my son was in a coma and unresponsive. They transported him within 30 min by helicopter 55 miles away to the City to a better hospital. In the helicopter my son stopped breathing and died. They resuscitated and put a breathing tube in him. My son spent 3 days in ICU barely clinging to life. When he woke up, it was truly a miracle from God.

Right now he is in a psychiatric unit on the highest suicide risk level they have because my son still wants to die.

A little about myself and our home. We are a very loving family and have always been around for our kids. My husband and I devote ourselves to our family and do our very best to love, educate, respect, teach our children.

What I hope for by writing this message.
If anyone else has gone through this, I would be grateful to hear how you as a Mother got through it. I also would like to know about resources that may be available. In the mental health care system, it is a broken system and if you do not already know what to ask for, no one offers that information up to you.

We are all so thankful that my son is alive today. The Dr's were able to save his kidneys and liver and he has weakness in his legs from the neurological side effects of what he has done.
Thank you for reading this and thank you in advance for your support!

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I have never been through anything like this so have no advice to give, but wanted to say I'm sorry you're going through it and hope your son finds the treatment he needs. I have a 15 year old son also, & I can't imagine how stressful & frightening this must be for you. Big hugs

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I have never been through that before, either. I am sending big hugs and prayers that your son gets the help he needs.

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~Happiness is a large family~

I know someone here WILL be able to help. I am praying for you, your son, and your entire family.

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"A Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families…"
Psalm 68:5-6a

I could have written your post nineteen years ago about my brother. He took over 200 tylenol and a whole bottle of antidepressants (he had threatened about six months before and my parents jumped at putting him in counseling, getting him on meds, etc.). Ironically enough, it was the tylenol that almost killed him, as it did do permenant damage to his kidneys/liver, and he is a hepatitis carrier (although not the contagious kind) now because of it (He got strep which turned into mono quickly in college which turned into hepatitis...a direct result of the damage done by the overdose).
The night that it happened, my mom and I had stayed up late talking after I had come in from my part time job (I was a senior in high school. Kevin was a sophomore.). (Nineteen years later, I can still tell you that this was March 21st, too.) In part of our conversation, we both agreed that the meds seemed to be helping him. I went on to bed (I had a room in the basement). As I crawled in, I heard running upstairs, and I went flying up. Mom, for some unknown reason, had decided to check on Kevin because she heard a knocking noise in his room. The noise was him having convulsions and the head of his bed was hitting the wall. 911 was called, and the firetrucks and ambulance came. In my not quite 18 year old mind, the biggest thing for me was the amount of blood. Blood? Yes, because the paramedics had such a hard time getting an iv in him, apparently they sliced somewhere to do it?? Anyhow, there was blood everywhere. I had to stay behind with my younger sister while my parents went to the hospital, and I just sat there forever trying to get blood off of the floor and mattress. I didn't know what else to do.
Kevin spent a week in a coma, also, and weeks more in a psychiatric hospital. Actually, I believe it was a full six weeks. He was in it several more times over the next two years, and he has been Baker Acted twice as an adult. Once, I had to be the one to do it, as my parents had gone on their first "them only" vacation. You cannot imagine what it feels like to have to have the front desk give them a message to call home immediately. Mom later said that she knew instantly.
I don't know what I can do to actually help you, but if you need a shoulder from someone who HAS lived through something similiar, please pm me. I CAN tell you that if you don't like the first psychiatrist, or even the tenth, keep looking for one who DOES click with you and your son. My brother was so good at making the drs. think he was "all better"...and at times making them think that it was my parent's fault that he was so unhappy (we also came from a very close, very stable home so this was bull). Don't give up on the first try. Mental illness is a LIFETIME fight, unfortunately. My parents truly believe that if they had fought harder for a dr. who did click with us that my brother would not have ever gotten to that point. The dr. that he had been using simply wore blinders...and it nearly cost a life.
I can also tell you that on June 21st of this year, my family and I traveled to TX to be at my brother's wedding. It has been a long, hard road for him (and us...until you live this, no one can understand the feeling of walking around on egg shells to be with someone.), but he HAS made it! He is 35 years old, a paralegal in the US Army, married with a stepson. He is always going to fight this fight, but right now, he IS winning.

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AbiKat - I'm praying for you and your family!

I've not had to deal with a suicidal child as severe as yours, however, I had a severely suicidal (and mentally ill) mother and have had serious depression myself.

You need to know that his suicidal thoughts will not go away anytime soon. When I went through my latest, most serious depressive episode, I felt suicidal for about a year and a half.

It also takes a long time for the anti-depressants to work, IF the doctors find the right anti-depressant at first. It can take a long time to find an anti-depressant that works for your son. Be persistent. Even if you find an effective anti-depressant, it might stop working one day, in which your son gets to go through the same routine of searching for a new effective one.

Will he always be on anti-depressant? Perhaps not. However, he should be educated about depression to realize when he needs to go back on them. Anti-depressants are sort of like wearing eyeglasses when you're near-sighted. They don't change the world around you. Instead they just help sharpen your focus so you can make better decisions.

What else you need to know is you can't solve this problem for your son. I'm sure your mommy-heart is willing to swim through shark infested waters to save your son from this, but you can't. This is his problem to solve alone. Sometimes the 'advocating' of worried family members make the situation worse. Fight the tendancy to see your son as weak, needy, or damaged. Instead, insist that he be the one to take the lead on what is done next. He is the only one who can tell his doctors what he thinks and feels. He is the one who is incharge of his life. And trust me, your son won't like your attitude. He may go through moments of trying to guilt you into babying him or enabling him. Fight the urge. You must give him the message that you consider him a capable young man even when he isn't sure of it himself.

Of course, look for real-life support for yourself. If you can find a support group, great. If not, consider private talk therapy for a while.

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"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

I agree a lot of Cookie.

Right now he is probably in the best place possible. In the hospital they will take the steps to insure that he is stable. Hopefully they are looking at what could be the cause of his depression and the are looking at different forms of treatment. And hopefully they are working with him, in the hospital, what steps he needs to take to be successful and what type of support system he needs to be successful.

My experiences with this type of person is that it is an issue that never completely goes away but it can be worked with and your son can go on to have a successful life. I also agree with Cookie in the thought it does come down to your son and how he will handle it.

You sound like a great mom and I know you will do everything within your power to help your son. That's what moms do. I am going to give you a website of a friend of ours. Educational Consultants supporting parenting of Struggling and Troubled Teens, working since 1989. -- there are a lot of links on here that might be able to help you and your family in the upcoming weeks and months.

Good luck and I wish you and your son the best.

I don't have any advice for you, but I will offer my prayers for comfort, understanding and treatment. Is there a patient advocate at the facility that could answer your questions? Or, a counselor at school that could help guide you? There is a suicide support group in our community made up of suicide survivors and family members affected by suicide or the attempt of it. I know they offer a lot of help to people going through something like you are. Does your community happen to have a similar group?

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Homeschooling Mom to Daniel (12 Years), Andrew (9 Years), Stephen (7 Years) and Emily (3 Years)

*************Visit AyeOhKay's Blog - "Frugal & Fun"**************

Abikat, I work sporadiacaly on a mental health unit as a social worker. Ic ant tell you what the fellow Mommysavers have said is 100% true. Above all, assure him you love him despite the reason he may have tried to harm himself or the choices he has made. Tell himhis actions do not make you love him less. I wonder if maybe he may be having some gender issues because my own 21 year old cousin had thoughts to harm himself before he came out to his family. Be patient with him and yourself. If the Dr precribes meds...don't think that is all he needs. Medications work best if accompanied with therapy. Find a therapist that concentrates in adolescent therapy. Insist on speaking with the Dr. while he is hospitalized and before he is discharged, reqeust a family meeting with the social worker to discuss some ground rules at home . Please PM me if you need some qustsions answered about the mental health system. Although I live in PA, maybe I can shed some light on the situation. I'm praying for you and your family

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I’ve been SWAK’d!
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