overdose of an anti-psychotic

Lithium might be one option as it is toxic at modest levels of overdose.

Thorazine will do it, but I don't know if it would be painful. Thorazine will make a zombie out of just about anyone. More than zombie dose will end it all.

Paracetamol overdoses can result in a very painful death due to liver damage, I believe.

Thorazine = chlorpromazine. The syrup is 25mg per 5 mls.

I've seen a skinny little guy who needed such a high dose that we gave it to him in a tea cup.

The next time I saw him he was holding down a job. Not a demanding one, but he was managing in the community with a fortnightly visit and some depot fluphenazine.

I suppose an overdose by antipsychotics is possible but if you want agony, you might have to opt for paracetamol or something else. Lithium toxicity can certainly kill but I'm not sure your character will realistically have agony.

What about mushrooms?

http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/...onous-garden/story-17446601-detail/story.html

Maybe they're growing in the grounds of a psych' hospital.

Can't help with the specific question, but I remember watching a fly-on-the-wall documentary about an ICU (circa 1990, so donkey's years ago). One of the patients was dying of liver failure brought on by a paracetamol overdose - his parents insisted on the footage being aired in order to show what a horrible death it leads to (by which point he'd decided he wanted to live, but they couldn't get a donor liver).

LPH.

p.s. Buffysquirrel - I love your kitties, although I must question your sanity in having TWO ginger ones!

veinglory said:

Lithium might be one option as it is toxic at modest levels of overdose.

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That would be a good choice. Lithium overdoses can destroy the kidneys, which is certainly a slow and painful way to die.

A lot of anti-psychotics are surprisingly hard to overdose on. They're just not toxic enough.

Haldol does have the possibility of stopping the heart at extremely high doses, but your character would probably have to save up pills for months to get enough to try that. This is a particular property of Haldol and doesn't apply to other Aps.

Don't some people have paradoxical reactions to Haldol, which makes them more agitated? I seem to recall something about that from my story's research (someone goes nuts in an ICU and gets a good jab of the stuff, which knocks them out - thankfully).

I think Haldol is the American name for it. I mentioned it to an anaesthetist friend of the family (fact-checking!) and he only knew it by the name Haloperidol.

Haldol is a very common brand name for haloperidol, in the US and elsewhere, but possibly not in the UK. The generic names of drugs tend to be clunky, so it's common to use brand names to refer to them. I've never had a patient get more agitated after giving them Haldol.

In terms of antipsychotics lithium sounds like the best bet. But psychiatric medication is really individualized and there could be lots of other types of drugs the patient may be taking as well.

Los Pollos Hermanos said:

p.s. Buffysquirrel - I love your kitties, although I must question your sanity in having TWO ginger ones!

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You turn up at the kitten place. You can have any colour kitten so long as it's orange! lol

asroc said:

Haldol is a very common brand name for haloperidol, in the US and elsewhere, but possibly not in the UK.

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I've seen NHS sources refer to Haldol.

Might be worth looking up serotonin syndrome (caused by a huge number of drugs found on an psych ward - take your pick), and/or neuroleptic malignant syndrome (caused by antipsychotics). I'm not sure if these are especially painful, but they are definitely not pleasant.

Lithium is a good one, too. The number of potential side effects of liver toxicity is considerable, and an overdose could manifest in a number of ways.

shaldna said:

Is lithium commonly used in the UK/Ireland though? I was under the impression that it wasn't the drug of choice. Although I don't really know enough about it.

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I imagine Sodium Valproate and other anticonvulsants such as Carbamazepine and Phenytoin might be preferred over Lithium for their mood-stabilizing effect.

They're preferred here in Australia but Lithium is still around and so are Haloperidol (Serenace in Australia) and Chlorpromazine and various other golden oldies.

shaldna said:

So I've heard. But would this be something she would be getting on an ongoing basis? I suppose I could always factor in a short term illness and/or fever which would result in her needing.

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I suppose staff in a psychiatric clinic would be more aware of the risks of paracetamol (and attempted suicide) than the average person, but it's very much treated casually here in general. She could always steal from another patient, or persuade a visitor to bring some in. Over the counter you can only get up to 16 tablets or so but ask at the chemists and you can get 100. Some brands contain a drug that protects against the consequences of overdose, but not all.

Is lithium commonly used in the UK/Ireland though? I was under the impression that it wasn't the drug of choice. Although I don't really know enough about it.

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Yes, it's used here for certain disorders. There's fantastic amounts of info on the official NHS site--I regularly go there when researching.

http://www.nhs.uk/medicine-guides/pages/MedicineOverview.aspx?condition=Mania%20and%20Bipolar%20Disorder&medicine=lithium%20carbonate

Neuroleptic Malignancy Syndrome might be worth a look.

It can be fatal in some cases and it can be brought on by neuroleptic (antipsychotic) medication.