Poll of the Day > Had to call the paramedics on my brother today. FUCK.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I have no fucking clue what the fuck is going on right now.

My brother just suddenly started acting crazy, doing weird body motions, staring out at nothing for hours, talking about reaching "nirvana" or some shit, laughing uncontrollably out of nowhere

I think he might literally have gone insane.

He has never had any neurological or psychological problems before this... episode/fit/whatever.

He was acting strange yesterday, just staring out the windows and babbling some nonsense, and when I asked him what he was doing, he said he was "meditating" and he told me to just leave him alone.

I was like, alright sure, whatever. Not the first time he went into one of these fad diets/rituals. He'll just get bored of it and move on to the next one like always.

But then I notice all his odd behavior and I was starting to get worried. It came to a head a few hours ago when he was LITERALLY DROOLING ALL OVER HIMSELF. Like, the whole front of his shirt was just wet, and a lot of it spilled onto the floor. I tried to talk to him but he would not respond to me, and he just kept saying that he "was close to nirvana" and "I can feel everything the energy."

Keep in mind, I was in the apartment the whole day with him yesterday and today, and he doesn't take any sort of medications or drugs or whatever, so I have no idea what could have caused this.

I had to call our mom, who is a nurse, over. I also tried to call for an emergency psych consult, but they don't have a team for late night emergencies, so they said to just call 911, so I did. Paramedics came and did a whole routine of taking blood pressure, blood sugar, pupil dilation, interviews, all that stuff.

Now, my mom and my brother are at the hospital right now, and I'm in the apartment with my youngest brother, wide awake, can't sleep and worried out of my mind.

Talk to me potd.
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sounds like drugs
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Hmm curious what that is about
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Id just talk to him,

He couldve been deep in mediation, IDK

Please for the love of god dont rule him out as crazy just because of this one episode. Out of the ordinary yes but actually talk to him and see what he meant by him being close to reaching Nirvana . Nothing to be scared about
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Jen0125 posted...

sounds like drugs

Yep, sounds like your classic ego-death.
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Jen0125 posted...

sounds like drugs

like I said, I was with him in the apartment for the whole two days this has been going on. He hasn't taken anything, and even if he did somehow manage to smuggle in some drugs, I would have seen him do it/take some of it, see the paraphernalia, our apartment is pretty small.

mastermix3000 posted...

Id just talk to him,

He couldve been deep in mediation, IDK

Please for the love of god dont rule him out as crazy just because of this one episode. Out of the ordinary yes but actually talk to him and see what he meant by him being close to reaching Nirvana . Nothing to be scared about

Does meditation cause you to drool uncontrollably all over yourself, and make you unresponsive to the emts when they ask you basic questions?
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T0ffee posted...

like I said, I was with him in the apartment for the whole two days this has been going on. He hasn't taken anything, and even if he did somehow manage to smuggle in some drugs, I would have seen him do it/take some of it, see the paraphernalia, our apartment is pretty small.

you realize that you don't always have to smoke or shoot drugs right? he could have had pills. it's very easy to conceal drugs. you aren't with him 24/7.
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Alright, honestly, we're both basically shut in, friendless, NEETs so I'm pretty sure he wouldn't even have the knowhow, connections, or money to get drugs.

Hell, we don't even drink alcohol on the rare times we go to family parties and stuff.
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how do you have an apartment with no jobs
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Jen0125 posted...

how do you have an apartment with no jobs

We live with our mom.

Yeah, yeah, let the pathetic mother's-basement-dweller jokes come.

But seriously, I have no idea what caused this change in him.

I'm almost hoping it IS drugs since then there'd be a simple explanation and solution.
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T0ffee posted...

like I said, I was with him in the apartment for the whole two days this has been going on. He hasn't taken anything, and even if he did somehow manage to smuggle in some drugs, I would have seen him do it/take some of it, see the paraphernalia, our apartment is pretty small.

Did you pay him down and search his stuff when he got there? Did you follow him to the bathroom every time?
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Well, they're doing his bloodwork and urine tests now, so we'll know if it is drugs soon.
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T0ffee posted...

Jen0125 posted...

how do you have an apartment with no jobs

We live with our mom.

Yeah, yeah, let the pathetic mother's-basement-dweller jokes come.

But seriously, I have no idea what caused this change in him.

I'm almost hoping it IS drugs since then there'd be a simple explanation and solution.

i'm not going to call you pathetic i was just wondering

that sucks if the apartment is really small though

i'd hate to have no privacy living with my mom >_>

hope your brother is okay though. drugs would be the best case scenario, tbh.
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my guess is he was tripping balls or its a form of schizophrenia

Any prescription drugs in the apartment?
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Dang, I hope everything is alright

LaggnFragnLarry posted...

my guess is he was tripping balls or its a form of schizophrenia

This

are you still in contact with your mom? what's she saying? is he still in his trance?

After spending 2 months in the hospital with my daughter because of her brain AVM it could be some major brain event. The floor she was on in the rehab hospital was brain injuries and many of them acted strangely. Good luck to your brother.
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Diabetic shock.

Alright, quick update before I get ready to go to the hospital and take over the watch from my mom.

His bloodwork and urine tests came back clean. No drugs were found in his system.

Now they're just waiting for the results of the CT scan he had earlier.

She hasn't said whether he was still in his "trance" when she texted me the updates.

ASlaveObeys posted...

Diabetic shock.

He doesn't have diabetes and when the emts came last night they tested his blood sugar level, and it was normal at the time.
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At the hospital now.

Apparently he JUST got to sleep and only after they had to give him some sleeping pills. He was acting weird all night.

CT scans came back normal.

They're taking him for an MRI right now.
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The only time I've been close to nirvana was because of too much nitrous oxide.

Hope your bro's ok. You did the right thing getting help.
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If they rule out any medical conditions, it does sound like schizophrenia. Does any mental illness run in your family? Has he been under a large amount of stress lately? Sometimes people can have a random period of schizophrenia but it can easily be very temporary. Just a guess but I hope he's okay!

My dad was in a similar state, minus the nirvana rambling.

when he had cancer his ammonia levels shot up one day so he basically was a barely functioning corpse. wouldnt speak or move, except he knew for a fact he didnt want to get out of bed and would resist any attempts to remove him(not with force though).

We called the paramedics, they got him out of there, and after a few days his ammonia levels cleared up and he was fine but it was scary seeing an alive man unable to do anything for himself.

it was also weird because we were supposed to drive an hour to my cousins that day and telling him to get ready was impossible. kept on saying he'd do it but he just sat on his bed, didnt know what we had planned that day, etc.

T0ffee posted...

he doesn't take any sort of drugs

yeah, yeah he does
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likehelly posted...

T0ffee posted...

he doesn't take any sort of drugs

yeah, yeah he does

T0ffee posted...

His bloodwork and urine tests came back clean. No drugs were found in his system.

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Brain tumor, stroke, head injury, infection, thyroid problems, MS, and Alzheimer's or Huntington's diseases can all cause sudden personality changes. So can an emotionally traumatic event.

synthetic weed isn't going to show up on a tox screen, and it sounds like that's what he was on
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captpackrat posted...

Brain tumor, stroke, head injury, infection, thyroid problems, MS, and Alzheimer's or Huntington's diseases can all cause sudden personality changes. So can an emotionally traumatic event.

Hello, WebMD.
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likehelly posted...

synthetic weed isn't going to show up on a tox screen, and it sounds like that's what he was on

You seem to want it to be drugs for some reason...
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if it was spice he'd have to have smoked it and if the apartment is really small OP probably would have noticed that
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schizophrenia is sounding likely
It generally hits people as a young adult, and can show no prior symptoms until one day it all comes at once. Kinda like a light switch turning on
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*You are now tracking this topic.

I want to know what ends up happening here
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LinkPizza posted...

likehelly posted...

synthetic weed isn't going to show up on a tox screen, and it sounds like that's what he was on

You seem to want it to be drugs for some reason...

Helly just wants to be right

He apparently thinks hes a doctor now after spending so much time in the hospital
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sigh

It's been a long fucking day.

So yeah, updates

My brother was lucid during the afternoon and he said he apparently was trying out some sort of "transcendental meditation" he heard or read about on the internet. He kept talking about having his path to the energy of the universe getting obstructed because I interrupted his meditation when I called 911.

His "meditation" that, just to remind you, looked like he was having a seizure, and made him drool all over himself.

We also showed the doctor videos we took of him having fits, waving his arms around with his mouth wide open and stuff. And so the doctor told us that he must have induced a catatonic state during his "meditation".

Now, my mom revealed that he actually does have a history with seizures, but it was way back when he was a toddler around 1-3 years old. Naturally, I had no idea that was a thing since I'm only 2 years older than him, so I barely remember things at that age.

Now while all this was going on, my brother, who seemed pretty lucid and aware of his surroundings, was still doing weird hand wavy motions, twitching his back and face, and kept saying that he needed to "readjust his body's center of energy." He was also adamantly exclaiming that he was not insane, and that all he needed was time to finish his weird ritual.

He's had all sorts of tests done at this point; blood and urine, CT scans, MRIs, EEGs, and they all showed that he was normal. No drugs, no irregularities, nothing. The doctor was worried that my brother might not fully realize what was happening to him during his "episodes" because he kept doing it again and again since he kept saying that he was getting stuck during his "meditations," likely because he was inducing catatonia. So she recommended that we leave him in the psychiatric ED for observations and preliminary treatment before transferring him to a proper psych ward.

Thing is, beds in the ward were very scarce so she told us that it was likely that he might have to spend several days in the ED, which has a very strict no visitors policy, before a bed could open up. Obviously this was not good news for us. Leaving him all alone without being able to see him for almost a week in his very delicate condition is a very harsh circumstance for him and for us.

But what choice did we have? The doctor assured us that they would take very good care of him of course (which was not very reassuring after seeing how FUCKING SLOW things seemed to happen in the hospital), and he will always have the option to call us if anything does happen. All of us there--which were me, my mom, my younger brother, and my aunt and uncle--kept reassuring him that things were gonna be fine, that we believed everything he said and that he should explain everything that went on in his head to his doctors, and that he always had the option to call us if he didn't like what was going on.

It was... tough.

So that's how my day went potd, how was yours?
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Psych wards scare me for some reason...
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LinkPizza posted...

Psych wards scare me for some reason...

Cause they fucking suck

Imagine trying to meditate and ending up getting locked up in a hospital for a week.
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LinkPizza posted...

likehelly posted...

synthetic weed isn't going to show up on a tox screen, and it sounds like that's what he was on

You seem to want it to be drugs for some reason...

cuz it usually always is, js

everything he keeps describing sounds exactly like what synthetic weed can do to you

i mean, obviously if it's still happening while he's in a hospital then it's not it
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T0ffee posted...

the doctor told us that he must have induced a catatonic state during his "meditation".

It's so crazy to me that that is even possible.

I know it happens, but it's just amazing how that can even happen

Kyuubi4269 posted...

Imagine trying to meditate and ending up getting locked up in a hospital for a week.

Yeah that's very strange. I do mindfulness a lot and that involves meditation. Can't say I've had anything like this.
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Need to reopen some of those mental hospitals. Make them hospital though. Not white floors and white walls.
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Jen0125 posted...

sounds like drugs

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ClarkDuke posted...

Jen0125 posted...

sounds like drugs

And why does a person feel the need to do the most harmful and destructive drugs?
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OneTimeBen posted...

ClarkDuke posted...

Jen0125 posted...

sounds like drugs

And why does a person feel the need to do the most harmful and destructive drugs?

Chasing the high, ok?
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psych hospitals aren't bad at all. it won't be harsh for him so don't worry. they'll help him a lot.
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Jen0125 posted...

psych hospitals aren't bad at all. it won't be harsh for him so don't worry. they'll help him a lot.

Thanks Jen.

Though I still can't help feeling like maybe I shouldn't have called 911 and started this whole mess in the first place.

I keep wondering if maybe he really would have been alright if I just left him to finish his weird meditation.

A few hours after we got home, he immediately called us and he was crying and distraught about everything that happened, so much so that he wasn't eating.

We kept trying to convince him to eat over the phone. We kept saying that everything will be all right. We kept saying "let them help you," "you need to get better," all while he himself kept saying that he wasn't insane.

It's fucking tough and I want to cry and scream, but I have to be the strong older brother and tell him that he can get through this. I need to be strong so that my mom, who's raised us all by herself, doesn't just give up and break down. I need to be strong so that my younger brother, who actually stands a chance at a good future, doesn't get worried while he's at school.
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honestly it could have been a schizophrenic episode. like someone said above schizophrenia is usually diagnosed as a young adult. if he has some type of mental illness that he needs medication and counseling for they can help diagnose it for him and get him on the right track and if not no harm no foul.

this isn't meant to be offensive but it's not like he's at risk of losing a job or at risk of failing any classes by missing class. so there's really no risk of him being assessed.

and just because he may have a mental illness doesn't mean he's insane. that's just a derogatory term that people have used to demean people with mental illnesses.
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