Crisis with a friend

so I’ve had a bit of a hard evening tonight. My friend has been very depressed and very low lately. For the last few days week even she’s been very down. I’ve been trying to help her through it.
Tonight she texted me at around 7 to say she had overdosed on paracetamol, she said she’d taken 30 tablets. I was so frightened for her, but I stayed calm. At first after she told me I asked her if she was going to ring her daughter who is her next of kin, she said no. So then I asked her if she’d go to the hospital to be seen by psych and she said no to that too.
I told her then that I’d ring an ambulance for her because I was really worried about her. She agreed to let me do this for her. So I rang, that was an experience in itself ringing an ambulance. They asked me a bunch of questions about her and I had to tell them that actually I was ringing from my own house and she wasnt with me. The operator asked me if she had a weapon and if she was violent, if she was conscious and awake, breathing etc. He asked me her age and what she’d taken. Most of what he was asking me I was able to answer. He asked me her sir name but I drew a blank, I could not for the life of me think of it.
I gave him her phone number and he said he was going to call her as soon as he hung up from me, he also said an ambulance was on its way.
I was so relieved! Finally she’d get help! I was so glad she’d texted me. She kept texting until they came and when she got to A and E she let me know she was there and being seen. She was moved to the medical ward a little while ago because there was damage to her liver from the meds. Right now she’s in the medical ward. She’ll be there for a few days I think. Then she’ll probably be transferred to the psych ward.
All I can think is what if I hadnt seen her text right away, sometimes I dont get messages right away if I am doing something or on the phone etc. It was genuinely a hard night for me, ringing the ambulance, talking with her over text, and just generally being there for her, but I am so glad she trusted me enough to confide in me as to what she’d done.

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Author: Carol anne

I am in my mid 40's. I'm blind and I have dissociative identity disorder, I also have complex PTSD. I blog about my life with these disorders. I live in Ireland.

28 thoughts on “Crisis with a friend”

  2. I’m glad you were theer for her. I had a similar situation happen many years ago before cell phones. My friend called me up to tell me goodbye and that she’d taken a bunch of pills. My reaction was far from sympathetic. I yelled at her and said how dare she do that to me. I then hung up and called her church and told a fridn of hers what had happened. they had to break down her door because by then she was unconscious. They took her to the hospital and pumped her stomach. We’re still friends to this day. She was rather impressed that I’d get so mad at her, that I cared that much. It was rather scary to say the least.

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  5. Oh my God this is so scary! I do hope your friend gets better now! She’s lucky they got her to the hospital when they did, they can usually save people but if left too long, it would have been too late. Oh wow! I really hope your friend fully recovers with time, it takes a fair while for the liver to heal from overdoses. She’s in the best place right now. Suicide means people are desperate to get out of a situation they can’t see any way out of while living. So hopefully the doctors/other professionals will help your friend through this rough patch and hopefully she may not feel the need to attempt suicide again. You’re a great friend to her!

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  7. Glad you’re ok, because what a traumatic moment and gosh the other questions when phoning the ambulance. That would have shocked me, although I understand it’s what they have to do. Just wouldn’t have expected it.
    It’s good that your friend reached out. I hope she will be ok and receive the right support. Xx

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