Someone I know, out of state, diagnosed with bipolar and on "lithium" and "paxil" for mood swings. Just after being diagnosed, she married maybe-trad guy who himself takes something called "suboxone" (secretive about it, but otherwise seemed fine), and the first year, things seem fairytale fine, and they devoted their time to visiting the sick and soup kitchens. Church loves them; they loved the Church. That was five years ago; after the first year or two, they became abusive to each other (as in violent: the police were involved) (often). They never divorced, but he moved out of the state for work, still pays the bills, etc. As odd as it seems, things seemed fine (if weird: they got together once a month, almost seemed to get along for a few days, then they separated swearing never to speak again ...for a week or so).
Last night, she calls and says she's taken a lot of pills, but that she "talked to the Holy Mother" and her time on earth is done. Uh, I put her on speakerphone, and my husband and I kept her talking as I looked up the police for their area (not an easy thing to do, esp if you don't know the county name). Finally got a dispatcher, rattled off the physical address (got questioned myself for calling from another state). But the dispatcher could hear my husband talking to the woman who has ODed down there. The woman kept repeating the Holy Mother told her to do it, but then she said she just missed her husband and he wouldn't answer the phone so she broke her (cell) phone and just started taking pills: 10 lithiums, some methadone, some klonipins, maybe something else. It made NO sense, what she was saying.
The EMTs got there within minutes, and she's in the hospital still today. I called her priest ASAP last night, and the priest said NOT to call the husband. (I didn't; the situation is too freaky for me, and I don't know their business.) Later, I find out the woman had called the husband after drinking charcoal (?) in the ER, AND she's not letting her priest in to see her. (Not sure, but I think she might have been faking something; she laughed maniacally that she would hit the nurse button when the priest approached; he was apparently there for several hours last night.) —Oh, then she got agitated and told me never to talk to her again.
Is that "bipolar", or depression, or just plan CRAZY? From what I've read, she (in her 30s) is going to have to do some dialysis and may have really messed herself up, just to talk to her husband (who their priest told me not to call).
(I'd say the state, but I don't want to give anything away about the priest that might hurt his reputation, though I think he's done an exemplary job and acts like he has everything under control.)
I rarely see her; she used to live in the same town, and we've kept in touch. But where she used to have many friends in her new city, now she has (apparently) nobody except her priest and a few people from her parish --who are scared of her. And tbh, I'm a little scared of her and the husband. They WERE a fun couple to hang around; but I barely know her anymore, and I know NOTHING of "bipolar".
I don't know what to do with this; what my responsibilities are; if I did the right thing (I don't know if 10 lithiums is an OD, or if she wanted attention.)
OH! One last thing: last year, her psychiatrist (court-ordered) said she wasn't "bipolar", but "borderline-" something. She and her husband laughed it off; and she doesn't see the talking kind of shrink, just the prescribing kind. But she had SEEMED FINE for months until last night. A Catholic, trying to commit ѕυιcιdє? (Or trying to get attention?) What do you do with that? I feel weird sending flowers or a card. ???
And I don't know how to pray for her. I tried, but I don't know what to ask except that she "come to her senses". What do you do with ..."suicidal Catholics"? How do you pray for them? Is there a "group" I could try to get her involved in when she's out of the hospital? :scared2: