Attention Chris, and anyone else who cares:

[Besyanteo]

I am not going to be avaliable today. I was woken up abruptly at anout 8:30 this morning, my sister knocking on my door to tell me that I needed to help dad; It was an emergency. I figured he might have fallen or something. Not the case.

My Dad's body isn't flushing his medication like it's supposed to. He stopped breathing during the night aparently. Mom managed to get him up and breathing again, thank God. We've spent the morning keeping him awake and getting clear liquids into him to help him clean up his blood.

I'm not going to be online today. I won't be avaliable for RP, or anything else. Sorry Chris, but I feel confident that you'll understand like you always do. Maybe we can do a make up thing with Pete and Gentz tomorrow.

Gotta go now. Still helping to make sure Dad doesn't fall asleep while his eyes are still not normal (will not dialate in low light). I'd love to hear from Brian or someone who has had similar experiences to what's going on, to hear if we're doing everything right to deal with this.

[Archmage]

I'm not actually entirely clear on what's going on here, if you're asking me for my opinion; from what you're describing I'm under the impression that he's suffering from either kidney or liver problems. Not having much information beyond that initial assumption, I don't really know what to say about the situation. Did you call his MD or take him to the ER?

[Besyanteo]

No; We know this is related to his medication. The way things are here, if we take him to the ER they'll assume he's abusing his medication and take it away from him. After that... to be frank, if drugs this strong still don't kill all of the pain, and it's too dangerous to give him more... :(

He seems to be much improved now, if not at 100%. I've learned this happened before and I just wasn't told about it. I still don't like it. We still can't let him sleep unmonitored, mom says.

I really wish I knew more right now.

[Besyanteo]

So, Dad's still alive, and able to breathe normally again. With any luck, this won't happen again. This being the third time tells me that it probably can and will. Uhg.

[Archmage]

I'm not actually sure I understand what's going on here.

I realize that this is a personal matter and probably one best not discussed on a public forum; it just doesn't seem to me like the kind of thing to air this way, so to speak. I'm not sure what you do or don't know at this point and if you're being vague because you don't know what's going on or if you're being vague because you're trying to protect his privacy. The only reason I am asking more probing questions or even responding to the thread aside from "hope he's okay and gets better" is because I was specifically asked if I knew anything.

I a) don't know what he's on or has been on, drug-wise, and b) don't know anything about his existing health status, nor would I ask/want you to post that kind of information on a publicly viewable internet forum. I am also not a medical doctor, just a student of pharmacy. I know somewhat more about drug therapy and disease states than Joe Average, but I don't know anywhere near as much as a professional who's been in practice for some time, or even a recently-graduated medical student. Additionally, it is incredibly difficult to diagnose illness or comment on potential therapeutic options remotely.

You said his system wasn't "flushing" the medication. If this is an accurate description of what's going on, then my understanding of the situation is that medication X (and possibly others, since I don't know what he's on) is not being excreted from his body and is therefore building up to toxic levels; this is possible when:

1. Drug excretory or metabolic functions (liver and kidneys, namely) are not working properly because they have failed, or
2. One drug is interacting with another drug or food, preventing appropriate metabolism (such as certain cholesterol drugs and grapefruit juice).

So I'll step back a second, because I don't need to post a huge tirade on this forum about this, because I don't want it to sound like I'm angry at you, I'm just trying to explain where I'm at. I do know that if he has a metabolic issue that drinking a lot of water is not going to do him a damn bit of good; liver no workie is not going to be solved by fluid intake, and you cannot dilute your blood enough to reduce drug action by consuming a lot of water, nor would you want to. You would kill yourself in the process via water intoxication.

If you want to talk about this further, mostly because of privacy concerns, I would prefer to do it on AIM.