IANAD, but here’s a thought. It sounds to me like he is suffering from a combination of depression and actual physical illness. You state that some sort of self-harm is certain, but I am not so sure. Yes, the antifreeze is a pretty likely culprit. But the symptoms seem to point toward something affecting his electrolyte balance, or possibly extreme fluctuations in blood sugar. Do you know if he’s had a blood sugar challenge test?
My first guess would be: Addison's disease - Wikipedia
Is it possible that he admitted to a counselor at the MH clinic that he HAD been ingesting the antifreeze? Maybe he told them, but they’re not allowed to repeat that to you? Has he signed disclosure agreements or powers of attorney that allow them to be completely candid with you?
Yes, he has signed a ROI with all of his agencies, that was how I was able to hear the exchange between his educational team and his treating hospital I mentioned above.
But that does not mean they would be forthcoming about it. They tend to interpret and phrase things in the most damaging light. He costs them a lot of resources and is annoying as hell on top of that. On the other hand, his educational team, his court appointed attorney, and myself all accept his limitations and try to help him move forward with the best life he can accomplish.
The clinic would love to see him in jail where he cannot cause as much paperwork and trouble. Or run up hospital bills on the back of the state. The rest of us would love to see him accomplish the things he easily could (like graduate from high school, maybe get a job- pay taxes, etc.) Nobody wants him in hospitals, but how we solve that is always a bone of contention.
Well I don’t think it is the antifreeze, my whole point here was to find information that would indicate it had to be something else. I remain open to the possibility, but think he would have killed himself by now if it was antifreeze, and he would certainly have some organ damage.
Remember he has had forty hospitalizations within three months. He definitely feels a need to be in a hospital and sets out to make it happen (has been discharged from an ER without being admitted and four hours later he is in a different hospital twenty miles away being admitted-- all without being within ten miles of home and the antifreeze).
I will speak with his medical providers and see if Addison’s is a possibility. His primary care place set up a standing appointment with him every two weeks for a two month period to keep him out of ER’s and hospitals. He never made a single appointment because he was in a hospital for every one of them.
Also-- if you are correct, it would not be the first time the whole world found him guilty of something and it was later found that he was innocent and right all along. It just seems if there really is a medical cause SOMEBODY would have found it by now, they certainly have had enough swings at that pitch!
Not over the Internet, they can’t. Call Poison Control.
Not over the Internet, they can’t. Call Poison Control.