Lizze and I met with Dr.  Patti tonight and discussed Gavin.  We also did some research while we were there. 

Things may have taken a turn and become a bit scarier.  At this point,  I feel that we will once again have to put a hold on the mental health issues and return to the medical side.

I mentioned earlier that we stumbled onto a new piece to the puzzle this afternoon.  Gavin’s lithium level has hit dangerously high levels.  The very concerning part is that this has occurred even though Gavin’s dosage hasn’t changed in over a year. This is a very big problem,  that was almost missed.

Let me clarify, the cause was almost missed.

They had assumed, as anyone would, that his dosage was simply to high.  In reality, it appears that this is a metabolic problem that has him on the brink of toxicity. This is likely caused by the autonomic disorder and has been cooking for some time now.  When looking back on his blood work over the last 8 or 9 months the levels had become more unstable.

It wasn’t concerning at the time because we didn’t know what we know now.

My concern is that the signs and symptoms of both chronic and acute lithium toxicity is very and I repeat very, similar to that of Gavin’s autonomic crisis. We know that Gavin has the autonomic disorder,  that’s not up for debate. 

The problem is that we can’t tell the difference between the two at home.  If this is indeed the case,  how can we even begin to know how to handle this? Gavin is on hard core medications and we can’t afford to take any chances.

How can the psychiatric unit release him to come home? We are waiting for more lab results and to contact his doctors in the morning.

At this point in time,  we have no idea up from down…… We need to get oriented and figure out what the hell is going on.

**Thanks for reading**

       -Lost and Tired

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This was posted via WordPress for Android, courtesy of Samsung’s Galaxy S III. Please forgive any typos. I do know how to spell but auto-correct is working against me.