So I did survive, just.
Someone one on here began messaging me after I had taken it. Saying they had tried and it hadnt worked. It ended up for some reason panicking me and I dialed 999 and went from there
Given how much I took I belive it would have worked and the medical staff were impressed I pulled through. The first 24hrs they really were not sure if I was likely going to make it
So essentially it would have worked. I think around the time I stopped messaging and called 999 I could feel my heart racing slightly. Not excessive but enough to notice.
Upon the ambulance crew arriving they hooked me up to a monitor etc and asked what I'd taken. It confused the hell out of them what it was or would do.
I was tachycardic and I belive my heart was also missing beats every now and then. They thought about having me consume an activated charcoal drink but with the time frames they decided against and also they weren't sure on interactions or effectiveness.
Arriving at hospital I was taken into the resus room immediately. Connected to their monitors while the handover went through. They team in resus didn't know anything either about the stuff so I belive someone went off to call poison control. Someone else gave me the charcoal to drink which was really rancid.
I did eventually vomit from this stuff, I remember loosing sensation in my feet and lower legs. It became harder to move until I couldn't move them nearly at all. My arms started doing similar. And it slowly became harder to breathe. Not in a worrying way I just felt as if I was working harder to take a breath.
After this I'm going off records or what family informed me of, I belive around the time I began with breathing issues I was intubated and ventilated. Placed into a medical coma for treatment as I was unable to breath for myself.
Poison control informed the hospital to infuse potassium as that is what the barium is fucking with etc which I already knew from my research
A central IV line was placed into my neck on my left side to facilitate giving me meds faster and more directly as well as hooking me up to a dialysis machine to try and remove the barium from my system. I remained on this for 5 days.
My potassium levels initially were rock bottom and stayed like this for the first 24hrs at least. Eventually they spiked to being extremely high. They continued to swing up and down as they continued to manage my levels over the period I was asleep
There was mention of a feeding tube being inserted within the notes fairly early on however while it may have been inserted fairly soon I don't think they used it until I was nearly awake or already awake. Simply as they were using insulin to help control my potassium levels and it would have interfered somewhat.
I had some difficulty breathing even on the ventilator as I belive I may have aspirated at somepoint causing fluid on the lungs which developed into some kind of pneumonia causing me to be placed on a course of iv antibiotics.
My understanding is they attempted to bring me back awake after the 24hr period but with the pneumonia and other issues my lungs collapsed on attempting this and they quickly restarted the ventilation and rsi drugs.
Midday I think they woke me up. So even though I was awake now I'm still not sure what is truth fully, I was so out of it from drugs and potentially after effects I'm not sure on most things.
After waking up I was weak, very very weak. I could hardly move. All my muscle mass had diminished while I was out cold. I couldn't move much in the bed and the paralytics they had given me might also have been limiting me. It also meant shitting myself several times which is not nice experience to be rolled over and cleaned up 0/10 don't reccomend this part
I also that entire evening hallucinated like their was no tomorrow. This is the part I still am not sure what was fully true and what wasn't. Somethings I clearly know cannot have been real like aliens or flying ICU beds that circled the hospital grounds... yea I was whacked. But other stuff such as things said or nurses doing meds or checks I've no idea if it happened or not
It took 2 days for me to get enough strength to be able to get out of the bed and onto my feet. Eventually 5 days after waking up I was discharged. I was struggling to lift a kettle and walking was a slow process and exhausting compared to how I was when I went in.
I didn't feel any pain after taking the barium, nausea was there but I didn't vomit until in the hospital. I wouldn't say it was a quick process for it taking effect.
I don't know if being put to sleep in the hospital has blanked my mind of anything that I have forgot or if I likely passed out. I can't find detailed notes from the resus department.
While in the hospital the mental health teams did make contact and spoke to me on length. Not being sectioned was nothing short of a miracle if I'm being honest. And I've spent far to long regretting calling 999.
My local mental health teams were sorta useless, I had 3 days of them coming round to check on me. Maybe 20 mins at most each time and they couldn't really offer much help or advice for me. Directed me to a local charity but given my work I don't have any time during the week to engage. My doctors were hopeless. I tried to seek medications and such to try help but was pretty much just messed about when I asked and they wanted more blood tests months away which was a waste of time waiting for.
As far as after effects, immediately ofc the weakness but this was from the coma more than the barium, I had slightly elevated which blood counts on test but that was put down to the infection I developed rather than a side effect. But otherwise I'm fine no lasting damage as far as I can tell. No issues in day to day life since.
I do suspect I will go through with it again sometime soon though but for good.
