I self surrendered to this facility on May 29 with three months of my prescriptions in hand. I was on sertraline (Zoloft) and bupropion (Wellbutron) and had been on these two medications for over 12 years. On June 10, I was called out to medical and the doctor told me that I would have to change one of my medications. I told her I did not want to mess with my meds as they were working for me and had been working for me for over 12 years. She told me that I did not have the option of staying on the Bupropion. She then switched me from bupropion (which is a non-serotonin drug) to duloxetine (Cymbalta). Because both Sertraline and the Cymbalta contain serotonin I overdosed, a condition called serotonin syndrome.
After about two weeks, I told medical I was experiencing shaking hands, dizziness and fogginess. I was turning into a zombie! They told me my body was adjusting and to give it time. On July 3, I sent a copout to medical saying that the side effects had gotten worse and the new medication was not working for me. I got a response that I needed to go to sick call. On July 11, I had my first seizure. I have never had a seizure before in my life. I was taken to medical and they checked my blood pressure and pulse. The “watched me” for and hour or so. I had the prescription information sheet in my hand that showed all the side effects of serotonin syndrome and tried to get the nurse to read it but she said that the medicine didn’t do that to people and she didn’t need to read the sheet. But they cut the dose of Cymbalta in half.
On the morning of the 12th of July, I had another seizure and was taken again to medical where the same nurse took my blood pressure and my pulse. This time she called the doctor and she also googled serotonin syndrome. I was told to quit taking the Cymbalta and they would double my sertraline. I said absolutely not; I wasn’t going to double my dose of sertraline. I was sent back to my unit and told to come back at 4 p.m. so she could check my vitals again. Keep in mind, by this time I was having body tremors from my feet to my head. I had been having them for about a week. At 4, two of my roommates loaded me in a wheelchair to take me back to medical, since walking with the body tremors and dizziness was very difficult. On the way to medical, I had a third seizure in the main hallway. I fell out of the wheelchair and onto the floor. It was at this point that an ambulance was called and I was taken to the hospital.
I do not remember much after arriving in the ER and when I woke up I was in poison control unit. I had been there for three days. I spent four days in the PCU and eight days total in the hospital. It was there that I was told that the overdose of serotonin had poisoned me. When I asked how long the side effects, mostly the tremors, would last I was told it may be a permanent condition. I have been out of the hospital since the 20th of July and I am still having the tremors from head to toe.
After I got back to the facility, I had two more seizures. I was taken again both times to medical where they took my blood pressure and my pulse. After the first one I was slapped in the forehead by one of the nurses in medical and told to answer their questions. I was then placed in the hallway in the medical unit and left sitting in the wheelchair with full body tremors, crying, for two to three hours. After the second seizure, I was taken again back to the hospital but was just treated and released after the seizure stopped. When I returned from the hospital I was treated so badly by staff that I cried for hours.
The female who drove me back to the prison gave me my dirty clothes, which I had worn three to five days ago before going to the hospital, and told me to get dressed. I asked if I could at least have clean underwear. She told me no. Then I was sent to medical, by myself, barely walking on my own, to have my vitals checked. When the PA took my vitals he looked at me and told me that my tremors weren’t medical, that they were psychotic and I was crazy. I looked at him and said that’s funny that’s not what the neurologist said in the hospital. I have had nothing but insults and problems from medical staff since I returned from the hospital.
I now have full body tremors 24/7. I shake all the time from head to toe. I don’t have the fine motor skills to do anything normal like write, type, eat or walk. My speech seems to be slightly affected as well. People who didn’t know me before might not notice but I know my speech is slow. My mom has found a doctor that thinks he can help me but he says the longer I go without proper care they less likely they can reverse the nerve damage. I have asked to be put in for 180 days of home confinement instead of 90 days, but they are refusing to make the request. I am also in the process of asking for a compassionate release. I am a minimum security, first-time offender who was supposed to be placed in a camp from day one but was sent to Waseca instead for “head count.” My violence scores and chance of repeating scores are a -9 and -4. I should not even be in this facility.
I was sentenced to 18 months in the system but I feel like I have been handed a life sentence. I am not the same person who walked into this prison two to three months ago. Not even close.