Health - belladonna recovery

[monkeyladycr]

Greetings.

I have a friend that has taken belladonna and has gone mad. Combined with his abusive childhood, alcohol abuse and belladonna use, we are trying to look for help for him. I would greatly appreciate any testimonies regarding negative effects of recreational belladonna use and tips for recovery. Please help us with our friend that we all love very much.

Monkey

[Alfa]

Please describe the effects that your friend is suffering from.

[monkeyladycr]

- Throwing himself into walls
- Self mutilation
- puncturing himself with fish vertebrae in the face, chest, and arms and walking around in public
- aggressive outbursts
- breaking of electronic equipment in public
- he seems to be constantly traveling to another world
- riding his motorcylce very restlessly
- antagonizing aggressive dogs- was bitten in the leg by one
- threatening to kill himself and others

Granted this friend is eccentric to begin with, he has been off the wall for a couple of months. We believe that he is continually taking mushrooms and belladonna in addition to heavy drinking. I know that it is hard to isolate the effects when there is a combination. We are in a small costa rican beach town and everyone has had enough of his behavior, but everyone is also really worried about him. I believe that part of the behavior is also a cry for help and attention, but I just hope he doesn't seriously hurt himself or others in the process.
-
-

[Alfa]

Originally Posted by monkeyladycr

We believe that he is continually taking mushrooms and belladonna in addition to heavy drinking.

Well basically there is not much to counter this, except trying to get him to stop taking these. If they are psilocybe mushrooms then they will not have much effects when taken frequently. But belladonna and alcohol is a heavy mix. Belladonna alone can cause psychotic behaviour and experiences.

Once your friend has stopped taking these, then you can evaluate what his behaviour without drugs is. If there are any after effects from his drug use, then it is worthwhile discussing it.

I would like to get some views from members. How would you handle a situation where a friend is so far out of it, like described above?

[fnord]

Im not sure what it it like in costa rica but in the USA if someone is suffering from these symptoms they would be a candidate for involentary admission (blue papering) to a psychiatric hospital. If you are truely concerned about your friend and this is a viable option, then this is what i would suggest doing before he really does hurt himself or even worse someone else.

Does he enjoy the belladona trip? or does he use it because ther are no other drugs around? Im not saying the drugs arnt making your friends problems worse(im sure they are) but many of these symptoms make me belive your friend has much deeper issues then just his drug use.

[Panthers007]

Can you get a positive identification of the plant he's been using? Belladonna (Atropa Belladonna) is often a misnomer for any plant in the Solanacae family - such as Datura Inoxia, which is more common in your part of the globe. Having a chemical identification of what he's taking would be helpful.

Other than this, your best option, aside from involuntary hospitalization, would be to perform what is called an "Intervention." Have all his family and friends sit down and tell him how much his behavior is hurting and frightening all of you. That you love him and want very much for him to stop and seek help. If he doesn't agree to this, then you should all enter into councilling for your own sakes. You need a sounding-board to turn to. And, as he is self-harming and threatening, don't discount the possibility of having him placed, by court order, in a hospital.

If he does agree to stop and get help, then you need to make a doctor aware of the material (Belladonna) that he has been taking. While there is no antidote, realizing he's been abusing anticholinergic alkaloids will tell the doctor what to expect. From there the treatment is a combination of symptomatic and supportive therapy to get him back on the proverbial rails. I won't try to kid you - this is something that will take a lot of time.

Please let us know how things are going.