Overdose Scenario

From what I'm seeing online (and I'm not an expert, sorry) it definitely could happen, depending on what type of medications she takes. If she takes Beta blockers the symptoms could include:difficulty breathing, wheezing, blurred vision, irregular heartbeat, double vision, lightheadedness, shock, heart failure, slow or rapid heartbeat, confusion, coma, convulsions, excessive sweating, drowsiness, fever, weakness and nervousness. Severe overdose can also cause a victim to stop breathing.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/24634-blood-pressure-medications-overdose-symptoms/#ixzz2TxrGrUTY

My biggest concern would be if he would really have that many pills on hand, and taking 50 pills would take quite a while. But I would guess she could probably overdose on a smaller number of pills, and anytime the heart stops and deprives the brain of oxygen, brain damage is a possibility.

No problem. I hate pills, so the idea of taking fifty is really hard for me to swallow. My MC in my last novel does take twenty pills though.

Having some experience of finding people, or treating them after taking overdoses. The main thing I observed was the vomit response, which usually protected them from the fatal consequences of their actions.

Taking insulin on the other hand is a sure way to put yourself into a coma.

What prevents successful attempts of killing oneself are usually things like being found by family, or friends.

I know that with many pills, you can't just down a bunch and go to sleep. Something makes you hork a bunch back up, right? Some people might try to stagger it out to keep that from happening, but that would take the impulsiveness away to some extent. You start timing it to "space them out" and you might lose your nerve.