Posted by brianc73 on July 19, 2006, at 5:38:12
About 9 years ago I was at a bar with coworkers and had a bottle and a half of beer. In the 2nd bottle someone who either brought me the beer or the bartender spiked the beer with something. I didn't know it was spiked. Half way thru drinking that 2nd bottle, I started feeling strange and stopped drinking altogether. I felt bizzarre for an hour, blacked out for the hour after that, felt like I was dead for 3 straight hours when I came to, and then went home. I felt normal for about 24 hours, and then felt like I was dead (with the symptoms bulleted below) for 6 straight days after that.
I've had 5 separate week-long "flashback" episodes that matched how I felt during that 6 day period spread over the last 8 years triggerred by drinking or eating anything that has alcohol in it.
The last flashback I had was this past March (I had a piece of candy in Europe that had menthol in it & didn't know it until after I ate it). After I recovered from this last episode, I got online and researched the heck out of drugs commonly mixed with alcohol and was stunned to find PCP side-affects sounded like what I experienced 9 years ago and with every flashback. So back 9 years ago at that bar, someone dumped PCP into my beer (too bad I don't know who!!).
I have intentionally not drank alcohol for the last 6 years because of the flashbacks and do everything I can to not eat food containing alcohol.
The flashbacks starts within 12-24 hours of ingesting the alcohol. Initially a detached feeling starts (I have complete control over my body and can still think but I feel like I'm witnessing everything from about 6 feet behind my eyes, like watching a movie, and my sense of feeling/touch seems to be dulled almost completely). This devolves over about 10 hours into a state of anxiety where I almost feel as though I'm not completely alive:
-I can't concentrate.
-I can't watch TV, it doesn't feel real and I don't completely trust what I hear.
-I can't drive because I don't trust what I see (paranoia, extreme enough not to want to drive).
-There are no visual hallucinations or auditory ones (although my hearing seems to be garbled throughout the week).
-I can feel things with my hands, but most of the rest of my body's skin feels numb (if I scratch my forehead with my finger, I can't feel it from the skin on my forehead, and hardly thru the skin on my finger).
-I get severe headaches.
-I get extremely sensitive to daylight.
-I feel physically and mentally exhausted but can sleep no more than 2 to 3 hours at a time.
-During this week, the only place that I feel really safe at all is in my bed.Once the week-long flashback passes, I feel mentally back to normal but need a few days to rest to regain my strength physically... I feel completely exhausted after going thru this each time.
After batteries of tests all showing I'm "normal" - MRIs, etc. - and visits to dozens of specialists, I'm working with a psychiatrist [wants to throw medicines at me while I'm feeling NORMAL, not just the week where I'm having the flashback] and psychologist [she's got great ideas and behavioral/visualization techniques she wants me to try]... They don't sound like they've ever seen a case like mine.
MY QUESTIONS ARE:-Has anyone ever heard of this happenning to anyone else?
-Is there a treatment that will work to treat and STOP these flashbacks?
Any feedback or recommendations you have would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long-winded post.
Thank you,
Brian
poster:brianc73
thread:668203
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060717/msgs/668203.html