Shown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
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
Posted by Phillipa on July 19, 2006, at 13:32:40
In reply to Flashback Prevention Meds?, posted by brianc73 on July 19, 2006, at 5:38:12
I've never in my life heard of anything like this. It must be horrible. Is the doc thinking of treating it like PTSD? Same meds? Love Phillipa
Posted by brianc73 on July 19, 2006, at 17:49:50
In reply to Re: Flashback Prevention Meds? » brianc73, posted by Phillipa on July 19, 2006, at 13:32:40
> I've never in my life heard of anything like this. It must be horrible. Is the doc thinking of treating it like PTSD? Same meds? Love Phillipa
It seems like the psychologist wants to go that route. The psychiatrist is throwing the newer drugs (Abilify, Geodon, etc.) at it like it's schizophrenia and wants me on them all the time even though I don't feel sick after that week. Makes no sense as those meds make me feel like a zombie after the flashback week is up (Abilify together with Zanax seems to help dull the week down and bring me half-way back to normal, which is good). I stop the meds once I feel back to normal at the end of the week with no ill affects. It seems like these medicines only treat the sick feeling during that week that I described in the original post (the "flashback"), but aren't doing anything to prevent a relapse again in the future (or "fix" whatever PCP did to my brain).
I have more faith in the psychologist (wanting to use desensitization now and the meds only if I feel I'm relapsing back into a flashback) vs. the psychiatrist (who doesn't seem to understand I don't want to feel like a zombie medicated up for the rest of my life just to avoid having a flashback week once every 2-3 years depending on when I next accidently end up ingesting something with alcohol in...hopefully never again).
I'm really hoping there's someone out there who's heard of something like this or knows a medical professional who's treated someone who had PCP flashbacks with success.
Thanks,
Brian
This is the end of the thread.
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