Alcohol Related Psychosis

Question: Alcohol related psychosis/blackout? OK the other night something weird happened to me thats never happened before Im down seeing my mate in Bath (England) and I was flying out early on saturday morning, so didnt sleep Friday night, but did have quite a few drinks and a few pro plus. On Saturday afternoon in Bath, I was sitting in my mates car having a few beers and waiting for him to come out of work, and the last thing I remember is feeling really paranoid because somebody (I thought) had stolen all my stuff, and frantically searching around his car finding my stuff, and lining them up on the dashboard, then I blacked out and apparently I did loads of **** that I just dont remember. Next thing I do remember is lieing in the back seat of his car and waking up when a policeman knocked on the window to see if I was OK. It was seriously messed up and I was wondering if anyone has any more info on this Cheers

Answer: It's alcohol poisoning. You drank way too much.

Question: BPD w/ more psychosis symptoms? I posted this in mental health, but this section seems more appropriate. I for the most part want to know what this could be, or simply my psychosis that accompanies BPD. Also some advice on maybe a next step would be appreciated. Background: Diagnosed with BPD and some other common problems that might come with (anxiety,etc). I refuse to go back on anti-psychotic/"anti-manic"s, but I have been having what I think are psychotic symptoms lately. When I first got placed in a psych hospital I was put on Anti-psychotics for hallucinations, but they subsided afterward and then after a few years i stopped taking them as they returned anyway. : I have been having hallucinations again, similar to the old ones. Relating to ghosts, demons, and Satan. I have also been having panic attacks where the physical symptoms are strong and are very much tied to the hallucinations. Paranoia has always been there but lately it has become stronger than usual (paranoia prevents me from explaining further). I will add that the paranoia has somewhat disrupted my sleep as I have to sleep in different rooms of the house every night and it has brought back my insomnia(chronic) to an extent. Another problem is that I feel completely detached from my emotions. I know what emotions i should be feeling and in a sense i do. It is hard to explain, but it's as though there are two people inside me, one feels the emotions and the other does not feel anything, completely logical. They SHOULD be connected but they are not, and I am not sure if this is because of my mood stabilizer or something else. And no I do not believe it to be another person, it is all me. My emotions and feelings are unable to be...felt. Lastly I can feel emotions on substances such as alcohol, but I am a sober addict and do not want to head down a path like that again. If you read all that please tell me if my diagnosis could be wrong, as that would help persuade me to tell my psychiatrist. Or if you have taken mood stabilizers with a similar side-effect. Real last note, I use medical terms when regarding my "issues" but in my mind I do not seem them as that, it is to make this as understandable as possible, thank you.

Answer: I suggest that you need to accept the notion that the only way that you can find some level of equilibrium in your life is to take the medications that your therapist recommends. And, instead of going off of your meds because they are not completely effective, increase the dosage or try other meds. It sounds as if you may need to accept a drug regimen as the only way to achieve mental stability.

Question: I'm scared to death - I might have schizophrenia..? For a while now, I've been researching on what's wrong with me. It all started like this.. One night, I went to my friends house. We made the decision to smoke pot that night. Keep in mind this wasn't my first time smoking. Anyways, I began to form extremely unreasonable thoughts (which are described as delusions) in my head that literally have stuck with me until today. The thoughts have only increased since that night. Thoughts like "the color red and anything asscociated with it represent evil" or.. "the number three represents indifference and is directly related with the color green" and much more bizzare thoughts as such. These thoughts, since that night have began to interfere with my social life... not too much but slightly. These thoughts have literally popped up in my head everysingle day since that night (August '08) up until today (February '09). Today, I found out exactly what my bizzare thoughts are labelled or diagnosed as. They're called "primary delusions" and "secondary delusions". Primary delusions (which I seem to fall under more so than secondary delusions) are when delusions pop into your head out of the blue.. which is exactly what happened that night. I did more research on primary delusions and this is what scared me.. It said that primary delusions are a part of "first rank symptoms" leading to schizophrenia" along with other things I do as a result of my what I now know to be bizzare delusions. Things such as: "voices heard arguing" - for this I don't hear voices.. but rather I talk out loud trying to convince myself that the thoughts are stupid and irrelevant and completely false. also.. "hearing voices commenting on one's actions" - once again, I don't actually hear these voices but I do, at times, comment outloud on something I do or don't do.. After reading all this you may be wondering to yourself "So why do I think I have, or at least am forming, schizophrenia?" Well, I looked up on wikipedia some of the causes of schizophrenia and one of the causes was cannabis use... below is a direct quote "Although about half of all patients with schizophrenia abuse drugs or alcohol, a clear causal connection between drug use and schizophrenia has been difficult to prove. The two most often used explanations for this are "substance use causes schizophrenia" and "substance use is a consequence of schizophrenia", and they both may be correct.[68] A 2007 meta-analysis estimated that cannabis use is statistically associated with a dose-dependent increase in risk of development of psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia.[69] There is little evidence to suggest that other drugs such as alcohol cause psychosis, or that psychotic individuals choose specific drugs to self-medicate; there is some support for the theory that they use drugs to cope with unpleasant states such as depression, anxiety, boredom and loneliness" I really don't know what to do because wikipedia also claims that signs of schizophrenia occurs during early adulthood... I'm eighteen years old right now. What should I do? Does anyone have or know anyone with schizophrenia? Am I overreacting or do I have reason to be as concerned as I am right now? All answers are appreciated significantly

Answer: I am a schizophrenic paranoid. I'e never used street drugs. It's not so bad really; I have been able to live a fairly normal life. What should I do?, you ask. Well the first thing is stop using drugs since you are worried about their effect on you. Second, hang on to the statement from wikipedia, "...a clear causal connection between drug use and schizophrenia has been difficult to prove." And stop researching what is wrong with you mentally. Most med students find when they study diseases that they begin to see symptoms of all the diseases in themselves. That is what is happening to you. Your description of your "delusions' does not sound like schizophrenic delusions. I think they are just a persistent thought stuck in your head because you are worried about them. Since you do not hear voices, unmistakeably wholly other voices, with your ears or in your mind I think you have little to worry about. Delusions are very common (Richard Dawkins claims everyone who believes in God suffers from a delusion) and so are hallucinations. Some 40% of the human population report having had an hallucination at some time in their life but only ablut 2-3% are diagnosed as psychotic (wikipedia). I hope this helps take your mind off your mind.

Question: Long but PLEASE answer...illegal drug/substance confusion? ? Ok, first of all please don't tell me how stupid i am for doing/considering/taking about this... I used to have the view of drugs that they were 'bad' and to just stay clear... Lately all that's been changing. The main substances/drugs i'm thinking about are marijuana, tobacco, alcohol, MDMA(ecstasy) and cocaine. From most to least dangerous i would put: 1) Cocaine 2) MDMA 3) Marijuana 4) Tobacco 5) Alcohol Now after talking to MANY different people about this it seems to go something like this: 1) Alcohol 2) Tobacco 3) Cocaine 4) Marijuana 5) MDMA Reasons for this include the HUGE death rate of both alcohol and tobacco. This is a quote from an article i read: ''It is estimated that tobacco causes 40 percent of all hospital illnesses, while alcohol is involved in more than 50 percent of all visits to hospital emergency rooms'' I bet the other drugs are only about 1-2% at most. The death rate due to these substances is also higher. MDMA itself doesn't cause death. It's usually caused by dehydration or drinking too much water...both of these can be (and are by people i know) monitored whilst on the drug and nothings happened. I also have friends who have taken cocaine and each person has a different view of how it went...some LOVE it and feel in control of how much they are taking where as others feel it's too short of a high and would cost too much to keep doing. I know marijuana has risks of mental health problems...but so does alcohol. Alcohol can cause psychosis. As far as i know the risk of this happening with this drug is relatively low. I've recently found out just how dangerous tobacco actually is. Today i was told one in two smokers die of a related illness. So basically flip a coin and see what happens... This isn't the case with the others.. What people have told me is that the reason weed was made illegal was because of Mexicans immigrating to America YEARS ago. Apparently they were much harder workers and taking loads of jobs etc. They also smoked weed a lot...so whenever a crime was committed it was blamed on the Mexicans as it was said that they were high of their face on weed...therefor leading onto banning it. I have NO idea how true that is but it's what i was told. I'm just confused..i feel like i'm hearing SO many different things and don't know who/what to believe. I know many people who have taken illegal drugs and it hasn't affected them in a bad way atall... So yeah....please help straighten this out in my mind.. Thanks for reading and any(within reason) input appretiated..

Answer: The list should look more like this: 1) Cocaine 2) Alcohol 3) Tobacco 4) MDMA 5) Marijuana Although Cocaine doesn't cause as many deaths as alcohol, it's still more risky and dangerous. The reason that there aren't as many deaths are because less people do it. It can cause stroke, cardiac arrest, and tachyardia (high blood pressure) which may prove fatal. Alcohol causes many deaths per year, usually due to drunk driving and system depression to an extreme (heart comes close to stopping) You are correct about Tobacco, about 1 or 2 smokers die from long term effects. MDMA can cause death, but it's extremely rare (2 per 100,000 users die, as opposed to alcohol, 1 per 10,000 dies) There has never been a death case from the direct or long term effects of smoking marijuana. Marijuana may cause depression and a few mental issues, but it's extremely unlikely you'll encounter these unless you become a chronic smoker.

Question: Alcohol related psychosis/blackout? OK the other night something weird happened to me thats never happened before Im down seeing my mate in Bath (England) and I was flying out early on saturday morning, so didnt sleep Friday night, but did have quite a few drinks and a few pro plus. On Saturday afternoon in Bath, I was sitting in my mates car having a few beers and waiting for him to come out of work, and the last thing I remember is feeling really paranoid because somebody (I thought) had stolen all my stuff, and frantically searching around his car finding my stuff, and lining them up on the dashboard, then I blacked out and apparently I did loads of **** that I just dont remember. Next thing I do remember is lieing in the back seat of his car and waking up when a policeman knocked on the window to see if I was OK. It was seriously messed up and I was wondering if anyone has any more info on this Cheers

Answer: http://www.duke.edu/~amwhite/Blackouts/ lots of links on the left. Alcohol will exacerbate the effects of any drug, and I don't mean to scare you but one of my friends who was a chronic alcoholic actually died - just after he started having blackouts. Now that doesn't mean you're going to die!!! He was a pretty bad drinker and he may have had an accident 'on the way home' that contributed, no-one is sure. But. Take this as a lesson that your body WILL tell you when you are taking things to extremes : ignore this at your peril.

Question: Long but PLEASE answer...illegal drug/substance confusion? ? Ok, first of all please don't tell me how stupid i am for doing/considering/taking about this... I used to have the view of drugs that they were 'bad' and to just stay clear... Lately all that's been changing. The main substances/drugs i'm thinking about are marijuana, tobacco, alcohol, MDMA(ecstasy) and cocaine. From most to least dangerous i would put: 1) Cocaine 2) MDMA 3) Marijuana 4) Tobacco 5) Alcohol Now after talking to MANY different people about this it seems to go something like this: 1) Alcohol 2) Tobacco 3) Cocaine 4) Marijuana 5) MDMA Reasons for this include the HUGE death rate of both alcohol and tobacco. This is a quote from an article i read: ''It is estimated that tobacco causes 40 percent of all hospital illnesses, while alcohol is involved in more than 50 percent of all visits to hospital emergency rooms'' I bet the other drugs are only about 1-2% at most. The death rate due to these substances is also higher. MDMA itself doesn't cause death. It's usually caused by dehydration or drinking too much water...both of these can be (and are by people i know) monitored whilst on the drug and nothings happened. I also have friends who have taken cocaine and each person has a different view of how it went...some LOVE it and feel in control of how much they are taking where as others feel it's too short of a high and would cost too much to keep doing. I know marijuana has risks of mental health problems...but so does alcohol. Alcohol can cause psychosis. As far as i know the risk of this happening with this drug is relatively low. I've recently found out just how dangerous tobacco actually is. Today i was told one in two smokers die of a related illness. So basically flip a coin and see what happens... This isn't the case with the others.. What people have told me is that the reason weed was made illegal was because of Mexicans immigrating to America YEARS ago. Apparently they were much harder workers and taking loads of jobs etc. They also smoked weed a lot...so whenever a crime was committed it was blamed on the Mexicans as it was said that they were high of their face on weed...therefor leading onto banning it. I have NO idea how true that is but it's what i was told. I'm just confused..i feel like i'm hearing SO many different things and don't know who/what to believe. I know many people who have taken illegal drugs and it hasn't affected them in a bad way atall... So yeah....please help straighten this out in my mind.. Thanks for reading and any(within reason) input appretiated.. i don't know...yahoo suggested here and where else would it go :S

Answer: Wrong section kid.