What Are The Early Warning Signs Of Delirium Tremens?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- Here, I talk a little about my experience of delirium tremens, and offer some advice on things I think are warning signs that your alcohol withdrawal might take a dangerous turn. When should you go to hospital? What does delirium tremens feel like? All these questions and more.
I'd like to thank a friend behind the scenes for suggesting this one. You know who you are.
And as always, good luck out there.
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I’m here because my ex died a few weeks ago at the age of 58 due to alcohol. I’m trying to make sense of it all. RIP Simon I hope you’ve now got the peace you were looking for.
I'm so sorry to hear that. How are you doing today?
I am sorry as well.
@@_BatCountry I’m ok it’s a confusing time. We finished at Christmas. I tried everything I think but I’m also confusing myself looking for things I could have done but didn’t. 🤷🏻♀️ Thank you for asking
@@ShadesOClarity thank you
@@Hello-mh4pj don't blame yourself. No matter what you did or didn't do it might have ended up the same or worse. You did all you could. Take care of yourself.
See a grief counsellor if you can.
Bat Country does it again! I’m an addictions RN and this is spot-fucking-on. This is an enormous act of service and a rad PSA and WAY more knowledge than the average ED (A&E?) clinician has! Nicely done my friend…listen to this man.
Thanks so much! I truly hope it's off use to someone somewhere. (And yeah, it's A&E over here, but we all remember George Clooney in ER, so we say that too sometimes.)
Very nicely stated and duly noted.
Your introductory jokes always give me a silly chuckle when I need it most. I also pre emptively thumbed up your video because i know it's going to be awesome.
Glad you like my dumb jokes, I amuse myself :D
Hope the video earned the thumbs up by the end.
There are no words to describe DT.
If I wasn't in the hospital, there may have been no returning.
Me too mate. The care that I got was terrible, but it still saved my life for SURE.
The withdrawal anxiety is not to be underestimated. I found myself trembling at the cash register trying to keep it together, buying a high ABV tallboy just to try and ease it. Meanwhile, in my head I thought it was my last moment.
Yeah man, absolutely right there with you. I'm so happy those moments aren't part of my life any more.
Yup. And hoping the cashier doesn't see how difficult it is for you to put your card into the slot. Or screaming inside your head at the people in front of you in line because every second seems like an hour until you can have those first few sips.
I had hard-core alcoholic hallucinosis within 12 hours after stopping drink, snd it was truly horrifying. The first images were benign, as was mentioned-mine were a series of Facebook pages stretching across my visual field-(oh, that’s weird, what?) but soon came spider/scorpion-type creatures crawling up the walls to the center of the ceiling-I had to stand on a chair to touch them and the second I did they disappeared, only to be replaced by a writhing ball of ants that likewise climbed to the ceiling and detached into lines that stretched nto infinity, like a deranged marching band, ants with thoraxes that were to me the numbers 0-9….nightmares like this went on and on-maybe the creepiest were demented harlequin-type construction paper clowns that slithered in and out from between books on my shelf like jack in the boxes….so bizarre-words cannot do the horror justice. I would also see incredibly strange, detailed painting on the walls of my home and thought it had become haunted-demonic faces in the shadows and also bright flashing lights and weird, disjointed music that had no location. This went on for three days until I finally gave up and had a drink. I limped around for a month hiding from my friends who wanted to help until some spark of hope made me go to detox and inpatient rehab, where I got the help I needed-I could not do this on my own. Even after that I still had a couple relapses but haven’t had a drink in 8.5 years; it can be done, especially when I realize that one drink would lead to humiliation, mental disintegration, and a slow, painful death. I wish that all who are suffering this horror may find peace and healing.
As I read that description, I could absolutely visualise it. Somehow, people like us understand each other's hallucinations in a way that people who haven't experienced it never can. Massive congratulations on your long term sobriety, and it's reassuring to people like me, who are still young in sobriety by comparison, that you're still out here watching sobriety content and sharing your experiences. Thanks mate.
oh boy I feel that. I was watching movies on my couch (i mean the movie played on my couch like it was a screen, not that I was sitting on a couch) but the next second I was surrounded by shadow people :D
Thank you for sharing.
Damn my guy, I can feel every word. I worked in recovery recently and have some lived experience but with various different substances. Still working through a lot of stuff. This content is informative and pushes me to keep making calm, positive change each day.
One day at a time mate.
A shark must keep moving or it will die lol, that is a very accurate representation of the restlessness that comes with withdrawal.
Another excellent video man! 👏💯
Thanks Slayer!
Thankyou for your honesty and humility.
You are a real godsend.
Your humour is a joy also .
❤
Thanks for watching Jane, and for the comment.
Even in a Detox facility, I STILL went through the haggard and hell-licking waves of Delirium Tremens. They wouldn't administer benzodiazepines, only Phenobarbital. While that probably saved me from having a seizure, it didn't combat the harsh DT's I slipped into in less than 48 hours. I think you explained this in one of your previous videos, but one of the scariest things is understanding what you're going through & you simply just can't do anything about it. Time will roll on and you're aware but unaware, you know? Absolutely fucking crazy. Glad we're all still here after visiting the underworld. Cheers.
Hey JJ - aware but unaware. God that's so hard to explain isn't it? I'm glad you made it out mate, how are you doing these days?
@@_BatCountry 14 months off the sauce! Couldn't be better. Every sunrise is a day jam-packed with proper motivation & drive to new ventures.
Your videos are very inspirational to stay focused. They also bring up good questions & chats with others on some of the horror stories we've endured. Looking forward to the next one.
they did a medical mistake honestly. Very old school of treating DT. Benzos are the golden standard.
I remember a time when in my country they would give you atarax for DT, so still not the worst...
I remember hallucinating whether my eyes were open or closed. It was awful and the voices were never ending.
The hallucination doesn't need you to be able to see - you'll see whatever they want you to see whether your eyes are open or not.
Thanks for watching, and for the comment.
Hey man, I’ve been drinking for 11 years and the last year I started to develop delirium tremens. Man the demonic sexual hallucinations and dreams were so disturbing. I now understand that this is a progressive disease. I watch your vids and videos about DT’s to remind me never to pick up that first drink again. I’m sober now. The last bout with DT’s scared the crap out of me. The spirits were pretty much priming me for death and taunting me as I laid there terrified. So glad I decided to get sober 🙏🏽 Keep the education coming buddy. ODAAT 💙
ODAAFT mate. Thanks for watching, and for the comment. I'd love to do a whole video just about the sexual nature of the hallucinations, but I found out recently that my parents watch these videos so ummm... :D
Just stay off spirits!
As I have said before, I had one moderate to severe withdrawal that was horrible. After about seven days I was fine, but for the entirety of the next month, I was so lethargic I could have slept for a month. I am not sure why post-withdrawal I felt this way. Maybe it just taxes the hell out of the system if you go cold turkey. Even though my neurotransmitters are kindled, I've never had D.T. or a seizure. You are right about who gets it and when. It really is unpredictable. That is why CIWA is usually administered at hospitals despite it being an arguably flawed questionnaire. That police station story is weird. I wonder what they thought was going on? Great video, Stu. Keep up the good work.
The cops actually showed up at my house a couple of days later to check on me. It was... humbling.
@@_BatCountry At least they didn't lock you up or put you in the loony bin. Sounds like the cops were halfway cool. *edit. I have met a few people who were at the most consuming a fifth of liquor a day for many years. My first A.A. sponsor drank vodka all day even at work. He was a Marine and a supervisor and would just let his next in line supervise and he would go drink. When he quit he had no withdrawal. People that binge and quit, binge and quit have the more intense withdrawal symptoms. It's the kindling. Someone who quits once may or may not experience withdrawal. Their brain isn't kindled. Somebody like that has a 50/50 chance of experiencing withdrawal. My first two cold turkey's didn't result in withdrawal. The third was pretty awful on the third day.
Sounds terrifying. I struggled with anxiety my whole life which led to self medicating with booze. The anxiety from alcohol withdrawal is 100 times worse and I did end.up having 2 seizures. Glad I never had DTs but I was close it seems
I'm happy you're here to talk about Tom. Drinking to ease anxiety is a false economy.
Great informative video my brother. I've experienced the mild delirium tremens several times. Worst experiences of my entire life! Auditory hallucinations..visual..etc..etc....I was nearly going into full blown panic mode. Listen to this man everyone! He speaks the truth! Hit that like button, share, subscribe. This vital information needs to be heard. Peace and Love. Lawrence, KS 785
Thank you for watching, and for the comment buddy. I'm glad you made it out of those experiences alive.
Right on the bullseye. This is a great video to remind us of why we put that bottle down and never want to pick it up again.
Another great video!
Thanks for watching, and for your positivity as always!
After a decade of heavy drinking almost daily and then quitting cold turkey I only experienced extreme anxiety, depression, slight shakiness and restless nights. I would say it took about month for it to subside enough to say things were getting better. Not fun at all but better then the inner hell I lived while drinking
I'm always happy to see you back here Konrad. Keep up the good work mate.
My wife and I were on a family holiday (my Dad, step-Mum, her kids and their children, my sister/her husband and their kids) for 2 weeks in 2019. My wife and I drank every single day, had to hide a lot of it by drinking in the morning in our room or having drinks in water bottles. Anyway one day I'd had enough of being drunk all the time and stopped drinking, I wanted just a normal sober day and I let the hangover sink in. My wife and I, my sister/her husband and their kids went out for lunch and I got DT's, I couldn't hold a glass of water or even pick up the chicken wings I was eating. This isn't just mild shaking, this was as if someone had you by the elbow and moved your arm violently from side to side. I tried to hide it so bad, but everyone know what was happening. I just thought I was sleep deprived and a bit hungover, my wife had never seen anything like it and my sister/her husband were like "Shit, do you need to go to the hospital?!" The kids were shocked, my poor nieces, just 10 and 8 years old saying "Mummy, why is Uncle Josh shaking like that?" My wife had to HAND FEED me because we all thought maybe some food would help. Luckily after about an hour the shakes went away, all because I was sipping on a beer with my lunch. It's a shameful memory but I wasn't well and now I'll be 2 years sober in September.
So happy to hear you got out of it, congratulations on 2 years!
thats hardcore withdrawal, DT's are not D- tremors i.e shaking.. D -tremens is a deadly condition beyond tremors
New Bat Country dropped! Going to settle in and watch this tonight. I will always value your videos, they stand as a living testament to our shared struggles with alcoholism. They remind me that in our mutual pain and healing, I am not alone.. I've never known anyone else in my actual real life with this.
It was always the faces for me with closed eyes. Very peep show esque, but always morphing and shrouded in darkness and always talking rapidly. Never any vocalisation but the mouths would always be moving/ grinning
It sounds like you and I have very similar experiences. Forgive me for asking, but I ask everyone this question when they say the've also seen faces: have you ever had a serious head injury?
@@_BatCountry Nothing overly traumatic (not that required hospitalisation at least.) But a fair few fights and drunken falls over the years. One in particular sticks out, where I woke up on a train track with paramedics stood over me. I also broke my femur after being slammed on concrete once (my head was never checked as I suppose it wasn't the main concern at the time.) Has there been a correlation for most people you've spoken to do you think?
Great videos 🙂 I always thought my delirium tremens experiences traumatised me - but naaa.
After watching your videos I think I might be right- which makes things make more sense.
Thank you. ❤ from Denmark
Hey Silya. I'm a firm believer that the trauma of DTs has a lasting impact. I still see some of the things I hallucinated. It takes a loooong time to recover, so go easy on yourself.
@_BatCountry thanks for understanding. Having demons chase you (with eyes open and closed) for days and day takes it's toll 😢...
Stuart your description is spot on. After visiting the hospital last Monday's withdrawal they monitored me for 8 hours and gave me some librium, made sure I was ok and sent me home with instructions to taper on the drink. I bought 2 litres of vodka and had a glug when the anxiety was at its worst and then kept doing that every anxiety attack. It's now Saturday and I'm feeling so much better. The thing you were saying about light sensitivity is so true. It's unreal. For me it's like being able to see through my eyelids. Gotta see Project 6 on the 30th. Then likewise a week after. Again thanks for the great videos. Regards CJ
Very, very happy to see you on the mend mate. Keep us posted as always.
@@_BatCountry Thanks Stu, I'm still doubting the NHS's advice on tapering? If I'm feeling better then why am I still drinking. Every time I go cold turkey it nearly kills me but it keeps me off the vodka for months. I know the answer and it's down to money and the availability of beds. If you have money you can afford rehab, but when you're a nobody and poor you have to suffer and if you live alone like myself I might just become another statistic. Sorry to be so down but it's just how I feel.
Such an important video! Thanks for making it, Bat Country. The earliest sign for me was intensely vivid/lucid dreaming-- when I woke up it wasn't clear if that was a dream or memory. Progressively detailed closed-eye hallucinations. Heart racing leading to profuse sweating. Progressively detailed auditory hallucinations. Interminable insomnia. By 72 sleepless hours after the last drink my hallucinations were fully in the driver's seat and I was totally untethered from reality. I worry so much about the people who die of delirium tremens-- were their hallucinations too horrible to cope with? Did they think themselves to death?
Hey Seb! Thanks for watching. "Did they think themselves to death?" Powerfully phrased as always.
My seizures used to come on the last days of withdrawal. After 7 or so days without alcohol or sleep, almost on the mend, that moment when you drop into sleep used to trigger the sezure and I'd end up on the floor writhing around. Interesting you mention what you see with your eyes closed too. It's unbelievable the images of horror your brain can produce.
That's so scary. Just when you think you're out of the woods.
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
Thankfully I haven't drank since I commented on one of your videos ten days ago, saying that I was just out of hospital *_again._* Although I have been taking some codeine tablets *_(Nurofen Plus)_* again, things could be much worse though; I'm not taking forty of them a day anymore or any diphenhydramine to sleep. I still feel quite depressed, but it very slowly getting better.
Congratulations Rick, the hardest bit's behind you. Well, kinda. The hardest decisions are behind you anyway. Are you optimistic?
Great video, it's the best description i ever heard about the early symptoms and when just a single one guy or lady can take action before it is too late, maybe there's a life saved. Even when it doesn't kill you, the damage you can do like losing your job, home, family and friends etc. because you were out of control, is extremely serious. It's no joke. It's like a plane that is about to crash and you only got a few seconds to eject yourself and then you can land safe with a parachute. After that, it is too late, it is the point of no return.
Absolutely, that's a perfect analogy. Thanks for watching as always Jack, and thanks for the thoughtful comment as always too.
Thanks Stu. Fascinating.
I have personally never had DTs - thank Christ - but your explanation made sense. The combustion engine / runaway analogy helped.
Homeostasis is a remarkably successful process - it is only when one of the balancing forces is removed you realise just how much work it has been doing. Indeed it’s quite chilling to think of the silent essential graft it’s doing to counteract chaos and death.
Glad you made it through to warn us all.
Hello mate! Yeah are bodies have to really put in a shift to keep us operational even while we're doing everything we can to sabotage it.
@@_BatCountry I suppose we are victims are of own success in that regard. But then I suppose evolution doesn’t select for people (ie idiots like me) that wilfully poison themselves!
I never had the DTs but I feared them deeply after a counselor told me about them. And the panic attacks due to withdrawal made that fear worse. I always had the heart racing and palpitations and even drove myself to the ER a couple of times convinced I was having a heart attack when it was just a symptom of withdrawal. I had the paranoia and severe anxiety and always told myself it will pass since I knew from experience, but it never comforted me until my body came back to homeostasis. There was a period of a few months where every time I started to fall asleep, a hand would suddenly jerk and wake me up. Then I would put my hands under my pillow to incapacitate them and then a leg would jerk as I was falling asleep. I also know all about the pictures in my head that get worse after closing my eyes and trying to go to sleep. In fact, even though I haven't had any alcohol for almost a year, I am getting nervous as I type and remember the 1000s of withdrawal experiences I've had. While you were talking about DT, I had the thought that maybe I didn't stop drinking and I'm either dead, or maybe watching this video is really part of my DT experience and I'm just hallucinating you talking.
Your experience sounds quite similar to mine. Did you dream about alcohol for a while after you quit?
@@_BatCountry Oh yes, I've often dreamed about alcohol when I was sober. What I think that's about is that I missed the good ole days of when I was young when I could drink as much as I wanted, have a really good time socializing and suffer no retribution. I didn't have hangovers or withdrawal symptoms because like you, I was always in very good physical condition. So when I woke up the next day, I would just feel like I still had a mild and pleasant buzz. Sometimes I would vomit and that's all it took to feel good again. But once I got into my 40s, I was always trying to chase reliving those experiences of good times while drinking, but the bad consequences always overshadowed the good. I'm 64 now and those dreams of being drunk are probably an attempt to re-enact the "good ole days" of my 20s and 30s.
I'm a social worker in a nordic country, and this particular question of who, how and why delirium tremens, interests me a lot. I write this comment 01:33 minutes into your video, primarily because I got hit by the thought train, and because I need to park this thought train somewhere, before your video adds another wagon to it, and I have to rearange it, again...
My two cents are gathered from first aid experience, and the same podcasts you reference from time to time (yours included).
My suspision is that creative people are at higher risk (including you). Creative brains are often sensitive and takes in a lot of information, wich needs to be sorted, through the process of REM sleep. Alcohol postphones this process, untill sober sleep is had (REM). The brain can only postphone for so long, without initiating the dream sequences (psychosis, if awake). Since the body is in an acute trauma state, from prolonged drinking, it is never pleasant dreams, but terrible, waking nightmares.
My hunch, after 6 years of social work in homeless shelters, is that the more information your brain aquires/holds on to by default (creativity/sensitivity/intelligence), the more at risk you are of getting overloaded and entering psycosis.
It is worth mentioning that human kinds evolutionary history with spirits, stronger than 20% (vol.), is only slightly exceeding 500 years. For most of human kinds history, and pre-history, alcohol volume was capped around 10-15%, due to limitations in destlling. While delirium tremens has been observed throughout all written history, it seems like the 40% spirits are the speedrun hack.
How/if any of this relates to the gappa receptors and grand seisures, I don't know. All I have observed is that people seem way more vulnerable to adverse effect (like psychosis, and seizures), when they seem depressed. And daily alcohol consumptiom guarantees depression.
Personally I have observed a difference between the tiredness of a, mostly strong spirits, based hangover (not even DREM in the early morning hours), versus milder drinks (slight DREM activity before waking up). It feels like the difference between being in a detatched, zombie like state, and 'just' being tired. Both states, if prolonged indefinitly, will probably get me to delirium. That said, I can feel how the 37,5%+ version would get me there faster.
From a social workers perspective, I agree with a lot of the critiquess of alcohol, you and others have voiced. I have reduced my own consumption by a lot, since I started in my field. The health benefits are great, and who wants bring work back home?
But there is one well disguised blessing in alcohol, which both opiates, stimulants and benzodiazepins (alcohols famous uncle) lacks, and that is, exactly, its volatility.
With alcohol, the lie of escaping your problems becomes unstable faster. The equlibrium is never atinable for long. From a social workers perspective, that means you have more crisis points at which fruitfull intervention becomes possible. More rock bottoms means more chances. It might sound harsh. But if I am trying to help 10 middleaged men (the target demographic for most substance abuse), 10 are abusing alcohol, and 10 are combining cocaine/opiates/benzoes. Then in three years time, 4 of my alcoholics will still be drinking, with no attempts at sobriety, 2 would be dead, 2 would be sober (between relapses, and 2 would be sober (for good). Of my control group, probably only 3 would have attempted sobriety, with maybe a single non-returnee, while 7 would still be balancing their lives away between the uppers and downers. It is even a lot harder to guess the death toll, as a lot can hinge on a single bad badge of cocain/heroin.
Sorry if it got dark. As a social worker, I have a great interest in how sober people, who are battling adiction lives, loves and thinks, as it is the life you live, I attempt to instill as a dream to strive for, in my clients. But it is always hard for me to strike a balance in my communication. My clients have always ruined their lives to homelessness, and I am not living a completely sober life myself. So I will probably be somewhat of an elephant in a glass museum (Danish expression). My intention has not been to glorify any substance use. Period. And I have the utmost respespect for your lived experiences and suffered traumas.
Much love and apresiation for your work, your life, and your sobriety.
This is an extremely valuable comment, full of insight and the kind of brutal truth that appeals to me. You explained something that I've been struggling to explain too, which is about how delirium tremens feels very much like a dream state spilling over into waking life - I felt like that was the case even when I experienced alcoholic hallucinosis, before delirium tremens. I also think that creative people are more susceptible, but I didn't want to say it, because I fear it might have sounded self-flattering.
You hit a lot of points that are of direct interest to me. The timeline of the evolutionary biology is highly relevant. I might point out that baijiu, probably the strongest spirit I've ever drank on a regular basis, has a history of about 2000 years, but in evolutionary terms it it doesn't much matter if it's 500 years or 2000. It's just interesting to me that the oldest strong spirit emerged in East Asia, a place not usually known for its capacity to handle its drink.
But most importantly, your point about volatility has already become the kind of opinion that I'm keen to pas on. That is a unique perspective, because I'm personally very grateful for my own rock bottoms. I would not have got sober without the, so your point makes perfect sense to me.
Thanks so much for taking the time to share this stuff, the replies on my videos are usually pretty good but yours really stands out.
@@_BatCountry Thanks for your kind words. I'm on vacation, and have time to binge/comment.
Your presntation style and honesty really bridges an important gap between ex-user, user and socialworker. Most professionals share from a health care perspective, and many users avoid the grimier experiences when sharing (not Dirk, rip Dirk).
Most socialworkers are trained in other fields than healtcare. Our healt care staff takes care of the imidiate healt care emergencies. On the social side of things, we try to help people integrate the terrible experiences, into less destructive futures. Your sober, raw, well articulated insider experiences are invaluable in that regard. You and Stewe-O's podcast are the two best places on youtube for that at the moment.
Most of my delirium tremens prone clients have either been accomplished creatives, dated an accomplished creative or could/should/would (alcohol) have been accomplished creatives. One was the sibling of an accomplished creative. And some were just very creative (that trait shines through even the thickest supstance abuse).
Especially when there is a language barrier, it can make it dangerously hard to identify when people are crossing the treshold to delirium. If someone is usually drunk and querky, the difference can become subtle. Your travels outside the anglophone world have really put you at some extra risk. Happy you made it through!
An eager ego can always latch onto a potentially valuable trade, but a grounded way of looking at it, is that a creative brain alocates a lot of the harddrive to the buffer. If the buffer isn't flushed periodicaly, through dreaming, a shutdown will eventually occur. If we think of ourselves a perculiarly adjusted Windows-XP-era PC's, we can stay grounded 🙂.
I didn't know about a strong spirit going back 2000 years. That is something I have to look into! But definitely. 2000 years is not nearly enough for a central nervous system to adapt. The 500 years, only pertains to Europe/Middle East/Indian Subcontinent (maybe not even all of India?).
I think I get why alcohol is the drug of choice in so many places. Its because it is such a terrible and volatile dragon. It will build a proper lie, before pulling the rug. Opiates reset the lie every 16-48 houers (withdrhawal), stimulants every 4-7 days (acute sleep deprivation collapse/psychosis). Alcohol will wait longer, but hit harder. Before the strong spirits became widespread, it would have been a good tradeoff between function/dysfunction and imideate reward/longterm lesson. It seems like many countries where just about adapting their alcohol cultures to strong spirits existing, and then they suddenly became really cheap.
One tip I got from a healt care professional, which I dont know if you are aware of: I have been told, observed and experienced (with nicotine), that cafeine is an abstinence symptom multiplier, with most stimulant withdhrawal symptoms. I usually only offer water, juice and lof-caf teas to people in withdrawal, for that reason. It seems to keep people calmer. I just noticed that a lot of sobriety youtubers enjoy coffee a lot. But I haven't heard anybody mention (you might have, I'm not through all your videos yet), that cafeine might intensify withdhrawal symptoms in early stage sobriety.
I really apreciate your sobriety and your work!
Great stuff, and beautifully said!
Thanks so much mate!
I'm sorry I post long winded comments on your videos but your subject matter induce a lot of thought. Which is the point I guess, right? Dude I loved that joke. I'm a dad and I feel I'm the king of dad jokes. It also helps break the tension of the serious, heavy, subject matter. I have had DT 4 times now, and have survived. I had every single one of these symptoms sans seizures and visual hallucinations. It's scary as fuck. What really got me is the thing you said about the indescernible music. I hear it everytime and then I am terrified because I know what's coming next... SIRENS!!! American sirens not the weird European sirens. Like, imagine if the house next door was on fire and every fire department for miles around was responding to it at the same time. The shit part about all of this is that there is NO help down here. The big hospital is on the next island over and all we have here is a couple of little clinics that either can't or don't care to help. The shakes, the sweats, the heart racing (coming off of coke didn't help in those departments) the anxiety and fear all terrible and this time around I went to work everyday. Why? Cuz my dad beat an unshakable work ethic into me. I didn't get much accomplished but at least I was there. And I lived your engine analogy. It makes perfect sense to me but that might be because I've been an auto mechanic for 34 years. Anyways, good stuff as always my friend. It literally gave me chills. On a side note, did you come up with the name for your channel because of Hunter S Thompson or because of Avenged Sevenfold? Thanks for making this and your other videos. They always help immensely. But for the grace of god...
Hello mate! Don't apologise for long comments, to paraphrase Blaise Pascal, 'I would write shorter letters but I don't have the time.'
I respect the work ethic, but I also think it's important to be around people when we're going through this stuff. Because if you do kinda lose your grip on reality, it's useful to have people around to get you some help if it's necessary, even if it's embarrassing.
The name comes from Hunter S Thompson - I hallucinated bats and then understood what he was talking about. I didn't know about the Avenged Sevenfold song until after I'd started the channel, I think it's pretty appropriate in hindsight.
@_BatCountry yeah, it is a very appropriate song. Another good one is RX by Theory of a Deadman. Not the biggest fan of those guys overall but thats a pretty cool song.
This was spot on. So many symptoms you describe mirror my experiences. Mine started with a seizure twelve hours in, relative calm for 2 days, with balance issues throughout and insomnia. But all hell broke loose 48 hours in and most were experiences were similar to yours. No issues with light but the music you play is familiar. The extreme paranoia and focus on death were real. Being in a horror movie and knowing you were dying in the end is how I'd describe it. Sweats, shakes, palpitations etc. Thankful to get to the other side. Keep making videos please!
One more comment, if you're ever looking for a Caribbean vacation, I might know a guy who lives there and could put you up for a week or 2 lol.
Ya know, I might hold you to it one day. Tell that guy I appreciate the offer.
@@_BatCountry I'll pass along the message.
keep em coming, this is helpful to all of us that can identify with these anecdotes
You git it buddy. Plenty more to follow.
I've had closed-eye hallucinations , wierd goblins dancing in a circle, they were as vivid as neon. I think that was due to severe sleep deprivation. 5 days awake. hellish torture
Lots of these symptoms are also a part of anxiety disorders
Thanks for mentioning why you play that music. When I first discovered this channel a few weeks ago I had flashbacks to my own DT experiences. This is the first time I've heard the same kind of music since I've been sober.
I used to close my eyes and there would be a reel show of different peoples faces all very vivid however have never every seen or met them before, also mutated faces that were not known to man, they took on a total life of their own, also i used to yawn so hard that my ears would ring as i was so tired with insomnia, i used to be so tired i would close my eyes see all of these faces flashing in front of me, when i was nodding off to sleep i would jumback up, this happens over and over until around 2 days later
Yep. Yes. Yeah. Absolutely perfect description of my experience too. If you go back to my earlier video video about delirium tremens, the one with the blue thumbnail, I talk about those faces for a long time and I think you might find it intereting.
Genuinely chilling.
Ive heatd of a few people i know having these things, and you know they mean it because they look haunted as they tell you.
A lot of honesty in this video, so i can tell you I'm on a comedown from powerful methamphetamine today.
I think its the nimth time this year, and that has to be that because i dont believe any human mind could keep being so ablaze snd retain normality.
The DT story though, pales this into miniscule insignificance.
This is a basic absence of dopamine, so about 30% of your cognitive function is floored, but it does get up with food and rest, as that becomes possible.
Totally self inflicted but nothimg that time won't cure.
It strikes you how, when our minds are fully functioning and the correct nutrition is in the body, we have something incredibly swift and gifted.
Im not afdicted, but there are tales of shadow beings and hearing voices, described as a form of possession.
That DT story makes me wonder if it's mind parasites are hewn from the same sinister ilk but, if starved, they whither away.
And thats all we meed to lnow.
People who've been through it can always tell if someone else has or hasn't. We gravitate towards each other, there's solidarity in that. Out of interest, or you trying to get sober?
@@_BatCountry I went in and out of love with alcohol definitely in my twenties, but I do seem to not like it as much as I get older.
I sometimes think it's a shame, but it's probably good luck really.
I remember the restlessness you mentioned and that was the start of the end of it I think.
I still do rarely but find myself going, is that it?
This thing I romanticised for weeks and all it turns out to be is a slower mind and self doubt that's never there in the sober world.
I didn't notice all the grammar mistakes in my original comment at the time.
Two pairs of glasses to see properly obviously wasn't working with this phone on top of the sleep deprivation, but bit by bit, decent food and rest is happening and the substance loses it's grip.
Maybe it's stages we had to go through to somehow evolve.
Anyway, your honesty is very much appreciated.
At first, I felt like my senses were becoming supernatural. My vision became incredibly sharp, almost like HD, but my mind seemed to be slipping into a realm of darkness. It was as if I was beginning to enter another dimension an evil dimension nothing like any type of Acid trip I have ever had. I will explain all in my video when I am ready to discuss like you. But I do feel if we continue we will end up hell even if we are good people in general.
I would also add that during the first 3 days of acute withdrawal there’s nausea like you’ve never experienced in your life. Just uncontrollable to where you lay there moaning and getting up only to dry heave sooooo hard. Throwing up bile that tastes like death. Wouldn’t exactly call it vomiting it’s something else more violent, a pure evil force leaving your body like in an exorcism.
Oh wow that's so powerful, I'd never thought of it like that but you're exactly right, it's like your whole body trying to eject something.
The most insane of the cycle of alcohol abuse or addiction is actually drinking after that, knowingly. To find ‘relief’. My last binge this weekend had me hurling before opening a bottle of wine. My body’s telling me please just stop now but my mind is procrastinating to end it. I’ve tried moderation but until now it doesn’t work, thinking of stopping makes me anxious and I believe that’s now partially why I lose control after a few drinks. Need to view it as wat it is, poison that wants to slowly destroy me and act out to others in the progress. I need to act upon my long term desires not short term relief 😓
You have explained it very well...fortunately i have not experienced the DTs but certainly some withdrawal symptoms..not pleasant.
VERY not pleasant. Thanks for watching!
Man, I am sober for almost 6 months now, and watching this gave me flashbacks, lmao. I needed it tho. I've been having the usual pre-relapse thoughts recently. I think its the first time I even noticed those thoughts, tbh.
Thankfully, I live in Poland, so I got an Antabuse implant. If I have even one beer, I'll end up in the hospital, within half an hour probably. Knowing that helps a lot with not having that beer.
Cześć! How is life with the implant? Are you happy with it?
@@_BatCountry Honestly? It's absolutely great in certain ways, and somewhat annoying in some. The bad things first- gotta be careful about things like perfume, mouthwash, even skin ointments. I once used a hair oil, not knowing it was based on ethanol, felt like absolute crap for 4 hours. It wasn't dangerous, just some dizzyness, tachycardia and anxiety. But definitely gotta be mindful of the stuff you put on your skin, eat, drink, etc. A mistake can be costly.
Now the good- I have a solid line of defence against that first drink. And we all know that its that first drink that kill you. I just can't have it, that's it. I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that a single beer will likely land me in the hospital, or even kill me, so a beer isn't an option. Counterintuitively, it gives me a sense of freedom and peace of mind. Friends invite me to a pub? No problem, I cant drink anyway! A family function? Sorry, on meds, can't drink. It makes life a lot simpler.
Gotta keep on top of it, however, it needs to be redone every 8 months to a year, depending. I let my previious implant expire, and that's how I got into my last relapse. I lasted 6 months after the implant was no good, thought I was safe. Llmao, no.
Anyway, highly recommend it to anyone like me. No side effects that I can feel, either.
Good one indeed- would be great to get your take on moderation- both in terms of our inability to drink less on a daily basis, or moderating in terms of only drinking a day or two a week. Seem to always get back to baseline which is too damn much!
Yeah I'd like to talk about that subject too, so I'll get to it soon. Thanks for the comment, stay tuned!
i love this channel! can you do a video of your daily routine, morning to evening when you where drinking the most ?
Thanks! Yeah, I've been meaning to do exactly that. Stay tuned.
Thank you!
I can definitely relate to most of the symptoms you brought up, but in my case (fortunately) it never progressed to the point of real, full blown DT's.
I used to get those closed-eye hallucinations you described almost everytime after binging for days and weeks 24/7.
They're partly caused by sleep deprivation, right? I read something about hypnagogic hallucinations as well and it seemed very similar. Seeing weird faces, buildings, patterns, shadows, etc.
The more extreme hallucinations in my case were hearing music, voices at one point, sounds and feeling like someone is touching me while sleeping and rocking my bed, really strange...not to mention the horrible vivid nightmares and the inability to sleep properly without the constant twitching.
Yeah all those are symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. There's a difference between alcoholic hallucinosis and delirium tremens, but I'm not knowledgable enough to speak on it. The sleep deprivation is a factor, but I've noticed that my hallucinations have often begun before deprivation should have been a factor. So, it certainly doesn't help.
When my Alfa Romeo breaks down on the side of the road, I don’t call it a break down, I call it a recovery.😂
You must have to say it a lot then. I mean, it's an Alfa Romeo. :D
Miners' Passover🥳
once you start hallucinating will have a drink or two make them go away? I read in a comment on one of Dirk's videos where i kids dad gave him a small glass of straight vodka and 15 minutes later it went away
It makes them stop in my experience, but really you're just delaying them. I'm not an advocate of tapering really, but I've been there, there have been times, many times now that I'm thinking about it, where I've started drinking again to stop the hallucinations.
14:45 making a video about DTs and this happening does not fill me with confidence.😂
I don't know what's causing that, it seems to be a problem with my 4k encoding because those glitches are in the video files themselves, it's not a youtube thing. Really bugs me :D
I phoned the police once when i hallucinated people trying to get me out the window and everytime i looked through my spy hole on my flat door i kept seeing people through it mocking me
Terrifying. It's even scarier when the hallucination is so real that it causes you to act in the real world, right?
@@_BatCountry yeah, I live in a supported living building as well but it was early morning and the staff go to sleep quite early, saw a man with a balaclava in the carpark and thought people where trying to kill me and then looked through the spyhole stealing my folder from the office and my folder had personal information in
Just seemed so real
After that I went outside to try and walk to the all night garage and saw 4 big muscly men walking fast towards me and had to hobble back inside and lock the door and sat there thinking people where gonna come in through the window after smashing it
If someone goes into dt's and drink during the experience would it stop?
Yeah kind of. Your body finds a bit of stability once you reapply some alcohol. But in my experience it's a false economy, you're really only delaying it.
I had an experience that i didn't blame on delirium tremors. I blamed it on the devil. I woke up and swore someone was choking me, but there was noone there. Has anyone told you that you looklike LD?
Ha, no one has *said* that to me, but I've noticed it myself :D
Do these hallucinations happen right before you fall asleep
Before they get really bad, yeah. They can happen right on that liminal not-quite-asleep stage.
DTs only effect less than 5% of all hardcore alcoholics. It is actual brain damage and is rare, but if you get it; god save you. I never got to the DT level, but I"ve been at the alcoholic hallucinosis multiple times. The only real different is 1. you don't die and 2. you know you are hallucinating. Man the faces that I would see when I closed my eyes horrified me. Deadpan WW2 faces just staring at me. And I could hear people whisper my name. I knew it wasn't real, but it was seriously terrfying anyway. This was in hospital and on 10mg of diazapam ever 6 hours. God knows what it would have been like at home without drugs....
Listen to this video. Really listen. And please don't do what this idiot would do when they snuck up. It is sooo dangerous and stupid and dangerous I wouldn't divulge them to anyone but an ER doc. Definitely not the nurses, and absolutely not any body who didn't have medical training. (EMTs are cool). About the dehydration, you may be tempted to drink a lot of water. This is an awful idea. it will very quickly put you at an imbalance as your magnesium, potassium, and NaCL go wonky. The best thing you can do is get medical attention and get on an IV, and immediately have a blood test. If it is happening Right Now, Pedialyte can work. But you don't want to over stress your stomach, it is liable to start a vomit cycle, which makes things worse.
When I felt it coming on, or I had it planned into my schedule, it's not unlike the scene from trainspotting. No sugary drinks, and no drinks that are high in acid. Soda is right out. Herbal and green tea works. With that, slowly over the course of an hour or two, while you are waiting for a ride to an Urgent care or other medical facility, eat two bananas. If you have a little more time, top up your tea (I suggest herbal teas with ginger, anise, or licorice) and make a can of "Cream of Anything" soup. Probably not clam chowder, just nothing that is tool acidic like tomato soup. And why is that?
If you start vomiting it is just that much worse for your teeth.
As much as you might want burgers and fried anything, ya gotta wait a while longer. But make sure you are getting salt, getting a slow drip of liquids, and really watch yourself before moving on to anything more substantial. Eggs and cheese are a decent bet. A baked potato, simply dressed ain't bad. But like the Wilco line, you'll be Shaking like a Toothache.
If you don't stop shaking and require the cool wet towels for more than a few hours, you have got to see a doc. Again, you might be tempted to do some very dangerous, silly things. Don't. If this keeps going on, you are gonna need some temporary medication. I'm not even gonna say what that is, cause if you blurt it out in an office unprompted, you are much less likely to receive the care you need. Doctors and nurses, even with advanced education, may judge and play morality police. Heh, I've got stories
The danger of not taking DTs seriously is death. Either from the central nervous system/cardiovascular side of the house, or from seizures. I'd had six directly related to alcohol, and after the first one I was even put on anti seizure medication. Still had five more, and two traumatic brain injuries to boot. So if you can get medical help and make it past the next four, five days and Stay Sober, you are probably out of the woods. For the first couple of days I recommend keeping a walking stick or a long umbrella near by.
Heed the kind words of Bat Country. Everything he has said, with a few tiny changes cause we are all just a little different, is absolutely true. And it is literally a life saving/changing service.
oh, dear, oh dear, the DT anxiety episodes. I didn't get the paranoia too bad, it was minimal. The death fixation was very very real. But the worst kicker for me? Oh my god, being in my apartment wrapped in a soaked blanket, with full on vertigo. Not unsteady, the only way I can describe it is no matter which way you are oriented to the ground, the world around you is a gyroscope. With constant feeling of falling. Standing up was Out. Of. The. Question. And I had to use the bathroom. My legs didn't work, so I crawled, crying along the carpet floor just using my arms. And the toilet was right next to the edge of the bathtub, so I managed to pull myself up just five, six inches, and barrel roll on to the thing. Afterwards I had to crawl back to my bed, and physically from the ground lift one leg on to the bed, then again barrel roll and throw most of my weight on to the top.
The vertigo stopped after about six hours. And I had my emergency kit next to the bed. Nobody knew where I was, I was just alone in my apartment, helping two broken legs heal (heh, got titanium in both of them, I'm turning into a cyborg :D) And thank god I didn't hallucinate those couple of nights. Sent a couple of text messages, sprawled on my back, and a day and a half later I was able to weakly stand. I binge watched A LOT of How I Met Your Mother.
--edit-- for some of us, the hallucinations don't stop immediately after you get sober. and too this day, audio and video are still lightly 'enhanced'. Not debilitating, but peripheral vision and background sounds are not to be trusted.
As ever, superb 👍
Thanks Pete!