PTSD from going through delerium tremens a few months ago...

[kym527]

I am 22 years old and have been in and out of rehab since I was about 17 years old. Athough I quit all my drugs years ago I have always been a steady drinker-- I drink about 5 nights a week. Last year around xmas time I went back home to visit my family and basically went on a 14 day hardcore bender with barely any sleeping or eating. I would wake up and drink all day until the sun came up the next morning. After that bender when I returned back to my life I quit drinking and by the 2nd day I was going through some severe withdrawals. I had the normal shaking and sweating but I'm used to that......... I started thinking of violent crazy scenarios in my head when I would try to go to sleep.......... these turned into auditory hallucinations and progressed to extremely realistic visual hallucinations by about the 3rd night of my alcohol withdrawal. I had no idea that I was going through DT's-- I was in a total state of delerium and extremely hyper-active. Everything was moving really fast and I was losing my mind. The visual hallucinations at first happened only when I tried to sleep-- or woke me up from dreams while I was sleeping....... and then by the 3rd, 4th and 5th days/nights I was seeing people everywhere I went-- all day long-- tons of them-- and they looked real and would talk to me and sometimes I couldn't break my trance for up to 5 minutes. My roomate was the one taking care of me this whole time and she had no idea what to do.... it wasn't until I have been awake for about 6 days straight going through my withdrawal when we called the mental hotline and the lady explained to me what was going on. I went to the ER the next morning. Anyway- I am writing you this note because I can no longer sleep at night. Everynight when I lay down to fall asleep I get the worst anxiety and think back to my hallucinations and if I do fall asleep I am guaranteed to wake up sweating in a night terror and I'll be convinced someone is in my room. Please help! How do i sleep?

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

This sounds like it has been going on for a year....you need some medication to quiet your brain and some psychotherapy to help you break the connection between sleep now and hallucinations then..you have to be treated by a psychiatrist..not just rehab and drying out, and you have to stop drinking..its a must...

[Briain]

I think it is important to look at the roots of why you started drugs and what was/is it you have been eleviating through the substance use. Therapy not just for drug abuse but everything definitly seems like something you should look into.