Drugs, Alcohol and Anxiety

[Kxn]

Back when I was a freshman in college I was heavy into partying, drinking and doing drugs, mainly marijuana and occasionally Robo-tripping (DXM). During the end of my freshman year I had an experience where I woke up in the middle of the night and was sweating profusely I couldn't breathe and I felt like everyone was talking about me, it was the scariest thing I've every experienced in my entire life. Literally the next day I started to notice a slew of symptoms. I noticed then when I looked at the sun or white backgrounds or anything bright little weird looking squiggles would seem to be in my visual field, it seemed as if it was bouncing of the object I was staring at. Then I noticed that I would be overcome by the overwhelming sense of fear and anxiety when around people. It was hard for me to interact because I would feel like I was being awkward and staring at them. I had trouble sleeping and was always feeling in fear of social interaction. I would start to intensely swallow and my mouth was always full of saliva. I dealt with these extreme version of these symptoms for about a year and a half. Now I'm a senior and most of my symptoms have gotten better, but I'm still noticing anxiety sometimes when I'm in social situations, which can tend to lead to the weird swallowing and build up of saliva. I'm also still noticing the weird thing with my vision. Sometimes I feel like I'm using my peripheral vision and when I'm in class i feel like I can't concentrate on what's in front of me because I'm focusing on other irrelevant things, esp. other people. It's so odd and frustrating! Another thing I'm still noticing with my vision is the weird squiggle things I see when looking at bright lights like the sun or at white backgrounds and surfaces. I also notice a constant type of fuzz like static.

I've gotten to the point where I'm afraid this might haunt me my whole life and hold me back from reaching my goals. I don't wanna be afraid to enter the real world because my symptoms hold me back from fully interacting socially. Could the drug use of my past be the cause of this? Are these symptoms normal anxiety symptoms? Or indications of something else? It's safe to say that I have not done ANY drugs minus the occasionally alcoholic drink on the weekend, and I have been trying to eat healthier and overall keep my body very healthy and in shape.

I'm just seeking for advice or help as to what my next step should be to improve my condition and what my condition might actually be?

[Kxn]

no I haven't actually been to a doctor for my symptoms, i figured they would go away by now, and didn't want to have to start using all types of medicines..but clearly that's not the case. I guess that's my next step then

thanks for clarifying that some of the symptoms are indeed anxiety

[emery_217]

Hey a few of the symptoms you mentioned do relate to anxiety have you gone to a doctors to be checked out? Check out *************.com for a full list of symptoms it helped me a bit to understand what i am going thru.