I am seeking information/advice regarding psychosis and alchohol withdrawal.
My brother was drinking beer of an evening for many years. It was a situation of self-medicating for stress relating to owning his own business for 18 years. His life became one of two things - daytime work - evening drink. He eventually reached a point of burnout where he was no longer able to deal with the stress of owning his own business so after a year off he sold it.
Since that time - he has quit drinking twice. Both times the results were paranoia and extreme anxiety. After round 1, when he felt symptom free - he quit taking both his risperdal and his effexor. Unfortunately, he had also started drinking again, just not to the extent of his previous levels.
Due to a severe round with gout, a new MD suggested he quit drinking. (The new MD had not been made aware of the previous event) Within a week he was back to severe paranoia and anxiety.
We (the family) always felt he was not physically dependent on alchohol, only emotionally. Unfortunately it took a second more serious round to realize we were all wrong.
He had to be admitted to an Adult Mental Health ward for 8 days due to the severity of his paranoia and feelings of guilt for drinking. During that time he was put back onto the Risperdal at 3mg/daily and Effexor at 150 mgs daily. After 4 weeks it became apparent this was not working. Last week they upped the Risperdal to 4mg/daily and the Effexor to 225 mgs daily.
Some of our current concerns are the lack of concentration and short term memory loss he is experiencing. His mind is racing all of the time, unfortunately he is not able to overcome negative thoughts about EVERYTHING you could imagine, from personalized license plates to external conversations. He feels that everything evolves around him and not in a positive way.
He is still struggling but hopefully he is gradually getting better. My advice to other families out there is not to second guess and assume there is no physical dependance on alchohol. Even just taking one drink can undo all of the benefit of the prescriptions that have been given to help them.
If anyone has any experience helping someone back from severe anxiety, guilt and paranoia from alchohol dependance, please share with me any advice you may have. Trying to convince him to close off the past and move forward is a struggle.
Thanks . . .
I am seeking information/advice regarding psychosis and alchohol withdrawal.
My brother was drinking beer of an evening for many years. It was a situation of self-medicating for stress relating to owning his own business for 18 years. His life became one of two things - daytime work - evening drink. He eventually reached a point of burnout where he was no longer able to deal with the stress of owning his own business so after a year off he sold it.
Since that time - he has quit drinking twice. Both times the results were paranoia and extreme anxiety. After round 1, when he felt symptom free - he quit taking both his risperdal and his effexor. Unfortunately, he had also started drinking again, just not to the extent of his previous levels.
Due to a severe round with gout, a new MD suggested he quit drinking. (The new MD had not been made aware of the previous event) Within a week he was back to severe paranoia and anxiety.
We (the family) always felt he was not physically dependent on alchohol, only emotionally. Unfortunately it took a second more serious round to realize we were all wrong.
He had to be admitted to an Adult Mental Health ward for 8 days due to the severity of his paranoia and feelings of guilt for drinking. During that time he was put back onto the Risperdal at 3mg/daily and Effexor at 150 mgs daily. After 4 weeks it became apparent this was not working. Last week they upped the Risperdal to 4mg/daily and the Effexor to 225 mgs daily.
Some of our current concerns are the lack of concentration and short term memory loss he is experiencing. His mind is racing all of the time, unfortunately he is not able to overcome negative thoughts about EVERYTHING you could imagine, from personalized license plates to external conversations. He feels that everything evolves around him and not in a positive way.
He is still struggling but hopefully he is gradually getting better. My advice to other families out there is not to second guess and assume there is no physical dependance on alchohol. Even just taking one drink can undo all of the benefit of the prescriptions that have been given to help them.
If anyone has any experience helping someone back from severe anxiety, guilt and paranoia from alchohol dependance, please share with me any advice you may have. Trying to convince him to close off the past and move forward is a struggle.
Thanks . . .
I am seeking information/advice regarding psychosis and alchohol withdrawal.
My brother was drinking beer of an evening for many years. It was a situation of self-medicating for stress relating to owning his own business for 18 years. His life became one of two things - daytime work - evening drink. He eventually reached a point of burnout where he was no longer able to deal with the stress of owning his own business so after a year off he sold it.
Since that time - he has quit drinking twice. Both times the results were paranoia and extreme anxiety. After round 1, when he felt symptom free - he quit taking both his risperdal and his effexor. Unfortunately, he had also started drinking again, just not to the extent of his previous levels.
Due to a severe round with gout, a new MD suggested he quit drinking. (The new MD had not been made aware of the previous event) Within a week he was back to severe paranoia and anxiety.
We (the family) always felt he was not physically dependent on alchohol, only emotionally. Unfortunately it took a second more serious round to realize we were all wrong.
He had to be admitted to an Adult Mental Health ward for 8 days due to the severity of his paranoia and feelings of guilt for drinking. During that time he was put back onto the Risperdal at 3mg/daily and Effexor at 150 mgs daily. After 4 weeks it became apparent this was not working. Last week they upped the Risperdal to 4mg/daily and the Effexor to 225 mgs daily.
Some of our current concerns are the lack of concentration and short term memory loss he is experiencing. His mind is racing all of the time, unfortunately he is not able to overcome negative thoughts about EVERYTHING you could imagine, from personalized license plates to external conversations. He feels that everything evolves around him and not in a positive way.
He is still struggling but hopefully he is gradually getting better. My advice to other families out there is not to second guess and assume there is no physical dependance on alchohol. Even just taking one drink can undo all of the benefit of the prescriptions that have been given to help them.
If anyone has any experience helping someone back from severe anxiety, guilt and paranoia from alchohol dependance, please share with me any advice you may have. Trying to convince him to close off the past and move forward is a struggle.
Thanks . . .
I saw the medication- Risperdal mentioned in her article. I was looking for feedback about taking 6 mg per day with 300 Lithium. This is currently what my 33 yr old son is taking at private psychriatic clinic in spain. 3 months now.
I notice quite a slowness in his physical and some of his mental behavior. I wonder if he came become sharper or if the doctor could decrease the dosage.
comments welcomed....
He has been sick since he was 18 yrs. old and had been off medicine for over 3 years. All typical behavior problems...
I don't know the exact cause, but it is more than likely that this has been building up before you went to the hospital, and you have been trying to control it with alcohol and tranquilizers, and that lead to the hospital. The best thing you can do for yourself now is to get to a good psychiatrist who can work with to find the right combination of medications to get rid of your extreme anxiety so you can begin to funcion better and get more pleasure out of life.
Could be the alcohol and the tranquilizers together, or it could be the withdrawal symptoms from both substances, could be anxiety and stress related to the whole situation, and it could be the additional medications you were administered, either alone or in conjunction with all the other medications you were taking. Maybe it wasn't the proper medication, maybe it wasn't the proper dosage, maybe there was still alchohol or sedatives in your bloodstream or maybe you weren't getting enough nutrients.