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Help...I feel drunk all day

Dear Doc,

About 6 months ago, I was driving down the highway and had a panic attack out of no where.  I am not sure where it came from.  I have had heart palpations for a long time but nothing has come of it.  They became worse so I worried about them.  I have been a worry my whole time.  I have pre-hypertension blood pressure and about 6 months when the panic attacks started began taking blood pressure medicine.  Since then I have had ECG, EKG, MRI, CT, CCTA and multiple extensive blood work and lab test done.  I have tried multiple anti-depressants and recently taking Wellbrutin and Buspar for depression and anxiety.  I was recently diagnosed with an Anxiexty Disorder that lead to depression but my bottom line question that no one can answer is....ever since this started 6 months NO MATTER how many medicines I take or currently taking I have this feeling that I am drunk or having a buzz like I have been drinking.  This feeling will not go away and none of the medications have helped this.  Do you have any suggsetions?

Frustrated....
21 Responses
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Avatar universal
Try looking into something called POTS, it's a form of dysautonomia.
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Avatar universal
I have I have been dealing with this for 6yr. And every doctor and every test they do comes back normal ..it only happens ato my job and it start with this tingling  feeling in my legs and arms than my face after that I feel drunk and sometimes I pass out or have an anxiety attack I would like to know what it is and how to stop it..I get all the symptomsame yell have said.
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1 Comments
Look into POTS, it is a form of dysautonomia. Dinet is a really good resource. It can be very debilitating, but there are things you can do, compression stockings can be a life changer. Try a advil sinus and see if you have a better day, if it helps you may be dealing with POTS or any of the other forms of dysautonomia. Hope it helps.
Avatar universal
I have been having the same issue for 4 moths now 24/7. The more research I did the more disheartening it was to read about the lack of answers out there, not to mention so many people who have been dealing with this for years. I know this is a neurology forum but I think I have figured out what is wrong with me and it's not neurological. It can be called auto brewery syndrome, candida overgrowth or the proper term Candidiasis. Basically are body is converting sugar and starch into ethonal. Here are a few links that might help:

http://www.mytummytantrum.com/2012/09/08/auto-brewery-syndrome-from-yeast-overgrowth/

http://www.caringonline.com/eatdis/reports/nutrition/sugar_cravings.html

I'm 2 weeks in to a year long life change to rid my body of this. So far not much change except for some exastrobated drunkeness which is expected with the die-off of the candida yeast. I'm not going to lie, this diet *****, but my life is being over take by this drunk feeing and I need to try something. I need my life back. hopefully this works for me and can be of help to any of you who are also in my shoes. GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU!
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Avatar universal
I have this drunken feeling out of no where and it usually lasts for the rest of the day. I got it consistently when I was back in college but when I had left and was less stressed out I stopped getting it. It has been about 6 months since my last episode and now it has come back. I sit here feeling detached from reality, feeling buzzed and these symptoms make me feel hopeless and are starting to make me depressed. I want nothing more than to feel normal again, like I'm living in my own life. I wish I had control over this. I wish there were some simple answer, or someone willing to help all of us suffering from this. My question would be , could taking metformin; a treatment for diabetes or pcos, be the cause of this neurological disorder in some suffering from it?
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Avatar universal
I have this drunken feeling out of no where and it usually lasts for the rest of the day. I got it consistently when I was back in college but when I had left and was less stressed out I stopped getting it. It has been about 6 months since my last episode and now it has come back. I sit here feeling detached from reality, feeling buzzed and these symptoms make me feel hopeless and are starting to make me depressed. I want nothing more than to feel normal again, like I'm living in my own life. I wish I had control over this. I wish there were some simple answer, or someone willing to help all of us suffering from this. My question would be , could taking metformin; a treatment for diabetes or pcos, be the cause of this neurological disorder in some suffering from it?
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi Bethsof2011, It appears that a lot of us are still looking for answers.

I've been battling this drunk/disoriented feeling for almost a year and a half now. In the beginning it started with my first ever panic attack. I thought I was having a heart attack or stroke because I never had one before. over the next few months I'd have a couple "Almost" panic attacks but not a full blown one like the first. One night I came home from work and one hit me. It was as bad as the first one and it lasted for hours. I was able to fall asleep and the next morning I felt fine. I got ready for work and as I was getting to leave when I got hit with another bad panic attack. I stayed home that day, but my vision has never been right since. I've gone to a bunch of different doctors and had tests run. So far no real answers. My wife and I found out this year that we had a gas leak in the house which has been fixed. We also found out that we have toxic mold as well, which we are currently trying to get rid of. I'm probably around 90% back to myself, but still don't feel like the true me. I used to enjoy drinking in the past, but since having this "drunk" feeling 24/7, I've been completely sober because I don't like the way it makes me feel anymore. I will continued to search for answers and if I find a way to fix this problem, I'll be sure to post back. If anyone else has been able to fix this problem, please let us know.
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Avatar universal
Anybody please answer me what the drunk feeling was... I'm completely stuck here with this for 6 months. Have run all the tests etc.
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Avatar universal
Sorry if I got anyone's hopes up.  Although I thought that the answer for me had been found the episodes have somewhat gone back to normal.  I'm not sure why.  My Dr had increased my Trofranil to 200mg and there again was a slight imrovement and now has gone back to the same again.  I don't know what's going on.
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Avatar universal
Feeling better with treatment !!!!!    My ambulatory EEG showed no seizures so I was referred back to my regular MD for treatment for complex migraines. He prescibed  Topamax which was like putting a magnifying glass on my symptoms (took me almost 3 weeks to recover) and then Propranolol. The Propranolol just made me lazy and didn't really do anything for the episodes.  

On June 10th I had an appt at the Balance Center with a neurologist.  He again said something about complex migraines.  Every doctor as at least mentioned it.  He ran some tests that reminded me more of the test the cops do on the side of the road.  :o)  I have a diagnosis, complex migraines.  Treatment, the same drug that I've been on for 20 years (prescribed first for "tired muscles"  and more recently for my Fibromyalsia).  He increased it from 100mg to 150mg.  The name of the drug is Trofranil (generic is Imipramine).  I must say I've had 2 days of clarity in the last week and I believe that I'm going to have another great day today.  Not episode free but the episodes are different they aren't as deep as they used to be.  I also don't feel like I'm on the edge of an episode.  Since February I haven't been able to drive.  Even on my "good days" I couldn't do it.  I didn't realize that what I was clasifying as a good day was not even close the the clarity I'm feeling now.  In the last week I've been able to drive a couple of times.  

I beg all of you to seek help for complex migraines and at least try the treatments.  It may take a while to find a drug that works for you.  But it's worth a try.  

Best of luck to you all.  I hope you find something that works for you.

  
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Avatar universal
I'm going to have an ambulatory EEG starting on Monday thru Thursday.  This is to confirm if I'm having some sort of seizure.  If they rule this out then they are going to conclude that I'm have Complex Migraines.  They will then start me on meds.  I'll report back.
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1262582 tn?1269885336
I had almost all of these symptoms for over two years due to toxic mold exposure.

I had an especially hard time at stores, navigating crowds, aisles, etc. and was eventually limited to shopping at one dark, quiet, uncrowded organic market or grocery delivery. Confusion over simple decisions, anxiety, panic attacks, heart palpitations, irritated eyes and insomnia soon became my everyday companions. So did nausea from the sense of spacey, dizzy, disorientation. I would wake up shaky. Occasionally, I suffered from slurred speech that I neither recognized nor was able to control. I had all the symptoms of a raging alcoholic. My husband was convinced he had full blown MS. Very frustrating for a couple of young, non-drinking, non-smoking, organic only vegetarian, vitamin swallowing, exercise freaks like us.

It turned out there was Stachybotrys (toxic mold) growing in the ceiling and walls of our apartment. Most doctors are neither educated about or equipped to diagnose or treat toxic mold exposure or mycotoxicosis. We'd spent tens of thousands of dollars in tests (MRIs, CT scans, EKGs, EEGs, 28 vials worth of blood panels, saliva tests, you name it) and been through several doctors before we even heard of "toxic mold". By the time we found a toxicologist who knew what he was doing, my liver function was less than 20% and I had been told I had about six months to live WITH NO KNOWN CAUSE. Our  little dog who had always been vibrantly healthy had thyroid and liver enzyme results that were off the charts.

Treatment = 1) Moving out with only the clothes on our backs which later had to be disposed of because like everything else we ever owned, they, too, were contaminated with mold spores. 2) Bathing in iodine and putting on new clothes. 3) HEPA filters in every room of our new apartment. 4) Avoiding every kind of mushroom type food, and especially mycotoxin based antibiotics. 5) Living on carrot juice, Oregamax, cayenne tinctures and LOTS of purified water. 6) Sleeping for about six weeks straight that we barely even remember. We eventually recovered liver function, the brain damage symptoms from the encephalopathy began to fade, and our bloodwork began to return to normal. Some doctors use anti-fungals, but they have side effects of their own and we were well past the point where they were safe.

I'm sorry to say that once you've been exposed, your entire system becomes sensitized and it takes very little exposure to set off the entire symptom cascade all over again. We will struggle with this for the rest of our lives. Finding a toxicologist specializing in mycotoxins or a doctor specializing in "sick building syndrome" is important.

Note: my husband experienced even more severe MS-like symptoms about a year later when we purchased and slept on an air mattress. It was due to the PBCs in the plastic and the PBCs / chemicals used in the manufacturing process. His symptoms began to clear within days of getting rid of it and abated almost completely with a month or so.

Years later,
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Avatar universal
I'm nearly in tears reading this.  My onset was 2-14-10.  This attack last about 3 hours and consisted of buzzing (I could hear it and feel it), "dizziness", the sweats, vomiting and weakness.  The symptoms stopped and for 24 hours I was fine.  At 11:30pm the next night it started again.  This time to stay.  My husband called the ambulance and I was in the hospital for a week.  

I had placed the word dizziness in quotations as it was this strange vision more than dizziness.  I found out at the hospital that it was Nystagma.  This is where the eyes dart back and forth rapidly.

I also used the word weakness when it was more of a conscious fainting.  I knew what was going on around me but my body wasn't connected to my brain.  In a few seconds my body was back and able to be controlled.

3 days into my hospital stay the full body drops had stopped and it went to just my head.  At one point I could actually feel when it was going to happen and warn the nurses that my head was going to drop.  This is also when I started with the drunk feeling.  

In one week I went from fully bed ridden to up only to the commode with 2 people to assist.  It was at this point that the hospital decided that they weren't really doing anything for me and sent mw home with a walker.

At this point it seems to be things around me that bring on the symptoms.  Examples are noise or more a combination of noises.  Also visual stimulation such as the shampoo isle at the local Rite Aid.  If there is too much sound or sight my brain can't handle it.  

It's now been 5 weeks, I can't work or drive.  I read the stories on this site and know I'm not alone but also don't see any real findings.  

Desparate in Michigan,
Nancy
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Avatar universal
I have sleep apnea and my CPAP is set at a "15" pressure. My "numbers" have been good since I started this treatment just over a year ago. That being said, I have been dealing with this same thing for years. The CPAP has helped fix the problems at night with the breathing, but when I got up in the mornings I felt drunk all day long in my head/mind. Best way to describe it is that I was just numb and it felt like I was living in a body that was just not "there". I was struggling at work and my memory has been terrible.

About two months ago I switched sleep Dr.'s due to my frustrations. It was time for a second opinion. After a couple of adjustments, my new Dr. has me on 40 mg of Adderall each morning. I now feel 100% normal and am back to my old self. This has been a miracle for me. I saw my wife tearing up a couple of nights ago and asked her what was wrong. She said she was only crying because she was happy. She has not seen "me" in a long, long time. Killed me to hear that because I have been putting off going to a new Dr. because I felt some type of loyalty since he discovered my apnea and probably saved my life. That being said, the life I was living was not very good because I felt drunk 24/7. Drunk was fun in college. Not so much with a wife, job and bills to pay.

My old Dr. was OK with my treatment because my "numbers" from the CPAP said it was doing it's job. He just said I needed to go to bed earlier. (I was already sleeping 8 hours a night according to the CPAP machine) Be a squeaky wheel with your Dr. or go and find a new one. There is no reason to live this way. Life is too short to feel like this.  
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Avatar universal
I have the same type of symptoms, I feel like I have 2 beers in me 24 hours a day. I have been dealing with this now for two years. I have seen many doc's...nothing found yet. I eat very healthy, exercise, get plenty of sleep, don't drink or do drugs. Have ruled out cardiac issues, MS, stroke. Ear tests are inconclusive and the only spec of direction was the possibility of seizures from taking two tests (eeg and eng). Have taken seizure meds...did not help. Took migrane meds, since it could be a silent migrane...did not help.

Do things get worse for everyone else when you do the following:

Drive
Look at a computer screen
Look at TV
Go into places like a supermarket

??

Frustrated Keith
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Avatar universal
I have all the same symptoms as everyone on here. It is so frustrating because I have no answers so far. Anyone who has gotten better please share your experience with me. Thank you.
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Avatar universal
Wow, all of this sounds so familiar.I have been experiencing all this for 9 months now.

bubbs, you put it so well: "you feel like your in a dream not quiet conected to your body properly eyes feel heavy in weird like not focuseing. head feels weird fuzzy ears feel blocked things look almost plastic foggy like ur in a glass vase"

I've described it as unreality and light-dream (as opposed to darker dreams at night, as your eyes are closed), but I think that the term that really gets at its essence is drunkenness. All my senses are muffled, dull. It's also become hard to focus, and my mind always feels fuzzy, clouded and veiled. I'm totally spaced out, my attention is terrible. In a crowded room or a grocery store my attention seems to be diffused over everything. Moreover, my body feels disconnected from me, like the real me is this tiny figure inside my head, watching from behind one of those soundproof glass walls.

I've realized that I'm having trouble with both forethought and memory, too. For example, my memory of last night (for which I was completely sober) is exactly like a memory of a night of heavy drinking was in the past. As for forethought, i have lost the ability to be mentally prepared, feel organically that I have obligations.

For me it is pretty much a steady stream of this ********. But sometimes I have pretty intense bouts. Is it the same for you all?

In 9 months I have seen two physicians, 2 psychologists, and have a neuropsychological evaluation next week--no one knows what's going on. I have been on a gluten-free diet for the past month, and have been taking fishoil and men's one-a-day vitamins for 4 months now. Not one thing has helped.

How the hell do you deal with this thing? baconmom, have you been successful in treating it?
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Avatar universal
I know the feeling all too well and have gone for all the tests. But the one test that did give me some answers was an Ambulatory EEG. It is where you need to wear the devise with at least 16 probes or leads for almost a week, and everytime you feel it worsen you have to press a button and that records your brain activity during that time. My results was that I was having seizures. The drunken feeling that I had 24/7 was seizure auras or mini seizures. It has been several years now since the sudden onset and am still working with my neurologist to find the right meds. for me. The meds. I'm on now (Keppra and Zonogran) help alot but I still get that feeling occationally. Meds. I've tried were Topamax, Dilantin, Lemictal, and others that I can't think of at the moment. Good luck to all that is going through this.
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Avatar universal
Hi,

The drunk feeling that you are describing could a result of extreme tiredness or exhaustion. It could also be due to diabetes or an allery.
I would suggest you to try taking an OTC multivitamin everyday and see if it helps.
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Avatar universal
Ryb
I have the same feeling. My eyes feel very tired and I can sleep for hours on end. Anyone find any answers from doctors?
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Avatar universal
hey there sounds like depresonalization disorder i also suffer from anxiety and have the same thing. you feel like your in a dream not quiet conected to your body properly eyes feel heavy in weird like not focuseing. head feels weird fuzzy ears feel blocked things look almost plastic foggy like ur in a glass vase. look it up depersonalization disorder
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Avatar universal
I wake up dizzy, and feel as if I'm rushing, my face feels plactic, and I feel as though I'm drunk 24/7.  Doc says its depression, I dont know.  Been to doctor for the past 1 1/2 years with no diagnosis.  I'm frustrated, scared and just wish I could wake to my day feel normal, I felt normal in the past, I really would like that on a daily basis.

always me.......
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