Mental Health Drug-related mental disorder

[Brigitta Varga]

Hello everyone!
I am contacting you about my partner. He has had a suspected drug-induced mental disorder for about two years. On one particular evening, he smoked a line of cocaine with his friends and then has no memory of the rest of the evening, except that he was very unwell and has no memory of how he got home. The symptoms started when he woke up the next day. She felt nervous and had an "emptiness" in her head. Sensations were duller, such as tastes, smells, etc. She said she felt as if she was floating, weightless. These symptoms are getting worse every day. She sleeps soundly, remembers almost everything from the night, it's as if she's only just half asleep.
We have seen several neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, addiction specialists. Doctors have done a lot of tests, (MRI, ECG, CT scan, blood tests, sleep tests) everything is normal, the only thing they have seen with sleep is that he only has 2-3 hours of deep sleep, the other 4-5 hours are superficial. The psychiatrists have done a number of tests on him which showed he is fully conscious, sane. Initially a psychiatrist recommended sedatives, sleeping pills and then antipsychotics.
These medicines were effective for a while, but after a while, my partner felt no effect of the medicine, only a withdrawal from it. He stopped taking the medication and has not taken any sleeping pills, sedatives or antipsychotics for about a year. One psychiatrist said that the drug he was taking at the time was probably too much for his nervous system, and that receptors responsible for these sensations or for restful sleep could not regenerate, which is why he is experiencing these symptoms. You live a healthy life, exercise, take vitamins, eat a healthy diet. He doesn't smoke, doesn't drink alcohol and hasn't taken any drugs since.
Do you think the drug caused the anxiety, and does the anxiety make you feel that you are getting worse? Should he start medicines again or try to learn meditate or what?
I would be very grateful for the answers!

 

[simstim]

Thread moved from MDMA to mental health.

 

[arrall]

This honestly sounds like your partner is stuck in a dissociative state of some sort. Do they have any history of trauma, dissociation, anything like that?

Grounding exercises and meditation could be very helpful for your partner and are certainly worth trying here.

It is good to hear that they already exercise, take vitamins, have a good diet, and abstain from drugs + alcohol. Have they been abstaining from caffeine as well?

The cocaine could have been laced with something or it could have just been a fluke event randomly triggered by the drug.

The whole thing reminds me of a report by Ann Shulgin in the book 'PiHKaL' on a similar experience she had that was randomly triggered by an experimental research chemical. She consulted with a friend who was a psychotherapist and was able to get out of this state after a couple weeks. I believe she just allowed herself to rest, meditated, and let the dissociative state pass. She later tried the same compound (which had not triggered anything like this in others) and found that it had little to no effect and did not return her to this dissociated state. It seems that sometimes odd, disconnected, dissociative states can be triggered in susceptible individuals seemingly randomly by drugs or other events. Whether the source of these states can be attributed to drugs, mental illness, trauma, some sort of fluke, or something else entirely remains to be decided.

 

[Brigitta Varga]

This honestly sounds like your partner is stuck in a dissociative state of some sort. Do they have any history of trauma, dissociation, anything like that?

Grounding exercises and meditation could be very helpful for your partner and are certainly worth trying here.

It is good to hear that they already exercise, take vitamins, have a good diet, and abstain from drugs + alcohol. Have they been abstaining from caffeine as well?

The cocaine could have been laced with something or it could have just been a fluke event randomly triggered by the drug.

The whole thing reminds me of a report by Ann Shulgin in the book 'PiHKaL' on a similar experience she had that was randomly triggered by an experimental research chemical. She consulted with a friend who was a psychotherapist and was able to get out of this state after a couple weeks. I believe she just allowed herself to rest, meditated, and let the dissociative state pass. She later tried the same compound (which had not triggered anything like this in others) and found that it had little to no effect and did not return her to this dissociated state. It seems that sometimes odd, disconnected, dissociative states can be triggered in susceptible individuals seemingly randomly by drugs or other events. Whether the source of these states can be attributed to drugs, mental illness, trauma, some sort of fluke, or something else entirely remains to be decided.

Thank you very much for your reply in the first place.
No, he does not consume caffeine either. What was left out of the story is that the party that day included a pre-workout buzz that he consumed that morning before going to the gym. That buzz contains a lot of caffeine, which he used to train longer and better.
It's probably all those things together, so the combination of the drug, the high caffeine, hit his nervous system.
Some psychiatrists have said that some people are genetically predisposed to have these symptoms, whether it's the first time they use drugs or the 50th time.
His current doctor would like my partner to start taking quetiapine medication, in theory that would alleviate these symptoms.
Anyway, I personally have been with him for 1 full year, I see what he is going through every day, and I think he is so stressed and scared of it all subconsciously that he feels his condition getting worse every day. Physically she is completely healthy otherwise, no symptoms at all. No numbness, no pain, just something unexplainable going on in his head.
Do you think it is worth starting that guetiapine medication?
My own opinion is that I think meditation would help, a very good friend of mine is a philosopher, and he also suggested that my boyfriend should start learning to meditate.
I'm afraid of medication because I'm afraid he would have to take it for the rest of his life... On the other hand, he has to do most of his work driving, I don't know if he can drive legally with an antipsychotic in his system.

 

[arrall]

Thank you very much for your reply in the first place.
No, he does not consume caffeine either. What was left out of the story is that the party that day included a pre-workout buzz that he consumed that morning before going to the gym. That buzz contains a lot of caffeine, which he used to train longer and better.
It's probably all those things together, so the combination of the drug, the high caffeine, hit his nervous system.
Some psychiatrists have said that some people are genetically predisposed to have these symptoms, whether it's the first time they use drugs or the 50th time.
His current doctor would like my partner to start taking quetiapine medication, in theory that would alleviate these symptoms.
Anyway, I personally have been with him for 1 full year, I see what he is going through every day, and I think he is so stressed and scared of it all subconsciously that he feels his condition getting worse every day. Physically she is completely healthy otherwise, no symptoms at all. No numbness, no pain, just something unexplainable going on in his head.
Do you think it is worth starting that guetiapine medication?
My own opinion is that I think meditation would help, a very good friend of mine is a philosopher, and he also suggested that my boyfriend should start learning to meditate.
I'm afraid of medication because I'm afraid he would have to take it for the rest of his life... On the other hand, he has to do most of his work driving, I don't know if he can drive legally with an antipsychotic in his system.

He should be able to drive fine with an antipsychotic in his system and I don’t think he is necessarily on it for life. It could be worth trying the Quetiapine, but it is often overprescribed for various mental conditions such as this and I would honestly be surprised if Quetiapine fixed this.

I stongly think that he should try adding daily meditation to his routine for a couple weeks before starting any medication. Medication should be a last resort.

 

[Jerry Atrick]

Thank you very much for your reply in the first place.
No, he does not consume caffeine either. What was left out of the story is that the party that day included a pre-workout buzz that he consumed that morning before going to the gym. That buzz contains a lot of caffeine, which he used to train longer and better.
It's probably all those things together, so the combination of the drug, the high caffeine, hit his nervous system.
Some psychiatrists have said that some people are genetically predisposed to have these symptoms, whether it's the first time they use drugs or the 50th time.
His current doctor would like my partner to start taking quetiapine medication, in theory that would alleviate these symptoms.
Anyway, I personally have been with him for 1 full year, I see what he is going through every day, and I think he is so stressed and scared of it all subconsciously that he feels his condition getting worse every day. Physically she is completely healthy otherwise, no symptoms at all. No numbness, no pain, just something unexplainable going on in his head.
Do you think it is worth starting that guetiapine medication?
My own opinion is that I think meditation would help, a very good friend of mine is a philosopher, and he also suggested that my boyfriend should start learning to meditate.
I'm afraid of medication because I'm afraid he would have to take it for the rest of his life... On the other hand, he has to do most of his work driving, I don't know if he can drive legally with an antipsychotic in his system.

Please keep in mind that we are not doctors and many members on this forum have differing opinions on the effectiveness of psychiatric medications. I apologize but I sometimes get triggered when I see people posting about how they are taking all sorts of street drugs, of which they are not 100% certain of the ingredients. Then they come on here and go on about how skeptical they are when a psychiatrist who spent at least 8 years in school suggests taking a pill.

My opinion is that quetiapine is not a death sentence nor is it a life sentence. In other words, it will not kill anyone and most likely will not have to be prescribed for the rest of someone's life. @arrall is correct that quetiapine is overprescribed for various conditions and even as a sleep aid. That said it is still very effective for treating symptoms of anxiety, psychosis, etc. even if only taken for a short amount of time. I took quetiapine for like a week then stopped under my doctor's supervision. Didn't kill me. Maybe all it will take is a week or two of meds for your partner to get out of this funk.

Ultimately it is your partner's responsibility to communicate his concerns with his doctor. If your partner does not want to take these meds long term, he should tell his doctor this before he begins taking anything. If he does not want to take any meds, then he also needs to communicate this with his doctor and ask what other holistic or non-medication alternatives his doctor can suggest. I really hope your SO can find help with his problem.

I just noticed you partner drives for work. Another thing to consider is, legality aside, quetiapine can cause drowsiness depending on the dose. I have actually heard anecdotally that a higher dose causes less drowsiness. But also make sure that your partner tells his doctor that he drives for a living as it could make a difference with medication choice and/or dose.

 

[Brigitta Varga]

Please keep in mind that we are not doctors and many members on this forum have differing opinions on the effectiveness of psychiatric medications. I apologize but I sometimes get triggered when I see people posting about how they are taking all sorts of street drugs, of which they are not 100% certain of the ingredients. Then they come on here and go on about how skeptical they are when a psychiatrist who spent at least 8 years in school suggests taking a pill.

My opinion is that quetiapine is not a death sentence nor is it a life sentence. In other words, it will not kill anyone and most likely will not have to be prescribed for the rest of someone's life. @arrall is correct that quetiapine is overprescribed for various conditions and even as a sleep aid. That said it is still very effective for treating symptoms of anxiety, psychosis, etc. even if only taken for a short amount of time. I took quetiapine for like a week then stopped under my doctor's supervision. Didn't kill me. Maybe all it will take is a week or two of meds for your partner to get out of this funk.

Ultimately it is your partner's responsibility to communicate his concerns with his doctor. If your partner does not want to take these meds long term, he should tell his doctor this before he begins taking anything. If he does not want to take any meds, then he also needs to communicate this with his doctor and ask what other holistic or non-medication alternatives his doctor can suggest. I really hope your SO can find help with his problem.

I just noticed you partner drives for work. Another thing to consider is, legality aside, quetiapine can cause drowsiness depending on the dose. I have actually heard anecdotally that a higher dose causes less drowsiness. But also make sure that your partner tells his doctor that he drives for a living as it could make a difference with medication choice and/or dose.

Thank you for your reply.
Yes, I am aware that you are not doctors (although there may be some of you).Most of all, I posted here because I am hoping that others have had this happen to them, and caused even one of the symptoms I mentioned above. Unfortunately we have been going to the doctors for two years and no one knows what to do about it. The current doctor for my partner is helpful and conscientious, we trust him, I am just trying to get information from ordinary people who have had this happen to them with a one-off drug use.
My partner will start taking the medication this week and we'll see if it helps. I am confident that quentiapine will work.
I'm not deleting the thread yet, in case others from the world at large are struggling with similar issues, and our conversation will be helpful later!
I will post later if there is any improvement.
And I am especially glad that the medicine helped you and that you are well now, I wish you continued good health!

 

[Jerry Atrick]

Thank you for your reply.
Yes, I am aware that you are not doctors (although there may be some of you).Most of all, I posted here because I am hoping that others have had this happen to them, and caused even one of the symptoms I mentioned above. Unfortunately we have been going to the doctors for two years and no one knows what to do about it. The current doctor for my partner is helpful and conscientious, we trust him, I am just trying to get information from ordinary people who have had this happen to them with a one-off drug use.
My partner will start taking the medication this week and we'll see if it helps. I am confident that quentiapine will work.
I'm not deleting the thread yet, in case others from the world at large are struggling with similar issues, and our conversation will be helpful later!
I will post later if there is any improvement.
And I am especially glad that the medicine helped you and that you are well now, I wish you continued good health!

Of course! Sorry, sometimes I communicate without much filter and can come off as being a little harsh. My comments about not being doctors was more a disclaimer than anything. Sometimes advice from strangers, while we mean well, should occasionally be taken with a grain of salt. Not saying you've received terrible advice in this thread, I just like to throw out that disclaimer.

I agree, please do not delete anything because you are correct that others can benefit from this discussion. As a mod of Bluelight I can say with confidence that us mods try not to delete things unless they are personal attacks against fellow forumites, harmful recommendations, blatant violations of the Bluelight User Agreement/subforum polices, etc. I see nothing like that here.

I truly hope your bf can resolve these issues. Please do keep us updated!