Still Not Right - Months after Meth "OD"

MatthewD

Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 13, 2009
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You may have read one of my many previous threads related to this. Around 2 months ago, I really overdid it with Meth, and one big dose had me up for around 5 days - and it all started after an all-nighter on Acid. Without getting too much into it, I was paralized for about 2 and 1/2 to 3 of those days, and literally unable to leave the bed without my friends carrying me. I ended up going to the hospital on the 5th night, and was able to get some sleep thanks to some Diazepam I was given.

For almost 2 weeks after, I was taking a borrowed/given source of Oxazepam (Murelax), which gave me decent relief from my constant anxiety symptoms. Stomach twitches, extremely tight chest, unable to sleep, lethargy (but not when on medication, although that seems counter-productive) are among the more prominent.

After a month or so, I thought my body had recovered, and was getting convinced I was back to normal, and okay. I had been eating healthy, and drinking plenty of water, and had been trying to gain back the 5kg+ I lost in the incident. I was virtually completely drug free during that time, as well. I shortly realized this was not the case, and just like during the immediate weeks after the incident, I realized I could not smoke Marijuana anymore, without intense panic attacks that is.

I had one exceptionally bad experience, after I thought I was "all good", and I smoked 2 cones/bowl's of quality Marijuana, and ended up shaking uncontrollably, getting strong pains in my chest, which at the time was very tight as well. To top it off, my head felt like it was going to cave in on itself and explode all at once. Since then I have tried Marijuana several times, as before this, I was an all-day, every-day smoker. Now I can't really touch the stuff. It's really sad for me, I miss it greatly.

So very occasionally I will have a puff of a joint, or have 1/4 of a cone/bowl of weak-grade herb, but unwillingly make the decision to generally avoid it. But lately, still, I have been getting a really tight chest, which comes and goes randomly, for no apparent reason. Dizziness, extremely lethargic some days, and never energetic on any others. I often sit there thinking about my breathing, no matter what I am doing, unless I'm thoroughly distracted. I have had tests done (at the time of the incident) which said my heart, and I believe lungs, were fine. But I am going to see a Doctor soon, as something about me just isn't right.

The only substance I can touch, as much as I disliked it before, is Alcohol, and occasionally low doses of my prescribed Ritalin. Of course Anxiety medication helps too, and I did try Endone and have a somewhat bad reaction, as I actually got paranoid. My body's really confusing me, but I'm worried something's wrong with my brain, to sum it up. I would ask, is this normal, but of course it's not. I do suffer from Asthma, and it is Winter here, so I'm praying it's some weird reaction to the weather, or alergies etc. But i'm unconvinced as my Asthma puffer does almost nothing, and anything that reduces Anxiety tends to ease these symptoms. Have I fucked myself, so to speak?
 
Dude I went on a couple benders a few months ago on psychs (one weekend my friend and I went to the bar, got wasted and did ecstasy, then shrooms, and blow, then a few beers and more mdma during our mush trip, then dropped 2ci and an hour later 2ce). Not a word of a lie, we were fucked. The 2c's lasted a full 12 hours with wild visuals and I was up till Sunday afternoon when I could finally fall asleep. The comedown off the 2cs made all our muscles cramp up so painfully I almost wanted to die for 4-5 hours. I kept trying to drink water but I was tripping balls and everything was breathing and spinning with colors and shimmering lights. We did this twice, the second time on the comedown for the first time I felt like I was going to go insane. It was fucked, I panicked but I remembered I was on drugs and assured myself I would come down like last time and everything would be ok, so I managed to keep cool.

After these two incidents I felt like if I did any serotonin drug that I would go insane. Drinking felt better and weed started to sketch me out. I still blazed every day and every once in a while I would start thinking weird things that made me sketch out, worry about my existence and make me think of killing myself. I'm an intelligent person still so I know these are effects of these drugs and I just braced myself through these episodes. I had never understood people who suffer anxiety attacks and mental disorders. I could sympathize for them but I could never really understand, now I do.

For the first time in my life I realized that your sanity should not be taken for granted. I prayed that these episodes would subside on their own and not manifest into something greater. Thankfully, after abstaining from serotonin drugs like mushrooms, acid, mdma and e, these episodes seemed to be separated by longer intervals and not as intense.

Matthew, I would totally suggest abstaining from all drugs, esp those prescripts. If you start to feel a bit edgy have a drink but keep it at that, don't want to start an alcohol abuse problem now. After a bit you can try a couple puffs and see how that works out. The key here is to take it slow, you will start to feel better. You can also try taking 5-HTP, I only took a few of those but I believed they helped a bit.

Also remember, many problems you "feel" are a direct result of you worrying about them. I realized this when I would start getting anxiety attacks and the main driver of it was me worried about this anxiety attack I am not used to, so it snowballs on me. Distracting myself with something else right away is one way to make it fade but takes practice not to slip back into it.

You will be good, a couple months is not a very long time relatively, and just following what I say will gradually make it better not worse, so it's all uphill from here. Make sure you keep hydrated and get plenty of sleep. Being tired makes symptoms SO much worse.

Cheers!
 
Thank you very much for your helpful and informative reply! I've come to the conclusion that "Anxiety is creating Anxiety", in this case. But it's quite often triggered by physical symptoms, which bring my attention to it. For example, I'll be relaxing, and out of nowhere I notice I'm becoming a little light headed, then I take a deep breath, only to notice it didn't quite do the job... The cycle begins.

But I'll get over it, I hope. I guess I'll have to stay off everything, even the incredibly handy Ritalin, which I do only take when I'm dead-lethargic or need to try and study. I just have to keep distracting myself when it "kicks in", but I feel it's subliminally coming from the deep down fear I have wrecked my brain, somewhat. It's hard to forget, as it's literally changed my lifestyle.

Anxiety causing anxiety... What a pain.
 
To add to the discussion, another problem I have is many "everyday" feelings, seem to remind me of "traumatic" ones. Dehydration, tiredness, sickness, hunger, asthma (you get used to it), etc. all lead to bad trains of though. I fully understand where you're getting at.
 
Hey mate, I'm going through something almost identical after an OD on dexamphetamine, I'd advise going to a doctor, telling them what happened, your symptoms, and just ask for a full checkup. At the least, it'll bring you some peace of mind, which should help with the anxiety.

And stay the hell away from stimulants, I find even a tiny dose of anything stimulating sets my symptoms off horribly. Give your body and mind a break man.
 
Well I have been avoiding telling my psychologist, as I am worried I would get considered a drug abuser and cut off my ADHD medication. I have still taken it lately, but not routine, only when I feel like power-cleaning my house, and last night to do an all nighter. I generally have 1 10mg Ritalin every couple hours, and most of the time I react well to it, so long as I keep busy and do not start thinking "this will definitely give me anxiety", although I always will, I usually quickly get off that. I stupidly tried smoking Marijuana again, and had about a third of a cone worth, and thought I was actually reacting fine. About 20 to 30 minutes in my chest got really tight, an my breathes really shallow and forced. I felt sort of drunk too, like being high and dizzy at the same time (probably from the deep/irregular breaths). This thread has actually helped my non-substance anxiety that was randomly coming out nowhere, but I guess I am not cured like I jumped the gun on. Excuse my grammar and lack of paragraphs, this isn't as detailed as I wanted to reply, but I have to borrow an iPhone to post for now.
 
Glad to hear it's helpin you out dude. I know how hard it is to stop but don't be pullin all nighters if you can. I'll admit I still do it too because it's just too fun sometimes, but it is a huge factor in increasing anxiety if you're not getting enough sleep. I haven't had anything similar with the weed but I also smoke constantly every day almost so I doubt that would change for me. Anyways, your non-substance anxiety decreasing is a great sign so keep doing what you're doing and things will only get better!
 
I'm glad to you hear you are doing better. You really should take it easy though. Maybe being honest with your psychologist would get you better treatment and allow you to live a better lifestyle. It's something to think about. They could put you on meds or give you therapy that would allow you work through the anxiety better thus making you feel MUCH better. You may even learn how to get to smoke again... :\
 
Glad to hear it's helpin you out dude. I know how hard it is to stop but don't be pullin all nighters if you can. I'll admit I still do it too because it's just too fun sometimes, but it is a huge factor in increasing anxiety if you're not getting enough sleep. I haven't had anything similar with the weed but I also smoke constantly every day almost so I doubt that would change for me. Anyways, your non-substance anxiety decreasing is a great sign so keep doing what you're doing and things will only get better!

I am glad as well! I think the fact that other people have experienced and are experiencing this and recovered makes me hopeful and a lot less anxious in general. The Ritalin all-nighter was probably not a good idea, but only on the comedown I felt bad thankfully. I never would have guessed I would not be able to smoke either, it really caught me by surprise. I literally was high at every waking moment for the past year or so before this and planned to stay that way for many more. It's like my brain turned a switch on it.
 
I'm glad to you hear you are doing better. You really should take it easy though. Maybe being honest with your psychologist would get you better treatment and allow you to live a better lifestyle. It's something to think about. They could put you on meds or give you therapy that would allow you work through the anxiety better thus making you feel MUCH better. You may even learn how to get to smoke again... :\

I am not sure if it is worth telling my Psychiatrist, I am not sure if they could actually help. You guys have basically done anything they realistically could. Actual medical tests would probably be comforting, but then again, I am not sure if that's in the Psychiatrist's ability. I originally saw them purely for the purpose of getting what I see as incredibly useful ADHD medication, but I basically fit it to a tee anyway! But I only ever planned on taking them when I actually wanted to do something strenuous, and on occasion for recreation. But back on-track, the only thing my Psychiatrist could do is prescribe me some sort of Benzo or something, but I could probably get that with a bit of a stretch of the truth. Having them on hand makes me feel a lot better knowing that If anxiety strikes, I can reverse it, but as I mentioned it is more situational now.
 
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sounds intense... I'd never dream of doing it, but I sure hope reading this has deterred others from the thought of pursuing a similar fate :(
 
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