Intense crying, screaming, uncontrollable breathing, and body movement

[tyrinnis]

Hi, im new here. sorry this is my first thread, so bear with me please.

My name is joel, I am 21 years old, and I recently had a scary occurrence this past Saturday night.

I went to a party with my girlfriend at her friend's house. There weren't a lot of people there yet, only about 3 other people. They were very nice and hospitable, especially the home owner. Before the party we bought some beer. (I rarely drink BTW.) I bought a drink called "double bastard" I never put my drink down at the party, so it rules out the case of someone putting something in it.

I was getting very tired, and I was pretty disoriented. so I went with my girlfriend to the living room where no one was, so I could rest on the couch. As I lay there, I remember not wanting her to leave the room. at least for a few minutes, but her friends were waiting, and she wanted to get back to the party. She left the room, and as soon as she had left me, as I watched her walk out I began to cry, a few minutes later the home owner came in to check up on me. (I had only cried a little bit at this point.) He had asked me if I wanted him to turn the light off, or if I wanted a bed to sleep on. I refused, and he only turned the light off for me. When he approached to do so, I covered my face with my jacket that I was using as a blanket at the time. I didnt want him to to see that there were tears on my face.

Soon after he left the room, my girlfriend came into the room. I was so glad to see her, I imediately sat up. (I was happy to see her.) She walked over and asked me if I was ok. I hugged her around the waist, and said I didnt want you to leave. I began to cry more and more intensly. I was making more noise and more tears. She did what she could to comfort me, just hold me and speak softly, but it was getting bad. She asked me if I wanted to go. She had been drinking too, and it would not be a good idea for us both to leave, and drive home. She felt it was best to do, but I felt bad for her, because I know she wanted to be with her friends, but she felt I was more important.

We left the party. when we got in the car, things got REALLY bad! I was sitting there and the crying grew more intense. I was almost screaming. by body was always rigid. I couldn't control my breathing. and my limbs couldn't be controlled. I was freaking out! As we were driving she would ask me to calm down. I tried to control my breathing and it would work for about 5 seconds, then suddenly breath would shoot into my lungs and I would hyperventilate and cry even more intensely. She tried to talk to me, let me know where we were. Nothing helped.

We had to stop and get gas at one point. She went into the royal farms, and had asked her to get me some water. While she was in there my freakout still continued. She looked horrorfied to see me convulsing and screaming in the car. I was getting very hungry and and sweaty, from all the movement. We got our gas, and left as soon as possible. Things didn't get any better. My sporadic movement was so bad. I cracked her dash board by accident, and crushed a class cup she had in her car with my foot. I had no control over what my body and voice was doing. I know that when I wasn't convulsing everywhere I would be holding and hugging my girlfriend.

My body was always tense and my fingernails were almost always embedded in something. It lasted for about an hour and whenever I seemed to be calming down I would explode into an emotional rampage! We parked in front of my house, and were thinking of taking a walk or something but I didn't want to wake up the neighbors so we stayed in the car.

I tried to kiss her a little bit, but I was not able to do it for long before I would hyperventilate and start freaking out again. Tthen she started to touch me in a sexual way. and something in my brain just clicked and as soon as I was turned on I wasn't sad or breathing weird or anything. We went back into the house, and we were going to have sex, but we were just too tired. We got naked and went to sleep.

The next day a was very sore from all the tense movement. and I was horny when I woke up but when it wore off, I got sad again. For the rest of the day I would want to cry when I was away from my girlfriend.

What the hell happened to me? Someone please help me! (BTW please forgive my poor spelling).

[David Baxter]

I'd never heard of "Double Bastard" untyil your post but my research indicates that it is a specialty beer that (a) is either 10% or 11.2% alcohol (depending on which review you read) and (b) is only sold in 22 oz bottles.

Regular beer in Canada has about 4% alcohol content and I believe it's lower than that in the US. What this means is that you had a large bottle of a beer with an alcohol content 2-3 times that of a regular beer, so in effect you had a concentration equeivalent to 4-6 beers in a short period of time. Given that you say you rarely drink, it's possible that your symptoms represent a combination of alcohol poisoning and possibly a panic attack.

I think the moral of your story is be careful what you drink, especially if you are not used to drinking.

[ailsa]

How are you feeling now Joel? Are you ok or still having symptoms? Drinks lots of water - and no coffee or tea today.
I guess it could be the alcohol, but it could also be a panic attack trigerred by the new and unfamilair situation and your being alone. It does sound like it could be especially since when your girlfriend came back you felt relief. Let us know how you are.

Warmly,

Ailsa

[NewKarma]

I'd also be curious to hear more about what you felt and thought throughout the episode. For example, what were you feeling when the home owner came up to you and you covered your face. I know you didn't want them to see you crying, but what was the feeling like? What about when you lost it later in the car, etc? Were you worried about how you girlfriend would see you in this state or something like that? Please share any thoughts and feelings that you can remember.

[tyrinnis]

Honestly, I dont know what I felt. I guess i was kind of worried about what was happening to me. but I dont know really what it was all about. I tryed to think of things that would have made me sad. like my great uncle who had died 2 years ago (like a dad to me) but that wasnt it, cause I hardly even thought about him. I was just glad I had such A great girlfriend by my side. I love her so so much. shes great.
As for the home owner comming in. I just didnt want him to worry about me. I know at the time I really wanted to be with my girlfriend, because I felt alot of longing for her. when she finally came back, I was so very glad to see her. I did not want to be alone.
also im very comfortable with my girlfriend. she can see me in any state, and I would be ok with it.
as of now i feel ok, but I feel a little bit off in a way I just cant put my finger on.

By the way, thank all of you or your support