anyone else have feeling that they are drunk or out of their body?

[FirstResponder23]

hey, I’m looking for some help with something I experienced recently. I have had my ocd under control for a while now, and have been taking my medication (fluoxetine) regularly. Recently, I went away on a trip with friends and had not taken my medication regularly. And one night I got extremely intoxicated. So much that I blacked out. I have never been like that before and it scared me because one of my fears is losing control and acting out on a thought.

Fast forward, the rest of the weekend went fine (this all happened on a Thursday night) I arrived home on Monday morning and began to feel my ocd creep back. First it was nerves about going to work, and then played into other areas. I woke up in the middle of the night one morning and felt so dazed and confused and that “drunk” feeling. I panicked and went right back to bed. When I woke up I was feeling normal, but I had a wave of ocd fears come over me. Since this last week, I have been doing a lot of checking and reassurance/confessing to my wife.

I am feeling really stuck. I didn’t get any sleep last night and woke up in a panic. I have been back on my medicine each day since I returned home. My therapist and I discussed this and she said most likely my serotonin levels just tanked over the weekend because of the inconsistent taking of my meds and the amount of alcohol over the weekend, and now I am building them back up.

I’m not looking for reassurance, but I am unsure if anyone has had their body feel like this before. It scares me and my ocd is clinging onto it hard right now and I am fighting to boss it back. But it’s very hard when I’m constantly feeling exhausted and like I can fall asleep any minute.

[lml885]

this could be DPDR or derealization dépersonnalisation and it is often comorbid with OCD.

[FirstResponder23 in reply to lml885]

Thank you. My therapist and I are working on treating this as another ocd thought like you said and I am finding that with bossing the ice back and ERP I’m feeling more confident.

[Natureloverpeace]

Possibly from getting extremely intoxicated or the interaction of the medication with the alcohol? You said you didn’t take the medication regularly on your trip but you may have still had some in your system. The combination of fluoxetine and alcohol can cause a moderate interaction and affect the central nervous system. It is recommended to avoid alcohol while taking fluoxetine.

[FirstResponder23 in reply to Natureloverpeace]

Hello, yes that’s what my therapist and I talked about. That not being on my medicine and having the alcohol just made my serotonin drop. So I am working on raising it back up. Slowly I’m starting to see improvements.

[Natureloverpeace in reply to FirstResponder23]

I’m glad you’re seeing improvements, that’s great. I wasn’t talking about serotonin levels though. Drinking to the point of blacking out can put your blood alcohol level at 0.16%-0.30% which is severe intoxication. This can have some serious effects, including effects on your central nervous system which may explain the symptoms you were talking about. Alcohol mixed with fluoxetine can compound this. I’m glad you’re feeling better.

[FirstResponder23 in reply to Natureloverpeace]

Thank you for the reply. My therapist and I talked about that and we mentioned how it was a stupid mistake and a combination of things that caused me to get that intoxicated. It was especially scary because I had never been that drunk in my life. I have been drunk where I am spinning, but never to the point where I had moments of blacking out. So I think that played into my ocd as well and the fact that the next few days I didn’t have ocd or fear, only when I came home 4 days later was it that I started having this fear and “feeling” so we are working hard on treating this thought as ocd and I am being mindful about drinking in the future. I really do appreciate your reply and support.

[Natureloverpeace in reply to FirstResponder23]

We all have made stupid mistakes. The important thing is that you’re on the mend.