Hallucinations + Alcohol + Violence = FELONIES
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Lake Luzerne
Posts: 1,786
Could be withdrawl symptoms but I'm sorry to say it sounds like alcohol induced schizophrenia. Dangerous. When ever a person hears voices it kicks the whole mental health thing up a knotch or two. A person can drink themself into havign a permanent mental condition.
My husband sometimes has entire conversations with himself or someone who isn't there. This usually happens in the winter when he is layed off from seasonal construction work. He drinks more then. So far it seems to subside when he has to normal up for the work season.
Whenever a pediatric patient states that he/she hears voices (and that isn't NOT rare), the focus immediately changes.
The important thing to remember is that these voices rarely tell a person to go pick daisies. These voices will drive a person beyond protective orders or any rational thoughts. This is when you need to be sure you are safe. These voices are real to them.
Even when we detach, they effect our lives. I try to walk out my mantra and my life mission statement that includes that my husbands drinking will NOT define who I am. I will not have a cumulative life of being a reactionary, so at the end, my life was simply of series of reactions to his alcoholism. I believe that can happen.
Therefore, I have taken on more of an observers attitude. I watch. No one, NO one, can defy what alcohol does over time. I may be rich and influencial. You may be poor and invisible, but one thing we have in common is that my liver is made up out fo the same stuff as yours. They will deteriorate. Slowly, every body system will start to shut down. Our bodies have a fight or flight but nobodys body can remain in a constant state of emergency. The body identifies alcohol as a poison. Over time that becomes obvious. We see it.
Your husbands brain has become pickled like anything saturated in alcohol. His liver is probably has the same filtering ability as cheesecloth.
We get so used to them being drunk or sober we forget that there is a whole other process going on that leaves permanent damage.
I had a co worker whos husband drank everyday. Sober in the morning and drunk by late afternoon. Day in, day out.
He wouldn't work until he couldn't work so she had two jobs. She got a call at work to tell her that her husband was in the mental health unit. He had been picked up at the mall naked, peeing in a potted plant. She said that just prior he had made reference to hearing voices. He was diagnosed with alcohol induced schizophrenia and now he will live out the rest of his days in a facility.
I suppose you could be as passive or aggressive about this as you choose, but I might call the authorites in his town to alert them.
My husband sometimes has entire conversations with himself or someone who isn't there. This usually happens in the winter when he is layed off from seasonal construction work. He drinks more then. So far it seems to subside when he has to normal up for the work season.
Whenever a pediatric patient states that he/she hears voices (and that isn't NOT rare), the focus immediately changes.
The important thing to remember is that these voices rarely tell a person to go pick daisies. These voices will drive a person beyond protective orders or any rational thoughts. This is when you need to be sure you are safe. These voices are real to them.
Even when we detach, they effect our lives. I try to walk out my mantra and my life mission statement that includes that my husbands drinking will NOT define who I am. I will not have a cumulative life of being a reactionary, so at the end, my life was simply of series of reactions to his alcoholism. I believe that can happen.
Therefore, I have taken on more of an observers attitude. I watch. No one, NO one, can defy what alcohol does over time. I may be rich and influencial. You may be poor and invisible, but one thing we have in common is that my liver is made up out fo the same stuff as yours. They will deteriorate. Slowly, every body system will start to shut down. Our bodies have a fight or flight but nobodys body can remain in a constant state of emergency. The body identifies alcohol as a poison. Over time that becomes obvious. We see it.
Your husbands brain has become pickled like anything saturated in alcohol. His liver is probably has the same filtering ability as cheesecloth.
We get so used to them being drunk or sober we forget that there is a whole other process going on that leaves permanent damage.
I had a co worker whos husband drank everyday. Sober in the morning and drunk by late afternoon. Day in, day out.
He wouldn't work until he couldn't work so she had two jobs. She got a call at work to tell her that her husband was in the mental health unit. He had been picked up at the mall naked, peeing in a potted plant. She said that just prior he had made reference to hearing voices. He was diagnosed with alcohol induced schizophrenia and now he will live out the rest of his days in a facility.
I suppose you could be as passive or aggressive about this as you choose, but I might call the authorites in his town to alert them.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 240
Thanks for all of the advice and kind words. He was actually hospitalized last Saturday night for severe dehydration. Detox would not admit him becuase he could not urinate and they sent him to the ER where he was admitted for the night. He was d/c on Sunday morning and, to the best of my knowledge, he did not drink Sunday - Thursday early afternoon. Believe it or not, the ER told him last week that, surprisingly, his kidney and liver values were in normal range.
I think I am just in shock that this has happened. As I said, I am not at all surprised by the DUI, but the violence is nothing that I have ever seen from him before. He has always been a completely passive, sloppy drunk. I assumed the hallucinations were part of w/d symptoms. Prior to being admitted into the hospital last week for dehydration, his Mother said that he drank sun-up to sun-down for over a week straight. She said he was worse than she has ever seen since he has been staying there. I guess this all goes along with the progression of this disease. So sad. I always find myself so caught up in HIS problems that I rarely think of myself - My own parents brought it to my attention how lucky I am that I was not alone with him when he went into this psychotic rage. I guess he could have imagined me to be the boogey man and attacked me with as much vengence as he did the police.
I decided some time ago that I could no longer stay with this man. And this incident does not change that. I just feel horribly guilty about going about my life...moving on with him in such an unpleasant situation. And yes I know he brought this on himself. He had many opportunities to get help. And I do know that being in the system is the best thing for him right now - He had become a danger to himself and others and I pray to God that he will be ordered into some type of long-term treatment as opposed to jail. I guess that's all I can really do at this point, pray for him. I can no more control his legal fate than I could control his drinking. I hope he can be rehabilitated enough to become a productive member of society again, sober. But either way, I need to go on with my life.
I will continue to pray for my AH, and all alcoholics suffering from this miserable disease and for the families and friends of those that love them.
I think I am just in shock that this has happened. As I said, I am not at all surprised by the DUI, but the violence is nothing that I have ever seen from him before. He has always been a completely passive, sloppy drunk. I assumed the hallucinations were part of w/d symptoms. Prior to being admitted into the hospital last week for dehydration, his Mother said that he drank sun-up to sun-down for over a week straight. She said he was worse than she has ever seen since he has been staying there. I guess this all goes along with the progression of this disease. So sad. I always find myself so caught up in HIS problems that I rarely think of myself - My own parents brought it to my attention how lucky I am that I was not alone with him when he went into this psychotic rage. I guess he could have imagined me to be the boogey man and attacked me with as much vengence as he did the police.
I decided some time ago that I could no longer stay with this man. And this incident does not change that. I just feel horribly guilty about going about my life...moving on with him in such an unpleasant situation. And yes I know he brought this on himself. He had many opportunities to get help. And I do know that being in the system is the best thing for him right now - He had become a danger to himself and others and I pray to God that he will be ordered into some type of long-term treatment as opposed to jail. I guess that's all I can really do at this point, pray for him. I can no more control his legal fate than I could control his drinking. I hope he can be rehabilitated enough to become a productive member of society again, sober. But either way, I need to go on with my life.
I will continue to pray for my AH, and all alcoholics suffering from this miserable disease and for the families and friends of those that love them.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 240
It is possible he had just started drinking just prior to his arrest to self medicate his symptoms.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Blacksburg, VA
Posts: 191
That kick in the stomach could actually be a huge hug from God.
Miracles always come gift wrapped in sh!t.
Wait til more is revealed....good luck....its HIS drama...not YOURs....and the drama may be good this time....
Miracles always come gift wrapped in sh!t.
Wait til more is revealed....good luck....its HIS drama...not YOURs....and the drama may be good this time....
Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Minneapolis MN
Posts: 96
WAM,
Wow, that reminds me of when I first was dating my eabf and I went on a vacation to NYC for two weeks. During that time, his sister had convinced him to just "stop" taking his anti-depression pills. That is a huge no no because those types of drugs need time to build up in your system and your brain basically does a nosedive if you stop. Not to mention he was binging often so you can imagine the phone call I got one afternoon. He was making 0% sense. We'd only been dating 4 months so I'd never hear him like this. I told him he should start taking the medication again asap. He also called a friend of ours like this. Incidentally, that friend avoided us after that. How damn embarrassing!
I'm sorry to hear about your husband's condition. Mental illness of one person does not mean the entire family unit should acquire the illness as a way of easing the pain.
giz
Wow, that reminds me of when I first was dating my eabf and I went on a vacation to NYC for two weeks. During that time, his sister had convinced him to just "stop" taking his anti-depression pills. That is a huge no no because those types of drugs need time to build up in your system and your brain basically does a nosedive if you stop. Not to mention he was binging often so you can imagine the phone call I got one afternoon. He was making 0% sense. We'd only been dating 4 months so I'd never hear him like this. I told him he should start taking the medication again asap. He also called a friend of ours like this. Incidentally, that friend avoided us after that. How damn embarrassing!
I'm sorry to hear about your husband's condition. Mental illness of one person does not mean the entire family unit should acquire the illness as a way of easing the pain.
giz
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