Symptoms of Drinking Though I've Never Drunk Alcohol Posted: 08-16-07 18:14pm
I have unusual symptoms similar to being
drunk (although I've never been drunk)
when my attention is split while I'm
trying to focus. Can anybody tell me if
there is some kind of a condition related
to these symptoms that I can learn more
about?
For example, if I try talking to someone
while I'm driving (or they try talking to
me) or try listening to music while
playing chess (it seems related to my
hearing somehow) I can experience these
symptoms. Groups settings where there's a
lot of noise and different things
happening all at once can also be
problematic.
The symptoms include dizziness, blurred
vision, an inability to focus, severe
headaches, and in some of the worst cases
I experience a ringing in my head, "see
red", and have trouble walking or driving.
Twice before it has gotten so bad I
couldn't walk straight and needed to ask
other people to drive me home.
My balance is negatively affected and
things I would normally do by habit I no
longer have the mental acuity needed to
perform. I have trouble narrowing my eyes
and it's like a cloud comes over my
vision. It's not so much exhaustion as
being "out of it" and it can take me hours
before the symptoms wear off.
I'm sure it's linked to my ability to
focus, because I have an abnormal ability
to "zone in" and narrow my concentration.
I'm very single-minded and can focus all
my concentration on single tasks very
well. But I have zero ability to
multi-task and I think that's behind this
problem. I'm also extremely
absent-minded. It also seems linked to
hearing for some reason.
I also notice that while my "hearing" is
very good, and I can hear conversations
all the way across the house, I have
trouble interpreting sounds when people
are close by. For some reason I am better
able to comprehend what people are saying
and actually make sense of the sounds so I
know what is being said when people are
closer rather than farther away.
I'm 23 years old now and until the last
several years when I've had to do more
driving it hasn't really affected my life,
I've just worked around it. But I'm
coming to more fully appreciate how
devastating it can be if I'm not careful
now. I'm gaining enough respect for it
now that I'm considering not allowing
people in the car when I'm driving and
have often told people not to talk while
I'm driving. I'll even wear earplugs if
I'm doing a task involving a lot of focus.
What is odd is that I can still hear what
people are saying with the earplugs, but
the noise no longer seems to bother me
when the earplugs are worn.
One final thing, I have heightened
awareness and at one time in my life tried
to be constantly aware of everything
happening around me. Any little sounds or
movements I tried to constantly be aware
of. I notice even though I don't want it
that way, I am now constantly aware of
everything. I wonder if some of these
problems could be because of too many
things happening at once for my mind to
keep track of?
When I'm trying to focus on something and
any kind of noise interference forces me
to try multi-tasking, it's almost like my
mind overloads and the symptoms occur. I
have no idea whether there's any condition
for this but if so I would really like to
know what the condition is so I can learn
more about how to deal with it.
