A First-Hand Account of Delirium Tremens - Alcoholic Hallucinosis, Hallucinations, and Delusions

If you've never been through it before and you're a heavy drinker then I promise you it will only be a matter of time that you do. It will totally surprise you out of the blue. It's like you've suddenly been transported to hell. You can't sleep you sweat and you'll feel your eyes starting to droop when suddenly you see the faces. I'm going through it again after this weekend's lapse after a 4 bottle session on rum. I stopped again on Monday Night. Last night was the only night I finally found some real sleep. I'm literally scared to go to bed just in case I'm transported into hell reality again. I can't go through this again. I have to stop for good this time. No sneaky cans of weak lager as that is how it progresses quickly onto the spirits. Thanks for your video. It's helped me

My alcoholism made my life a total misery, and the withdrawal almost killed me.

Stay strong friend, you can overcome alcoholism with the help of good friends, a good doctor and support from your AA or whatever you choose to find a way out. Stay strong!

This guy has better story ideas in his hallucinations than I do in my journaling.

Hell exist... alcohol are key to this, dark dimension x.

Yeah I heard my name and it was terrifying. And horrific faces when I would try to sleep and my heart would race. But once It's over It's a humbling experience. Alcohol opens doors to hell and that's what we see. When we are sober we are our actual selves and that's refreshing.

It's crazy how similar our stories are. I was going through really bad DTs and was convinced there was a drone flying over my apartment beaming voices into my head. They started off as whispers at first just like this guy says. I slowly began to be able to pick out words and distinct voices. At first it sounded like an ex's friend who works for a government research facility. I thought they were fucking with me for some reason, it got so bad that I messaged my ex who I hadn't spoken to in about a year, "Can you please tell your friends to stop fucking with me? They're really hurting me and I just want it to stop". Then the voices revealed they were actually teenagers who lived nearby and bought this cool drone attachment online. There were three or four of them. I was tortured by it for 3 sleepless days, whenever I tried to lay down I thought they were blasting incredibly loud concert level music into my brain. Lots of laughing at my expense, bringing up past mistakes and pains and insecurities only I could have possibly known about. I pleaded with them to stop and they said not until you die of sleep deprivation or kill yourself. They eventually told me they would stop if I drove to a certain location. They gave me an address in my mind and I wrote it down. I put it into my phone and followed the directions. 15 minutes later I found myself at the address of an old part-time job I had 5-6 years before. I waited for instructions, the voices laughed and called me a dumbass. Crazy how the unconscious/subconscious brain can remember things like that. If someone asked me the address to that place I would have no idea what it was. It was really intense and getting more intense. I could hear full conversations and was having them back. They talked about stuff like adjusting the calibration or turning up the power when the voices got quiet. Really weird shit. It got so bad I ordered one of those silver-lined hoods that supposedly block EMF and cell towers. Didn't help because the voices were all in my head from the DTs not from some drone or government 5G towers or whatever conspiracy theory I probably read an article about once and my brain stored. I drove around the neighborhood looking for people in back yards with controllers in their hands and everything, I was ready to beat the shit out of them. Several times I went outside to look for this drone and kept seeing it just dipping over the other side of the apartment. Once I saw it speed off in a direction then zoom off at a right angle somewhere else and circle around like they didn't want me to know where they were located. I saw bright flashes of light from electrical sockets, moving shadows, could feel footsteps on my bed or someone yanking on my foot. Once I felt something stab me and lurched out of bed because it hurt so bad. I turned on the lights to check for blood but there was nothing there. It went from teenagers to the government to demons. All the messages were extremely threatening, the closed eye visions were of unimaginable gore and terrible sexual depravity. The demonic stuff was most certainly the worst, that was towards the end. Very creative ways of torture and what not I still don't particularly like talking about so I'll keep that part short. I don't know how long it lasted all I know is that I ordered the hood on the 3rd day, it came 4 days later, and it kept going for a few days after that. I'm sure my complete lack of sleep didn't help with the audio/visual hallucinations. I'm also sure I made everything worse by trying to drink just a little bit when it got too bad to make everything go away. That didn't work at all and just prolonged my torture. I can assure people reading this I have no history of mental illness but those DTs and 10(?) nights with just a few minute microsleeps while I was still conscious turned me absolutely temporarily insane. When it was all finally subsiding that's when my dumbass finally checked into a detox center. I definitely should have gone in sooner.

Thank you for sharing your story. It takes a strong person to do so. I have also considered sharing my story, but I've been reluctant. Your story hit me hard, and brought flashbacks of that nightmare caused by AlcoHell. It's definitely given me PTSD, however I am learning to live with it. I quit drinking in 2017, by the Grace of God. Edit: I would also like to add, these "hallucinations" that I experienced were definitely demonic, evil spirits. As a Christian, i believe there is a Hell, and Satan, and of course demons. I believe Alcohol, and drugs create a Portal to the other side, kinda like using a Ouija board. There's a reason these drinks are called "Spirits" I was trapped in addiction, but I prayed myself out, and Jesus delivered me.

Has anyone else experienced hearing dead loved ones? To this day I don’t know if this was DT’s. I got out of bed one morning and heard my dead ex’s voice announce himself to me. We talked all day and it started off really pleasant (he died by suicide and we ended on a bad note so it felt like a blessing to get closure). As the day went on it started to become more demonic. It went from my exes voice telling me how much he loved me and to tell his family how much he loves them- to “I’m going to hell for dating you! Lord is bad! The demon is going to kill you!” At one point I even became convinced that my ex’s soul was trapped in my pillow by a demon. Ended up being hospitalized because I was shouting at things no one else could hear. To this day I don’t trust my perceptions anymore. The story is so much longer, but it’s honestly kind of re-traumatizing to type out the details. I really do think alcohol opens up some type of demonic door. This happened 5 days after I stopped drinking cold turkey. What’s interesting to me is that there were no visual hallucinations, unlike a lot of the comments I’m reading. It was exclusively auditory.

Hi friend, I'm here from your link from r/stopdrinking. I've had absolutely horrible alcohol withdrawal hallucinations... and white knuckled then all at home. Easily the fucking most stupid, dangerous thing I've ever fucking done. I should be dead. I'm now 20 days sober, and this will be the final time I have to GET sober. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and sharing such personal things. It is sincerely appreciated. Sending you positive, healthy vibes.

I have also been through the cycle of binge drinking over a period of weeks and then going into acute withdrawal and I identified completely with your experiences of alcoholic hallucinosis as I have gone through this several times. It was exactly as you described, with it beginning as a sort of background hubbub, like I could hear the neighbour's TV through the wall, progressing to actual voices, me having an actual conversation with them, arguing with them, pleading with them. It was absolutely terrifying. And when I went to the A&E department armed with a self-diagnosis of alcoholic hallucinosis, the staff looked at me like I was talking nonsense. I don't think they'd ever heard of it, it's such a misunderstood complication of acute alcohol withdrawal. Thankyou for doing this video and reassuring me that I'm not the only person who's been through this.

The hallucinations are incredibly terrifying when you’re in withdrawal

as somebody who tripped a lot - i was very very aware that i was hallucinating, but the fact that it was due to my alcoholism was news to me. i figured i was having "flashbacks" the very first time. the second time it happened i stopped drinking i put two and two together. i was like ohhhh so thats whats happening. after two nights no sleep and sweating, it usually subsides. i do it cold turkey, probably not smart - i dont think i could do it one more time. wish me luck mate

Thank you so much. I had a really bad DT as you did and it's beyond imaginable. I had memory loss but the weird part is that I still remember the hallucinations, physical touches, the sentences - music in detail 2 years later. My brain managed to play music and lyrics that I never heard before, really great chorus music wise except for the time being of course. Sober now and I will never go through that hell again.

Dude alcohol is definitely in a way more powerful and life changing than LSD and Mushrooms as well as other substances. I fucked up and binged drank with a friend from out of state for an entire week after being alcohol free for awhile.... I'm finally feeling better like 2 months later.... Stay safe and learn from past mistakes. Thanks for sharing your experience.

When you know you are going to withdraw from alcohol you know that you are going to be in a world of pain. I used to look out of my window when withdrawing and wishing that I was anyone but me. This is because it was the first day of pain. Frightening and scary.

This is heartbreaking. Thank you for your story. I’m so happy you are well now. I have only had shakes/vomiting and small amounts of audio. I would hear some light music and some times a door bell. I knew I was in big trouble and stopped. I pray for every one going through a rough time. The devil is real. Evil. May everyone receive blessings ❤

Some say it’s a disease and some say it’s the devil

Wanna share a story too about dying from fear of the hallucinations. It’s not about me, it’s about my dad. Since I have memory he always had an alcohol problem, kinda like every 3/4 months he would take a week free from work and just drink all week. Sometimes even more, some times often. All my grandparents were alcoholic and my mom, brother and myself we always tried to stop him from drinking but he would eventually find a way to go buy alcohol. Hiding his keys or his wallet wouldn’t stop him. So we were always “he is used to it, we just have to wait for the week to pass and he will be sober again” big mistake. To anyone who has a beloved one who is an alcoholic, go to a detox, help them, do something cause you don’t wanna feel like me now. So about last week he started drinking again. Literally 1 or 2 bottles of vodka every day. Same as always I thought. Until yesterday. Yesterday he stopped drinking completely, he began to shake as always but I noticed that the shakes were too “strong” he couldn’t even handle a glass of water without making water drop cause of the shakes. He couldn’t really walk, he was disoriented. But he was conscious and could talk. At some point I was smoking in the kitchen, he came, asked me to give him a cigarette. After the first 2 blows he turned to the fridge, started screaming and his face was getting purple. He was frozen and I touched him as his arms were still paralyzed towards him and he was hard as steel, I could see the veins on his neck getting bigger his eyes almost popping out. I was in panic totally panic I started screaming my mom and brother came and we managed to set him on the ground on a side of his body cause he was making bubbles from the mouth. I really thought my father would have died between my arms. As he started breathing again really loudly I was in a mix of anxiety and happiness. He vomited alcohol and blood probably because he bit his tongue. I was talking calmly to him telling him everything is all right that I’m there as my brother called the ambulance. And guys, I don’t know what that was but he was looking at me terrified, couldn’t recognize me, couldn’t talk, he was like very drunk again even if all day he was conscious and on the sober way, but never saw a drunk man like that. His eyes were looking at me and they were so disturbing. I can’t tell if it was fear, confusion or surprise of seeing me, whatever he saw by looking at me. And I’m pretty sure he saw something as he turned to the fridge back as when this “thing” started, hearing that delirium tremens leads to this experiences and seeing his face like that, his scream everything in those 10 seconds as this crisis started, made me think how lucky he was and it’s not one of the 40% of people that dies from this horrible experience. We don’t know if this was an epileptic attack or something near to a heart attack or panic. I still have to ask the doctor of the hospital. The ambulance came, took him and I visited him today, he looks better but after this video I think he is probably still hallucinating. I just hope that the medications he is receiving are helping him to sleep. I’ll talk tomorrow to him and ask him about everything cause this video made me realize that talking about it can only help, no shame. And no shame in sharing this story, I was always ashamed of this side of my father and never really tried to help him or told anyone about this and I’m doing this now. Especially cause I’m sure a lot of people thinks like I did and they don’t really try to find a solution. Please drink responsibly if you can’t just cut it out like I did, I lost my driver license twice because of alcohol and I’m sober since 3 years now. And please help your beloved ones if they are alcoholic, don’t be to late

This is my story. Finally. Someone else knows. Where can I got to talk about these things?