Delirium Tremens

December 1, I went to Williamsburg because I was invited to an Evening of One Acts by The New Company Theatre. Let's see, who was there? Kayla, Mike, Kaseem, Matt, and Max. Those were the people that I know of. Everyone else were strangers. Blehh...

I had no idea it was being held at Max's place. But Kayla said that the beer was free for me so I drank. What I neglected to do was to eat something between 2pm and 10pm of when I was there. Hmm...and then I downed 8 bottles of beer! Eugh...

I safely got onto the Q train, but missed my stop because I passed out. I'm glad that my wallet was not stolen nor was I harmed. As the Q train was pulling into the Coney Island station at 2:30am (last stop), I lifted my head and felt the need to burp. I didn't just burp. I vomited. All over my lap, the floor, and the cell phone ear piece I saw on the floor. Needless to say, I was completely wasted and sick and gone. I wanted my bed. I didn't dare move from the train and hoped to God that it was just going to head back to Manhattan and not out of commission. The train did start moving and once we were at Avenue U, I darted up and ran out the door. Of course that was the wrong move to make. I instantly felt queasy again and sat on the bench available in the station for a good 10 minutes before getting up again and making my way out. I got as far as 15th Street and threw up again. This time it was just bile.

The next morning was no better. In fact, it was worse. I woke up still feeling nauseated. Not only that but I suffered what Louis calls the DTs. I looked it up on Wikipedia and this is the information I got:

"Delirium tremens (colloquially, the DTs, "the horrors", "the shakes" or "rum fits;" literally, "shaking delirium" or "trembling madness" in Latin) is an acute episode of delirium that is usually caused by withdrawal or abstinence, from alcohol following habitual excessive drinking, or benzodiazepines or barbiturates (and other minor tranquilizers)."

Symptoms include: "The main symptoms are confusion, disorientation and agitation. Other common symptoms include intense hallucinations such as visions of insects, snakes or rats (or stereotypically, pink elephants). These may be related to the environment, e.g., drawings on wallpaper that the patient would perceive as giant spiders attacking him or her. Unlike hallucinations associated with schizophrenia, delirium tremens hallucinations are primarily visual, but associated with tactile hallucinations such as sensations of something crawling on the subject - a phenomenon known as formication...DT has extreme autonomic hyperactivity (high pulse, blood pressure, and rate of breathing), and 35-60% of patients have a fever."

Let's just say that day was a day of rest for me. I was at Louis' place for the day and he basically took care of me. I can't say enough about Louis. He's intelligent, truthful and honest, caring, and a wonderful friend. When I broke up with my last lover/boyfriend, I thought it was the end of the world. I had never experienced such a depressing moment. But I now know there was a very good reason it would have never worked out and that is because there are better people in the world that I could be with and Louis is at the moment the best. Aww Hell, we're the same size, so we exchange clothing items. I'm wearing his belt and he mine. We also have this weird connection and will appear in almost the matching outfits. Best of all, we take care of each other. If I knew Louis was sick, I'd sacrifice what I wanted to do and take care of him and he's taken care of me a few times already. I have nothing to complain about right now.