To think I had a near death experience because of my own stupidity?

It’ll be the alcohol.

The wine + cocktail combination has done that to me occasionally down the years.

Well in my expert opinion, it’s anxiety mixed with too much alcohol. You start off feeling extremely sick and unwell, then actually think you are dying, then get anxiety and that gives more symptoms. It’s a viscous circle.

Have a dioralyte and plenty of rest. Good luck x

@Havingaswimmoose a couple of weeks ago, DH went on a night out. He drank a few pints across the evening.

He had no memory of getting home and I found him sat on the toilet unable to communicate clearly, shivering, room spinning, seeing double and with little strength. My first guess was 'spiked' but because of the speech problem and weakness, was worried it might be a stroke. So called an ambulance (stroke queried by dispatcher.) 8 hours in A&E later, consensus was definitely not a stroke and quite likely spiked.

He bounced back right as rain after 48 hours.

A&E said that as a 50 year old man, he's not exactly a typical victim of spiking which, sadly, is making him wonder about the friends he was out with.

I hope you are back to your old self soon. Look after yourself.

I’ve never heard of this and I have taken paracetamol countless times with alcohol. Two 500mg tablets would also not make you have a near death experience. Sounds like the cocktails were stronger than you thought or just a random bug you got. Or spiked but I doubt it.

I don’t drink now but certainly used to down a pint of water and take two paracetamol before bed in my drinking days. Honestly I just think you shouldn’t mix your drinks. Your body has reacted like you’ve ingested something toxic and tried to evacuate it. It might be solely down to the booze. Possibly food poisoning or the bar person has a tummy bug and doesn’t wash their hands.

My husband had the same. When he resells it now he still thinks he was dying. He was just hung over.

Sounds like an allergy or bug. My DP took one of my Difene tablets for back ache - he would have taken them years before with no reaction but you can develop an allergy anytime, and mine were probably stronger--and told me next morning he d had a weird reaction , skin was bright red and he started vomiting. My reaction was 'oh you must be allergic, don't take them again' stating the obvious or so I thought. Nope, few months later I'd walked to corner shop for milk and dopey decided to take another one (to prove what a hard man he is presumably). I walked into find him on the toilet with violent diarrhoea while vomiting into the bin, shaking and oh my god I have never seen someone so red, from head to toe he looked like he fallen asleep in the summer sun for hours. Once that all finally stopped he was v dizzy and itchy, cocktails and wine can cause histamine issues because of their ingredients more than beer say

I got alcohol poisoning from a half bottle of wine once which sounds not dislike what you had. I was in my 20s and very used to drinking that amount of alcohol without even a hangover, but woke up in the middle of the night and went through a similar experience. Thankfully I got over it quickly. Talking about it to people at the time it seems to happen sometimes if the alcohol doesn't ferment properly and you can only tell if you drink it. It was awful and you have my sympathy.

I had literally no idea about this, but my husband says it's well known so I guess it's just me and you, OP. Get well soon.

True. Alcohol intolerance or even allergy could explain the itching.

This is what happens to me even after 1 drink. My body just can't handle it, so I stopped drinking years ago.

I regularly take paracetamol with wine - hell, I even wash it down with wine!! I'm currently taking a strong prescription only paracetamol & codeine mix for period pain, and I drink with those.

I'm sorry, but I'm 100% convinced you were spiked.

It’s far more likely that your symptoms were caused by either a reaction to a particular drink (something in the cocktails?), or because you mixed your drinks. Highly unlikely it was the addition of paracetamol that caused you to be ill.

You can also develop an intolerance to any substance at any time so you might have drunk red wine for years and be perfectly fine and then you find you’re not able to drink it without feeling ill.

If she hasn’t drunk for a long time, it’s not impossible. It’s more likely surely than a bout of norovirus that has disappeared after a few hours?

I very much doubt it was alcohol poisoning - she really didn't drink that much!

Don't take paracetamol immediately after drinking.
It sounds like you might be allergic to something. (I know someone who is allergic to alcohol.)
But don't beat yourself up you made a mistake. We all do it x

I would definitely get checked out by a GP. Even for a non drinker that amount of alcohol over that period of time doesn't sound excessive enough to cause such severe symptoms. Also seems odd that you went to bed fine but woke later with the symptoms.

I'd not heard about the paracetamol thing either but if you have an undiagnosed liver issue I can see how this could have made you worse. It's the itching that stands out for me.

Of course you can take paracetamol with alcohol… This is definitely a bug, not alcohol induced. Also not a near death experience.

Alcohol poisoning symptoms from nhs website:

Check if it's alcohol poisoning
Symptoms start after drinking a lot of alcohol and may include:

• confusion
• slurring words or being unable to speak
• being unable to coordinate movement, for example, being unable to stand, walk, or pick things up
• being sick
• peeing or pooing yourself
• pale or blue-tinged skin - on black or brown skin this may be easier to see inside the lips, on the gums and under the fingernails
• slow or irregular breathing
• having a seizure or fit
• loss of consciousness

I spent about 5 years of my life "beating the hangover" never has those effects.

I'm guessing you either ate something that didn't agree with you or picked up this awful tummy bug going around.

Sounds more like alcohol poisoning. For people with alcohol-related liver damage, it’s best not to take meds that are metabolised by the liver like paracetamol. But the paracetamol in your case is v v v unlikely to have caused those symptoms.

I think you need to avoid binges like this, that’s all.

I wouldn’t rule this out

Sounds like a horrible hangover to me!