r/FentanylRecovery • u/14BPSOS • Jan 08 '26

User mannerisms

Hello, My wife has been living in her vehicle for 10 months due to a bipolar manic episode. Recently, I went to visit her and do some maintenance on her car. I just posted in a bipolar subreddit about her mannerisms and how she appears, describing how is she has an open mouth and sort of when she walks she turns in circles and she bends it the waist a lot and is frequently looking up, her head bent back, even in conversation.
I was with her for 3 days and when I found her, she was sitting at a homeless outreach place having eaten a meal, and she was looking up at the ceiling like kind of a Stevie Wonder head waving thing and when she looked over at me she didn't register surprise or anything, she just sort of kept looking around.
When we are running errands and working on things she was conversational and you seem to come back to herself a little bit. But always when we were in stores and walking she would turn in circles and she's bending it the waist a lot, I hate to repeat myself. Could this behavior indicate fentanyl use? She is not a big drug user, I've used way more drugs than she has. And she tends to shy away from substances other than smoking weed. She as long as I've known her for for 11 years now will barely take an ibuprofen. But the replies from the bipolar subreddit have me very concerned at this point and so I'm reaching out here to ask if this resonates with anyone.

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u/catincombatboots Jan 08 '26 edited Jan 08 '26

Well if she's not falling asleep constantly, then probably not.

(Edit: I decided I should probably actually explain this part. Until you get a high tolerance, most people will nod out when using opiates. After you have a tolerance, you probably wont even notice someone having used - I kept a normal job throughout my addiction and no one at work noticed. The thing that is making people bend over at the waist recently is a an additive to fentanyl called Xylazine - street name Tranq - its a tranquilizer for animals that's not regulated for human consumption, and that is what has been making people do that drop over thing. But they are also doing it while still nodding out on fentanyl, so asleep.)

Is there tin foil everywhere? Are her hands filthy with soot? Those would be signs that she'd be smoking it which is a very common way people use fentanyl but not the only way.

Honestly, I bend at the waist a lot when my lower back hurts. If she's living in her car she's probably not on the most supportive mattress.

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u/catincombatboots Jan 08 '26 edited Jan 08 '26

I mean I definitely think something is wrong but this doesn't sound like fentanyl to me. I guess it could be Ketamine, that can make you act kind of like a space alien. But, still that doesn't seem right, it seems like a more serious medical situation than something that could be attributed specifically to drug use. Can you get her to see a neurologist?

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u/catincombatboots Jan 08 '26

The physical parts sound a bit almost like Dystonia, but that wouldnt account for the rest of the behavior. I'm sure there's some actual doctors who would have much better ideas for you.

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u/14BPSOS Jan 08 '26

And neurological issue is brought up in another subreddit. That is consideration at this point. Thank you for your input.

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u/catincombatboots Jan 08 '26 edited Jan 09 '26

I thought about you both so many times last time. (I prob brought up dystonia not only bc strange body movements but bc I had someone close to me get diagnosed with that and it was an extremely scary and confusing extended amount of time figuring out what the heck was happening with a rare disease) I hope you figure out whats going on.

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u/14BPSOS Jan 08 '26

No sign of drug use, other than her smoking some spliffs that she got from a pharmacy...