I've eased into this now, my best advice is chill, stop sprinting everywhere. 1st hunger and thirst is less of an issue, second so are the dodgey controls.
Play in 3rd perseon, play it like Rocket slowly looking at stuff and testing and it all starts to feel better.
(damn it I do have a water bottle tho, found a pond, near a castle, have a rifle but no ammo for it. Have bullets for a pistol and shells for a shotgun but no pistol or shotgun, grrr, neeeeed a tin bloody opener I do!)
Edit: use alt to look around, mouse moves fater than turning whole body too.