Brain fog: blank mind, comprehension, concentration, cognitive, and memory problems

[braindead94]

Is the lack of brain zaps an indication of the brain not being able to recover? Im wondering cause I see that most people who cognitively recovered had intense symptoms, while for others who didnt, the blank mind never came together with such sensations

[manymoretodays]

I don't think so braindead94.

On 1/23/2023 at 6:31 AM, braindead94 said:

cause I see that most people who cognitively recovered had intense symptoms, while for others who didnt, the blank mind never came together with such sensations

Likely that the ones who might be writing about it all, have had intense symptoms is all.

 

Focus on healing......work on changing your negative into something a bit more hopeful.  It's got to be in there for you.......healing that is.

[Pianca]

Did any of you went through neuropsychological testing to confirm there’s objective cog impairment? 

[18yoldoffZoloft]

On 11/24/2022 at 8:22 AM, Kyle1234 said:

Does anyone suffer from a type of ‘brain damaged’ feeling whereby your brain doesn’t process visual or auditory stimuli anywhere near as well as you used to? I feel trapped inside my head because what I see and hear doesn’t register in my head, almost like it actively ignores it. This is by far the worst symptom I am currently suffering from and it is debilitating.

 

I noticed that during acute withdrawal my vision suddenly became ‘3D’ and hearing became so much clearer, I realised that I’ve actually suffered from this during the time I was in the medication but it wasn’t noticeable. But since experiencing intense brain zaps/electrical activity and subsequent ‘brain freeze’ which stopped this overnight, the brain damage feeling has got so bad and I can’t function.

 

Any stories or understanding from others would provide some much needed reassurance.

 

Thanks!

this is exactly whats happening to me right now. I cant even watch a movie because I literally do not understand it, cannot follow the dialogue for more than a few seconds without getting confused its awful. It does feel like brain damage and its really scary but hopefully it resolves overtime 

[zepedroj]

On 11/24/2022 at 4:22 PM, Kyle1234 said:

Does anyone suffer from a type of ‘brain damaged’ feeling whereby your brain doesn’t process visual or auditory stimuli anywhere near as well as you used to? I feel trapped inside my head because what I see and hear doesn’t register in my head, almost like it actively ignores it. This is by far the worst symptom I am currently suffering from and it is debilitating.

 

I noticed that during acute withdrawal my vision suddenly became ‘3D’ and hearing became so much clearer, I realised that I’ve actually suffered from this during the time I was in the medication but it wasn’t noticeable. But since experiencing intense brain zaps/electrical activity and subsequent ‘brain freeze’ which stopped this overnight, the brain damage feeling has got so bad and I can’t function.

 

Any stories or understanding from others would provide some much needed reassurance.

 

Thanks!

I'm 2 and a half months of Effexor and this is precisely my experience. Watching movies and following conversations is very very hard. I retain almost no information and a lot of times fing myself asking for people to repeat what they said.

 

Reading is a terrible experience. Sometimes I have to re read memes on the internet once or twice just to understand them. Reading books has proven tremendously hard.

 

Memory and cognition are also affected. Sometimes I try to remember a song or an actor's name and I feel I have the answer on the tip of my tongue and it takes a long while and genuine effort to come up with the name. End up making tons of mistakes and confusing some names. Speaking coherently has also proven difficult. Sometimes it's like the words just don't flow naturally, I need to "speak manually", make a mental effort to speak the way I intend.

 

When it comes to reading, I try to combat this by forcing myself to form a visual depiction of what I'm reading, instead of trying to understand it immediately. Almost like a brain translation. Words on paper don't evoke much understanding, so I do a mental drawing. It doesn't do wonders, but I'm still learning tools.

 

Also, can anyone show me people that got rid of the cognitive impairments? I intend to pursue an education and a job in programming and my current situation scares me 😕

[18yoldoffZoloft]

2 minutes ago, zepedroj said:

I'm 2 and a half months of Effexor and this is precisely my experience. Watching movies and following conversations is very very hard. I retain almost no information and a lot of times fing myself asking for people to repeat what they said.

 

Reading is a terrible experience. Sometimes I have to re read memes on the internet once or twice just to understand them. Reading books has proven tremendously hard.

 

Memory and cognition are also affected. Sometimes I try to remember a song or an actor's name and I feel I have the answer on the tip of my tongue and it takes a long while and genuine effort to come up with the name. End up making tons of mistakes and confusing some names. Speaking coherently has also proven difficult. Sometimes it's like the words just don't flow naturally, I need to "speak manually", make a mental effort to speak the way I intend.

 

When it comes to reading, I try to combat this by forcing myself to form a visual depiction of what I'm reading, instead of trying to understand it immediately. Almost like a brain translation. Words on paper don't evoke much understanding, so I do a mental drawing. It doesn't do wonders, but I'm still learning tools.

 

Also, can anyone show me people that got rid of the cognitive impairments? I intend to pursue an education and a job in programming and my current situation scares me 😕

I think for most the cognitive impairments resolve overtime, but theres probably things you can do to speed up the process I know fish oil is good for the brain aswell as eating healthy and all that

[zepedroj]

36 minutes ago, 18yoldoffZoloft said:

I think for most the cognitive impairments resolve overtime, but theres probably things you can do to speed up the process I know fish oil is good for the brain aswell as eating healthy and all that

I should definitely start with at least a fish oil supplement. Just going to wait a month or so. Sadly my parents have been bombarded with medical bills trying to understand what the hell is wrong with me. I've come to terms that is withdrawal 

[18yoldoffZoloft]

 mine too I feel really guilty, I'm trying to come to terms that everything I'm experiencing is temporary so I don't freak out too much, although it doesn't feel temporary

[zepedroj]

13 minutes ago, 18yoldoffZoloft said:

 mine too I feel really guilty, I'm trying to come to terms that everything I'm experiencing is temporary so I don't freak out too much, although it doesn't feel temporary

I don't know how you are, but please don't feel guilty about it.

 

We were caught up in this bs situation. We thought we were taking terribly safe medication. At least in my case, my psychiatrist never warned me of side effects from withdrawal. When I started getting migraines that led to a handful of hospital visits genuinely thought a part of my brain was dead.

 

I'm sure your parents did it just for your well-being and would do it again. We have depression, so we tend to under-comunicate our struggles and woes. I too am working on that.

 

 

 

 

[Thorin]

5 hours ago, zepedroj said:

I'm 2 and a half months of Effexor and this is precisely my experience. Watching movies and following conversations is very very hard. I retain almost no information and a lot of times fing myself asking for people to repeat what they said.

 

Reading is a terrible experience. Sometimes I have to re read memes on the internet once or twice just to understand them. Reading books has proven tremendously hard.

 

Memory and cognition are also affected. Sometimes I try to remember a song or an actor's name and I feel I have the answer on the tip of my tongue and it takes a long while and genuine effort to come up with the name. End up making tons of mistakes and confusing some names. Speaking coherently has also proven difficult. Sometimes it's like the words just don't flow naturally, I need to "speak manually", make a mental effort to speak the way I intend.

 

When it comes to reading, I try to combat this by forcing myself to form a visual depiction of what I'm reading, instead of trying to understand it immediately. Almost like a brain translation. Words on paper don't evoke much understanding, so I do a mental drawing. It doesn't do wonders, but I'm still learning tools.

 

Also, can anyone show me people that got rid of the cognitive impairments? I intend to pursue an education and a job in programming and my current situation scares me 😕

I’ve been holding at a low dose for about 8 months after a big crash. My cognitive impairments a noticeably lifting now. It’s been pretty bad though. It’s not 100% but it’s much better than it has been. It does improve it just takes time and patience (easier said than done)

[zepedroj]

8 hours ago, Thorin said:

I’ve been holding at a low dose for about 8 months after a big crash. My cognitive impairments a noticeably lifting now. It’s been pretty bad though. It’s not 100% but it’s much better than it has been. It does improve it just takes time and patience (easier said than done)

That's good to know. I'm very afraid of reinstating since some people get adverse effects. I'll be holding a couple more months and see the progress.

 

Hope we all get better sooner than later 

[18yoldoffZoloft]

17 hours ago, zepedroj said:

That's good to know. I'm very afraid of reinstating since some people get adverse effects. I'll be holding a couple more months and see the progress.

 

Hope we all get better sooner than later 

love the bojack pfp 😊

[zepedroj]

10 hours ago, 18yoldoffZoloft said:

love the bojack pfp 😊

This show helped me through some though times. Had to pay homage to sad horse

[SheIsAstrongOne]

Currently on lamictal 200mg and fluvoxamine 175 mg daily. I lowered the fluvoxamine MONTHS ago-I was at 200mg daily. These days have been really rough with brain fog on and off but this morning I woke up with baaaaddd brain fog and other symptoms. I decided to do some prayer and it did help,  except with the brain fog. Two days ago (Wednesday) I had two sodas. What are y’alls experiences with brain fog after sugar? Timelinewise the onset and duration. Also important to note this Wednesday I accidentally took my meds 2 hrs after the scheduled time. And that same night I drank two sodas but jeesh can brain fog come along this much after drinking soda? My cognition is off too. Thanks in advance for the feedback!

[Phoenixmama]

Can wd mimic menopause , I’m now 44 years old and 28 months past a adverse reaction and I don’t know if these symptoms are wd or early menopause? My gyno said I’m not in menopause but I don’t believe doctors anymore , I don’t have hot flashes or a hard time sleeping , I just have a lot of thoughts , instructive one amd feeling tired fatigue which causes me to think I’m dying and I have a disease lurking with in me ,…. I read up on peri menopause and some of the symptoms are the same as wd , any help would be greatly appreciated also I didn’t know where to ask this question 

[Danny89]

At what month did your cognitive symptoms improve? I'm 5 months off all meds but no improvement. 

[catrope]

Dear peers,

I have now been off all psychotropic drugs for over 5 1/5 years (I stopped taking imipramine te last). The first three years were pure hell and then things slowly got better.
Things are going reasonably well at the moment. If I don't have too much hustle and bustle around me, I feel pretty good.
The problem that I still encounter the most, and what worries me most, are the cognitive limitations such as: Information is not processed properly (internally and externally), a lot of problems with executive functions that do not work properly (slow thinking, problems with reading, deeper/abstract and complex thinking does not work well), The brain only works partially (everything is slowed down, not clear and not complete), It is as if many connections in the brain can no longer be established. This causes constant errors in cognitive processes, which in turn leads to fears and negative emotions.

I experience all this as very frustrating because I have everything ready, in terms of work and relationships, to live a nice life. However, if this cognitive problem does not improve, it will not be possible to continue.

Are there people here who recognize these kinds of problems after several years off pills, and what is the prognosis for this recovery?
My biggest fear right now is that permanent damage has been done.

[Dee12h]

On 4/2/2022 at 12:42 PM, Bjeck said:

Mine has gotten significantly better. There's a ton of different causes of brain fog, even when you're not in the midst of withdrawal. So I worked at eliminating the things that can contribute to it normally to try to "lighten the load".

 

The reason I wanted to reply though, is you mentioned "pressure in your head". That went hand in hand with my brain fog. The number 1 cause of tension headaches is an imbalance in your posture muscles. I don't know about you, but I was practically bed ridden during the worst of my withdrawals. So it made sense that mine weakened.

 

Exercising those made a HUGE difference for the brain fog and pressure. And they're pretty non-strenuous and easy to do.

What exercises did you do? If you remember @Bjeck