Debilitating symptoms. Brain fog...extreme memory loss...spacey 24/7!
Posted , 640 users are following.
The last year of my life has been a brutal one. At the age of 22, I am in the lowest of lows and I desperately need some help!
Here’s my tale:
About a year ago, a couple months after an extremely strenuous relationship, I began noticing that I was tired all the time…and all around, I wasn’t really satisfied. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed my friends, and activities…but life just wasn’t as bright and vibrant anymore after a month of noticing this ever-present fatigue, it got a bit stronger. I would wake up each morning completely zombie-mode…and that feeling would remain throughout the entirety of my day, until my head hit my pillow that evening.
Initially, I suspected some form of sleeping disorder. I set up a sleep study, got my thyroid checked, ferritin levels, all the basics. Sleep study revealed I sleep just fine and all my other blood tests came back negative.
The fatigue and the weight of the world slowly got worse over the next handful of months, UNTIL I woke up one morning and everything escalated greatly. I felt completely stoned. I couldn’t think right. I couldn’t concentrate. I felt inebriated. I felt totally disconnected and spacey. I felt as though I had no control over myself. I lost drive and motivation. I lost a lot of confidence. I always had an incredibly sharp memory. It was actually something well known about me to those in my family and friend circles. Yet, on this morning, almost all new information could not be retained. Things that happened earlier in the day, by evening, I felt they happened a day or two before. I could no longer recount the activities I took part in. This is possibly the worst of all the symptoms. The extreme short term memory. I have no context for time and I sort of feel like I’m just floating through life suffering.
For months I visited doctors getting tested by specialists. I visited a neurologist, infectious disease, I had an MRI, & I had about 20 different blood tests. NOTHING. My doctor literally said “I have no idea what this could be. I am beside myself” TOTES reassuring! I tried altering my diet entirely to organic and all natural. I continued my workouts and ran 15 miles a week. I tried sleeping even earlier. I tried all I could think of .
I have scoured the message boards and found a few people suffering from the same, but without answers.
I’m not sure if depression is the culprit, but depression sure has found its nasty venom-coated fangs into my veins. Tired, depressed, failed memory, no drive, scared…it’s no way to live. I want my life back.
PLEASE OFFER INSIGHT! I will be so grateful J
Sincerely,
Taylorsaurus Rex
54 likes, 1428 replies
nick55515 TaylorMason
Posted
I have the exact same symptoms as you, am a 41 year old male and used to take Finasteride for hair loss.
Have you (or anybody else on this thread with symptoms) ever taken Finasteride?
If so, look up Post Finasteride Syndrome (PFS)!
briellewhite TaylorMason
Edited
hi there, i am really sorry you have been going through such rough times.. this reminds me of my past when i had same symptoms... and.. your situation is so relatable.. i went on to see a psychotherapist.. and there i was introduced with a condition called high-functioning depression.. according to doctor's high-functioning depression is an insidious mental illness, which does not affect your functional performance as in you are able to work and complete tasks but you take positivity, motivation, especially lethargy is the hallmark. You are always tired and unwilling to move.. this condition is very hard to diagnose because doctor's are still not be able to make a screening tool.. the diagnosis depends on the detail symptoms of patient and doctor's expertise... you might want to consult a mental health expert too...
jo96364 TaylorMason
Edited
Hi, 32yr old woman, just wandering if you got any answers since? ive been dealing with this for the last few years, on and off.. but for last few months it wont leave me at all, im extremely fatigue all the time, headaches (maybe more pressure pains in my head) not just in the one place, could be forehead,back of neck, top of head.. sometimes stinging., Brain fog, and sometimes feeling like im not in my body at all. Also as above zombie like mode when i wake in mornings/ never feel refreshed after a sleep, and that sometimes lasts all day.. I find it hard to sometimes have conversations, and as for my memory, its so bad last few months are juts a haze! Its so scared im constantly worried that something bad is going to happen (sense of doom) but i try to reasure myself by thinking ive feeling like this for months, which then sets in panic! Also is anyone else feeling that on a brighter day feel slighly better/ brain not as foggy? But on a dark dull day i suffer really bad haze and brain bog,. My bloods have been done recently all clear, low on vitamin D and i also have a B12 definancy but is under control. im booked for a mri. I do feel some of my problems may be due to anxiety as with lockdown ive been feeling alot worse and isolated.
seagull_29 jo96364
Edited
Hi, 31 male. I feel the same way, and think the lockdown and isolation have affected me badly too. I have a history of depression but had been free from it for the last 7 years or so. Last month I just had a bad panic attack out of nowhere, which quickly spiralled into the worst place I have ever been in my life. And because I also have a severe health anxiety (which I was managing until recently), things are only getting worse. My GP put me on Setraline since this is what helped me get back on my feet years ago when it all started. Back then I only had some minor side-effects from Zoloft so I could easily go through the therapy then. But now, after taking the first pill, I had a nightmarish experience so I have stopped taking it. What bothers me is that I have random mind-pops like random words, songs, images and quotes intruding my brain from time to time. Also, waking up sometimes at the middle of the night next to my partner and taking few seconds to understand where am I and who is this person. This is so scary! I feel in a constant brain fog, difficult to concentrate and have a proper conversation. And I am starving myself badly and hardly eat anything at all. I am in a constant feeling that something bad will happen with me, and worst of all is the feeling that I might loose my mind or suffer from Schizophrenia or Dementia. The fear is so overwhelming that I ended up in the A&E last night. They gave me Diazepam which by the way helped me to clear my mind and feel like myself again. For at least few hours, and then it hit me all again the next morning. And I was normal before that, very productive at work and life. Now I just feel like an alien and everything seems strange. I hope this is my brain trying to protect itself but I need my mind back. Don't want to loose it at 31 years! I know these are extremely challenging times and many people are suffering with isolation, so I am open to meet and talk if there is anyone in London who needs this too. I know that talking in groups helps! Don't give up, there is hope!
k08610 seagull_29
Edited
Same here Ativan helps but mornings are ground zero.. Are you any better?
jo96364 seagull_29
Posted
Hope you a feeling a bit better, but the scariest part for me is the feeling something is going to happen me, (like all the time) but i try to convince myself im ok, that nothing has happened me in the last few years.. and the feeling ive lost my memory or the feeling im losing my mind,
Mike-NZL k08610
Posted
Hi ko8610 do you wake up with racing hearts, dizziness etc?
k08610 Mike-NZL
Edited
Sometimes. I'm a big ugly mess.. my days are blurs, light headaches, everything everyone has tried doesn't work..I'm just very depressed, this brain fog is the worst thing ever..
MrTractorist TaylorMason
Edited
please check your B12 levels, folate (b9), and ferritin level
if your ferritin level is low you will have problems with what you're describing
B12,B9,and iron are responsible for your neurological problems
and brain function is neurological
you want your B12 to be at least 550 +
folate should be under 20
ferritin has to be about a 100 otherwise it means Animia
30-50 is a must even though it is considered Animia
does your body hurts? like joint pain, muscle pain? tingling, cold hands and feet?
please let me know I've been through a lot of this stuff myself
k08610 MrTractorist
Posted
I have a lot of those symptoms, low ferritin muscle pain, brain fog, bad memory, zombie like state... how did you get better??
k08610 MrTractorist
Posted
ferritin was 9 is that bad? Doctors don't tell me anything is wrong.. rbc a little low, white blood cells very low.. no one's helping me. I'm dying slowly and no one cares. can't move shoulders anymore, it feels like someone is pulling them from sockets.
williamq1976 TaylorMason
Edited
sounds like syphilis to me and I have the same thing and I'm scared I have to go get checked. I hope that they can reverse it because I can't live like this anymore.
Sid1234 TaylorMason
Posted
Im 23 and reading your story hit me really hard as i relate to every single sentence of your story including the relationship part. i don't understand what this is at one point my life was fine, it only took one day for my life to turn upside down i too had spoke to doctors twice a week and been in and out hospitals and had loads of blood tests done. everyone else seem to think i am fine but my head is constantly in a zombie like state from when wake up and till i fall asleep. I be surprised how i manage to even wake up from sleep. I do hope you find a way out of this because its not something anyone can live with all their life.
Sid1234 TaylorMason
Posted
Im 23 and reading your story hit me really hard as i relate to every single sentence of your story including the relationship part. i don't understand what this is at one point my life was fine, it only took one day for my life to turn upside down i too had spoke to doctors twice a week and been in and out hospitals and had loads of blood tests done. everyone else seem to think i am fine but my head is constantly in a zombie like state from when wake up and till i fall asleep. I be surprised how i manage to even wake up from sleep. I do hope you find a way out of this because its not something anyone can live with all their life.
Sid1234 TaylorMason
Edited
Im 23 and reading your story hit me really hard as i relate to every single sentence of your story including the relationship part. i don't understand what this is at one point my life was fine, it only took one day for my life to turn upside down i too had spoke to doctors twice a week and been in and out hospitals and had loads of blood tests done. everyone else seem to think i am fine but my head is constantly in a zombie like state from when wake up and till i fall asleep. I be surprised how i manage to even wake up from sleep. I do hope you find a way out of this because its not something anyone can live with all their life.