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

1428 Replies

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  • Posted

    TAYLOR my man, listen to me. I know what you have. You have MOLD somewhere in your house.youve been breathing it for antime and your immune system just let go. Look up aspergiliosis mold. Those are the exact symptomes. I cant beleive everybody is telling you that you are depressed.

    Do you live in a humid or water dammaged home ?

    You have to do a keto diet. Send me an email if you want. Sunshinefrost at msn

    • Posted

      Mold really affects the brain, you lose interest in everything and your working memory shuts down
  • Posted

    I've read your symptoms and situation, and it seems very simular to my own experience during stage two lyme desease.  I can't say that you have lyme but based on  the sudden onset, the symptoms, the persistance of those symptoms and the fact that you have ruled out so many other possible causes I would say it is likely that you have some sort of brain/neurological infection.

    With persistance symptoms of congnitive difficulties like poor memory and poor concentration, onset of severe and cronic psychological conditions like anxiety and depression, cronic sleeping problems, cronic daytime fatigue, body aches like fibromialgia, and other unexplained cronic health conditions - all starting with a period of flu like symptoms - then it is most likely some variation of lyme or simular tick(vector) born bacterial infection.  It's hard to diagnose lyme in stage two and stage three (cronic lyme) because traditional lab tests and diagnostic protocols do not work effectively after the initial period of flu like symptoms. 

    Most lyme illiterate doctors will give up on finding the source of the problem and try treating symptoms with medications for sleep, anxiety, and depression.  Unfortunatly, all anti-depression meds acutally make the condition worse.  The only medication I found to provide short term releif was high strenth amphetamines, perscribed for fatigue symptoms, that supprisingly resolved many of the other symptoms temporarilly. I had to go through 6 months of IV antibiotic infussions to effectivly treat the condition. 

  • Posted

    Hi

    I would love to know if anyone has experienced a full healing in this just to give hope to the rest of us.  I have had similar symptoms myself for the past 7 years( i am 26 now) and still cant make heads or tails of them.  I feel like I have seen every specialist known to man and now Im at the place of thinking this may be depression.  However, taking medication seems daunting because from what Ive heard and read on these posts, it seems like meds do not really cure people completely.  I may be making a false generalization, so if someone can say otherwise that would be great. When dealing with obscure health ailments such as chronic fatigue/brain fog that many people do not even believe are real it is important to support one another and give testimony when healing takes place.  It will give hope to the rest of us. 

    • Posted

      what youre suffering is depersonalization. It is imperative you try meds with the right help from a professional. The problem is chemical. theres hope and sometimes talking to someone isnt enough sometimes we have to do what feels foreign to see results. Cant hurt to try as long as there is supervision
  • Posted

    All of you are deficient in iodine. Google it.
    • Posted

      This is such a irresponsible blanket statement. While this might be true for some people there a certainly others that don`t have an iodine deficiency. And for what it`s worth, over supplementing with iodine can do more harm then good, especially if taken for too long at a higher dose.
  • Edited

    how are u guys all doing with your brain fog?
    • Posted

      Mine is not getting any better. Im only trying to eat healthy, no drugs now. Will se a Dr. this week. Anybody experienced any improvements?
    • Posted

      im seeing some improvement on sertraline
    • Posted

      Try Kelp supplement which is rich in iodine. Should do the trick. 
    • Posted

      How long are you suffering already. Is it sometimes getting any better? I have moments where I`m almost back to normal, they might last a day or a week sometimes less then a day. How is your memory, are you in a stressful environment? 
    • Posted

      some moments i feel ok when i think im getting better it comes back sad
    • Posted

      Less than two years, memory is almost cero, thats my main concern. I reduced any type of stress to the minimum. Exersice, not on any suplements, have to try those. Going to try Kelp and see what happens. Not sleeping very well, I need to find a solution for that too...
    • Posted

      Did improved any specific symptoms or overall? Im going to need a second chance with meds...
    • Posted

      You got any sensitivity to light, especially fluorescent lights? I had all the above mentioned symptoms several times over the last 16 years. Each time it got worse then the previous episode. The very first time Inhad something like this was in 1998. Then again in 2000, then 2007, 2010 ,2013 and now from December 2014 to the present day. Which does worry me though. Symptoms are much more pronounced then before. I don`t have any sleep problems but I feel very tired when waking up the next morning.
    • Posted

      when im relaxed it improves a little
    • Posted

      Yes, had that sens to light too, now not sure if improved or just got used to it. What about between those times, did you get complete remision of the symptoms?
    • Posted

      Well that part of my problem. Very dificult to relax when not remembering. I try it all the time, but the idea of not remembering makes me feel unconfortable.
    • Edited

      Yes I had indeed complete remison. I had 4 years for example with no symptoms apart form getting tired easily. I still remember the first time I really noticed something  not being right. I started getting easily sinus infections, followed by stomach probelms. Then I noticed one day while at work that I had vision problems on the right eye. Somehow there was a white spot in my field of vision. This got worse as I was on my way home riding my bike. That spot really disturbed my vision on my right side badly. Well of course this all cleare up fairly quickly, no one thought of it as anything important. And from thenb on I regulalry got wired stuff poping up. Now I get mainly on my right side of the body joint aches. First in my right shoulder which lasets a few weeks, then in my right knee, gone after a few days and now in my right elbow which makes it hard to pick up itmes, the pain is that strong. I make plenty of mistakes when writing an email. My short temr memory, and by that I mena my imidiate short temr memory like things I was just thinking about are sometimes gone and it takes me a few seconds to retrieve that info. That in return puts me in a state of panic which then makes things even worse.
    • Posted

      yeah same for me i start panicking ;( hopefully the zoloft helps
    • Posted

      My guess would be that the Zoloft might help but it will not help with your main symptoms.
    • Posted

      Well I assume the Zoloft will help with your panic attacks but if all the other symptoms like brain fog etc are not related to anxiety or panick attacks I don`t think there will be much imporvment. I managed to get my panic attacks under control without medication as I really don`t want to fall into the trap of getting even worse anxiety when I stop taking things like Zoloft. I spoke to many people who had their anxiety/panoc attacjs come back  alot worse after they discontinued the pills.
    • Posted

      yeah i stopped taking citolopram thinking i was okay and bam depression anxiety hit hard. i can remember things its just feeling spacey brain fog im dealing with that sucks
    • Posted

      It's bad at the moment, lots of pressure in the head, dizzy, swollen eyes, fatigued, can't think coherently. Had to cancel school and work today, which costs me a lot of money since I'm a freelancer, and I paid for a practice day at school.

      Went to a neurologist few weeks ago and he told me it's 'silent migrain' I'm suffering from. He could well be right (don't trust him entirely, he's always in a hurry and takes very little time for a consultation, hardly asks any questions and doesn't listen to my answer). the symptoms match though. It's completely new to me, but from what I've read till now it's spot on. It's not headaches, but all that comes with migraine, which is quite a lot to my suprise.

      Some people in here might suffer from the same, it often takes a long time to be diagnosed because there are no headaches, so most doctors and even neurologists overlook the possibility.

    • Edited

      Brainfog, waking up groggy, not being able to concentrate/think properly, fatigue, tingling limbs, nausea, twitching muscles, head pressure, dizziness, hypersensitivity to light/noise, blurred vision etc. Kind of vague complaints, I imagine there are a lot of people misdiagnosed with anxiety, since these complaints can make one feel quite anxious eventually.
    • Posted

      wow u descrobed me perfectly i also have weak limbs at the moment too rolleyes

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