For the first month and a half I struggled through it -- had no idea what was going on and worked part-time. At about the 1.5 month mark the dizziness, insomnia, fatigue and visual/auditory sensitivity forced me into a kind of physical collapse. This was when the benzo prescription for nightly usage started.

About three weeks later the physical weakness abated a bit, and I spent another month doing research and being worked up by my GP and neuros who had no answer. Finally got a diagnosis from neuro-ophtho though he couldn't "prove" it to insurance without MRI proof.

Had no other drugs besides nitrous and Valium, Xanax, and one month of Prozac which did nothing. I have not been able to obtain O2 levels from surgeon. The office says they routinely monitor but don't have any records in my case. We do know that my blood pressure was very low during surgery so further lowering oxygen in brain.

Currently not working -- jobs I was eligible for with my degree I can no longer do bevause of cognitive impairment (cannot understand or recall complex material, cannot write academic level work). Tried to start a non-academic job cleaning and could not remember/process instructions quickly enough. Plus the visual disturbance and confusion make it hard to be in a workplace.

I am thinking maybe I need more absolute rest but I suffer from insomnia and cannot even lie down and meditate. I wonder if some of the inability to rest is due to cortisol hyper function?