I have some weird memory things going on: my short term memory sometimes can only hold 2 bits of info at a time. Sometimes I forget the words for common objects, like refrigerator. And once I even forgot how to get home from the supermarket.

A friend suggested this might be due to medication side-effects. I take fluoxetine and amitryptaline for fibromyalgia, and mobic for an as yet undiagnosed auto-immune process that affects my connective tissues, and provigil for the fatigue. Does any of this affect memory?

My rheumy wants to replace the fluoxetine with Cymbalta or Effexor -- is one or the other more likely to cause side effects in the cognitive area, or in muscle weakness?

Thanks for your input.
==Shari

I found these interactions between Prozac and Elavil.

from http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/Interac...22+&CheckFDA=1

Also, fluoxetine impairs the clearance and metabolism of amitriptyline.
If the dose of amitriptyline is low, say 10 or 25mg, the effect is not startling.
But if your amitrip. is 50mg or 75mg or 100, this then become significant.
Increasing tricyclic doses, may have an effect on QT times for the heartbeat.
And some people are very sensitive to this.

from http://jcp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/35/1/17

Are you taking other drugs? Neurontin, Lyrica, Topamax all have side effects, like you describe.

The process of Fibro also creates a type of brain fog, itself. Since studies have shown patients with Fibro have low spinal fluid content of B12, use of
B12 orally may help.
http://www.immunesupport.com/healthw...8/98sum003.cfm

To lower homocysteine, the vitamins B6 and folic acid are needed too.
Please visit our Vitamin forum here for more information.

Brain fog is a common symptom also for B12 deficiency. You can have a serum B12 run, by the doctor as well. (they do not normally do spinal taps except in research studies).

Hi Shari,

Gosh, when I read what you'd written I had to write to you. I had such similar problems, and I found them so scary.

One of the things that I've observed is that many medications, especially antidepressants, affect memory.

My feeling is that they lower our B12 levels and it's really the low B12 that is affecting our memory.

Are you taking Methylcobalamin at all? It can sometimes help. It will always help if you are low on B12, but if you don't know if you are low on B12 then it might or might not help, depending on your underlying B12 levels.

Sorry, that was pretty convoluted. It's just that B12 is so important and is so often overlooked.

At the same time, it isn't a problem for everyone.

You might want to take a look at a page I've been working on that shows how fingernails reflect low B12:
http://health-boundaries-bite.com/Fingernail-Lines.html

If you have those kinds of ridges or are losing the moons on your fingernails, then look at the whole list of symptoms of low B12... if they fit you, if they are what you are experiencing, then you should get Methylcobalamin and keep notes as to what you experience when you are taking it.

((((((((((Shari)))))))))))

Don't worry, but do take these steps.

No one symptom (or combination) is always present. It pays to pay attention to your fingernails for general health clues, but presence of lack of ridges or moons cannot determine your B12 status.

The list of symptoms and signs vary so much from individual to individual that they can appear to be entirely different conditions even within immediate families.

rose

Fibro itself causes "fibro fog" - memory loss, attention and concentration problems, and general brain malfunctioning. I've had it bad enough to have to change careers. Effexor can make memory problems worse, I have found, even though it is an "activating" anti-depressant.
I agree that B12 supplement helps with depression, which is part of having fibro.