brain fog?

fmichael · 03-01-2010, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babs74

I am only on topamax. wc wont pay for anything and i cant really afford my meds.. and i dont have anything that helps right now.. so i just take the topamax.. was on lyrica july of last year.. it helps and will be back on it again hopefully soon when the case is over.. but i also forget words i am trying to say.. so its really called brain rot huh.. well i was trying to figure out what to call it.. well its better than just being tarded i guess.lol.. it makes me feel stupid.. cant wait til deposition training, thats going to be so much fun..lmao. going to forget everything right after i do it.. but it might be kind of fun..hehe.. atleast i am not alone and can laugh about it now..but the forgetting where i am or seeing things differently scares me.. what if i forget to stop at a stop light or stop sign with my kids in the car or something? and my kids get hurt? there has to be something they can do for us right? just things like that worry me.. me im expendable.. im 35. that sounds depressing i know. but im more worried bout my children then i am myself..i dont want them to suffer cuz i got hurt anymore than they have to.. they do now cuz i got hurt and lost my job and lost my house and in debt up to my eyeballs and my hubby lost his job all within 8 months time. but still,,

Dear Barbara -

I am so sorry to hear of your circumstances. No one should have to suffer for WC not paying for basic medications! Please check out NT's "Layoffs, Unemployment and Worker's Compensation" at http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum30.html If you don't have a WC lawyer get one ASAP. (It's my understanding that most of them work on a contingency basis, but don't hold me to that.)

Similarly, you should be vigorously pursuing both state and federal disability payments. I assume you're already doing this, but if not you should get on it ASAP. As a California resident, I forfeited what would have been something like 95% of my income [based on the quarter before I was injured] that would have been payable for a year, had I filed the moment my income started to drop after my injury. NT also has a forum on Social Security Disability at http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum30.html if you haven't been there
already.

Hand in there

Mike

babs74 · 03-02-2010, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fmichael

Dear Barbara -

I am so sorry to hear of your circumstances. No one should have to suffer for WC not paying for basic medications! Please check out NT's "Layoffs, Unemployment and Worker's Compensation" at http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum30.html If you don't have a WC lawyer get one ASAP. (It's my understanding that most of them work on a contingency basis, but don't hold me to that.)

Similarly, you should be vigorously pursuing both state and federal disability payments. I assume you're already doing this, but if not you should get on it ASAP. As a California resident, I forfeited what would have been something like 95% of my income [based on the quarter before I was injured] that would have been payable for a year, had I filed the moment my income started to drop after my injury. NT also has a forum on Social Security Disability at http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum30.html if you haven't been there
already.

Hand in there

Mike

yes i do have lawyer actually.. and they are fighting for me.. they are great actually.. almost at depo stage. hired them last feb. the day i got fired.. they have helped me get treatment and everything.. helped me get bills paid.. right now trying to help me get ssi. they owe my quite a chunk of change.so they are trying to help me.. its been a long slow process it seems like, and when ur broke it seems like slower and longer..lol.. but that is almost over. then i have to go after the company i worked for. cuz they fired me due to allergic reaction to neurontin. that there doc gave me for (sprain)..lol i was getting treated pretty badly by wc doctors so i called a lawyer and he answered some questions and then i hired him..actually have a big firm.. a paralegal and attorney both handling my case.. meeting with them both wednesday afternoon.. really if i get frustrated i can call them and they help me.. they are like friends to be honest.. it seems strange that i have so much faith in them.. more trust in them than some of my family. i know thats horrible. but my family wants MONEY!!!

keep smilin · 03-02-2010, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babs74

I am only on topamax. wc wont pay for anything and i cant really afford my meds.. and i dont have anything that helps right now.. so i just take the topamax.. was on lyrica july of last year.. it helps and will be back on it again hopefully soon when the case is over.. but i also forget words i am trying to say.. so its really called brain rot huh.. well i was trying to figure out what to call it.. well its better than just being tarded i guess.lol.. it makes me feel stupid.. cant wait til deposition training, thats going to be so much fun..lmao. going to forget everything right after i do it.. but it might be kind of fun..hehe.. atleast i am not alone and can laugh about it now..but the forgetting where i am or seeing things differently scares me.. what if i forget to stop at a stop light or stop sign with my kids in the car or something? and my kids get hurt? there has to be something they can do for us right? just things like that worry me.. me im expendable.. im 35. that sounds depressing i know. but im more worried bout my children then i am myself..i dont want them to suffer cuz i got hurt anymore than they have to.. they do now cuz i got hurt and lost my job and lost my house and in debt up to my eyeballs and my hubby lost his job all within 8 months time. but still,,

I can erase the thought that the brain fog is totally caused by your medicines as I take NOTHING for my RSD..(bad tummy) and I am totally brain fogged.. Iam a case study within my self..As Sandy's daughter and I both don't take meds and as I read, Sandy agrees.. Now i am not saying meds dont play a part in it..but I have brain farts and loss all of the time..I have admitted and given into it as no doubt our limbric brains are invloved and I don't question it..will it get worse?? Not sure but in the mean time it is real, scarey but our life now...I sometimes worry as I drive if I will remember how to get back home.....

Kathy

dreambeliever128 · 03-02-2010, 11:15 AM

I'm with Kathy on this one. I am not on any major meds. Just Mitformin and was on Nexium but switching due to side effects.

The worst thing I have done in the past 2 months is forgot my daughters birthday. Jan. 28th. Laid in bed yesterday and remembered it. OMG, I felt bad. I never do that. I'm going to pick up up something today when I go out for her.I was involved in a small claims court that I spent 3 months on working on to win so I chalk some of it up to that but it's just my brainfog.

I forget appts. I forget to pay bills sometime. When I first started with RSD in 98 I was so bad that I couldn't have handled my own case. If I had, I would have done better then the lawyer I had.

I'm making an appt. today about my eyesight, it is getting really bad.

I chalk it up to the medical issues but when you have several it's hard to say. Fibro causes a lot of issues that we are talking about too.

Ada

fmichael · 03-03-2010, 08:00 AM

I meant to post it last night, but too many things came up at home.

Be advised, however, that a steady diet of significant opioids (Methadone among them) can be associated with a loss of memory and executive functioning in the absence of ANY physical pain condition - as observed in folks with substance abuse problems - especially when taken with benzodiazepines such as Xanax.

Talk about not being able to win for loosing! More to follow.

Mike

SandyRI · 03-03-2010, 09:19 AM

I take it that this reverses once the meds are stopped?....

Quote:

Originally Posted by fmichael

I meant to post it last night, but too many things came up at home.

Be advised, however, that a steady diet of significant opioids (Methadone among them) can be associated with a loss of memory and executive functioning in the absence of ANY physical pain condition - as observed in folks with substance abuse problems - especially when taken with benzodiazepines such as Xanax.

Talk about not being able to win for loosing! More to follow.

Mike

fmichael · 03-03-2010, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SandyRI

I take it that this reverses once the meds are stopped?....

Hate to do this in a rush because I'm hustling to make it to an appointment on time, but appears the answer may not be as clear cut as we would like. For a study of what may be an extreme case, previously heavy heroin addicts, see, Prosser J, Cohen LJ, Steinfeld M et al, Neuropsychological functioning in opiate-dependent subjects receiving and following methadone maintenance treatment, Drug Alcohol Depend. 2006 Oct 1;84(3):240-7. Epub 2006 Mar 20, FREE FULL TEXT AT http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...nihms30979.pdf

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Beth Israel Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY 10003, USA. jprosser@chpnet.org

Abstract
OBJECTIVE: An accumulating body of research suggests that former heroin abusers in methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) exhibit deficits in cognitive function. Whether these deficits are present in former methadone maintained patients following discontinuation of MMT is unknown. This study tests the hypothesis that former heroin users who have detoxified from methadone maintenance therapy and are drug-free have less pronounced cognitive impairment than patients continuing long-term MMT.

METHOD: A series of neuropsychological tests were administered to three groups of subjects: 29 former heroin addicts receiving methadone maintenance treatment, 27 former heroin addicts withdrawn from all opiates, and 29 healthy controls without a history of drug dependence. Testing included Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Vocabulary Test, the Stroop Color-Word Test, the Controlled Oral Word Association Test, the Benton Visual Retention Test, and a Substance Use Inventory.

FINDINGS: Both methadone-maintained and abstinent subject groups performed worse than controls on tasks that measured verbal function, visual-spatial analysis and memory, and resistance to distractibility. Abstinent subjects performed worse than their methadone maintained counterparts on tests measuring visual memory and construct formation. Cognitive impairment did not correlate with any index of drug use.

CONCLUSIONS: We confirmed previous findings of neuropsychological impairment in long-term MMT recipients. Both patients receiving MMT and former heroin users in prolonged abstinence exhibited a similar degree of cognitive impairment. Cognitive dysfunction in patients receiving methadone maintenance may not resolve following methadone detoxification.

PMID: 16545923 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

loretta · 03-03-2010, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peppermintpatty

I am sad to say that I too am suffering from this symptom. It is one of the most scary symptoms that I have, to be honest. I feel like I'm losing my mind some days. I do forget things occasionally, but it's affected me the most in word selection. I'll be in the middle of a sentence & simply cannot place the word I want to use. It's quite frustrating to me, as I am young & was relatively healthy before all of this hit me.

I would say that I suspect the medicine, but I started out on Neurontin/Effexor and over time have switched to Lyrica/nortriptyline, and the issues have not changed, so I really don't know. I have read that it is a symptom of the CRPS itself, but I'd prefer to blame it on the meds. I just really don't know.

Hi peppermintpatty, I know what you are saying about having a loss of words, or groping for a word during a conversation.RSD affects the Limbic System of the Brain, which controls short term memory,decision making or judgment.It is very frustrating, but does explain why we have times of loss of words.
Welcome to NT. we are happy to have you as part of our compassionate family. Your new friend, loretta with big soft hugs

loretta · 03-03-2010, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babs74

Does anyone have moments where they are forgetting what they are doing? Like i was at work saturday and i was scanning some items to ring up and i had them in my good hand and i kind of blanked out (brain fart) several times and forgot where i was and what i was doing. Then also i dont reconize people i should.. like family i grew up with, but dont see as often as i would like. or at work today reconized someone i barely knew then turned my head and looked back and it was like looking at something for the first time. It didnt look familiar at all. It seems to be getting more frequently and i feel like i am getting dementia to be honest, and i am getting scared. My neuro thinks there migranes and the topamax is at 100mg. freaking me out..just want to make sure thats its not migranes.. please help! confused in crps land!!

Hi Babs, A lot of us have this groping for words, confusion and it is frustrating. There has been information on NT about the Limbic System of the brain that controls our short term memory, judgment decisions, etc. that explains why we have this. Hope this helps explain our missing of words while speaking. Take care and we are happy to have you with your NT family, your friend, loretta with big soft hugs

olecyn · 03-04-2010, 12:24 AM

Pain & Brain FOG - still looking for the article found. This one will do for now...
http://www.drlwilson.com/Articles/brain_fog.htm

Get an attorney ASAP everyone. Attorney's work on a 15% or more now retainer fee. And they dont jump through hoops. You still have to manage ur own case, then yell & scream. Its not easy. My case is going on 11 years with 2 or is it 3 dep's now with no end in site. Just recently the opposition reviewers (no medical shield, just office workers) are denying medications, procedures they having been providing for. I get all the medical references needed & still nothing gets done.

It is not you. It is ALL insurance company's including Medicare. Health care has been reformed without the American people being told. Letters have been sent out by AARP (who just received millions by the government), Veterans & Medicare patients denying procedures across the board. What was in the pipeline for surgical procedures is no longer being approved according to the letters. Everything is being cut by 20-21%. Physicians are being sent letters in addition to the patient telling them the insurance company is no longer approving a previous approval.

Would you like to pay cash or by credit card? big sigh..

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