Posted by bookgurl99 on June 3, 2002, at 8:49:39
In reply to Re: Adjusting to Illness, posted by Greg A. on May 30, 2002, at 16:07:02
Greg --
In early March, my short-term memory suddenly vanished. I had always had a flypaper mind and am going to school, so this really concerned me. (I'm 26, by the way.)
One theory at the time was that I had an unusual reaction to an anti-nausea drug called Reglan; I had received a shot of it in the ER. It can cause temporary short-term memory problems in some people.
I went to my folk's house to get help and see their local doctor. They used the opportunity to hound on me for being gay and for not being graduated yet. It was very abusive -- surprisingly so. They just couldn't handle the stress of helping me: my dad, mr "It's not happening if I don't see it" went out of town, and my mom threw something at me.
(I know it's strange, but they seemed relatively normal until I had a personal crisis.)
Anyways, my therapist now theorizes that the stress of the original medication reaction and the ensuing events affected me so that now I have memory problems _because_ of anxiety.
Also, around the time my problems showed up, I was starting to remember abusive incidents from my childhood because my sister -- also in therapy -- was jogging my memory. (I'll remember these events if reminded but tend to block them out.)
I was tested through formal neuropsych testing, and the doctors came to the same conclusion. In the lab, my 'working memory' is low, but the other aspects of my memory test at genius level. They say the only thing that explains the difference is -- anxiety.
My constellation of symptoms was strange -- feeling lost in places I'd seen before, episodes of dizziness, lowered attention span, trouble recognizing people -- but they ARE starting to lift.
I'm starting to feel better. This has really disturbed my life. This week I'm applying for good jobs and looking forward to rebuilding my life after the past 3 months. I guess all I can do is go back to life and wait to heal.
Thanks y'all for your support,
bookgurl99
poster:bookgurl99
thread:24857
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020531/msgs/24980.html