Posted by GeishaGirl on December 5, 2004, at 11:51:38
In reply to Re: Anyone else have Brain Damage? » GeishaGirl, posted by lostforwards on December 3, 2004, at 10:54:42
I'm really sorry about what you are going thru. I had tardive dykinesia for awhile, thankfully it went away when I tapered off antipsychotics. From what I've been reading lately, tardive dystonia and dyskinesia a lot of times go hand in hand with congnitive difficulties (covering, it seems a wide range of things from memory loss to ability to process information).
> The fact that these are non-standard side-effects makes things worse.
Yup. Some people I've encountered (friends as well as docs and therapists) were trying to tell me that they never heard of some of the side effects I was having from my meds. However, as I began talking with more and more people, I found that there were others who had similar experiences.
I believe that just because a side effect isn't listed or considered "common" doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. I've read thru very carefully pharmaceutical company inserts and found that there were side effects buried deep within the rest of the document and not listed in the general list of side effects. Why this is the case, I'm not certain of. Maybe the company doesn't feel there's strong enough evidence to put those side effects on the regular list, or maybe they don't want people to panic. I've some of the side effects that weren't on the primary list. There are also side effects that seem to me quite common that aren't listed at all in the inserts or elsewhere.
> As far as cognitive side-effects are concerned. I get very hazey sometimes. Like my mind goes totally blank. I never had this before. I also forget what I'm doing sometimes.
I also have this most of the time. Somtimes when I'm typing emails (even to friends) I forget what I've written two seconds ago and have to reread what I wrote.
I also have problems with understanding things that are in sequence. I'll be having a conversation with someone and they're telling me a story of something that they did or something that happened to them and I get completely lost. I'm confused as to what order things happened in. I can no longer receive even simple verbal instructions. I need to either have the person repeat what they are asking me to do several times or I need to have things written down so that I can understand it.
I also have problems like I'll have a word or idea or sentence in my head and I can't verbalize what's in my head. It's like I can't make a connection between thoughts and speech.
I also have a really hard time understanding complex ideas. I never had any of these problems before I took meds or even when I first started taking them. Most of the time people think I'm not paying attention, when I really am. This is hard. All the people I know right now didn't know me before I was on meds or even within the first year I was on them. To them I seem smart and with it. They have no idea what my functioning was like before. I can't seem to get them to hear me. They seem to prefer to believe instead that it's some kind of flaw in my character.
There's more, but I can't remember right now :) I hope that this makes sense.
> There should defintely be more research into these side-effects and better ways of diagnosing them.
There is quite a bit of research that has been done on various side effects. Many get buried, not because of any kind of methodilogical flaw, but because they are not funded in any way by the pharmaceutical industry and/ or don't have very nice things to say regarding side effects. Many universities get some pharmaceutical funding or are somehow influenced by the industry. I feel that this can taint not only results, but methods.
I find studies interesting things to read and sometimes helpful, but the primary way that I find answers to my questions is by talking with people about their experiences. Even though this isn't a very scientific way, I find it accurate for me. I'll try to find some links to some of the reading I've done online. Can't remember them right now.
I've read books and googled around a lot. Someone I find helpful to read is Peter Breggin. He has a website with some articles and has also written several books. Breggin is a pychiatrist who has some serious problems with psychiarty as it is practiced.
Hope things improve for you. Hope to hear from you again. I'll write about some more stuff when I can. It's hard to write about (both mechanically and emotinally).
Geisha Girl
poster:GeishaGirl
thread:423854
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20041202/msgs/424697.html