In response to my worry/complaint (on the left) one of the many members of Wobblers.com wrote a very enlightening response (on the right). I hope the response is of some use to you the reader.
|
From: "Dave "
Help - I hope this all makes sense... I know wobblers like me have brain fog - But how does one identify the difference between dementia and this brain fog? Often I'm having trouble recalling many common words and events. Today I even had flashbacks and experienced memory reruns that left me feeling very confused and almost in a different place and time. Now, in the early evening things feel better - though I still have the recall troubles. Am I alone? Do any of you have days like this. My big concern is that besides wobbling there is a dementia monster waiting in the wings. If so, how does one recognize it and/or how does one eliminate it as a possible condition i.e. my symptoms are only wobbler (vesitbular) related? For the record I didn't have this trouble before the gentamicin treatment. Thanks, Dave It is not the going out of port, but the coming in, that determines the success of a voyage. - Henry Ward Beecher |
Dave, You are not alone in this and you make perfect sense. Our brains become consumed with keeping ourselves as upright and balanced as possible as well as trying to route our visual perceptions of the oscillopsia. These are things our brains are too busy with which seem to override simple tasks such as memory recall or word development. The lapses in word recall are called aphasia. I have problems with this all the time and it drives me nuts. The funny thing is I know the word I want to say, I can hear it in my head, feel it on my tongue but it just won't come out. It's like there is a block of functioning or like a skip in a record. There are times when I actually have to pick an item up or point out an item that I am referring to so someone else can tell me what it is - actually say the word for me. I can look right at the thing but the word will not come out. This happens more frequently to me when I am tired or nervous or stressed out (gee - when aren't we?). When it does happen, it actually makes me want to cry because I feel so darned inadequate and like you, confused and out of touch. I have found that as the time has gone by since my damage (11/97), that this has gotten better. As I said, it happens mostly when I am tired and not feeling well and also if the weather is a low pressure, cloudy, crappy day. However, I firmly believe the reason it has gotten better over time is that I keep myself as active as possible and force myself to read and use my brain with intellectual stimulation. I have gone back to school and this, I believe, has been very helpful not only with the aphasia, but with my compensation overall as well. I also believe that as time goes by, our bodies and brains begin to adjust to the "abnormalcy" of it all and things begin to make sense to our brains again. Although the damage and destruction has not changed, our compensation and how our brain interprets the new messages evolves into thinking our abnormal ways are now normal. And of course, this takes time... I also take a regimine of vitamins to support these issues as well as the immune system. We use up so much energy just getting around that our internal resources get depleted quickly. Vit. B12, Choline (a member of the B-complex family), and Manganese are vitamins which support the nervous system and support and aid in memory function. You may want to investigate this. A good balanced and healthy diet is also important as is excercise. I don't believe you are suffering from dementia - it's likely the "wobbler fog". I know how scary it is and yes, not only are our bodies going through some very difficult adjusting, so are our brains. The article "Cognitive Aspects of Vestibular Disorders" explains the memory and cognitive problems we suffer from very well. I believe you have this article under the fabulous web page you put together. Hang in there Dave - you are not alone in this and we all understand perfectly. Take care, Cheryl |
