Posted by Greg A. on June 3, 2002, at 13:51:11
In reply to Re: Adjusting to Illness, posted by bookgurl99 on June 3, 2002, at 8:49:39
bookgurl,
Glad you are starting to see some signs of improvement. I don’t know anything about the effects of your meds on memory, but I have personally experienced the effects that anxiety and depression can have on memory. Depression makes me feel sluggish mentally and physically; the thoughts are there but the process of coalescing them into anything coherent is slow. My depression is usually accompanied by chronic anxiety. I find this far more debilitating than the sluggishness as far as memory and other thought processes goes. I too, cannot remember names, recent events, or simple facts from my job from the recent past. As soon as I ‘calm down’ things improve. I am more logical and the missing pieces come to me. I also do not panic when a memory lapse strikes and that seems to be a key in putting things in order.
I have talked with depressed people about how common anxiety is with the illness but how few times it is mentioned as a major debilitating factor. For me, it is very significant. I am sometimes not sure of which comes first – the anxiety leading to depression or the other way round. I only know, when the anxiety is lessened, my mood is greatly improved and my thought processes along with it.
The only other observation I can offer is that when depressed I may have very orderly and organized thoughts, but in dysfunctional way. That is, I may logically arrange the details of a suicide plan. When anxiety is present at a high level, I cannot think ‘straight ‘ enough to organize even illogical things. Does that make any sense?
Hope things continue to get better for you bookgurl.Greg A.
poster:Greg A.
thread:24857
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020531/msgs/24992.html