Notices

FOG and stuff...help

Old 09-28-2011, 03:52 PM
  # 1 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Spica's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 379
FOG and stuff...help

Hi all! I have been following as many of the oxy detox threads as I can and have a few questions. I am day 17 off of the oxy road trip from hell – anywhere from 300 to 750mg (interspersed occasionally with a suboxone stint) for ~ five years. I have gone through the worst of the withdrawals but cannot shake the exhaustion and mental fog. I have managed to log 5 hours of sleep last night and thought I would be better but today is worse than yesterday.

I have been walking four blocks a night (my ankle injury is keeping me from jogging- I am thrilled that I can manage the worst of it with aspirin and ibuprofen) and I have been trying to clean house and apply on line for jobs but the mental mush is overwhelming.

Can someone please share how long it took the fog to start lifting. It seems that some days are worse than the day before.

Do I really have another two or three months before I can concentrate again – this gets almost overwhelming. I have read some of the PAWS literature and thinking I have six months more of this is a little too crushing to deal with.

Can anyone share as to what helped to control the mental fog and how they managed to work through the exhaustion and lack of motivation. I am pushing through as best I can but hearing that other people are out jogging and working out at day 15 after a hard detox and feeling good is starting to scare me…

I guess I just need reassurance that this shall pass. I used to be a very active person before I turned my life over to that poison and want to get back to some semblance of normalcy.
Spica is offline  
Old 09-28-2011, 04:07 PM
  # 2 (permalink)  
FT
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 3,677
A lot of it is lack of sleep.

Even if you think you are sleeping well, when you are in early recovery (when does it become late recovery? ha!) your sleep cycles are disturbed. When you do sleep, you don't enter the deep, restorative sleep below REM sleep. REM sleep is where you dream, so you might notice you recall your dreams more now, too, at least for awhile after you wake up. You don't remember dreams from deep, restorative sleep because you don't dream then. In normal sleep, you go in and out of those sleep states all night. In recovery, you are lucky if you get a few hours just of REM sleep.

Without good sleep, you will feel tired and mentally dysfunctional. Sleep medications can make it worse, because you don't get the deep sleep. Same thing for alcohol, which also disturbs the sleep cycles.

When does it get better? For me, I finally started getting more mentally clear after about 3 or 4 weeks. It's different for everyone. I have a job that requires a great deal of mental clarity, and I've muddled through while getting better. After about 3 months, I realized I was thinking far more clearly than I ever did on opiates, even though while using I truly believed I was doing "my best work". HA!

Give it time. You are still healing.

FT
FT is offline  
Old 09-28-2011, 04:37 PM
  # 3 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Spica's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 379
Thank you!

Three to four weeks I can deal with...Reading the PAWS stuff began to be a little overwhelming.

You are right about the dreams - I can remember lots when I first wake up which is different than before. And boy, can they be colorful!

Thanks
Spica is offline  
Old 09-28-2011, 04:39 PM
  # 4 (permalink)  
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: columbus
Posts: 139
I'm 4 months in now and my experience has been this: foggy brain, insomnia, anxiety, lack of energy, irritability and fatigue all coming and going at seemingly random times. As time goes on the severity of these symptoms lessens and the feel good periods lengthen. After 3 months I felt significantly better, even better than that after 4. I too am looking forward to the 6 month period as I am not where I want to be. But hang in there, if I'm starting to feel better anybody can.
Also, I know what you mean, I've asked people when they started feeling better and got answers like "10 days" or "2 weeks" I would get scared that this was as good as it got. hang in there, it will get better.
johnrambo is offline  
Old 09-28-2011, 04:48 PM
  # 5 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Spica's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 379
Thanks! That was what was doing me in - reading about all these people recently who have been abusing oxy's and started feeling great after two weeks of detox. I know I have abused my body worse than some but others who seem to have been on the same dosages still reported feeling better sooner.

I am determined to stick this out but it makes all the difference to hear such experience and hope from those who are trudging along the same difficult path.

I, too, thought some of my best work was done on oxy's - now I know a little better...

Looking forward to the day I get my memory and mental clarity back.

Is there any chance that memory and cognitive skills reset after a while or will I always have a slower time functioning than I did before I became an idiot?
Spica is offline  
Old 09-28-2011, 04:51 PM
  # 6 (permalink)  
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: columbus
Posts: 139
Well I've never been sober longer than 4 months but from what I've read your brain restores to it's potential.
johnrambo is offline  
Old 09-28-2011, 04:53 PM
  # 7 (permalink)  
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: columbus
Posts: 139
Originally Posted by Spica View Post
before I became an idiot
lol
johnrambo is offline  
Old 09-28-2011, 05:01 PM
  # 8 (permalink)  
FT
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 3,677
Actually, I've been an idiot for years, and I think that never changes.

I think as clearly if not more clearly than before I became an idiot, though.

Ha!

FT
FT is offline  
Old 09-28-2011, 07:13 PM
  # 9 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Spica's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 379
Very good to hear. Even though I noticed my memory and cognitive skills were becoming dampened the longer I stayed on that evil stuff it wasn't enough to get me to wake up and kick the habit.

Idiots of the world unite and keep kicking the OX!!!

I recently saw a special named "The Oxy Express." People coming down to Florida from all over the states to cop copious amounts of oxy to take back...Very frustrating that there are so many doctors out there that write scripts for this stuff like candy. Do they even have a clue what the end game is for some of their "patients"?
Spica is offline  
Old 09-30-2011, 05:59 PM
  # 10 (permalink)  
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: columbus
Posts: 139
btw spica, be careful. At three months my anxiety spiked and symptoms got worse before they got better. I'm not saying it's gonna happen to you but if it does hold your head high because it's a sign of better times to come. Stay strong but most of all stay determined to feel good. If you have religion, draw near to God.
johnrambo is offline  
Old 09-30-2011, 09:36 PM
  # 11 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Spica's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 379
Thanks JohnRambo, I hear you loud and clear. That is why I am doing the 90and 90 in NA and planning to stick around there for a lot longer.

Not only have I received some amazing assistance from fellow oxy fighters on this board but I have had the fortune to meet several people in this little NA meeting I attend who rallied around me when they saw the detox I was going through. I am surprised at the amount of people I have met who have travelled the same path as me. They have helped each other work through the PAWS phase - which I understand that due to my history could go on longer than 2 years.

I am not 100% in agreement with everything I hear in the meetings I keep in mind it is a matter of taking what you can use and leaving what you can't.

I learned the hard way I cannot do this alone - EVER - so I appreciate every item shared - Thank you!!!!!

All the best to everyone working towards a healthier life without our toxins of choice.

20 days today- walked 2 miles - not to bad with the bum ankle. Only slept two hours this morning but determined to trudge along! Found a great little Scottish tribal band to listen to at night. If I watch one more Buffy rerun my brain will begin to liquefy even more that it did on my toxin of choice (apologies to any Buffy fans out there – I like the original Star Trek series so please feel free to retaliate at will…) p.s.
Spica is offline  
Old 10-03-2011, 02:35 PM
  # 12 (permalink)  
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: columbus
Posts: 139
Yea, that's more exercise than I was able to do at 2o days. I take melatonin to sleep.

Everybody I talked to at AA said it was 8 months before they really felt solid again, that helps reassure me that things will get better.

You know how slow time goes right now.
johnrambo is offline  
Old 10-03-2011, 02:45 PM
  # 13 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Spica's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 379
No kidding about time slowing down - its worse than molasses...

Sometimes after a near sleepless night I feel like I am wading around a Dali painting - the few dreams I get are every bit as colorful and weird.

The meetings really have been helping - while it is good to talk to y'all on these boards, it really helps to be face to face with recovering people as well.

I ended up paying for my 2 mile walk - my ankle swelled up to twice its size the next morning so now I have to learn to pace myself better.

sigh...progress not perfection....at least I am clean today!
Spica is offline  

Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off




All times are GMT -7. The time now is 12:33 PM.