Originally Posted by
BMunchausen 
Greetings PAWS warriors. Just bumping this thread to see how people are feeling these days. It has been a rough stretch for me. After a period where I seemed to be inching ever closer to normality, my symptoms have come back with a vengeance. I am once again contending with dizziness and brain fog and a whole gamut of physical anxiety issues - tightness in the back of the head, tightness in the chest, foggy vision, occasional "zaps," etc etc etc. I say physical anxiety because I am not mentally or emotionally anxious. Its not that I am anxious or fearful and this sparks the symptoms. If anything it is the opposite. The symptoms overwhelm me and then I become anxious about my health, fearful that I will never get over this etc. I have felt terribly demoralized the last week or so. People have written about PAWS "peaking" and I am hoping that this is what it is. I am right about 7 months so it would map onto the timelines that I have read about. Any words of encouragement or stories of triumph over PAWS would be greatly appreciated. I am feeling pretty low.
Hang in there friend.
I quit 2/1/16, started noticing PAWS symptoms April 11th (creeping anxiety), the rest of April was basically a nightmare punctuated with periods of calm (no in-between) finally got a little professional help (script for gabapentin) with the symptoms which evened out the bumps, but did not eliminate the symptoms. May 13th, joined a health club and started going twice a day, running on the treadmill for an hour at a time.
Today, doing MUCH MUCH better. Of all the things I've done to get through this, exercise has been by far the most effective. I've had days with no symptoms at all, and these were also the days where I had an exceptionally good workout at the gym. Overall, I've noticed my symptoms are clearly tapering off, compared to last month this time.
It is true--it will get BETTER. Just hang on. If possible, you may find exercise useful, if for no other reason than it gives you something to DO, versus sitting around waiting to get better. Some people think exercise can accelerate recovery, especially for the brain, as exercise has a dramatic effect on brain chemistry. (Having said all that--I'm not a doctor! It would be very wise to get competent medical advice before starting up an exercise program.)
By way of background--functional alcoholic, nightly drinker, five + years duration, basic six pack or bottle of wine. Didn't get into much trouble, but I damn near wrecked my brain (that's how my PAWS has felt.) No desire to drink now. The idea creeps me out (PAWS is good for B-mod.)
Best wishes--you will get through this and you will feel WONDERFUL when you do.
