Spacey head feeling and can't think clearly

[Highhopes]

Hello

A little history on myself first. I had prostatitis and was on Cipro and Levaquin for over two months (this has been just recently) A few days after my last dose of Levaquin, I had a HUGE panic attack and a few days later, a second one. Now, as a long-time sufferer of anxiety, OCD, hypochondria and depression, this has'nt been my first experience with a panic attack and I'm sure it won't be my last because they run in my family but I'm now wondering if perhaps the Levaquin had something to do with these last two.

Also, just before the panic attacks started to come on really strong I had a mild sore throat that last several days and I did'nt feel so good. Ever since then, my mind has felt what I can only describe as foggy, spacey, inner-ear like dizzy feeling, mind not sharp, thinking not clear, mind feels like a fuzzy tv picture, syrupy, stuporish, soupy, swimming, scrambled, feels like my IQ has dropped 30 points, anesthetized - like my brain has been either pickled in brine or injected with Novacaine or something and my thoughts are somewhat disorganized along with mild memory problems. I don't smoke, drink, etc. What is this and what does it all mean?. I mostly feel this way in the evenings and it seems that it's worse when I drink more than two cups of coffee a day. I also get these breif, sharp headaches that come and go.

Am I going nuts?. Do I have mad cow or something?!?!?. Small doses of Lorazepam don't seem to help and Xanax has a horrible "rebound" affect that makes my anxiety even worse when I come down off of it. Anyone else here have the same problem(s) I'm experiencing and how do you cope?.

- Thank's

[Angelwings]

I think "brain fog" is symptomatic of a lot of these anxiety disorders. I don't think your going nuts, I think you are just experiencing the effects (or after-affects) of all the chemicals that surge through our bodies whenever we have a panic attack. Products containing caffeine can exaserbate some of these symptoms. Everything you describe (from what I can see) fits the profile of someone who suffers from anxiety/panic disorders. Meds can help a lot.

[pmhoran]

I get the "brain fog" too but mine, I always assumed, was due to my Fibromyalgia & cognitive dysfunction more so than linked to the anxiety stuff.   Learned something new ;)

One thing that tends to make mine worse is ... if I start stressing myself about it.   One thing that really helped was just knowing that "I am not the only one" ... that its not uncommon or unique to me.   Just knowing that was enough to help me learn to accept that it happens and then figure out ways to help me cope & deal with it.

Due to a compilation of symptoms ... in the past 12 years my IQ has had a documented change from 172 to 120 at the last IQ test I had 3 years ago.   Kind of went from knowing I was a pretty smart guy to not so smart anymore ;)

There are techiques I have learned that have helped me.   They are not "official" techiques ... and they may not help other people with their memory & cognitive issues.   But since I started them .... my memory is better and the cognitive dysfunction is less of an issue than it used to be.  Plus ... although the "brain fog" and "brain farts" still happen from time to time, the "episodes" don't seem to be as severe nor last as long.

What I do is ... play along with the game shows saying my answers out loud.   Game shows like Jeopardy, Millionaire & Wheel of Fortune.   I started that after reading an article about stroke victims being able to establish new brain pathways to areas of the brain damaged by a stroke.  I tried that for my memory dysfuncion and it seems to have helped a great deal.

Also ... a passion of mine has been designing my "ideal house" and then I would figure out how I would like it furnished and decorated etc.   I've done this on paper for decades ;)   But I started doing it totally in my mind.   I would relax in my recliner, and start constructing from the outside in.   I would get the outside the way I want it then go into the foyer, and then one by one all the other rooms.   Every once in a while I would mentally go back through the rooms I had completed and if I could not remember one room or part of a room then I would kind of wipe the slate clean and start again outside from scratch.   It took me almost a week (I think) to get past the foyer .... but now ... 3 years later I usually have little problem doing the first & second floors and now tend to finish & furnish the attic & basement without difficulty.

That seems to helped not only the memory stuff ... but the cognitive as well.   And I think that exercise is the one that has helped the brain fog & farts.

I also have a games section on my website that I also use.   There are games there that I also use and feel have helped me.

But these work for me specifically ... they may bore the heck out of anyone else.   I did things that I enjoy doing and am even maybe a wee bit passionate about.   I think if anyone else wants to try variations of my techniques they should do the same .... modify things so you are doing things you are interested in or passionate about.

One woman I know who decided to try it .... instead of mentally building her dream home decided to mentally make lace doillies.   Someone else was passionate about art ... so would mentally paint a picture.   Yet another loved garden design so she mentally would design and plant a HUGE display garden.   That one actually ended up mentally redesigning her own yard and after she was totally happy with the design & end result in her imagination ... she actually put it on paper and did it for real  hahahaha.

I would spend 1/2 hour to an hour almost every day with my "imagination" exercise ... and then the game shows for about an hour.   You just have to make the time and have a bit of dedication to it.   These days I still watch the game shows ... but more for entertainment.   I don't do the "exercises" because I think I have "regained" as much as I can expect to and seem to have put a stop to further loss of IQ.   Every once in a while I things happen that I feel I should start doing the exercises again ... so I do for a few months until I feel I am back to where I was.

Like I said ... these techniques seem to have worked for me.   Maybe doing something similar will help others ... but I give no guarantees ;)   But as I told the others ... you won't know until you try ;)

Good luck ... take care
Peter