I think that kind of thing is to be expected after a major trauma like PEs. The body is working so hard to heal that I think little things like, um, memory tend to get the short end of the stick. I was kind of a scatterbrain for a while. Remembering stuff was just too much work!

This is something I have wondered about too! I have not been myself since the PE. Might be the anxiety, healing, etc, but I don't know. I am a year and a half out and still am a total scatterbrain. Just last week, I was asking my mom if she wanted me to put the bag of sugar away and instead I asked her if she wanted me to put the package of chicken away. LOL What is that about?? I do it all the time.

Yeah, initially I experienced this too. The one moment I remember very distinctly was trying to tell someone which gym I belonged to and for the life of me, I could not put the name together to say it out loud, even though it was simple- Y M C A.

I agree with Toss. I think it's from the physical trauma. I wonder if other areas of your body sort of take time off to help your overall recovery. I do realized that may not even be a scientifically sound theory, but I go with it anyway.

I've often wondered the same thing and my husband has asked me on occasion what's up with my memory and sometimes even ability to comprehend or speak. I've definitely noticed changes. I've gone so far to speak to my dr about it and at this point he us unconcerned. Says something very similar to what toss mentioned. But I'm to follow up with him in 6 weeks after stopping warfarin to see if it has gotten better same or worse

I suppose it is very easy at times, despite anxiety and all of that stuff, to underestimate what are bodies have gone through. Or I should say, continue to go through for quite some time after. When you get a cut, you can actually see the progression of its healing. Something like this is totally different, or I think anyway. And it is very easy to fail to recognize the far reaching effects this has.

All that said, I still wonder though. :o)

I'd posted this link previously. It's not specific to brain fog issues, but just in general about how emotional trauma often manifests as physical symptoms.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog...

In the earlier stages of recovery, I had a terrible time concentrating, and I almost couldn't read at all - I mean I could read, but I had no retention for what I was reading, and I'd stop and have no idea what the entire page had been about. At the time a lot of people here were talking about a 'coumadin fog' so I just assumed it must have been a side effect of the medication, but I'm on coumadin again and I've noticed no difference from being off. So my new assumption is just like the others here said, it must just be part of the jolt to our bodies, and things like memory and fluid thinking just aren't a top priority in the early part of recovery. Give yourself more time and it'll probably pass.

ShilohsMommy: I had the same issue for a bit. Though I could read fiction and retain it it took me a little longer than it usually would, but my textbooks were my own version of hell. I took a quiz a couple of weeks after my PE (this was probably the last class day that I went to before I finally accepted I needed to take a break) and I read the material at least 3 times, some of it even more, I had met with the teacher individually to focus on what I needed to learn and memorize, what was pertinent to the tests, and I bombed anyway, hard. At that point I just kind of gave up for a bit. And I still, 6 months after (so I am attributing to the medicine now), my writing skills are not nearly where they were before the PE. I forget words constantly or type a word similar to the one I am thinking but absolutely wrong in context or I'll go to type what I am thinking about and I'll type whatever I just heard someone else say. It's frustrating and it makes it so simple things take a lot more effort than they used to.

Meg I completely understand. Although thankfully, I was never being tested on anything after having PE. Must admit I'm certainly not envying your situation there. All I can say is just to keep at it. I truly believed that my brain got better as I continued to push it. Reading was hard in the beginning, and I'm not going to lie, I don't enjoy reading the same as I used to before (but that might be as much from having small children constantly distracting me. But as I kept at it, it's like my brain kind of 'woke up' again. Writing, I understand that too - using the wrong but similar-sounding words. Goodness I did that SO MUCH early on. But I do think that just like physically we have to keep on pushing a bit, mentally we can do the same thing. This is a different situation, because here we're not talking about actual brain damage, but my dad does have brain damage from an injury. I didn't know until his doctors explained to us, but even in a situation of real injury (my dad has parts of his brain which are just scar tissue now), if we don't give in to it, our brains can rewire and the well parts can pick up some-most of the slack. I just mention that to encourage everyone who feels this sort of memory/confusion after PE's to keep pushing forward and don't give up. Our bodies incredibly seem to be able to work out amazing things as long as we're showing it what we need.

Regarding the writing, I found that when I started really making myself write some every day, my ability to retrieve the correct words improved dramatically. So even if you're not in classes right now (sorry I can't remember if you are), make yourself write whatever anyway, just to help yourself along for when you do return.

I've had this problem too, and continue to struggle a little from time to time even now, 8 months out. I DO notice a definate decline in my ability to think clearly when my anxiety gets higher. I have noticed a definate improvement from the first few months after my PE, but I'm still quite a bit slower than before. I have been attributing my mental fatigue/sluggishness to anxiety, so hopefully I'm right about that and I'll keep seeing improvements at I continue to get my anxiety under control. I also notice a BIG increase in anxiety and mental sluggishness starting a week before my period... those nice little hormonal bc pills really helped my PMS issues, but since those are no longer an option, I'm kind of stuck for the moment! I'm not willing to increase antidepressants or anti-anxiety meds at this point, so I'm hoping I'll just get used to it and things won't seem so bad during that week every month!

Similar memory problems to the ones mentioned - rings bells. I am two and a half years post PE and still had persistent short term memory problems, difficulty concentrating thinking through fog etc. But in my case its been attributed to daytime and nightime reduced oxygen sats my average sats now are 90% range 86-94% which is being investigated. If the problems persist ask for the problem to be investigated there may bea cause that is not just anxiety related

all the best Mr the Runner

I'm definitely having the same issues - to the point of wanting to quit taking the Warfarin. I'm just so frustrated right now. I'm three years out and trying to finish up the last class for my MBA. When I started the program (pre-clots) I was taking three classes at a time plus working plus a social life and getting A's. Now it's taken me three years to try and finish my last three classes. I barely made C's in the two classes I've passed and now this is my third go around taking the final class and not only has is cost me close to $6,000 but I'm still struggling and don't see how I'm going to pass this time around either. Six hours to read a chapter and even then I can't remember a damn thing that I read. And trying to do the assignments is just an exercise in frustration. I don't remember simple words even though they're common everyday words. And, it's not just school, every day I wonder if I'm going to get fired because I can't put sentences together and simple projects are a huge struggle for me.

No, I don't want to die. But it I lose this job due to a lack of mental capabilities I have no idea how I'll support myself. Oh, and finishing the degree is part of my agreement when they hired me.

I'm not expecting answers - just needed to vent to people that may actually understand since no one else I talk to seems to.

Thank you for listening.

Bugsy, I'm with you. I was studying to be a Nuc Med tech and I had to leave the program because I couldn't finish the quarter when I had my PE last year. I went back to school in the summer to work on some more GRE's and did fine but the fall semester is going awful. I tried to do full time classes and I had to drop one early on and I'm going to have to see about getting incompletes in a couple class to get extra time to finish. I had to go on zoloft in September to help with PMS symptoms since BCP was out of the question and I swear the stuff makes me have ADD. It takes forever to read the material and writing a paragraph or more gets trying because I'm so easily distracted and I can't focus on my idea for very long, not to mention the fact that my proofreading ability has been shot all to hell. It's like I am lacking any sense of discipline I used to have for school work and then I get anxious or depressed that I'm not doing well that it makes my attention span even worse.

@Meg05

I've never taken Zoloft but I've taken other anti-depressants in the same family. Definitely had that kind of brain fog and concentration issues with some of them. Might be worth looking at a different med for your PMS to see if it has less impact on your mental abilities. Some of those drugs do some powerful stuff!

The three times I've missed a Warfarin dose, the first clue was that old sharpness of mind and good short-term memory was returning. Therefore I attribute more of the loss to med-driven brain fog than to any residual damage from PE.