BRAIN DAMAGED FROM DRUGS, PERMANENTLY?

[kara sanchez]

i am 23 years old.  I started using methamthetamines intra-venously when I was 12 almost 13 years old.  I have been CLEAN AND SOBER FOR ALMOST3 YEARS.  I JUST WANTED TO KNOW IF ITS POSSIBLE THAT I COULD HAVE DAMAGED MY BRAIN, BECAUSE I AM VERY FORGETFUL ABOUT THINGS, I MISPLACE MONEY, KEYS, PAPERS, AND SO ON ALL OF THE TIME!!  I CANT EVEN REMEMBER WHAT I DID YESTURDAY!!  WILL THIS EVER GET BETTTER OR AM I BRAIN DAMAGED FOR LIFE?

will some one please respond asap??

youcould even e-mail me at ***@****

HELP,

KARA

[frank t.]

hi kara,hows it going?im a 43 year old mail that did a whole lot of everything from the time i was 14 till the time i was 25. back then we robbed drugstores and shot just about everything-desoxyn,preluden,nembutal,desbutal,dilaudid,demerol,---i mean i did a whole lot of everything and also didnt eat properly,usually got down to bout 120,i weigh 160 normally.i caught a case (burglary of phamacy) and due to a good lawyer and god i guess i got probation and was stipulted to cenikor,a 3 yr ,very difficult behavior modification program. i thought my brain was completely shot. gradually it changed, i got used to it, and quit worry so much about it.without a doubt there was some changes with regard to my anxiety level,memory, vision(slight patterns when looking at certain types of objects,and spatial relationships.it worried me,drove me crazy, etc. however be somewhat of a realist i knew i could shoot no more dope and i attacked it with ,exersize,meditation,diet,etc.i read a lot. i quit smoking and the anxiety level diminished some.a person who is very anxious definetly can give off the apperance of brain disfunction.(perhaps it is brain damage of sorts,but it can be treated).when i was busy at work i did better than when i was off,due to lesss time to think about it.i quit worry about it and noticed some slight changes---we're talking about years here.but what is the alternative?at seven years clean i had to get a job that required me to deal with people and not freak them out with my gaze aversion,distorted facial expressions,and what they call phsychomotor dysfunction. i went to a neurologist and he tried me on periacton(a strong antihisamine)which didnt help me at all.this was in 1988 and they werent using the SSRI for anxiety. i think they may help some .not me very much though.he then prescribed me 1 mg xanax twice a day. that drug definetly completely eliminated the anxiety and actually changed the way my thoughts were processed and vision,etc.remmember,i had been clean(drugs and alcohol)for seven years at this time.doctors are very hesitant to prescribe that type of drug on a mainanence plan.it is very risky and dangerous,nut i was desperate.i was as close to normal as i had been in years.i added prozac later and for seven years was extremely productive in my job-wasnt afraid of people-and people no longer seemed uncomfortable in dealing with me.in 1995 i had nasal surgery and recieved 30 7.5 mg hycodanes for pain.i had done so well managing the bezodiazapines for all those years i thought i could do the same with vicodan.within 4 months i was on methadone and shooting 60 dollars worth of heroin.i fixed for about three years went to treatment a number of times and as of today have some clean time and am optimistic about my chances.i am on methadone and am about to switch over to orlamm monday. my thinking is radically different than the first time i had soberd up.it depresses me alot at times. when im thinking right i remmember ive seen this movie before and that getting into recovery and time will make life tolerable again. the main one of the two is time. really all you have to do is dont drink or use,follow a wholistic plan of living that you can find in any recommended book and wait.its going to take a long time before it gets radically better,it did for me anyway--might be faster for you...i for sure dont recommend the benzodiazapines till you have been clean for a long,long time.thanks for listening to me but i should have a phd in the stinkin thinking regarding brain damage.....e-mail me sometime-------frank t./dallas/43 y/o


my email is crit_mass_98***@****

[Kara]

FRANK,
THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY!! IREALLY APPRECIATED IT!!  TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND GOOD LUCK!!

[Crazzzy]

Hang in there it gets better