Brain Fog and Anxiety

[Nicki_B]

Hi everyone. I am a 22 year old female and I have struggled with anxiety for 7 years, following the death of my father.  I have been on and off antidepressants (prozac mostly) and benzodiazepines (klonopin) for a few years.  Over the last few weeks, my anxiety has gotten progressively worse.  My doc put me back on 10 mg Prozac, but I got extremely sick from it and had to stop taking it.  During the last few weeks I've been experiencing a lot of brain fog.  It is difficult for me to remember things that JUST happened, I feel like I am "out of it", and I just feel really foggy.  My psychiatrist AND psychologist both said this is normal - as the brain is consumed by anxiety there is less space available for it to focus on other things such as memory, etc.  I'm really scared this is going to last forever.  I hate feeling like this.  The smallest tasks such as driving make me extremely nervous and I really cannot imagine living like this forever.  My docs have both said it's going to go away, but I want some opinions.  What can I do to make this go away?  Any response would be greatly appreciated.

[Nicki_B]

Thank you for your response.  It's really nice to hear that you were able to overcome it.  I am hoping that through CBT I will be able to overcome it and not need prozac or another antidepressant because I really didn't like the way it made me feel, but if need be I will try it again.  Thanks again for your response and it's great to hear you're doing well.

[lynnsee]

I'm 20 and have anxiety like you describe but I havent had it as long as you have. I remember feeling scared because I couldn't even remember a conversation I had with my sister like 2 minutes after. just like you driving made me extremely nervous to the point where I'd cry the entire time. both my gp and psychiatrist prescribed me zoloft. the first time my anxiety got the best of me and made me think I was having every serious side effect there qasbso I stopped taking it. the second time I just dealt with everything. I told myself I was gonna beat the anxiety, the anxiety wasn't going to beat me. I've been on 50mg of zoloft for the past 10 months and I'm happy to say that it has worked wonders for me. have you tried it? or at least heard of it? its one of hw safest ssri's out there. of course not everyone's experience with this drug is the same but many people have seen good results from it. ask your doc about it and see what they tell you. I know exactly how you feel, and if I could over come it, I think anyone can. message me if you have any questions or just wanna talk. sometimes it helps. best wishes ♥