SPACINESS - Please, help! - Fibromyalgia Message Board

KellyB · 06-26-2003, 02:02 PM

My name is Kelly, and I am a 28 year old female living in Ontario. I work full time as an administrative assistant in a counselling office (ironically
For a year and a half now I have been feeling "spacy" -it's a rather subjective thing to try to define or explain to a doctor, but the best descriptions I've been able to come up with so far are that I feel like I am always stoned on cold medicine, or like I have the feeling you get when you're sick with a bad cold and say you feel like you're walking around in a dream. I am always tired, would love to just sleep all day, and am suffering from depression (not sure if it's because of the spaciness, or the other way
around.) I have also gained a significant amount of weight (partially, I realize, due to poor diet and lack of exercise, but it still seems excessive to me.) To date I have had many appointments with my family doctor, and have also seen an ear/nose/throat specialist, a hematologist, a rheumatologist, a neurologist, had a colonoscopy because of my constant loose stool/diahrrea (and I believe I have been officially or semi-officially diagnosed with IBS), had an upper g-i series, had my vision checked, had umpteen blood tests performed, had a head scan, have seen a counsellor on several occasions, have ceased taking birth control pills - in case they might be the culprit - and am currently taking Zoloft (tried Celexa before) for depression, as well as Lorazepam occasionally as needed. I'm also probably forgetting to list some of the specialists and procedures, since there have been sooooo many. The most recent appointment I've had was for an EEG, the results of which came back totally normal.
My question to you is, do any of you suffer from this "spaciness"? Could it be attributed to stress/anxiety/depression? Is there hope that I could overcome this (I am beginning to lose hope myself)?
I really look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks for your time,
Kelly

Creeping Crud · 06-26-2003, 02:54 PM

Hey Kelly,

I used to have terrible problems with spaciness.. Some of yours might be attributed to your medication (you might want to research the side effects), but I can give you a few suggestions that helped me tremendously..

First, I would cut excitotoxins out of your diet.. The two big ones are nutrasweet (aspartame) and monosodium glutamate (MSG).. You'll probably have to start reading labels in order to do this because MSG is in a lot of products, but I can't even begin to tell you how much doing that helped me and a lot of others on this board.. I know it seems like an inconsequential lifestyle change, but it really doesn't hurt to try it.. After a month of cutting out those two toxins (plus alcohol and caffeine), I felt like a totally different person..

Second, I would highly recommend doing yoga.. It helps increase the circulation to the brain (I'm assuming) because it helped completely eliminate my fibrofog.. I could finally think straight & I felt like a real human being.. It's amazing & it's very low impact so you can do it regardless of what physical shape you're in.. If you'd like to do it in the privacy of your own home, I would highly recommend the tape A.M. Yoga for Beginners for Rodney Yee.. It only takes 20 minutes a day (the majority of which is spend doing relaxation and meditation techniques) & you only need to do it a few times a week to experience benefits..

Anyway, they're pretty simple changes & they're probably worth a shot.. I know they helped me more than I can even begin to tell you.. I used to be a mental wreck because I was always so lightheaded, forgetful and I couldn't seem to concentrate.. Now, I feel a lot like the me that I used to be before I got sick..

I hope that helps!

Take Care,
Melanie

JAYB · 06-26-2003, 04:55 PM

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corin · 06-26-2003, 10:21 PM

Hi glad to "meet" you, I am also in ON. I practically live in spaceville, with few periods of clarity, I guess I just accepted it. I know many with fibro have sleep apnea, which can cause the prob you describe, I myself just had a sleep study and am awaiting the results. If it is any consolation, your not alone. Though I think my very poor diet exacerbates the problem. Myabe a sleep analysis and a B12 shot would help, just a thought or two.

la_brat · 06-27-2003, 10:44 AM

This and the constant fatigue is what our youngest daughter says is her worst symptoms due to FMS. Our oldest daughter doesn't complain about fatigue as much but spaciness at times is a definite problem. So far things that did not help were antidepressants and sleeping pills. We found the older one was glucose intolerant. The diet helped a lot. As for the younger one, Provigil helps tremedously with fatigue and brain fog during the day, and Chlorpromizine helps slightly with sleep and helps lower the brain fog during the day also. As you can see I say helps; no cures and in the same family different treatments for different individuals with FMS work somewhat.