Hi all,
First post on here after a couple of months of lurking... The stories of support have helped me get through a very tough first couple of months of my LTC. I'm hoping to share my story with hope that others who have felt similar symptoms in the past can relate and share their similar recovery story - but more so I'd like to stick around and document my path to (hopefully) full recovery so that those in the same situation in the future can hold onto some hope.
My story:
After doing several researchs and experiences I believe that given time, effort, and some techniques you will recover from most problems.
You are experiencing some symptoms very similar to mine. I think in your case the first thing to be worked is anxiety. You say that social anxiety is caused by difficulty speaking. I also have difficulty speaking. The goal is to act simply the way you are, try to accept that you are going through this difficulty, tell your close friends and family about the situation, so you can act naturally in their presence. Speech problems can be caused by imbalances and or brain damage, but tend to be more easily fixed because you can train it and stimulate neuroplasticity. A friend of my mother had a stroke and lost almost totally speaks for years, today she speaks normally.
Self-therapy has proven very useful for me, buy a notebook and write about your emotions: What gives you anxiety, when it started, and how you feel now. Only by doing this you activate some areas of the brain that are unused after a long time living with anxiety. Once you do this you will experience relief almost instantaneous and anxiety symptoms will improve, but some things will continue like tinnitus, depression and cognitive deficits. I face these also suffer with brain fog, difficulty concentrating, insomnia, but I read that the brain tends to fully recover if you stick to a routine of mindfulness meditation, yoga, sleep, and diet, and that will come with time.
Start doing these things, and you will notice an improvement. If you can sleep 8-9 hours a day doing yoga, meditation and exercises, things will get better. However, perhaps some drug intervention to combat depression is required. I'm taking 10mg lexapro and I believe it has helped me a lot, sleep better and it actually increased my libido, because i could concentrate better and feel less crap. 5-HTP has helped some, but others feel even more anxious, SSRI tend to rebalance the serotonin system in the brain.
If you start with SSRIs, the first days tend to be difficult, but things get better with time.
If you need any other help, pm me.