Thought Problems

[7ca5p]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone could help me talk about a little issue I've been having recently.

On top of my numerous physical problems that can be seen with scans and such, I also have some mind issues at the moment.

I mention my health, because my recent deterioration in physical health has been followed by some strange mental effects.

It is also relevant as I am on a lot of medications at the moment. Dihydrocodeine, Sertraline, Diazepam, Cyclizine, Promethazine and Buscopan - All of which prescribed, regular dosing. I am taking doctor recommended amounts of all of these, and to be honest I don't feel that any of these cause it, especially not DHC, which seems to dampen the effects if anything.



I am experiencing a lot of thought issues, mostly;

- Repetition of words in my head. Usually the last line of a sentence or a the last sentence I have read. I hear it over and over again for roughly five minutes after a specific activity. The only way this stops is by engaging myself in a new activity or reading/listening to a new word or sentence.

- Nonsensical Sentences in my mind. For example, "Okay put the kettle boiling because tata flimbong argenshmiz". My internal voice fluctuates in tone an accent as this happens. In fact, whilst I was typing this, I let my mind wander to see if it was still happening, and the first sentence was "Margin sipple let's go!".

- VERY occasional external voices. Most of the time when I am lying in silence and darkness trying to sleep. I am able to treat them as they are and I recognise that they are in my head. They also usually last only a second or two, and only happen once or twice a day. This barely happens when I am occupied with something.



These issues are only effecting my everyday in minor ways, as I am able to translate the thoughts in to actions, and although my speech is sometimes affected, my typing and general communication skills are largely similar to how they have always been. I think this therefore rules out things like thought disorder?

Either way, my doctor and I have agreed that an Anti-psychotic is a little extreme at this point (I was on one last year and it didn't suit me very well and I was better off without it)

Anyone who could advise me would have my many thanks!

Thanks,

Casper.

 

[King-Anubis]

Despite what you have said, I would say that you are experiencing thought disorders... in particular: echolalia, neologisms, perseveration, word salad and semantic paraphasia. Saying that, it could be something completely different.... echolalia could be caused by an auditory processing disorder, for example.

Not sure what to recommend as you've already seen a doctor (Have you see a psychiatrist, however?). If it is not too disruptive then you could probably get by fine, and wouldn't worry about it too much. My last psychiatrist always said that unusual mental phenomena aren't 'bad' unless they cause disruption... If you find your mind is too 'loud' or busy I've found that sedatives generally slow it down and make it easier to cope...

Good luck!

 

[7ca5p]

Despite what you have said, I would say that you are experiencing thought disorders... in particular: echolalia, neologisms, perseveration, word salad and semantic paraphasia. Saying that, it could be something completely different.... echolalia could be caused by an auditory processing disorder, for example.

Not sure what to recommend as you've already seen a doctor (Have you see a psychiatrist, however?). If it is not too disruptive then you could probably get by fine, and wouldn't worry about it too much. My last psychiatrist always said that unusual mental phenomena aren't 'bad' unless they cause disruption... If you find your mind is too 'loud' or busy I've found that sedatives generally slow it down and make it easier to cope...

Good luck!

Thank you for the reply mate!

Yes I see a psychiatrist regularly, but as this is one of my comparably more minor health issues, they're not really doing anything about it.

To be fair my entire quality of life is shit anyway so this extra thing is not going to change too much.

And yeah you are right it does sound like an acute thought disorder, I'm not really sure if my terminology is right there, but either way the things you mentioned sound relevant; especially the word salad/schizophasia.

Sedatives do seem to work the best! Is that all I can do though? I feel at a loss right now.

(I apologise about the quality of my reply, I'm feeling very strange day today)

Cheers,

Casper

 

[Pagey]

It really sounds like you're on a *lot* of meds. As has been mentioned this probably stems from a problem that was already present, but it's likely those meds are worsening it. Diazepam in particular (what dosage are you on?) - I've never been prescribed Diazepam but I was both Tetrazepam & Xanax and even before I started abusing my scripts, I noticed it was more difficult to think clearly, or form coherent thoughts. I actually kinda had that word repetition thing. And although DHC may feel harmless, daily opiate use certainly doesn't help when it comes to mental health.
Maybe it would be good to examine if you really need all those prescriptions & talk about all this in more depth with your psychiatrist?

 

[firstborn]

- Repetition of words in my head. Usually the last line of a sentence or a the last sentence I have read. I hear it over and over again for roughly five minutes after a specific activity. The only way this stops is by engaging myself in a new activity or reading/listening to a new word or sentence.

Sounds like something I've become more and more aware of. My mind too repeat words and sentences all the time. It's like they won't go away if I try to make them go away, but if I just do something physically they usually stop. My mind also just sometimes go blank, and something someone just said or has said in the past or just a random sentence appears and repeats in my head. When I'm reading a text, I often have to go back just to read through parts of it again, and then some words sticks in my head and I read through them again and again. This usually stops when I'm high or when I'm on benzos or so.

I think if I were you, I'd do as Pagey said and talk about it in depth with my psychiatrist.

For how long have you experienced these thought problems and have they increased over time?


Cheers,
Kasper

 

[7ca5p]

Sounds like something I've become more and more aware of. My mind too repeat words and sentences all the time. It's like they won't go away if I try to make them go away, but if I just do something physically they usually stop. My mind also just sometimes go blank, and something someone just said or has said in the past or just a random sentence appears and repeats in my head. When I'm reading a text, I often have to go back just to read through parts of it again, and then some words sticks in my head and I read through them again and again. This usually stops when I'm high or when I'm on benzos or so.

I think if I were you, I'd do as Pagey said and talk about it in depth with my psychiatrist.

For how long have you experienced these thought problems and have they increased over time?


Cheers,
Kasper

Ah we have similar names!

I have experienced similar things for a while now but it is only recently (over the last 6 months) that they have come to the forefront of my concious attention.

I do believe my family has the schizophrenia gene (lot's of family history of it in my family tree) however I know a lot about it from both experience and research, so am not likely to succumb to it any time soon. I keep strong defences against irrational thinking, and any voices I hear I know are in my head and thus don't even frighten me at all.

I am sorry to hear you are experiencing similar things. It does however comfort me knowing I am not alone. From what you wrote, our experiences sound very similar.

It really sounds like you're on a *lot* of meds. As has been mentioned this probably stems from a problem that was already present, but it's likely those meds are worsening it. Diazepam in particular (what dosage are you on?) - I've never been prescribed Diazepam but I was both Tetrazepam & Xanax and even before I started abusing my scripts, I noticed it was more difficult to think clearly, or form coherent thoughts. I actually kinda had that word repetition thing. And although DHC may feel harmless, daily opiate use certainly doesn't help when it comes to mental health.
Maybe it would be good to examine if you really need all those prescriptions & talk about all this in more depth with your psychiatrist?

Hi Pagey. I have stopped my Diazepam usage completely now (as of January) and I have significantly reduced my DHC usage to 30mg a day max. I have also stopped buscopan and promethazine now too.

So my current daily meds are just Sertraline and DHC.

For the most part, these really help me and I am currently experiencing a moderate quality of life and am able to do all the normal nice things like watch films and play video games with friends. So I am concerned about stopping either of these drugs as they are a necessity to my well-being.



Thank you both for the responses.

 

[codienne]

Hmm yeah definitley sounds like it Might be medication related or something along those lines. But just replying because when i first started reading this it sounded like me while I am having a seizure. I have temporal lobe epilepsy..thats one of the things that happens to me before and after a seizure. Temporal lobe dysfunctions cause a lot of things like that. Random thoughts, Word problems, Speech problems, Auditory hallucinations...ect. There is a lot more to it then that..but thats what it reminded me of. Do you ever feel strangely spaced out..like your on something when your not? or have strong deja vu or jamais vu often? While these things with the thinking are happening how are you emotionally? A lot of times during seizures Ill have really strong emotions...but not a regular emotion to speak..it almost feels like a more spiritual emotion...something like that. Like a profound sadness..or sometimes i just laugh..sometimes it feels like ive figured out some big thing...like ephinany almost and when the seizures done i cant remember what it was. I remember once during a seizure i was frustrated...having the same thinking problems you described and then glanced at a sandwich on the table...and for some reason it was like something clicked and i started laughing just couldnt stop...I kept thinking oh i get it and it was hillarious I got the joke and the joke had something to do with the meaning of life...I still dont know what the joke was...lol but it was interesting..

 

[Pagey]

Hi Pagey. I have stopped my Diazepam usage completely now (as of January) and I have significantly reduced my DHC usage to 30mg a day max. I have also stopped buscopan and promethazine now too.

So my current daily meds are just Sertraline and DHC.

For the most part, these really help me and I am currently experiencing a moderate quality of life and am able to do all the normal nice things like watch films and play video games with friends. So I am concerned about stopping either of these drugs as they are a necessity to my well-being.



Thank you both for the responses.

I'm glad to hear you've gotten off the diazepam, that'll probably help a lot. Since you only quit very recently it's likely it's still messing with your head as much as it was when you were still using - I'd expect to start seeing some improvements in the next couple months

 

[mindsnare]

Hey there
You've got some great replies so far and I'm glad to hear you are having a better quality of life.

However I'm just wondering if you experience any physical symptoms when you notice these thoughts. Headaches, pins and needles etc.
It's a little worrying that your speech is affected also..

If I were you I would have a good chat to your psychiatrist as suggested, but it might not hurt getting a second dr's opinion as well.

I also find when the old brain box is feeling fuzzy, getting good sleep, exercise, eating good shit, staying away from any mind altering substances and keeping sharp by reading, crosswords etc does help.
I bet you are all over it though!

All the best to you mister, let us know how you go