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Memory and Learning Effected?

S

surfie_boi

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 5, 2005
Messages
21
Hey I was just wondering, but is there anyone who has trouble learning things, or remebering things due to drugs???

I'm asking this because I have read on the net that it does those things to your brain, but it doesn't specify how long it would take to effect your?

You see I left school when I finished year ten at the end of 2003, and I have been doing MDxx, coke, acid, weed and go-ee pretty hard out since April 2004. (Every weekend I would have one type or sometimes mix two or more together), Also occasionly I would have ice, or an RC when it came along.

Now I have decided to do something with my life, (not just have a shitty job). So now I have gotten into a buissness, doing sales and marketing and I am having problems remebering the things to do such as customer relations, binding deals and other things. I'm not an idiot either I'm pretty smart so thats why I'm asking.

Also I havn't had anything for 3 weeks now and thats ages for me, I have found that my personality has changed for the better but still have problems with the memory and learning things?
 
Well, hows your diet? Are you eating properly? Do you exercise? All these things can effect your memory. It's going to take you longer then three weeks (imo) for those problems you're experiencing to go away, depending on how 'hard' you went. For some it never does.... Stay away from the fast and you'll feel a helluva lot better
 
My diet is fine I eat healthy most of the time, I do plenty of exercise I use to be state age champion for athletics so I try to keep that up. I plan on stopping for awhile, Im probably going to have one last big one next weekend and that's it from there pretty much, and just hope things start to do better
 
definately stay off the drugs a bit longer. I suggest you stop your usage of cannabis and ecstacy for at least 3 months. and then asess how you feel. from experience cannabis and ecstacy tend to be the hardest on short term memory loss.

Acid tends to leave you feeling a bit scattered and overwhelmed for a few days following its use. but it doesnt seem to effect your memory or learning capabilities beyond that.

it really does sound alot like the effects of MDMA usage like mentioned in the links fry-d posted.

do you feel sort of mellow and relaxed, but in a way confused and empty? like someone has taken the sting out of you? also are you finding it hard to motivate yourself or think deeply (like you are sort of in a bit of a daze). - these may be an indication MDMA usage symptoms.

have you also considered the possibility of your emotional health? it may well be a mild case of Bi-Polar or ADD or something else that has been overlooked but you have begun to see its effects now that you're knuckling down and going easier on the drugs.

anyways its probably best to stay off the drugs for a while, see how you go, and if it persists speak to a doctor.

hope i helped
 
So you mean you've been mixing all those drugs you listed, roughly every weekend, for the last two years? That's a pretty heavy regimen of stuff to be taking for that long and as others have suggested, it's likely that the cannabis and MDMA are the most detrimental on that list to your cognitive skills.

There's plenty of threads in Ecstasy Discussion, if you search for the word 'memory' in the thread title.

Here's a few recent ones.

can you regain memory? from E abuse?
*** Bad Memory ***
How fried is your brain from E? (Memory Loss)

I managed to get through my heaviest period of drug usage fairly okay, short term memory faculty returned fairly quickly after I stopped using but everyone's different. Aside from other remedies that you'll find suggested in the threads above, abstinence is your best bet for the future.

Good luck with the job :)
 
my long term memory is fine after many years of enjoying every drug out there, but my short term will never be the same again. I am dreadful at remembering names of people i have met ten minutes ago or something that has happened at a meeting yesterday.

If you still have problems rememebering things, i have writen in other pages about making cheat sheets about what has transpired that day, it is very useful in my line of work, i just walk around with a A4 page folded up in my pocket and i write down every thing that i have done, talked to and phone calls that day and leave it in my locker for further referance, as well as a diary which you have to use to keep you life in check, that is how i keep out of striff at work.

you memory might be shot, so you'll just have to develop copeing startergies to overcome your problem.
 
for me, piracetam helps with memory, 50-150mg of gaba once a week or more if needed helps with anxiety (i didnt realise i had anxiety till i had gaba and suddenly, "everythings cool")
 
I'm dunno whether you could say your cognitive memory has or has not been damaged by drug use, but memory is something that can in most cases be re-trained. It's just a matter for the moment of keeping track of your day to day business in a diary or something. With most things i'm sure you remember it but there is just no key to get it out of your mind, and this is the part of memory you can retrain. Have a search around the intenet for tips... some should be useful you just need to find the method that suits you.

Smart drugs arn't always going to be the key, its better if you can develop the skills without. But a healthy diet helps
 
For the moment I would not concern yourself with worrying about Bi Polar or ADD. Thinking about shit like that seems a bit extreme at this stage.

Unless your feel that there is something really seriously & majorly wrong IMO DON'T go straight to a doctor. Before you know it some medico might be throwing scripts at you faster than you can blink. Unfortunately many doctors when told about drugs use & related problems, automatically label you. And before you know it you get medicated into an even bigger hole.

I'm speaking from personal experience. I partied too hard for too long. Six years and just about every weekend. As soon as I started seeing doctors for sleeping problems things just got worse. My insomnia got chronic and in the end I was prescribed SSRI's. Which I started taking after my "last weekend". They made me anxious (something I never got) as fuck & the insomnia got even worse again so stupidly I continued to drink 14b after the weekend to cope. After a few weeks of daily use I was in serious trouble and realised that I was in hot water and being a total fucking idiot. Stopping caused instant withdrawal and I totally flipped out & had to get put on xanax. Went from someone who could always handle the big weekends plus working full time and going to uni to a total mental anxious wreck.

It is theorised that our brains have a certain plasticity which is said to dictate how our brain develops as we grow. If we don't use parts of our brain then synaptic areas can be pruned over time. While you were young when you started taking drugs your brain would have been pretty much fully developed so from that perspective you should be ok.

It would perhaps be more of an issue if you had started smoking loads of pot at the age of 13. According to the psychiatrist that I ended up seeing that is one of the major factors that can affect people later in life. He looked at me and said "so you did all that for that long and your surprised that your now having some problems?" and went on to say that the overwhelming majority of all the people he sees totally recover unless they had psychological problems before their drug use.

His prescribed 6 months rest and said I'd be back to normal. At the time I feared I had broken my brain and would be on meds for ever but he was right. I was lucky to get a guy like that, the first I saw just wanted to load me up on more prescription solutions.

So I doubt very much that you have suffered permanent damage. Sure you partied pretty hard but the human brain is pretty amazing at bouncing back. I just think your expecting a bit much out of 3 weeks.

You already eat well and exercise. Once you stop, stick to those 2 and you'll notice cognitive improvement for sure. After a period of heavy use it is normal to get a few bumps along the way, you may get a bit down or empty even feel anxious or impaired. I noticed that when I stopped I felt great but after a while sort of re slumped. When your used to incredible high for a long period returning to soberiety can sometimes feel pretty fucking bland. I'd give it time before you start considering that it could be something more serious.

All the best!

ps. what was your memory like beforehand? if you don't mind me asking where you pretty much fine before you started partying?
 
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The term "Use it or lose it" doesn't only apply to muscles

...but memory is something that can in most cases be re-trained.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. However, I don't encourage keeping a written diary to record your day to day events, timetables and new knowledge etc. I've found the best use of a diary is for listing your good and bad areas and for recording your improvements over time. This way it becomes more of a reinforcing tool, and to a degree allows you to monitor your progress. There are various approaches to formatting such a diary, from those used in modern day psychology, to similar and equally effective methods based on older schools of thought and personal development.

I believe one of the most valuable things a person can do is to recall the events of the day before sleeping at night. When first getting into bed, no matter how tired you are, step through your day from start to finish. Go over the hours, and you should find after a few nights that the finer details of things will surface more easily. When you wake next morning, quickly review again, only this time also incorporate, plan or think about the day ahead.

Yes, drugs can adversely affect the memory, but learning can be the answer, particularly if it is a new discipline or if you find it relatively difficult. It will exercise the mind, making your brain "hurt" with information, and solving new problems will force you to constantly review things. When you are young you tend to do this without being aware of it. As you age, some discipline is often required. However, like surfing, you never completely forget how, and usually just need a couple of smaller waves before being able to again tackle the big ones with confidence.

Memory is definitely affected by slackness IMO. After completing studies in electronics at age 21, I spent the next 15 years mostly leaning only things relevant to my work. I also smoked more dope than most people, everyday, and at times took MDMA quite regularly. When I decided to learn new things, it wasn't all that easy at first. I first did a teaching course, followed by a science review course, and in my 40's a BSc. I'd always felt age and a mountain of drugs were never going to be excuses for me, although in retrospect, dope probably didn't make things any easier. The resulting state of consciousness meant the mind was preoccupied with so much pleasure or abstract stuff that review simply received less priority.

I would suggest you think carefully before deciding to "cheat" and keep a written account of all you do and plan to do. People I know who follow this easy road are normally absolutely hopeless without their diary, and generally it's silly to expect they'll ever remember to do something if it isn't recorded in their little book. They may have the best intentions, and may be genuinely concerned / interested in participating in something, but they are simply too reliant on the crux of their diary. I've learned to never expect them to be reliable, and that helps in accepting them for who they are, be it inconvenient at times.
 
yeh weeds real bad for losing your memory, not looking forward to being old with no memories of all those good times!
 
Healthy body, healthy mind is what they say and definently is true. Trying to get fitter and eating healthier will definently speed up your recovery, eating oily fish like Salmon 3-4 times a week may also help. More and more studies have been published in recent years supporting its positive effects on memory. Also try getting a good multivitamin, I would suggest Tresos B

Definently abstain from drugs as well until you can see some improvement in your memory. Out of that list I would stay away from Ecstasy as your number one, studies have shown it to have quite an effect on memory.

To combat memory loss from Ecstasy, I would suggest supplements of 5-HTP or L-Tryptophan. I read a study that showed memory of people who quit E after many, many weekends of constant use improved far beyond those who simply quit with no supplementation. Do a search to find where you can buy these. You may also find these supplements improve you mood and sleep.
 
I used to suffer these effects too.

It took 3 years of being 'clean', much 5-htp/vitamins/exercise etc to return myself to a mental state where i felt 'clear and competent'.

Using your brain is critical... I've found one of the biggest contributing factors to my improvement has been University study... So maybe pick up a course on the side or something....

I second piracetam as being good stuff for overall cognition/memory. Hydergine is _great_ too.
 
Vegas Nights said:
Yep it's farks ur memory 100% IMO and in my experience!!
And the effect is perminant.
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Nah I'd have to disagree with you there Vegas...
Some parts of your brain are like a muscle, the more you use them the stronger they get.

This might sound lame but I do the Brain Training programs on my Nintendo DS pretty much every day, and it has helped me get my brain power and memory back after years of frequent drug use. I've only been doing the Brain Traning for about 5-6 months. I highly recommend it to everyone!! It has really helped me.
 
My memory is patchy from daily weed and valium use; but somethings I remember extraordinairly well, esp. after using DMT or other tryptamines. Such as longer number chains, my PIN's which I never know, phone numbers from the past....blahblahblah
 
n3ophy7e said:
This might sound lame but I do the Brain Training programs on my Nintendo DS pretty much every day, and it has helped me get my brain power and memory back after years of frequent drug use. I've only been doing the Brain Traning for about 5-6 months. I highly recommend it to everyone!! It has really helped me.
Click to expand...

Sounds nice.... but i hardly think a Nintendo game is going to repair something that isn't there anymore! The body is an amazing thing tho
 
After years of hard drug use my memory is fucked, after taking a break my memory and general well being seem to be getting better, but nowhere near what it used to be.
 
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