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Opioids Recovering from a heroin overdose, questions about memory problems...

V

velocity92c

Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
82
So I'm about 10 days away from a heroin overdose that apparently almost killed me. FWIW, I think this is the straw that broke the camel's back as far as me finally getting and staying sober, but that's not why I'm here. I have never OD'd before and I'm very worried I caused some permanent damage to my brain.

Ever since the day I OD'd I'm having trouble remembering ANYTHING almost from one minute to the next. I spent the last 10 days in an inpatient detox unit even though I wasn't withdrawaling (had a period of sobriety, and a one time relapse was the shot that put me out), but it was probably best as I am completely fucking useless right now. I tried googling this and couldn't find much info on it.

I am literally forgetting things from one minute to the next, and it's not only new things, I couldn't remember my cell phone number, how long I had been clean, what month or day of the week it was, song lyrics, etc. etc. I was told by my doctor at the detox several times that this was normal and my memory would come back soon but I'm starting to worry now because it hasn't even improved yet. I literally spent almost 2 weeks with the same group of people and when I left today I couldn't have told you but maybe one or two of their names, and it's been 2 weeks.

I can't even remember what dealer sold me the dope, or doing the shot, or anything leading up to it. It's really starting to freak me out and google isn't giving me too much info on it. Is it possible this damage is permanent? I don't have health insurance so there's not a lot I can do. I'm hoping that this fog will lift eventually, I'm normally a pretty sharp person but I feel completely handicapped now. Thanks for any info.
 
Give it more time.

I have never had a severe overdose like you described, but it is possible you are still in shock, or are just generally experiencing derealization from the event, as this is the first tkme this has happened to you.

Did you have any scans done, like CT scans, MRI, fMRI?
 
A lot can depend on age, and overall heath. How old are you, and how long have you been abusing opiates. Also what other drugs do you use and abuse..??
 
Very odd, abusing opiates causes all sorts of problems, but I have never heard of something like this... Well take it as a warning shot from your body, get clean and stay clean.

Be came a possible you have to start having scans such as captain.heroin said, 2 weeks with shockingly bad memory is serious enough to have scans, plus it sounds FUCKING annoying. Just write down to go to the DR on your hand or something like that. IF in doubt go to A+E no harm
 
I experienced nearly identical symptoms after overdosing in 2006. For a solid week+ I would wake up in the morning with a feeling of dread, not knowing WHY but sensing that something was horribly, horribly wrong. Eventually my roommate would wake up and I'd ask him what the hell happened. Each morning, he'd inform me "you od'd and almost died ___ days ago." This went on for sometime. My ability to make new memories was completely shattered and I lost a lot of information previously stored.

I had a fantastic memory prior to OD'ing, as in if I heard something one time I remembered it (very helpful as a musician). That ability was completely burned out.

Now the good news... I didn't have insurance either, thus no medical attention received. From about the two week mark to the two month mark, I made rapid gains nearly daily. Some of it was due to adjusting to the newness of actually having to concentrate to make memories, I'm sure, but a good deal of the improvement was simple improved memory function.

After a good deal of research, the best theory my friend and I came up with (based on reading about hypoxia generally, not specifically related to OD necessarily) is that when oxygen deprived the brain starts to cease non-essential functioning and memory is one of the first non-essentials to go and one of the last to return.

I don't know if my exceptional pre-OD memory ability helped or hindered me, but in the long-run I'd say that my day-to-day memory is now about average from what I can tell, or roughly 70% of what it was prior to the OD. I have to make notes about appointments that are more than a few days off; I have to concentrate to remember new names/faces; I have to run through a song a half dozen times to memorize the structure. You'll have to make adjustments, but if my experience is typical for this sort of thing (which I have no idea if it is or not) you'll adjust just fine, but it will take some time.
 
I had a loss of memory with a bad trip on mushrooms before. Your memory will come back but sometimes after a an accident like this, it can take a while.
 
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