How do you deal with the brain fog? Afterimages?

[Jjjj]

Hi everyone,  

As I mentioned before I recently had a relapse of symptoms but the worst of them all for me is the head pressure and brain fog. I always feel like I can’t concentrate on things or think clearly. I also always feel like I’m in a dream like state so I still feel tired even after I sleep. I can’t really distinguish sleep from reality anymore in a sense. 

How do you deal with this? I am in college and it is making very worried that I might have to stop attending over this.  
I also have had my afterimages increase in severity. Will this fade over time? 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Jjjj

[MadDoc]

I don't experience after images, but brain fog is an issue.  For me there were two things that helped.  First, take care of the physical through exercise, clean food, and plenty of sleep.  Second, training the mind to focus.  I found that a daily meditation practice helped a lot.  Meditation is IMHO simply an exercise that trains the mind to focus (no guru, crystals, or fancy pillows required).  I also found that staying focused on work, school, reading, music, or whatever is important in life helps.  Being physically well provides the energy needed to work at being focused.  Do I still have brain fog?  Sure, but with practice I've found it easy to break through.  I think everyone has brain fog from time to time  especially when we're tired, sick, depressed, or stressed out.

I hope that was helpful (and not too strange).

[Tsunami]

I'm also in college. I used to have terrible symptoms akin to yours the first year I've had HPPD but I managed to push through with my classes by doing my work and studying no matter how shitty I felt. You have to believe in your ability to bounce back and adapt to these new changes, which eventually got me back to baseline workwise (and now I'm better than I was before). Live clean and healthy, find something to dedicate yourself to, and life will become better.

[Jjjj]

On 1/31/2022 at 8:12 PM, Tsunami said:

I'm also in college. I used to have terrible symptoms akin to yours the first year I've had HPPD but I managed to push through with my classes by doing my work and studying no matter how shitty I felt. You have to believe in your ability to bounce back and adapt to these new changes, which eventually got me back to baseline workwise (and now I'm better than I was before). Live clean and healthy, find something to dedicate yourself to, and life will become better.

I will have to just try to push though. It would depress me even further knowing I had to quit college over this. I hope it fades away with time and I will think in the positive side and ability to bounce back. Thanks! Did any of the visual snow and after images seem to reduce for you after a while? Ide be happy with even just a reduction of symptoms.   

Edited February 2, 2022 by Jjjj

[Tsunami]

4 hours ago, Jjjj said:

I will have to just try to push though. It would depress me even further knowing I had to quit college over this. I hope it fades away with time and I will think in the positive side and ability to bounce back. Thanks! Did any of the visual snow and after images seem to reduce for you after a while? Ide be happy with even just a reduction of symptoms.   

I promise you that you won’t need to quit college due to symptoms, I had flashbacks during class back when I overloaded 21 credit hours at a uni while I was a senior in highschool and managed to get all A’s in every class besides one (a D in orgo chem, but that’s because I was a lazy bastard and started skipping all my orgo classes after getting an A on the first exam to try and flex). It’s been about 3 years now and I get no after images. The visual snow is only noticeable when I’m in the dark or staring at a dark object, and even then it makes absolutely no impact on my life. I got HPPD from nBOME, and after talking to Facebook users that got HPPD through the same drug they all mentioned that the visual snow always stuck but that it never became an issue after about 1-2 years. The frequency of acid flashbacks also went down significantly, last one I remember having was two years ago. If it’s reduction in symptoms you’re looking for, time will be your friend. Don’t do drugs ever again though, seriously. It’ll prolong your recovery time and at worst could relapse symptoms. The most I’ve done in the past year was get tipsy once and drunk once.

[Jjjj]

35 minutes ago, Tsunami said:

I promise you that you won’t need to quit college due to symptoms, I had flashbacks during class back when I overloaded 21 credit hours at a uni while I was a senior in highschool and managed to get all A’s in every class besides one (a D in orgo chem, but that’s because I was a lazy bastard and started skipping all my orgo classes after getting an A on the first exam to try and flex). It’s been about 3 years now and I get no after images. The visual snow is only noticeable when I’m in the dark or staring at a dark object, and even then it makes absolutely no impact on my life. I got HPPD from nBOME, and after talking to Facebook users that got HPPD through the same drug they all mentioned that the visual snow always stuck but that it never became an issue after about 1-2 years. The frequency of acid flashbacks also went down significantly, last one I remember having was two years ago. If it’s reduction in symptoms you’re looking for, time will be your friend. Don’t do drugs ever again though, seriously. It’ll prolong your recovery time and at worst could relapse symptoms. The most I’ve done in the past year was get tipsy once and drunk once.

Wow, you have no idea how much better reading this made me feel. I literally was freaking out about possibly having to quit school because of all my symptoms which makes it so hard to study or even retain anything in general. I am also typically an A student. I don’t really experience flashbacks with me it’s more the visuals which causes extreme panic and derealization. I also sometimes get vertigo and feel like the room is moving. I’m definitely done with drugs. Thanks for your input it really helped me out! 

[MadDoc]

I agree, staying in college is the best thing you can do.  Keep working at staying focused and try not to let the symptoms you're having prevail.  When hppd was probably at its worst, I got married, went back to college, started a family, and worked in the evenings.  Trust me, I'm not all that brilliant and had to work hard at school.   However the constant focus helped me keep it together.

We're tougher than we think.  You're going to do great.  Don't give up!