Once anxiety is managed will cognitive symptoms improve?

[Lacie]

Hello, a little backstory from me is that I have OCD, GAD, and social anxiety disorder. Due to strings of extremely traumatic events for the past 5 years or so, I've been under 7/10 anxiety the entire time that I'm awake. I'm 21 at the moment and find my cognitive ability to be so abysmal. I can't remember things I just said, can't learn anything, just can't think at all. Due to consecutive trauma, I couldn't work on managing the anxiety simultaneously with trying to fix them and manage BPD as well and medications minus benzodiazepines, I can't take. (I'm taking clonazepam at the moment). I've been under high anxiety my entire life though, due to trauma. Mostly social when younger.

I have done groups etc and since the start of this year I've managed to take it down from a 7 all the time to around a 3. The anxiety simply doesn't shut off even when there is no danger. I realize that my amygdala is just in overdrive.

My question to this community is-- when I can entirely stop being under anxiety; will the effects it's had on my brain recede? I realize there's the immediate anxiety drop in cognition that just happens when anyone is under anxiety but I'm talking about how anxiety may have changed my Brain (permanently?). Will it be permanent or will I recover fully or recover some? I understand maybe it's subjective per person but as a generalization? What can I expect? I'm working super hard to correct it but the idea that I'll always be so brain dead makes me so depressed, despite that I'd like to know. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I hope this is in the right area of the forum. If not, my apologies.

I hope everyone here has had a lovely sunny stressless spring day !!!

 

[Concernedgal]

Hi sweetie. I've been a sufferer for so long. Although stress and trauma can be big factors for your anxiety and depression. .. whats really hurting the human body is cortasol. If you don't already know. .. cortisol a a stress hormone that's been known in toxic doses to cause memory loss and the agitation symptoms that you feel in your anxiety disorder. Benzodiazapine has also been know to cause memory loss and an inability to learn new information. I'm happy that you've gotten your anxiety down to a 3 that actually quite an achievement. My point is ... unless you rid the cortasol out of your body. .it will keep doing damage to your brain.

 

[janemariesayed]

When I went to the doctor about my bad memory, I asked him what it was that was causing it. He ran some tests on me which all came back negative. He did tell me though that my bad memory was because of my depression and trauma I have had throughout my life. I asked him if it would ever improve and he said it was doubtful.

This tells me that our only hope of healing is to learn self-healing and coping techniques. The meds can help. Check first with your doctor but there is a herbal tablet you can take to help with your memory. That is Ginkgo Biloba. Ask your doctor first if it will be safe for you to take, just in case, even though it is herbal.

 

[janemariesayed]

This quote below is quite interesting. @Concernedgal I read your post and it drove me to google how to get rid of cortisol. There are many ways and I'll give the link to the website below. However, I scrolled down and saw this question and read the answer which you can see below. So maybe it is good to have a higher cortisol level?


'quote' Is it safe to have a too-low cortisol level?

wikiHow Contributor
If individuals with low cortisol are put in stressful situations (i.e., an infection, a car accident), they are at risk of adrenal crisis, which is a medical emergency that may result in death if prompt medical treatment is not received. 'unquote'

I've been through some pretty rough stuff. What about the other night when those youths in balaclavas were trying to break into my house? I was able to deal with it without getting so afraid that it gave me a heart attack, Great! That's okay then. Except I have had a few flashbacks of the one who told me to get inside.

Here is the link to the page about how to lower cortisol levels. It is on the WikiHow page.
http://www.wikihow.com/Reduce-Cortisol

 

[Concernedgal]

I know . I've heard that it can be good for you too but, I suppose everyone is different and for some it's good for you and others .... bad for you.

 

[Natasha0717]

Hi sweetie. I've been a sufferer for so long. Although stress and trauma can be big factors for your anxiety and depression. .. whats really hurting the human body is cortasol. If you don't already know. .. cortisol a a stress hormone that's been known in toxic doses to cause memory loss and the agitation symptoms that you feel in your anxiety disorder. Benzodiazapine has also been know to cause memory loss and an inability to learn new information. I'm happy that you've gotten your anxiety down to a 3 that actually quite an achievement. My point is ... unless you rid the cortasol out of your body. .it will keep doing damage to your brain.

Yep, cortisol is definitely a trouble-maker, in so many ways. It's also one of the main reasons for weight gain, esp. around the mid-section. People who are large around the middle shouldn't be ridiculed for being an "over-eater"....when I see that, I just think, "Excess cortisol." And you are right about the benzos as well, I have been on them for about 5 years now and I have noticed that my short-term memory is getting worse and worse. It was bad to start out with, but sometimes I can't even remember 10 minutes ago, mostly when I'm tired and I feel the benzos kicking in. But I still have my long-term memory...and I am thankful for that. That's when all the good stuff happened anyway.