81–90 of 163 posts
For me, it's like the volume of my inner voice is decreased, and no sign of recovery after 2 years, though no significant cognitive function decline can be observed.
I’ll share an abridged long COVID story about myself since it dearly affected me. Just so other people can kind of know what the experience was like. I got sick in October 2020 before vaccines were available. After the initial 10 days which I would describe as moderate, borderline severe (6/10, where 7/10 is hospital and 9/10 is ICU) I had all manner of absolutely weird things happen to my body. I won’t go into the d…
Same! I was diagnosed with syncope on standing. Every time I stood up from a reclining position, my heart would pound and the world would start fading to black. I too was referred to a cardiologist and had the tests performed. And it also cleared up for me but it took a long time (months).
That wasn't my only symptom. I am completely scientific also. I know about how SARS-CoV-2 binds to ACE-2 receptors, I know about how it lodges itself in multiple organs ... and the symptoms were real.
This was another one where I didn't even think "Covid" when I went to the doctor, but this all coincided with a recent Covid infection.
For me, it's like the volume of my inner voice is decreased, and no sign of recovery after 2 years, though no significant cognitive function decline can be observed.
I'm fascinated by people's inner monologues (I don't have one), so forgive my curiosity: is what you describe a bad thing? Have you noticed changes in your patterns of reasoning?
But sometimes, things come to my mind without talking at all, and it is usually more profound things, or things that trigger a more profound emotion. Regarding self-knowledge or when doing introspection, I confess that having a inner monologue is not effective at all, at least to me.
Can I ask how you "work" mentally? For instance, supposing you're a software developer, how do you go thorough learning a new thing about a programming language? I usually talk to myself things like "suppose I do this here, and..". It is like I am pair-programming with the other half of my brain.
Hope you don't mind me asking! Is just curiosity (and the fact that the inner monologue sometimes may do more harm than good)..
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HSV, VZV, HIV, CMV, Zika, and Ebola are all viruses that are known to potentially damage blood vessels in the brain. I don't think it's correct to assume a virus cannot just by nature of being a virus.
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>your categorization tricks lumping it in with Ebola.
You are the one who tries to trick by suggesting parent linked Ebola to a corona virus, which is not a influenza virus BTW.
I was affected by this "brain fog" after getting Covid, but I didn't put two and two together. I called my doctor's office to schedule an appointment and when the receptionist asked what the appointment was for, I simply said "brain fog". I had no other way to describe it. It was intense and disturbing. I often couldn't put cohererent thoughts together, I was constantly forgetting what I was doing, forgetting where I…
It's a dysregulation of the ANS/sympathetic nervous system which is likely caused by auto antibodies - so it's very much physiological and outside the expertise of a psychiatrist.
I was affected by this "brain fog" after getting Covid, but I didn't put two and two together. I called my doctor's office to schedule an appointment and when the receptionist asked what the appointment was for, I simply said "brain fog". I had no other way to describe it. It was intense and disturbing. I often couldn't put cohererent thoughts together, I was constantly forgetting what I was doing, forgetting where I…
Do you still feel like this? Is there anything that helped you?
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This is a bit out there but I read some books on polyvagal theory that suggested I could induce the "rest & digest" state by leaning into and completing the "fight or flight" and "shutdown" states. There are many nervous system calming techniques that help e.g. rubbing my coat hanger area (if you draw a coat hanger between your neck and shoulders on the front & back), chanting om or making sighing noises, and taking…
Calming the sympathicus is one of the very few things that somewhat works for me. It helps to relax and get good sleep. One technique I'll add to the list: skin massage (literally pinching it with your fingers) around the sympathicus area: along the lower ribs, up the sternum and into a V-shape around the neck (roughly following the collarbones). The nerve endings on the skin literally stimulate the sympathetic syste…
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I'm fascinated by people's inner monologues (I don't have one), so forgive my curiosity: is what you describe a bad thing? Have you noticed changes in your patterns of reasoning?
And I am fascinated by people _not_ having inner monologues, as I do have a very active inner voice. For me having inner voice is like one part of me does the talking, the other does the listening. If other people could listen, they would probably say that I'm a crazy dude, doing all that talk. When I see people talking loud, I call them crazy, thank god I do not project my voice outwards! But sometimes, things come…
> "suppose I do this here, and.."
Sure, I will follow the same pattern, but the drive to fiddle with something bubbles up from some abstract place. Words don't even come into play.
Do you also subvocalize when reading text?
This topic is a fickle beast. The only baseline I have is my own cognition -- I can't say "yeah it's like what you're doing only..." -- I am fundamentally unable to experience your way of thinking. We are blobs of fat oxymoronically trying to explain our subjective experience in an objective way through our 2nd languages (lossy doesn't even beign to describe it). It's absurd but oh so fascinating.