Topic: Getting scared - anyone here ever 'zoned out' so-to-speak?
disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
I'm getting kind of worried.
The last couple of days I've been having these moments of like 'zoning out' to where I feel like I lose my memory for a minute or two.
Maybe it's not that I lose my memory at all, but I totally zone out and lose all thoughts, like my brain goes blank and feel like I'm not myself. It doesn't feel like depersonalization/derealization to me because I've had that before, so I'm not sure what this is (except I do remember having this from time-to-time years ago while I was in high school and I was infected then but had no idea as I was mostly asymptomatic), but it's freaking me out and scaring me big time. Feels like I'm either losing my memory or losing my mind!!!
Has anyone else experienced this at all? Like moments of completely zoning out, like your brain shuts down for a few minutes or more and you can't think because your mind/brain feels totally blank and empty?
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
Nope. You're not alone on this one. I will be
thinking about something and will totally lose
all thoughts. I can't even regroup and sometimes
its hard for me to carry on internal dialogue.
Yes it feels I'm losing my memory.
I bought sausage yesterday and I still haven't
found it. I'll give it a few days-I'm sure I'll
smell it. If I don't smell it, well then, I must
not have bought it to begin with Posts: 262 | From ohio | Registered: Jul 2008
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sixgoofykids
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11141
posted
Yep. I've had times where I just wasn't "home." I liked to think my brain was having a good time on a beach somewhere without me.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
LOL. I don't know what my brain is doing. But it's scaring me!
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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Leelee
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 19112
posted
Unfortunately I can relate to your symptoms all too well.
I don't know what to make of it. I wish I could be my old self again.
-------------------- The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King,Jr Posts: 1573 | From Maryland | Registered: Feb 2009
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sleepyhiker
Unregistered
posted
i call them "spells" At least once a day i'll catch myself floating above my body...
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posted
At work I'll be reading an email or writing a report and this happens every day. Everyone else believes I'm thinking really hard, but in reality my mind goes blank and my eyes don't focus. It happens other times, too, where I just don't know what I'm doing or where I was going. Scary stuff...
Posts: 236 | From Washington | Registered: Jul 2008
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disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
Anyone else?
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
Oh, yeah. I can't tell you how many times my husband has walked into the kitchen to find me just standing there, staring at nothing. It's like a mini-trance. It used to really upset me, now we can laugh about it. What's still NOT funny is that I haven't been able to drive for a month, because it does also happen when I'm driving. Be careful out there, my fellow lyme-brains. Also, sometimes I can't remember for sure if I've done something important (like take my oral doxy) - hubby will say "you just took it, I saw you", and I have no memory of it. Short-term memory: completely unreliable. Lost-in-space.
Posts: 57 | From western Virginia | Registered: Apr 2009
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Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
It is almost like a mini seizure.
Like time is standing still.
Yes, it does happen.
Don't know why... but after having it for years, much better now.
Cass A
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11134
posted
Yes--I got that with Flagyl--to the point that I didn't know who I was, where I was, what I was doing, or how I was managing to have my body stay on the stool where it was seated.
My LLMD says it is called "GLOBAL TRANSIENT AMNESIA."
NOT FUN AT ALL!!!
I have had the much briefer (thankfully) "blanking out" also.
Treatment for Babesia helped me with this.
Wouldn't say it's handled, but it's not in my Top Ten symptoms now!
Best,
Cass A
Posts: 1245 | From Thousand Oaks, CA | Registered: Feb 2007
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posted
C3mom, I hope you find your sausage soon! I definitely LOL on that one, not to be mean, but that is so funny!!
I have zoned like this. One time in particular, when my husband was driving me home from an LLMD appt. and I don't remember most of the ride home! Next thing I realized is we were turning into our neighborhood. Very freaky. Most of the time, I lose my train of thought.
Posts: 103 | From Northern VA | Registered: Apr 2009
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posted
Sounds like it could be a "mini seizure" maybe?
-------------------- "We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us" - e.m. forster Posts: 921 | From PA | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
Could be, both lyme and especially bartonella can cause seizures.
Posts: 80 | From Canada | Registered: Mar 2009
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nenet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 13174
posted
Yes, and it can be very frightening and upsetting. No thoughts, no internal dialogue, just nothingness.
One thing I am sometimes aware of is the general sense of fear or a sense that something is wrong. I sit there trying to *think* something, anything, and I cannot. Other times there is not even that, until the episode is over, when I can freak out. It appears to me that there are varying levels of thought, and my brain, that can be effected.
I am trying to learn to accept this as part of my illness, and reassure myself that I will not permanently lose my mind or my sense of who I am. This seems to always happen when I am flaring or herxing, so taking it easy and alleviating stress (physical, mental, or emotional exhaustion, etc.) when I can does help minimize the number and magnitude of events.
By the way, Sixgoofykids, your comment made me laugh so loud my husband heard me all the way downstairs on the other end of the house. A good sense of humor is one of the very best tools in dealing with this illness!
lymielauren28
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 13742
posted
Hey Ash, I get that too. I remember one incident in particular - I was in the kitchen making easy mac. Not too hard, right? Ha! I had my pot and the box of mac and cheese sitting right there in front of me and all of a sudden, poof! I could not remember what I was supposed to do! I must have stood in the kitchen for 15 minutes staring at that box and my pot.
Finally my husband walked in and asked me what in the world I was doing. I was so out of it I could barely explain myself. Needless to say he made the mac and cheese while I chilled out on the couch, lol. I've had a million moments like that, but for some reason that one sticks out in my mind.
So, you're not alone! It's sometimes funny, but always scary and frustrating.
Lauren
-------------------- "The only way out is through" Posts: 1434 | From mississippi | Registered: Nov 2007
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klutzo
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Member # 5701
posted
Boy, can I empathize with this one!I call this my "missing time attacks" and jokingly say I must have been abducted by aliens, but in truth it scares me to death.
I will suddenly "come to" and realize two hours are gone and I have no idea what I've been doing during that time. I wonder if some day I'll burn down the house or swallow drain cleaner or put our beloved cat in the clothes dryer on tumble while in this state.
I have a detailed meds chart AND a day and time container for my pills, but I still can fill the pill timer incorrectly by counting the pills wrong, or be distracted for just a moment by another thought and forget to write down on the chart that I took my pill.
The other day I was on the phone making a doctor's appt. when I forgot my social security number and my brain just froze. I had to apologize and go get my SS card. Another first.
Last year I drove only about 15 times all year long, and never more than 3 miles from my home. This year sofar I've only driven once, and only 2 miles away.
I also have had panic attacks and PSVTs behind the wheel (an abnormal heart rhythm that can cause blackouts). I am about to give up driving before I hurt someone. It kills me to lose my last vestige of independence, but I have no right to risk other's lives. I really feel for those of you who live alone and must risk driving like this.
I talked to another local Lymie who had her license taken away last year, due to blacking out and seizing behind the wheel. She went off the road when she blacked out, twice. Luckily, nobody was hurt.
I think even Alzheimer's must be better than this. At least they don't know what is happening to them. To be totally conscious of the fact that I am losing my brain is horrifying beyond words.
May God bless us all with strength, klutzo
Posts: 1269 | From Clearwater, Florida, USA | Registered: May 2004
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posted
Another empathetic person here. For 10 years I walked around in a fog. My poor family thought at first I was just a empty headed blond, but as I got worse they started to realize I had serious problems. I couldn't remember anything that happened a minute ago, couldn't write down a telephone number without asking that it be repeated 4 times, couldn't go to the grocery store because when I came out I could never find the car....once I even called the police because I thought the car had been stolen...then I remembered under questioning by the police that I was looking for the wrong car. That is when I wasn't allowed to drive anymore. But I had a happy ending....after 18 months on doxy and biaxin and being treated for Babesia, I got my brain back. That was 8 years ago and I haven't slipped back since. You must have Hope and a LLMD that understands how to treat Lyme and co-infections. Never give up....I have heard from too many people who have enjoyed remission. We are out here. Keep the Faith, SandiB
Posts: 991 | From USA | Registered: Aug 2001
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gwb
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Member # 7273
posted
I was driving a few months ago to pick up my wife at work and on the way there I somehow ended up not knowing where I was. It scared the dickens out of me. I told my LLMD and he said I had a blackout. I asked him how I could drive if I had a blackout? He said I didn't lose conscience, I just wasn't aware of what I was doing but not to worry as it wasn't dangerous or anything like that. Only had that one time and hope I don't experience it again. Scary.
Posts: 1349 | From OK | Registered: May 2005
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kreynolds
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Member # 15117
posted
diturbedme:
I deal with this on a constant basis.
Zoning out to my sons cartoons,losing my wallet, not knowing where I am for a minute etc...
I feel that I need a tracking device for all my things!
I think I would lose my head if it wasn't attached.
My wife looks at me my like I have ten heads everyday.
She will tell me something important about someone, then later that night I will ask her," so whats going on with so and so..." she laughs..
It scary and funny at the same time, but like I said its an everyday thing and it is progressively getting worse...
-------------------- Diagnosed CDC + 6/2007
Quest: + IGG Bands 18,23,39,41,58,66 and 93.
Quest: + IGM Bands 23,39
Quest: + Bartonella (B.Henselea & B. Quintana),+ Babesia, and + Mycoplasma and Lyme-Induced Addisons Disease
+ Biofilm blood test 12/2010 Posts: 1185 | From New York | Registered: Apr 2008
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yes, happens to a few of us here in this family
in my case i think that it is a mini-seizure or a "seizure-like" episode
seems to have gotten better with more aggressive tx for bart and babs
-------------------- This is NOT medical advice - and should NOT be used to replace your MD's advice. Info is only the opinion of those who publish the site.
The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time.
cb Posts: 669 | From somewherebetweentherocks | Registered: Mar 2008
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lymeladyinNY
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Member # 10235
posted
Yes, when babs is bothering me I zone out, especially at night. It's like what others have said - there is no ability to think.
I am aware that I'm in the state but I have no thoughts, or if I do, they are very wispy.
My husband will find me standing and staring into space. I ask him, "What do I do now?" a lot. I can't remember what I'm doing or how to do anything.
It is very frightening but I always come to within a half-hour.
-------------------- I want to be free Posts: 1170 | From Endicott, NY | Registered: Sep 2006
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kam
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 3410
posted
Not able to read what the others wrote. But, I veg or zone out from about 10 am until after 4 pm each day and then I am limited on much I can use my brain.
I use to be worse. My mind use to go somewhere without me.
My service dog would stand up and do a sharp bark. For some reason that brought me back into the room.
I use to find myself out in the middle of the street in my power chair and wonder how I got there.
My service dog has helped me with that too and learning my limits.
She will sit down and refuse to move when the brain goes.
At home she will stay right by my side when it is lower functioning than normal.
At first I thought something was wrong with her. Then I tried to do something I normally do and found out it was me.
I have learned to watch her body language and know i need to be extra cautious or stop and call the public transportation to come and get me.
Posts: 15927 | From Became too sick to work or do household chores in 2001. | Registered: Dec 2002
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That's one thing that is slow to come back. For me it's compounded, since I'malso a "coma-victim" from a long time ago (6 wks coma, 1982). But it's still on the way up, for the moment. I may have just got bit again, though. No rash, as yet, and I'm not sure the bites were caused by ticks, but I'm keeping my eye on it. (was sitting on a log looking for a nashville warbler I heard, and there are tons of deer and ticks as well as at least some lyme, there), They don't look like tick bites to me, but you can't be sure... DaveS
Posts: 4567 | From ithaca, NY, usa | Registered: Nov 2000
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sutherngrl
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Member # 16270
posted
I have had this exact thing happen to me several times. I feel like I have no thoughts at all in my head. Its like I can't even make a thought. I believe that I realize that I can't form a thought in my head. It usually only last for a few seconds.
But you are right, it is very scary. To me, it feels like what I might expect Alzheimers to feel like.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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