SOME OF
THE A.E.'S I HAVE HAD TO CONFRONT OVER THESE PAST SEVERAL
YEARS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
a. Diminished verbal (and written) communication skills.
Words you want to say are in your mind but you can't get
them to come out your mouth! Very difficult to carry on
any kind of a normal conversation, even with people
you've known for years and years! And, every now and
then, the words don't stay in your head long enough so
you can write them down!
b. Short term memory loss. Right in the middle of a
thought process and all of a sudden its completely gone
and very difficult to bring it back! Sometimes only
partial recovery is achieved. Names of friends and
relatives and once familiar places are now not readily
available from your memory!
c. Long term memory loss. Randomly affected ability to
bring up events and occurrences from the past. Things you
should have near total recall of are now hazy and fuzzy
or fragmented in your memory! Even if you can remember
some of them they seem to come and go almost whimsically!
One time you remember and the next time you don't!
d. Nausea, poor appetite, headaches, drowsiness,
torpidity(apathy), ambivalence!
e. Bladder control
problems. Always looking for where the bathrooms are
every where you go! Or, trying to find a tree to stand
behind!
f. Diminished balance control!
g. Impulsive need to count things - cars on the road, and
those with just one headlight working, traffic markings
on roads, holes in ceiling tile (while in a dentist's
chair, etc), cracks in sidewalks, floor design patterns,
shirt buttons, just about anything you can count!
h. Keeping track of time it takes to do different things
like brushing teeth, taking showers, drive to different
places, cut the grass, go for a walk (3 miles takes 46 to
49 minutes, depending on weather and other potential
interruptions) and other activities which can be measured
in seconds, minutes and hours!
i. other unexplainable, less severe mental quirks and
short circuits...!!!
I'm also thinking several of you knew very soon after
your exposure to CO you were then (and probably still
are...) experiencing at least some of the above
identified after effects! But, you have no idea
whatsoever how to correct these newly discovered
problems! You have a general sense they are the result of
your CO episode(s), but you can't find anyone who can
tell what you can do to even partially overcome them or
how to achieve a significant improvement! Or how long it
should take to effectively deal with any of them! Or how
much of a correction you could expect to achieve over
whatever period of time... And, you gradually come to the
realization you are all alone in this frightening new
world you are suddenly in, with no help available from
any of the sources you can find with an expressed
interest in CO survivor issues!
Family/friends are generally there for you, but they
don't understand how you've been affected and what it is
you are up against! They'll often (privately ?) say its
all in your head...and they're right! Problem is,how to
get it out of our heads!!! Net result is, even with the
best intentioned offers of help from those closest to us,
THEY JUST DON'T KNOW HOW TO HELP US! And they could end
up doing more harm than good! They try very hard to be of
help but since they don't understand CARBON MONOXIDE
EXPOSURE PHENOMENA they can't really help us at all!!!
NOTE: AS I BECOME BETTER AT SEARCHING THE WEB I AM
FINDING MORE SOURCES OF POSSIBLE HELP AVAILABLE TO THOSE
WHO ARE REALLY LOOKING FOR THIS KIND OF INFORMATION!
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