Will I Get My Brains Back?

Newbie here... have been officially diagnosed with OSA about a month ago. Very frustrated about how long this process has been, now the wait for approval of another night in the lab to try out the CPAP and get a prescription, but that is a whole nuther topic.

I have read often how much better, more rested and alert people feel after getting their equipment tweaked and regularly used. However, I have been wondering about cognitive function. I used to be smart. Honest. And memory, my husband hated how darn sharp it was at times. I have throughout much of my life been the go-to person if something needed to be recalled. Was one of my strengths. However it was the last year and a half to two that I am aware of how much I'd declined. It was serious memory lapses affecting my daily life that got me to the doctor, however looking back I can see where general cognitive function was no longer at par. "Silly" little things, like used to winning Scrabble games often, to struggling more and more coming up with sensible words and scoring lower than I used to; I'm involved in dance class and I used to catch on to the choreos, now I just do my best to follow as it's so hard to retain the steps; and workouts with a trainer - she'll instruct me 3 different variations of a set, by the time she demos the third I've forgotten the first; and retrieving words, my spoken vocabulary now sucks; phone numbers? Oye! Extremely frustrating and at times, concerning.

Once treatment gets going and going well, will I regain my cognitive function as I used to know it? Will my memory come back? Or has the periods of apnea episodes permanently fried some key brain cells that I can never get back?? :-p

Yes you probably will. I can once again natter in French. I can learn new computer concepts again. I remember things. I can multiprocess again.
Before I got my cpap this forum was too confusing to understand. Within 2 weeks I was understanding what I should have known before.

It takes a bit of time to recover but it will get better, different maybe but definitely better.

Sure you can.

I used to be a dumb ass ... now I'm just an ass.

My experience has been the brain heals but heals slowly. It's not like you bit your tongue or cheek and the next day it's all better. Healing takes time and then everyone is different.

My guess is that it all depends on the location and severity of the damage.

Location, location - LOCATION.

DreamStalker wrote:Sure you can.

I used to be a dumb ass ... now I'm just an ass.

But, at least a SMART one........

(sorry.....couldn't resist)


Den

Sandra wrote:...Once treatment gets going and going well, will I regain my cognitive function as I used to know it? Will my memory come back? Or has the periods of apnea episodes permanently fried some key brain cells that I can never get back?? :-p

Well, that is the 10 million dollar question, of course. I think the answer is yes...most of it...depending! Depending on how long you've had sleep apnea...and your age. Afterall, some memory loss is age related.

I've been on CPAP for a year now...and I am mucho better....but there are still some memory issues for me.

Yes...but it ain't gonna be fast.. In one study with severe apneics the white matter lesions present at the start of the study were if memory serves me right (no guarantees I'm still in recovery) gone at the end of 12 months. Latest research shows the brain is amazingly plastic, able to create new neural networks as well as new cells thoughout our lives -- so don't let anyone tell you how much recovery you will have, no one can tell you, it's completely unpredictable.

I started CPAP therapy Aug '07 with some immediate improvements tho energy levels took 9 months to show any appreciable improvement and the brain 'stuff'...well, it's taken the longest and I'm still seeing small continuous improvements. Verbal fluency has vastly improved over time, thank goodness, I'm a writer and this was devastating...I felt so lousy for so long I didn't realize how this had deteriorated, slowly, inexorably over time. As I began to feel better, I was horrified to hear myself asking for a box when I meant saucepan, a thing you drink out of when I meant a glass, in frustration pointing to things because the word simply escaped my ability to speak it. The surprising aspect of this is that my writing was not so horribly affected, it was mostly my speaking that was compromised: worse following a bad night or when I was stressed. I had to ask each of my loved ones and friends to not tease me about this as it just made it that much harder for me to cope with the brain-damage that apnea induces -- but I have to admit some of the words/phrases I used were hilarious, they fit the conceptual meaning but were wrong: can you answer the door when the phone was ringing, hand me the envelope pointing to a covered pan. My sense of humor (I sorely missed it) came back making is easier to laugh about these challenges instead of crying over what I'd lost. My mood swings no longer make me seem like Jekyll and Hyde or a manic depressive and no one calls me the wicked witch of IT behind my back but within hearing. My ability to moderate my behavior is fully back in place. Cognition is now what it was, if not a bit better as apnea robbed me of being able to multi-task thus my ability to fully focus on the topic at hand is much more pronounced than before. Memory...ahhh, there's the kicker...memories laid down during the worst of my apnea are sketchy at best, in some cases simply gone and my short-term memory while significantly improved is still a challenge (small steady improvements still ongoing): colored 4x6 index cards and half-size notebooks are my best friends...while I was a note-taker before, it's my salvation for my Swiss-cheese short-term memory.

I have not intentionally gone to sleep without my equipment since 8/20/07 & I take a lot of supplements to help my brain repair itself as I've posted here in several threads.

I hope your recovery goes faster than mine with results at least as good!

Sorry, what was the question again?

Your memory will return given enough treatment, mine is sharp almost 5 years on CPAP now. Looking back to pre-CPAP I was tired in the day, foggy, lethargic, if someone mentioned to me at work about something, 5 mins later I would forget the intricate detail. In-fact the only way I found around remembering things were to write everything down.

Now on CPAP treatment my brain is back, it's razor sharp, people even comment to me that I've changed completely, because I now pick them up on things they can't remember (and they're not in need of CPAP)

Give it time!

Thanks
Dave

An interesting thread.

One of the symptoms that I reported to my MD when I first began this journey was with having difficulty finding the right words. I've been talking slower and slower for the last few years but would explain it away as "chew your words before you let them out". When I "did" rush, the wrong words would often pop out. With my father having severe dementia - mostly around his ability to communicate - it was a grave concern for me. And co-incidentally his MRI also showed lesions. The diagnosis he was given was Pick's disease and he was given 3 months to live - 6 years ago and he's still going. Unfortunately due to complex family issues, I have no contact with him or his health care providers.

For me, lowering my blood pressure seems to have helped a fair bit and perhaps I'll improve more when my CPAP prescription is updated (still waiting 4 weeks after appt).

Wulfman wrote:

DreamStalker wrote:Sure you can.

I used to be a dumb ass ... now I'm just an ass.

But, at least a SMART one........

(sorry.....couldn't resist)


Den

There. You see. I'm already showing some more improvement.

It just occured to me I could clip bits and pieces from everyone's story and put them together to make mine. Now I am curious if a current brain scan would show any improvement in the lesions in my white matter. You have every reason to be optimistic about regaining brain power, at your own rate and degree. That's a great motivator to be diligent about using your cpap, and having access to data to be certain it is effective.

Sandra wrote:Newbie here... have been officially diagnosed with OSA about a month ago. Very frustrated about how long this process has been, now the wait for approval of another night in the lab to try out the CPAP and get a prescription, but that is a whole nuther topic.

I have read often how much better, more rested and alert people feel after getting their equipment tweaked and regularly used. However, I have been wondering about cognitive function. I used to be smart. Honest. And memory, my husband hated how darn sharp it was at times. I have throughout much of my life been the go-to person if something needed to be recalled. Was one of my strengths. However it was the last year and a half to two that I am aware of how much I'd declined. It was serious memory lapses affecting my daily life that got me to the doctor, however looking back I can see where general cognitive function was no longer at par. "Silly" little things, like used to winning Scrabble games often, to struggling more and more coming up with sensible words and scoring lower than I used to; I'm involved in dance class and I used to catch on to the choreos, now I just do my best to follow as it's so hard to retain the steps; and workouts with a trainer - she'll instruct me 3 different variations of a set, by the time she demos the third I've forgotten the first; and retrieving words, my spoken vocabulary now sucks; phone numbers? Oye! Extremely frustrating and at times, concerning.

Once treatment gets going and going well, will I regain my cognitive function as I used to know it? Will my memory come back? Or has the periods of apnea episodes permanently fried some key brain cells that I can never get back?? :-p

Well, that's a good question to ask. It is suggested that YES, your cognitive functions and memory (both short and long term) will return but perhaps not to the same level that they were at prior to CPAP. Keep in mind as well that as we grow older our memory degrades as well. I used to be able to remember phone numbers, names, addresses, dates and appointments and so on. That was only five years ago. Now I am dependant on my Blackberry. It is also suggested that APNEA episodes do indeed fry brain cells. I'm sorry but that's simply the way it is. So, expect a return simply because you are getting rest but a certain amount of loss as a result of oxygen deprivation. There are certainly more experienced voices on the forum that I, but that is what I am experiencing. Everyone is different.

One of the most important things to remember is that the brain works to recover. Just check out what they can do with stroke victims. Once your therapy is started then work at doing puzzles and other "brain teasers" to force it to relearn. Don't settle for what is left, keep pushing and trying. Take languages courses or other kinds of courses that really challenge your abilities.

Sandra wrote:Once treatment gets going and going well, will I regain my cognitive function as I used to know it? Will my memory come back? Or has the periods of apnea episodes permanently fried some key brain cells that I can never get back?? :-p

Much of my cognitive functioning came back, but some did not. My spatial memory, for instance, is permanently "fried". My short-term recall never completely came back. Other cognitive aspects such as abstract reasoning and even humor came back well, thank goodness.

Congratulations on getting a diagnosis. You now have a treatment plan that can dramatically improve your life!

Muse-Inc wrote:As I began to feel better, I was horrified to hear myself asking for a box when I meant saucepan, a thing you drink out of when I meant a glass, in frustration pointing to things because the word simply escaped my ability to speak it. The surprising aspect of this is that my writing was not so horribly affected, it was mostly my speaking that was compromised: worse following a bad night or when I was stressed.

My losses were very similar to Muse's. I would also say things like "that thing you drink out of" because I couldn't come up with the word "glass." Sometimes I would just point to an object. I often felt like I was thinking in slow motion. The verbal deficits were most pronounced, but I often found myself mistyping words also. I had some difficulty understanding the nuances of language too. And my concentration was shot. I have always enjoyed learning new things, but I found that I could no longer remember what I had just read. I had to write everything down. Scraps of paper were everywhere....

I have to say that I saw improvement within the first week after starting CPAP 8 months ago! I still write things down that I want to remember, but that may be more from habit more than need anymore. I can retain much more information now. Concentration is better too, although I still feel a bit disorganized. My word recall is also much improved....although I did refer to the DVD remote control as a "spinner" the other day. (I was thinking about how the DVD spins around I guess!) My husband got a big kick out of that one, so now he calls it that too! You gotta laugh.

I had extremely high blood pressure until a few months before beginning CPAP, so there could have been some brain damage as a result of that too. I also started taking many vitamins/supplements about the same time, so it's possible that helped also. I'm very grateful to have regained so much brain function already, and I look forward to even more improvement as time goes on.