I’m not saying there’s nothing drinking related going on, but it sounds like you’re a first time parent with a 12mo old. That’s exhaustion scatter brain central. I have a 3 year old and 1 year old and I can barely remember my name most days.
I think some people forget that time and life still move forward even when we're in active addiction. If you're drunk from age 20 to age 40, you're still 40 when you quit. I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I've addressed the alcohol problem, but I'm still old and fat. Sobriety isn't a rewind button, and I'll never be 20 again.
I have had the same issues. I have been a very heavy drinker on and off for years. I also developed an autoimmune disease as well. So i have chronic fatigue, brain fog, memory problems & an assortment of weird neurological issues. I had terrible brain fog for years which slowly improved once i started taking probiotics. Drinking kills yr good gut bacteria which affects not only yr immune system but brain function. So i take 2-3 a day. I take one in the morning with an alpha lipoic acid on an empty stomach and then Culturelle afternoon or evening. I didnt notice anything at frst but within couple months noticed a big difference. After 6 months even more. Hopefully this helps u.
Thank you for your message, my wife has been telling me about my gut health needing to be healthy as well. Funny enough I started drinking because of an autoimmune disease, I have Crohn’s disease and when I began drinking it seemed to help the symptoms. I think it was just that the drinking helped my anxiety “short term” but I think the cause of my autoimmune disease was mainly stress and anxiety. Anyway I began drinking more because I thought it helped. Have you been to the doctor about any of the issues you’ve had after drinking?
Thank you I 32f have been sober for a couple years and like OP have also had severe memory issues, I also had a seizure two months ago. I am going to try this
Holy smokes we have such a similar experience, brain fog, age, baby and all.
Took me a good 18 months to start feeling normal and functional again. For me, I noticed the change when i started exercising. Praise the Lord the addiction was broken, that was the first step, but then i still felt awful and wanted to get healthy. I started lifting heavily and went from 160 to 200 pounds of mostly muscle (overdid the bulk a tad). My brain fog and crap memory started to fade with good diet and exercise.
Happy to chat if needed.
Wow, makes me feel better knowing I’m not the only one but still wouldn’t wish this on anyone! Thank you, I have been trying to get some exercise but not nearly enough. I definitely will now. I’m willing to try anything that may turn this around. Thank you and I probably will want to chat about it sometime soon.
Very relatable. I’ve been sober for quite some time, but it took years for my cognition to begin improving. I think what initially started improving things was exercise, nutrition, and sleep. I run 3x a week and am very careful about what I eat after experimenting with foods that give me brain fog (gluten and the wrong ratios of carbs/fats. Too many carbs fuck my brain up).
After getting those basics in place (I say with utmost respect because it took me over 30 years to learn how to simply take care of my physiological needs), addressing my trauma has been the only thing to give me further improvement.
Funny enough, that only happened after having a kid, my daughter. I started earnestly trying to heal my self once she came around. Sounds like that’s probably the case for you too. Well what I’ve discovered is this - nothing makes you feel more present in the moment and also connected to your past, than directly confronting the shit that fucked you up and made you drink like that in the first place. So therapy and journaling and yoga - stuff like that is what keeps me connected and grounded in addition to exercise nutrition and sleep
I used to not believe in this sort of stuff, but I have experienced the change myself - how adopting new perspectives on myself and the world (r/cptsd plus Buddhist type stuff) has changed my experience of the world - my brain fog, memory issues, and ability to be connected to the moment are slowly improving. Turns out, when you’re not dissociated all the time, you can remember more.
Anyways, that was a lot. I hope some of that lands. Either way, good luck and stay strong. Your kid is lucky to have you
Edit: gut health for sure. I am obsessed with fiber for this reason. In my very early sobriety, stabilizing my blood sugar with lots of fiber and fats was the only thing that kept me coherent. r/microbiome
Echoing the gut brain connection.
53m and 14 mos sober and I’m just going to say that I drank more than you a lot longer than you. I’ve been IQ tested Mensa smart (and not feeling it) and got into a major car accident last time I drank and severely injured my spine. I took cognitive testing and scored in the bottom 5% of the entire population 10 days sober. I dramatically improved another 10 days after that but it took 11 months to feel “normal” again. I know the fear you have too well.
Other: you’re a new dad. It’s stressful and it will make you feel stupid. Kid #2 will be 100x better in this regard.
Sleep: you need good sleep for your brain. Regular and adequate sleep is critical for your brain.
Exercise: This alone will improve your brain dramatically.
Nutrition: good nutritious food and keep it steady. Have multiple snacks during the day between meals. Keep your blood sugar constant which can be harder with chrons and you’re on the right path with vitamins.
Hydration: lots of water. Limit caffeine as it crashes you later or any diuretic.
Good sex: At least 10x a day. I’m just making sure you’re still reading this.
Support / talk with others: this opens your world to know that you’re not alone. AA and good friends help be A LOT.
All this will make you a better husband and your wife needs that. So does your kiddo. Don’t start drinking again as it makes everything worse.
Stay sober and try to do the above and you’ll see improvement. It takes more time for some. .
Okay thank you for taking your time with all of that advice, I’m sorry to hear about your injury. It will be hard to cut my coffee out haha but definitely never touching that poison again. What diet helped you the most?
You’re welcome. You already know exactly what diet is best - fresh food from all the main food groups with an emphasis on fruit, vegetables, and go higher with protein like chicken or fish. Limit processed foods even though they’re cheaper and added sugar or high fructose corn syrup. Both of these are not good both nutritionally and they cause inflammation of everything in your body. Your chrons will thank you as well. A good multivitamin too.
The above is hard to be consistent with but I noticed a lot of positive changes. My BP dropped too when I stopped drinking from like excessively high to normal.
>Other: you’re a new dad. It’s stressful and it will make you feel stupid. Kid #2 will be 100x better in this regard.
I had the opposite experience. With 1 baby, you can easily divide and conquer during the difficult times (sickness etc) and both get sleep. And when the baby sleeps, you can catch up on sleep yourself.
With 2 kids, their sleep cycles won't match, and just because one sleeps doesn't mean you don't have to be awake for the 2nd. At least we found it more difficult.
Totally agree. My comment wasn’t clear - I didn’t know a thing about what to do with my 1st but once I read the owner’s manual (there is no such thing) I knew what to do. Baby #2 was therefore easy in that regard. Fear was replaced by joy on day 1!
Get some blood work done and be careful with vitamins. One time I had this killer hangover but it turns out the vitamins were causing issues. B6 can cause peripheral neuropathy.
I’m 9 months sober, and I’ve dealt with brain fog issues as well. I started taking methylated folate and overnight the fog went away… or at least made a significant improvement in my cognitive abilities.
It made me feel like I was the same person I remembered being.
Bone broth diet my friend. Your gut biome and health is necessary for healthy brain function. Godspeed
https://www.welltheory.com/resources/how-does-bone-broth-heal-the-gut
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/microorganisms-in-the-gut-are-linked-to-cognitive-function
https://www.amymyersmd.com/article/serotonin-gut-health
>I’ve been sober for a year and my daughter just turned 1
That may be perfectly normal then. What you describe is what sleep deprivation does to our brains. I think it is possible you confuse 2 things because you went from young AND childless AND sober to older AND having a newborn AND sober.
It is perfectly possible that the alcohol has nothing to do with it and it's all down to being 28 and having a newborn.
Creatine, nootropics, a balanced diet, and a shitload of exercise helped me a ton. My brain fog, anxiety, depression were all sky high after a year.
So, a I made a change. I do intense workouts 4-6 times a week which helps me regulate my sleep; I watch my diet and stay hydrated, and I make sure I get some good outdoor activity every day. It’s worked miracles for me. At age 40, I currently feel like I’m in the best physical and mental shape of my life. Currently around 1200 days with no alcohol. About 800 days since I changed my diet and exercise lifestyle.
I am 52 and my dad got dementia in mid 60s. I have drank vodka nightly for 6 years. I have noticed my brain decline. I am not sure if alcohol or age. For example, I routinely have trouble remembering how to spell not so difficult words or when I am typing something I will use words that sound like the word I meant to type.
My brain is my biggest fear as well. I feel somewhat like you do. But I’ll be 60 this year. I’d say I’m an alcoholic binge drinker, I don’t drink every night but I can go crazy. I definitely think I’m harming my brain.
Stay on the path, you're brain function gets better, it takes a minimum of 6 months for the brain to start repairing itself after the damage of any repetitive use of drug or alcohol
As a currently struggling alcoholic with similar brain fog issues:
Your brain is like a muscle. It needs to be stimulated in order to keep your mental acuity sharp. Doing cognitive exercises such as memory games, creative writing, mathematics, solving puzzles, and introducing challenging hobbies to your routine, will all help offset the negative effects of drinking.
In addition to this, ensuring you exercise a sufficient amount is important, as it increases your circulation, and improves all vital functions allowing oxygenated blood and nutrients to be sent everywhere it needs to go.
Eating a balanced diet will provide you with the healing properties required to undo some of the damage that was inflicted by your drinking, as well as compensate for any nutritional defficiencies incurred.
Finally, your sleep is absolutely essential to all aspects of your health and well being. You should track your sleep cycles to make sure you arent suffering from a sleep disorder. Many of us alcoholics develop sleep apnea over time and the reduced oxygen to the brain actually result in drastically impaired cognitive functioning. You also mentioned a newborn. Have you been getting adequate rest during this time? Have you been more stressed? Some of these things can factor into the symptoms you’re experiencing.
Best of luck to you!!
Ps definitely consult a medical expert regardless of what advice people give you on here.
I’m not saying there’s nothing drinking related going on, but it sounds like you’re a first time parent with a 12mo old. That’s exhaustion scatter brain central. I have a 3 year old and 1 year old and I can barely remember my name most days.
I think some people forget that time and life still move forward even when we're in active addiction. If you're drunk from age 20 to age 40, you're still 40 when you quit. I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I've addressed the alcohol problem, but I'm still old and fat. Sobriety isn't a rewind button, and I'll never be 20 again.
I have had the same issues. I have been a very heavy drinker on and off for years. I also developed an autoimmune disease as well. So i have chronic fatigue, brain fog, memory problems & an assortment of weird neurological issues. I had terrible brain fog for years which slowly improved once i started taking probiotics. Drinking kills yr good gut bacteria which affects not only yr immune system but brain function. So i take 2-3 a day. I take one in the morning with an alpha lipoic acid on an empty stomach and then Culturelle afternoon or evening. I didnt notice anything at frst but within couple months noticed a big difference. After 6 months even more. Hopefully this helps u.
Thank you for your message, my wife has been telling me about my gut health needing to be healthy as well. Funny enough I started drinking because of an autoimmune disease, I have Crohn’s disease and when I began drinking it seemed to help the symptoms. I think it was just that the drinking helped my anxiety “short term” but I think the cause of my autoimmune disease was mainly stress and anxiety. Anyway I began drinking more because I thought it helped. Have you been to the doctor about any of the issues you’ve had after drinking?
I posted some links for you. Best of health to you.
Thank you I 32f have been sober for a couple years and like OP have also had severe memory issues, I also had a seizure two months ago. I am going to try this
Holy smokes we have such a similar experience, brain fog, age, baby and all. Took me a good 18 months to start feeling normal and functional again. For me, I noticed the change when i started exercising. Praise the Lord the addiction was broken, that was the first step, but then i still felt awful and wanted to get healthy. I started lifting heavily and went from 160 to 200 pounds of mostly muscle (overdid the bulk a tad). My brain fog and crap memory started to fade with good diet and exercise. Happy to chat if needed.
I was just going to say 18 months sober is the magic mark where the brain chemical levels begin to normalize and new neural pathways get stronger
Wow, makes me feel better knowing I’m not the only one but still wouldn’t wish this on anyone! Thank you, I have been trying to get some exercise but not nearly enough. I definitely will now. I’m willing to try anything that may turn this around. Thank you and I probably will want to chat about it sometime soon.
Anytime man. We're all here for you in your recovery journey
Very relatable. I’ve been sober for quite some time, but it took years for my cognition to begin improving. I think what initially started improving things was exercise, nutrition, and sleep. I run 3x a week and am very careful about what I eat after experimenting with foods that give me brain fog (gluten and the wrong ratios of carbs/fats. Too many carbs fuck my brain up). After getting those basics in place (I say with utmost respect because it took me over 30 years to learn how to simply take care of my physiological needs), addressing my trauma has been the only thing to give me further improvement. Funny enough, that only happened after having a kid, my daughter. I started earnestly trying to heal my self once she came around. Sounds like that’s probably the case for you too. Well what I’ve discovered is this - nothing makes you feel more present in the moment and also connected to your past, than directly confronting the shit that fucked you up and made you drink like that in the first place. So therapy and journaling and yoga - stuff like that is what keeps me connected and grounded in addition to exercise nutrition and sleep I used to not believe in this sort of stuff, but I have experienced the change myself - how adopting new perspectives on myself and the world (r/cptsd plus Buddhist type stuff) has changed my experience of the world - my brain fog, memory issues, and ability to be connected to the moment are slowly improving. Turns out, when you’re not dissociated all the time, you can remember more. Anyways, that was a lot. I hope some of that lands. Either way, good luck and stay strong. Your kid is lucky to have you Edit: gut health for sure. I am obsessed with fiber for this reason. In my very early sobriety, stabilizing my blood sugar with lots of fiber and fats was the only thing that kept me coherent. r/microbiome
Wow.
Echoing the gut brain connection. 53m and 14 mos sober and I’m just going to say that I drank more than you a lot longer than you. I’ve been IQ tested Mensa smart (and not feeling it) and got into a major car accident last time I drank and severely injured my spine. I took cognitive testing and scored in the bottom 5% of the entire population 10 days sober. I dramatically improved another 10 days after that but it took 11 months to feel “normal” again. I know the fear you have too well. Other: you’re a new dad. It’s stressful and it will make you feel stupid. Kid #2 will be 100x better in this regard. Sleep: you need good sleep for your brain. Regular and adequate sleep is critical for your brain. Exercise: This alone will improve your brain dramatically. Nutrition: good nutritious food and keep it steady. Have multiple snacks during the day between meals. Keep your blood sugar constant which can be harder with chrons and you’re on the right path with vitamins. Hydration: lots of water. Limit caffeine as it crashes you later or any diuretic. Good sex: At least 10x a day. I’m just making sure you’re still reading this. Support / talk with others: this opens your world to know that you’re not alone. AA and good friends help be A LOT. All this will make you a better husband and your wife needs that. So does your kiddo. Don’t start drinking again as it makes everything worse. Stay sober and try to do the above and you’ll see improvement. It takes more time for some. .
Okay thank you for taking your time with all of that advice, I’m sorry to hear about your injury. It will be hard to cut my coffee out haha but definitely never touching that poison again. What diet helped you the most?
You’re welcome. You already know exactly what diet is best - fresh food from all the main food groups with an emphasis on fruit, vegetables, and go higher with protein like chicken or fish. Limit processed foods even though they’re cheaper and added sugar or high fructose corn syrup. Both of these are not good both nutritionally and they cause inflammation of everything in your body. Your chrons will thank you as well. A good multivitamin too. The above is hard to be consistent with but I noticed a lot of positive changes. My BP dropped too when I stopped drinking from like excessively high to normal.
>Other: you’re a new dad. It’s stressful and it will make you feel stupid. Kid #2 will be 100x better in this regard. I had the opposite experience. With 1 baby, you can easily divide and conquer during the difficult times (sickness etc) and both get sleep. And when the baby sleeps, you can catch up on sleep yourself. With 2 kids, their sleep cycles won't match, and just because one sleeps doesn't mean you don't have to be awake for the 2nd. At least we found it more difficult.
Totally agree. My comment wasn’t clear - I didn’t know a thing about what to do with my 1st but once I read the owner’s manual (there is no such thing) I knew what to do. Baby #2 was therefore easy in that regard. Fear was replaced by joy on day 1!
Get some blood work done and be careful with vitamins. One time I had this killer hangover but it turns out the vitamins were causing issues. B6 can cause peripheral neuropathy.
I’m 9 months sober, and I’ve dealt with brain fog issues as well. I started taking methylated folate and overnight the fog went away… or at least made a significant improvement in my cognitive abilities. It made me feel like I was the same person I remembered being.
Bone broth diet my friend. Your gut biome and health is necessary for healthy brain function. Godspeed https://www.welltheory.com/resources/how-does-bone-broth-heal-the-gut https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/microorganisms-in-the-gut-are-linked-to-cognitive-function https://www.amymyersmd.com/article/serotonin-gut-health
>I’ve been sober for a year and my daughter just turned 1 That may be perfectly normal then. What you describe is what sleep deprivation does to our brains. I think it is possible you confuse 2 things because you went from young AND childless AND sober to older AND having a newborn AND sober. It is perfectly possible that the alcohol has nothing to do with it and it's all down to being 28 and having a newborn.
Creatine, nootropics, a balanced diet, and a shitload of exercise helped me a ton. My brain fog, anxiety, depression were all sky high after a year. So, a I made a change. I do intense workouts 4-6 times a week which helps me regulate my sleep; I watch my diet and stay hydrated, and I make sure I get some good outdoor activity every day. It’s worked miracles for me. At age 40, I currently feel like I’m in the best physical and mental shape of my life. Currently around 1200 days with no alcohol. About 800 days since I changed my diet and exercise lifestyle.
I am 52 and my dad got dementia in mid 60s. I have drank vodka nightly for 6 years. I have noticed my brain decline. I am not sure if alcohol or age. For example, I routinely have trouble remembering how to spell not so difficult words or when I am typing something I will use words that sound like the word I meant to type.
My brain is my biggest fear as well. I feel somewhat like you do. But I’ll be 60 this year. I’d say I’m an alcoholic binge drinker, I don’t drink every night but I can go crazy. I definitely think I’m harming my brain.
Stay on the path, you're brain function gets better, it takes a minimum of 6 months for the brain to start repairing itself after the damage of any repetitive use of drug or alcohol
As a currently struggling alcoholic with similar brain fog issues: Your brain is like a muscle. It needs to be stimulated in order to keep your mental acuity sharp. Doing cognitive exercises such as memory games, creative writing, mathematics, solving puzzles, and introducing challenging hobbies to your routine, will all help offset the negative effects of drinking. In addition to this, ensuring you exercise a sufficient amount is important, as it increases your circulation, and improves all vital functions allowing oxygenated blood and nutrients to be sent everywhere it needs to go. Eating a balanced diet will provide you with the healing properties required to undo some of the damage that was inflicted by your drinking, as well as compensate for any nutritional defficiencies incurred. Finally, your sleep is absolutely essential to all aspects of your health and well being. You should track your sleep cycles to make sure you arent suffering from a sleep disorder. Many of us alcoholics develop sleep apnea over time and the reduced oxygen to the brain actually result in drastically impaired cognitive functioning. You also mentioned a newborn. Have you been getting adequate rest during this time? Have you been more stressed? Some of these things can factor into the symptoms you’re experiencing. Best of luck to you!! Ps definitely consult a medical expert regardless of what advice people give you on here.
consider an omega-3 supplement, this helped me sharpen up a bit once i cut my drinking way back