Brain fog or dementia

[[da...]]

I cant tell anymore. Its that bad. 

[[Ma...]]

I promise, you don’t have dementia.

[[Cr...]]

Dave, a fearful mind is willing to believe even the most unlikely of possibilities (dementia, brain tumor, etc) as long as it serves to justify the existence of the fear.

The current state of your fearful mind makes it difficult to rationalize the symptoms you are dealing with as being attributed to a lesser offender (benzo or alcohol withdrawal, natural anxiety), especially when those have much more positive outcomes.

I can understand why you feel you have to 'Assume the Worst, Hope for the Best'. I went through it. 4 months into withdrawal I asked my doctor to scan my brain to check for a tumor, but he didn't as I didn't have enough signs to justify it. Then my brain moved onto Bipolar.

I am pretty confident, based on your past with benzos and recent past with alcohol, that you are dealing with alcohol PAWS. But like I always tell people, sometimes it is best to get things ruled out so you can put your mind at ease. A well trained psyche doctor can easily rule dementia out for you if need be.

Just know that our recovering brains are hard to satisfy for long. If dementia is ruled out, it will probably latch onto another serious illness that shares your current symptoms. Your brain is just trying its best to protect you as it wants to find a more tangible reason for you feeling the way you do. Sometimes you gotta teach it patience and acceptance. 

Keep pushing forward bud. Alcohol PAWS can be challenging, especially to people like you and me that possibly got a harsher form from using benzos prior.

[[da...]]

You absolutely right