Hello, I registered a minute ago for this forum; it's been recommended by a few different people and places.. I have some pressing questions I guess; I'm not educated in neuroscience but I pick up complexity pretty quickly. This is long. I'm sorry if its inappropriate. I'm not looking for medical help of any kind; I'm hoping to understand something. heres a short background first:

I begin to notice a remarkable decline in my previously very precise hand-eye coordination about 5 months ago in association with several other symptoms, including short term memory difficulties and a general loss of vocabulary; I have trouble spelling increasingly common words now whereas before I could intuitively spell complicated words I'd never encountered. I've also noticed a general change in personality and an odd reduction in my sense of smell. I already believe I understand how these issues may be related and I think I understand the underlying cause of these changes. briefly, I'm under the impression I've somehow damaged my limbic system by way of major, chronic depression or alternatively my entire brain through the caustic effect of constantly elevated stress chemistry. Every aspect of my mentality which I can objectively rate appears to be degraded from even as soon as a year ago. Recently, certain aspects of my long term memory seem to be scrambled or missing. For instance, I came across two CHP officers on the freeway the other day; trying to remember the CHiPS theme repeatedly retrieves the Kill Bill theme... odd, but I wasn't really around for chips so maybe not so much so.

I've since begun a major effort to more or less heal my emotional troubles and i'm having great success as far as I can tell.. I'm constantly reminded however of my apparently damaged or otherwise broken brain. It's very difficult to remain positive in this respect. I'm 28 years old and male; does my brain have the means and the time to repair itself? To what extent? Is there anything I can do to accelerate or assist such a process? Will my dexterity return? Will my vocabulary and personality be restored? Can I recover from this sudden and devastating affliction? I don't know how to answer these questions, so I'll ask. All of them assuming a. the two physical conditions ive described are responsible through generally understood pathology relating to both, and B. the symptoms ive described are due physical deterioration of my brain and not some other neurological condition.

This is longer than I originally apologized for; I'm sorry again. I have no idea if this is appropriate or if it makes sense or anything; I've never really been able to judge things like that. thanks for providing this forum though, I'm reading through most of it right now.

Hello path, and welcome to BM,

Relax, and consider the possibility that a form of depression or some other biochemical disruption has afflicted your being.

It is firstly, interesting that you have you been able to become aware of these changes to your normal healthy circumstances.
I was 49 years old before I became aware of my depression, even though I had always felt somehow 'different to my mates'.
I suggest a trip to your doctor (or perhaps firstly, a website test of the probability that you may have depressive dependencies).
It is quite simple either way, and nothing to be really worried about. There are now so many medications available from which to choose your own solution if you do indeed need some medical intervention.

Do follow it up, and expect support from many available websites if it transpires that you do need medication to rid yourself of any affliction!
Do I sound like a person with endogenous depression who has been on anti-depressants for 15 years?

No :)

The 'damage' to your limbic system is far more likely to be chemical - cortisol and the like - as opposed to structural and therefore reversable.

I don't know how you'd do that, though. You need to turn up your pituitary thermostat so it regulates your brain steroid chemistry at a higher level. People say exercise can do this.

imo.

Tony