@alexalv You can definitely survive and enjoy life again. Also, it's great that you're able to work and take some classes, that's not easy when going through something like this and I think it will be helpful to you. Also -- I'm definitely not here to victim blame anyone who is failing to meet goals, or can't work, or is watching parts of their life fall apart. We all have our limits with nervous system injuries and different people have different limits for what they can take on. But if you are able to meet little goals, it means you haven't fully given up, you can see a future and I think that's important when trying to maintain hope during recovery. I know what you mean though when you say sometimes the best you can do is just get through the day.

There were some things I forced myself to do during withdrawal (mainly, continuing to work and keep finances in order) but a lot of things that I did not force myself to do (socializing if I wasn't feeling it, or certain specific things that were triggering for me). I would say push yourself as much as you can, but don't feel bad if you can't take on as much as your healthy self could. It's not about forcing yourself to do things that bring pain, but more about acting like you have a withdrawal-free future waiting for you (which you do!) and trying to set that up to be as good as you can.

@Winnie76 Glad to hear my story is helpful. Best wishes for your taper!

16 hours ago, alexalv said:

Thanks @Toast. Again, your story is so hopeful for me. If you can survive and enjoy life again, maybe I can too.

As for the “life improvement” part, that’s been hard, and I often feel guilty for not doing more for my life. Granted, I’m not doing too bad. I’m working full time and working on some online classes for my degree. However, things like deliberately exercising, self-discovery, dating etc. have been put on hold. Sometimes I feel the best I can do is just get through the day. One thing that has gotten incredibly hard for me is socializing, which is odd because I was super social and charismatic before WD.

Did things like these come naturally as time went on, or was it more of a discipline/forced thing to get yourself back into it? I feel like I’ve lost the carrot on the end of the stick for some of these activities, and so I only reap the effort of doing them, not the reward. I also feel unusually helpless, like the whole thing is just out of my control. I think it’s almost easier that way, because I don’t know how I’d handle this being my fault. Let me know what you think.

@alexalv I agree with so much of what you say, although my symptoms can be unpredictable and incapacitating. I think the body/brain shuts down unnecessary exercise, socialising, risk taking (like dating) to allow healing to occur. It shuns anything it perceives will add stress to facilitate healing. It does this through fatigue, lack of energy, anhedonia or any number of ways to ensure we are safe. it's not always pleasant and it is a very lonely experience. 😥