Mark Phillips' Pages: Workbook: 11/4/08: Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome.

Jacob Lawrence, "The Party," 1935 — Jacob Lawrence, *The Party* (1935)

November 4, 2008:

Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome.

The disease acted as a filter, so that sense impressions dribbled into consciousness like water from a thin garden hose. With sobriety comes the full blast of sensory input, like a hundred fire hoses at once.

For the first three months she was so disoriented that it was actually physically painful for her, as though the sun were too bright.

Over time she's come to better grips with the frustration of being unable to remember plans, unable to follow her own to-do lists, unable to process what's being said to her. It's part of the journey of recovery.

Not sure she's yet come to grips with the snarky petulance of her loved ones, who seem to have neither clue about nor sympathy for her struggle.