What is "brain fog" to you?

[lljkk]

As in, how would you know if you had it, and how would you know when you didn't have it?

It’s a sort of headache, without obvious pain. It’s a feeling of having no clarity or sharpness. Having the brain blocked or ‘fogged’ up. Reactions are slow. I feel slightly off balance. I struggle to think and forget words. I feel tired and it affects my mood, making me grouchy and subdued.

I have MS and brain fog is a symptom I get sometimes. For me it's not so much forgetting, it's more that thinking of anything or following any train of thought feels like an impossible task, like even forming the thought to do something takes effort rather than being a natural process

When it's not there then the effort is gone and planning to do something is just second nature

Luckily I get it rarely now

Covid brain fog for me was like my head was full of cotton wool. I would just stare into space for hours. When I was getting better, it would come and go and I could literally feel it lifting vertically out of my head. It very odd.

I have CFS and to me my head feels thick and like cotton wool. It's like that feeling when you're coming down with a cold and you have that funny feeling in your head.

No focus, forgetful, difficulty understanding things.

I've always mentally recited the lord's prayer in my mind, I'm not religious but for some reason it's there. For some reason with brain fog I can't quite roll it off quite as slickly as I used to be able to

Not being able to think straight properly and becoming frustrated with it all, such as by being as organised as normal with work and finding yourself getting flustered over it. And it's not like your 'normal self' and feels out of character.

Or not feeling quite with it. Like everything feels a bit hazy compared to other stuff going on around you.

Or sometimes forgetfulness. Why do I just head up the stairs ti get something? What was it wanted?

What June said. perfectly ordinary word is wiped from your brain

I have had it on and off since I got long COVID 3 years ago - at it's worst I honestly thought I was losing my mind and going senile or something - constantly going somewhere or to someone and forgetting what it is I wanted or needed to say/ask, unable to function just doing simple basic day to day things at times because it's like my brain would switch off in the middle of doing things. Real difficulty finding words I know I know or what I was going to say, sometimes in the middle of a conversation! Mentally tiring out and having really bad focus/recollection if it had been a very busy/stressful day in some way, etc etc

I don't tend get it as bad now but I still have my moments sometimes! I find most people are quite understanding about it though, thankfully.

Not being able to complete a thought or action to its conclusion.

I do take some multi vitamins that have changed my life in terms of brain fog. Lamberts Multi-Guard ADR Tablets I know I've used them up by about 5pm because I can't find my words again.

Reading with interest because I didn't get it as part of menopause.

I'm another covid brain-fog sufferer (I was hospitalised with covid back in April 2020). The brain-fog comes and goes now but for two years I was absolutely miserable with it and felt like my brain had aged 30 years. Memory (or lack of it) was incredibly frustrating - so many things that I know I know but for the life of me just can't recall. Inability to organise my thoughts and just a general sense of mental confusion.

Over the past year it's got better but it's been a very slow journey. I have noticed that it varies in line with my blood-oxygen levels which have fluctuated between 93/94 and 97/98 since the illness.

What causes it? I'm terrified of this because the women in my family have hereditary dementia. If I start forgetting words in the middle of sentences I'd absolutely panic. My career depends on my mind completely, I'm an academic.

I'd been feeling run down and somewhat slower in my mind lately, so I got some blood tests, and they said I'm vitamin D deficient and have low white blood cells and neutrophil. The latter is probably because I had to have antibiotics a couple of weeks before, after I got bitten by a rat.

This
I had it last year with undiagnosed diabetes. I just couldn't think at all to do my every day job.

What I thought was menopause turned out to be diabetes. I was ,59 and had very few menopausal symptoms really other than relief from no periods. Then got brain fog and put it down to menopause and turned out I had sky high blood sugar which put me in hospital and on insulin

So horrible, and affects every part of your life, but is vastly underestimated. Do you wonder if you are suffering from it @lljkk ?

For me, I: forget words, trail off mid sentence, can't make decisions, stare blankly into space (I often find myself almost drooling sometimes too, like I'm asleep while awake), cannot multi task at all, forget things literally as I'm having the conversation. Someone can ask me to do something relatively small brain wise, but the thought of it could reduce me to tears.
No way to get rid of it here but to get through it. B12 up to date, try vitamin D and whatever energy giving vitamins you can get hold of, let yourself rest- a period of laying down in the middle of the day with no screens or things to distract you can really help. Try and reduce driving, as the impaired function can't be as safe to drive with.

In my case, chronic fatigue has been suggested but not investigated, but it seems to be related to getting a virus, a post viral fatigue flare up (which I believe is similar to CF/ thought to be a possible cause of CF)

I'm 47 and have found in the last year that if I become distracted I then lose a train of thought totally, which can then take hours to get that particular thought back, or can lead to becoming forgetful.

I put it down to age and my brain being very busy and full- like when computers get a blue screen or shut down and lose unsaved data. My ROM is generally ok, it's my RAM which is the issue!

The other day I was completely focused on packing for a work trip and put my laptop and notes out on the table ready to go into my bag. In the midst of packing DH came in and started talking about something totally unrelated. Then he kindly gave me a lift to the station. Twice, as I had left my laptop and notes on the kitchen table. At least I realised before I got on the train. 🙄

I've always done things like going upstairs and forgetting what I've gone up for. I've always had to write things down on a paper, or preferably on Notes on my phone, with a reminder set, when I have to remrmber something in particular.

I do have a lot more presence of mind and peace of mind though from practising yoga regularly for the last five years. My mind does not actually feel busy and racing with lots of different thoughts, even when I am busy. Particularly at night, I'm far more able now to tell myself "I don't need to think about that now, just enjoy not having to do anything at all in the next few hours," when I go to bed.

It can be like your in a dream word doing stuff and not realising or not remembering once done. It can also be a separation from what's happening. Sometimes I'll be asked a simple question like what did you have for lunch? And I can't access the information.

I describe mine as feeling like I am in a busy room with loads of conversations happening all at once and I’m trying to listen in but just getting snippets. So I can’t concentrate on real life conversations above the buzz and so forget things people have said literally seconds before because I’m not really listening. It’s become a running joke at work! I can be scrolling on my phone, then think of something really important I need to look up, go straight into Google, then completely forget what I want to search. Sometimes can’t even string a coherent sentence together! Thought I had dementia. Turns out it was menopause. Started HRT now and the room has definitely emptied a lot. It’s much quieter in there now, and my memory is gradually improving!

When I can't remember a phone number long enough to copy it out, and have to do it two digits at a time, then check slowly and carefully because I may well have got it wrong.

When I check my sent emails to see whether I've done a task already, and my drafts to see whether I actually pressed send... multiple times in a working day.

When I ask a question and can't remember the answer.

I struggle with the concentration and focus for a board game or doing crafts.

I only read fluffy lightweight books- anything more challenging is too hard.

I hate it I miss my brain so much!

I feel you. I had a rheumatologist tell me it was a sleep disorder and I was more or less causing my problems by being an insomniac (which apparently is linked ti the one cup of tea I have at 2200 every night. This was only a few weeks ago and I've had it 17yrs

Struggling to find the words for it myself, but the two that jump out at me from users whom have posted here seem very apt.

Feeling like I have cotton wool in my head, and in a goldfish bowl looking out.

It makes me feel mildly drunk, and hungover at the same time. The wordss and thoughts are buried under the cotton wool, and my vision goes a bit weird.

@coffeesackcat fellow suffers here!

is that what he said, or what you heard him say? There's an element of truth in it, I think, as my body over reacts to things. Maybe he misunderstood what someone explained to him.

There's a meme going around that pain is the body's way of expressing how much danger it thinks it's in.

Some of my pain went away after I did exercises to teach my body that certain movements were in fact 'safe'. I had chronic shoulder pain. I had to do this stupid little movement multiple times, always stopping before it hurt. Gradually the movement got a bit bigger. Now my shoulder functions normally.

So it's a very real illness, and it's compounded by the body over protecting itself. It shrieks 'pain, be careful!', at the smallest of triggers.

I feel a bit I've the princess and the pea. If I coddle myself and am really careful, I don't get much pain at all. If I live like I used to- pushing through, over doing it- then I'd be crippled on the sofa again, dreading standing up and wondering if I can manage the stairs to bed.