Brain Fog - Help!

[OakCat]

For the past 6 years I’ve had brain fog. First I put it down to having my DD, and then lack of sleep (she is a rubbish sleeper and still is up once a night even now) but I still have it.

I’ve been to the doctors a couple of times and had a range of blood tests and all are within normal range apparently except low folate and low amylase.

Well I’m just constantly exhausted now and feel like I have to work twice as hard at work as I’m just not as sharp as I used to be (senior professional job). Is it just getting older (I’m 46), the menopause (periods are fine at the moment) or do I need to worry as my Mum has just been diagnosed with dementia? Another ongoing symptom is I my lower leg bones just constantly ache.

Any ideas how I can improve things?

I am thinking about taking some vitamins. Was going to start with Vitamin D and Folic Acid but what else could I also try (don’t really want to take more than 4)?

Brain fog is a symptom of low folate so that could explain it. Folic acid supplement should help hopefully.

I have brain fog past six months or so as well as all over bone ache and muscle ache and exhaustion plus strange bleeding, flu like feeling etc. Going through a whole range of tests but tested low in folate and iron. I take Feroglobin just otc in liquid form and that stops my pains. I'm a similar age and periods have gone to 24 days recently but not too obvious signs of menopause but posssible.

Best to take advice on Feroglobin though as too much iron is bad for you.

Brain fog is one of the less obvious symptoms of coeliac disease. So are aches and pains. Do you know if the Dr tested for that when they did the blood tests? Do you have any digestive symptoms? Is there any family history of autoimmune disorders?

Hi OP , and possibly penguinsandpanda

         You might  find  this thread interesting.  it is about , the consequences of Low vitamin D.    many people that were diagnosed with the lack ,    and what they did ,   what doses ,  how they improved etc. It is a long read , but lots of information. 

     <a class="break-all" href="//www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/2421492-Vitimin-D-can-it-have-this-effect" target="_blank">www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/2421492-Vitimin-D-can-it-have-this-effect</a>

     
  I did post quite a bit there , trying to explain , why  most of us are low,  and what effect it has.     Essentially  -  we do need to raise our levels to what might be considered a human normal.   We here in the UK tend to avoid , or cannot get enough sunlight on our skin.   For 6 months of the year ,  we cannot  make   vitamin D,  sunlight is too weak.  

 If that is useful,   great ,   if you  need any more information , then get back to me .   I have posted quite a bit here on mumsnet about  vitamin D ,  just search my username  , either here , or on google. 

 best of luck 

BTBH
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Thanks very much - my blood test for vit D was normal but I had been taking vit D supplements at the time - just the kids one but sometimes I had taken a lot of them so may have been a false normal. I had also been inside a lot when the pains started so lack of sunshine is quite plausible. It didn't take my pains away but a lot of people seem to have success with this so its definitely worth investigating.

penguins
you do have to be a bit careful ... when you are told your level is 'normal' Most people in the UK , especially this time of year , will have a blood level of lets say 30 - 60 . IF you really had the normal level , that humans evolved to have , over millions of years , it would be about 120 - 140. IF you take a Westerner , and put them in an environment that mimics the ancestral environment , our level goes up to those levels of 120 -140. Our lifestyle , hinders the production of vitamin D in the skin. We can only make it , between 11 and 3 in the summer months , and none at all , between mid -Oct and mid-April. This is all a matter of physics and the attenuation of UVB radiation by the atmosphere , whenever the sun's elevation is below 45 degrees. In our ancestral environment , that is below 33 degrees North, sunlight was strong enough to make vitamin D every day of the year. Our bodies have not evolved in the few thousand years since Europeans moved North. It is a blink of an eye in evolutionary timescales.
A human adult body ( white ) makes about 10,000 to 20,000 IU of Vitamin d in strong sunlight , in less than an hour. We then stop making more , until the following day . Darker skin , i.e. more pigmented , requires 3 to 5 times more sunlight to make the same amount as white skin. Dark skin has evolved to cope with the high UVB radiation levels in the tropics. White skin evolved to take advantage of the much lower UVB levels here in Europe and higher latitudes in order to maximise the amount of Vitamin D we make.

My advice to anybody that has symptoms of bone aches , muscle aches , fibromyalgia type symptoms etc , is to get your vitamin D level checked. IF it is below a minimum of 100, then increase it , over a period of months and longer , by supplementation, and hopefully some sunlight. NEVER ever burn though , that is of paramount importance. lets say 20 mins on any particular area of skin , in strong sun will saturate the Vit D , for that day. ( white skin ) . Dark skin will need more sunlight.

Hope this is useful to some ... best of luck penguins

  BTBH

Thanks for responding Swing, hoping it’s a simple this to fix, I find doctors just put everything down to my age so you never know if it’s something you have to put up with.

Mummy - I did have rheumatoid arthritis as a child but nothing significant since. I’ve just been diagnosed with gastritis but no other digestive issues that I’m aware of. So unlikely to be coeliac?

BTBH – My GP refused to do a vitamin D test but do suspect I don’t get enough Vit D as work long hours stuck in an office so only really get outside at weekends. I also burn easily so tend to stay in the shade when really hot.
Thanks for posting the thread I will take a look.

Penguins – I hope you find an answer to, I’m finding it just so depressing that if I can’t fix it I’m going to feel like this forever…I feel like 70 not mid 40’s.

I went and got a Feroglobin liquid a few days ago so will see if that helps over the next few weeks and should hopefully help with Vit D, Folic Acid and anything else which needs a boost.

oak I'm glad this information might be helpful to you. Your bone aches are a classic symptom of Vit D deficiency. from your description , I would check my vit D level.

You can get a Vit D blood level analysed here at this NHS laboratory ( path lab ) at the Sandwell NHS trust. Unfortunately they do charge £28 , if the doctor does not order it. You send a blood spot on blotting paper to the lab. They analyse it - and then send your result back by e-mail , within a week.

www.vitamindtest.org.uk/

      One thing to bear in mind is that the NHS lab report will consider a result of  50  nmol/L as adequate.      It should be 100  nmol/L   at least.          The normal range is defined as  50   to    200.       that is a mistake ,   anything below  100  is too low.     Most people in the UK  are too low ,  the reason is as I have explained above.

 Best of luck ,   

BTBH

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