Cognitive Fatigue only... while Physically Healthy. Anyone like me?

[kookie007]

I'm looking into this also. Recently I was reminded that thyroid can cause these issues. I know T4 thyroid and vitamin B3 are manufactured in the gut. You might try to supplement with B3 and/or Tyrosine (for the T4) and see if that helps. It's possible the diflucan might have killed off some friendlies in your gut that were producing these.

Thanks for your suggestion! I will definitely try supplementing with B3 and Tyrosine and let you know if it helps! I was also thinking maybe I have abnormal gut flora. Do you have a similar problem to me?

 

[kookie007]

There are some others on here who only have problems with mental exertion and can exercise as normal. Most people here have some level of both physical and mental exertion problems.

Do you get physical pain sensations from mental or social exertion, or is it mainly a tired, sleepy feeling even after exertion? I get tight, suffocated achy feeling in my head from mental exertion, in addition to the clouded thinking and sleepy feeling. It is a feeling of not enough oxygen to the brain that is different from the tiredness I felt when I was physically well.
I hope you have something that is easier to treat than what most of us have!

I also have clouded thinking and a sleepy feeling after mental exertion. I feel like I am almost in a dream or hungover and I don't feel sharp at all! Definitely a different feeling to the tiredness I felt when I was 100% well! However I don't get a tight achy feeling in my head after any mental exertion.

 

[Marlène]

My son has Hashimoto (thyroid) and suffers from mental fatigue as well. It is always worse after drinking ... but we discovered it is related to gluten sensitivity now.

He was prescribed:
l- glutamine
l-tryptophane
acetyl-l-carnitine
l-tyrosine
taurine
american ginseng
DMG
ginko biloba
DMAE
quercetine
vitamines
minerals

 

[strophy]

I second Daffodil's suggestion to look into abnormal gut flora. Bad bacteria and/or overgrowths can definitely cause serious mental and cognitive issues.

I also looked into candida/gut issues. but I am not sure enough to be convinced that I have candida.

Because no medical test results shows that I have infection and I don't feel i have a problem on my gut.

I followed candida diet once and felt better, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I have candida.

Now i'm not on candida diet (it is very difficult to follow for long-term) just keeping an eye on it, until something more evident comes out.

 

[strophy]

Have you tried liver cleanses? The better ones (not the easy type where you just take pills). Other types of cleanses too. May not be a cure but they could help.

Also investigate your sleep. Do you feel fatigued when you wake? Is it easy to wake up? Do you stay asleep at night or wake? Does it feel like light sleep or good deep sleep?

And someone can observe you for a while at night and see if you stop breathing. Apnea is very common if you are overweight or a big person, which I don't know if you are.

Did you have a lot of stress during the time you got ill?

Liver cleanses, not yet. I will try it. Thank you for the suggestion.

I've also been to sleep clinic several times, and It is clear that I have no problem with sleep disorders like apneas.

I had some unusual stress before I got ill, but that is incomparable to the stress that I had after the illness.

 

[strophy]

Hi strophy, I have a very similar story to you. Like you, I am physically very healthy but I have this horrible persistent mental fatigue that never goes away I always have low energy and I sometimes feel as if I am in a dream like state.

My mental fatigue started suddenly 2 years ago after taking a single dose of diflucan (fluconazole) for thrush. My only other symptom is I bloat after everything I eat or drink! So I’ll wake up with a flat stomach but by the end of the day I look highly pregnant!

I've had every test done (for both the fatigue + bloating issue) but all results have come back negative I used to think I had CFS (mainly because of the sudden onset) but I am 100% physically healthy (I run, ski, go to the gym regularly etc.). Could anyone shed some light on what this could be? Have you found any answers strophy?

We are not the same at the 'bloating' issue. I don't have bloating just like before the illness. So you might want to look in the gut imbalance issue like others suggest. For me, I am not sure right now whether I have gut issue or not.

I felt better when I followed 'candida diet', so you may try them too. I will post here when I have anything new.

 

[strophy]

Recently I've been to one of the CFS specialist in my country. From a test result, he recommended 5-htp supplement 200-400mg/day since I have low serotonin metabolite in my urine. I had tried 5-htp once, but not long. I will tried it again for long enough.

And he also done a EEG test(brainwave test) to me, and it turned out that my alpha wave and beta wave are both low, while theta wave is high. so apparently it shows I have lower brain activity than normal people. It will be interesting to see other patients' EEG test results too.

 

[sregan]

Thanks for your suggestion! I will definitely try supplementing with B3 and Tyrosine and let you know if it helps! I was also thinking maybe I have abnormal gut flora. Do you have a similar problem to me?

I do have gut issues and when I take things to soak up gut toxins (charcoal, etc.) I have a brief glimpse of normalcy. Enough to make me thing the majority of my problem is in the gut.

I think my gut issues started when I did a "cleanse". I was taking wormwood, clove and all the other recommended substances. I think they killed off strains of bacteria that were helpful.

 

[physicsstudent13]

I keep getting the mental fatigue/fog and have bad sleep apnea. I've been trying acetyl carnitine/ALA and NAC, phosphitadyl choline. I really need more energy to do math for some reason. I tried taking berberine about 240 pills but am still exhausted after meals and am on metformin

 

[SOC]

I keep getting the mental fatigue/fog and have bad sleep apnea. I've been trying acetyl carnitine/ALA and NAC, phosphitadyl choline. I really need more energy to do math for some reason. I tried taking berberine about 240 pills but am still exhausted after meals and am on metformin

Are you treating the sleep apnea? That alone can cause mental fatigue/fog.

 

[physicsstudent13]

yeah but it seems impossible to find a treatment that works.
let's see I've tried most of these except l tyrosine taurine, DMG, DMAE, quercetin- what do these do?
I've heard carnitine can help a lot

glutamine l-tryptophane acetyl-l-carnitine
american ginseng ginko biloba
vitamines
minerals

 

[SOC]

yeah but it seems impossible to find a treatment that works.
let's see I've tried most of these except l tyrosine taurine, DMG, DMAE, quercetin- what do these do?
I've heard carnitine can help a lot

glutamine l-tryptophane acetyl-l-carnitine
american ginseng ginko biloba
vitamines
minerals

C-PAP machine is usually the first-line treatment for sleep apnea.

 

[Hip]

It seems that soju, the alcoholic drink from Korea that you binged on, contains formaldehyde, a potent neurotoxin. According to this article, when you open a bottle of soju to drink, you are supposed to pour off the top inch of liquid which contains the formaldehyde.

This might explain why this drink hit you so badly.

 

[physicsstudent13]

I tried cpap for months but it didn't work probably because I have asthma and central apneas. the disease progressed quickly and I had to move up to bilevel

 

[SOC]

I tried cpap for months but it didn't work probably because I have asthma and central apneas. the disease progressed quickly and I had to move up to bilevel

I hope you've pursed treating your sleep apnea with a sleep specialist. It could easily be the sole cause of your mental fatigue/fog without physical fatigue or PEM.

 

[Marlène]

Recently I've been to one of the CFS specialist in my country. From a test result, he recommended 5-htp supplement 200-400mg/day since I have low serotonin metabolite in my urine. I had tried 5-htp once, but not long. I will tried it again for long enough.

And he also done a EEG test(brainwave test) to me, and it turned out that my alpha wave and beta wave are both low, while theta wave is high. so apparently it shows I have lower brain activity than normal people. It will be interesting to see other patients' EEG test results too.

I haven't seen your bloodwork but based upon your writings, it means your adrenals are stressed and your brain is in survival modus. That's why you don't feel tired yet. You probably produce a lot of cortisol at this moment (stress phase 2 out of 3). You have to give your brain a break (no television, no emotional stress, etc) for a long time and have your adrenals treated in order them to "cool" down probably. I bet you have too much cortisol in the daytime.

Stress phase 3 means: your adrenals cannot produce anymore cortisol and you will not only feel mentally exhausted but also physically.

My two cents from a distance.

 

[sregan]

I haven't been following lately because my brain fog has gotten worse. It's taking all my attention just to get through my work day and my output is about half of what it should be.I've been taking Stoneyfield yogurt and seeing more brain fog but a big improvement in my gut. Apparently a lot I googled this stuff and a lot of people are having the same experience. Many with IBS are seeing a huge improvement. If I take a lot and keep taking every day my fog isn't as bad and I don't seem to need the supplements. As if the bacteria in the yogurt is doing it's job and making what I need. Google it up for yourself. The link below is typical from what I have found
http://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=26&m=1300275

So yesterday I decided to try something for my fog. Every now and then I'll get a hunch to try something. So I took milk thistle, Source Naturals Joint Response a Molybdenum, 1/2 cap Selenium and a Pantethine and had a great day. Energy was up, brain fog was down. I decided to try the gym. I'm usually already feeling fatigued at the beginning of my workout (weight lifting). Yesterday I had a ton of energy and strength. I have had days where I have taken Pantethine and done better but not like this. I had started shying away from sulfur supplements due to what I've been reading. I'll have to re-evaluate that now.

Update: Must mention that I also have been taking Now's Sunflower Lecithin which has helped with the Brain Fog and cognitive issues. I think there is a good reason Rich included Lecithin with his abbreviated SMP because for many it is critical for the brain when SMP ramps up.

 

[sregan]

Also need to mention sleep quality has improved substantially. I am having an issue with Caffeine clearance. It seems to take forever to get it out of my system. Hasn't always been like that. If I drink anything caffeinated at lunchtime I'm risking my sleep. REM sleep (2nd 4 hour) gets severely fragmented. Eating dark chocolate too late causes this issue also.

 

[strophy]

I'm currently suspecting AGHD(Adult-onset Growth Hormone Deficiency)as a culprit of my disease. It is because the symptoms are so similar. Fatigue is the main symptom and it's rather mental than physical.

Here's Questionnaire for assessing AGHD symptom severity : http://imperialendo.co.uk/AGHDA.pdf

And AGHD can be idiopathic, that does mean you can have it without any diagnostic abnormality (except low GH itself). Even normal IGF-1(generally used for GH deficiency screening) cannot rule out the possibility of GH deficiency.

This is not well recognized among doctors(even endocrinologists) so i'm troubling on having a necessary test. But I'm working on it with my best, and will post here after the result come out. Thank you.

 

[physicsstudent13]

Also need to mention sleep quality has improved substantially. I am having an issue with Caffeine clearance. It seems to take forever to get it out of my system. Hasn't always been like that. If I drink anything caffeinated at lunchtime I'm risking my sleep. REM sleep (2nd 4 hour) gets severely fragmented. Eating dark chocolate too late causes this issue also.

Wow I'm having problems with my REM and slow wave stage IV sleep at 0.1% when it should be 10%. I've become crippled and take klonopin