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Brain fog got bad!

tinacarroll27

Senior Member
Messages
254
Location
UK
Hi all! Hope everyone has had a happy Xmas under the circumstances of having this illness!

I have noticed over the last couple of months that my cognitive abilities and brain fog has got worse. I am struggling to read and I have been making the most stupid spelling mistakes when I write. I feel as if my IQ has fallen way down and I struggle to recognise words. This seems to have crept up onto me so I think my family notice more than I do, but people have commented to me which has made me think more about it. I am also forgetting things a lot! I know it is probably the ME but it still upsets me. I am only in my early 40's so I don't think it is Alzheimer's!It also takes me ages to write or read anything.
Thanks! Tina xx
 
Messages
97
Location
Glasgow, Scotland
Hi Tina, sorry to hear you are also getting these cognitive problems. I hope you are able to find something that can help your situation soon as it is worrying.

Hope you don't mind me asking, but do you get classic ME symptoms like PEM, muscle pains, relapses/remissions etc, or has the illness been getting worse, particularly with the brain fog? Also, have any foods or suppliments so far helped you in any way?

I don't appear to have ME, but had a virus a few years back which has been causing my energy levels and cognitive/emotional abilities to deteriorate in a similar way to yours. I now feel as if my thoughts, emotional responses, imagination and perception of the world are becoming more and more 2 dimentional. And whether I eat healthy, take suppliments or starve myself for hours, it makes no difference. The only thing that does is time. I've been wondering too if it could possibly be a form of dementia or brain damage, even if I am only 24.

One of my GPs diagnosed me with ME, but he had clue about the illness and thought it just makes you more tired. I also know several people with ME and it's a condition I would never wish on anyone. But unlike your situation and mine, ME or CFS is generally a fluctuating condition and haven't heard of it being degenerative.

I would definitelly recommend seeing a neurologist if you havent done so recently if your symptoms are getting worse like this, this is something doctors need to take seriously. And hopefully some else on here can give you some answers. Best of luck!
 
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Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,684
Location
Alberta
It may be something in your diet that is making the brainfog worse. Some foods and additives have that effect on me. I recently had something do that to me, and I'm still trying to figure out which specific thing it is. Luckily, I also found that BCAAs or arginine (still not positive which) reverses the decline. More experimenting needed...

It could be something that didn't have this effect before. Onions gave me no problems for many years, but last year they started making my symptoms worse. Those of us who have figured out which foods are safe for us have to properly retest those foods once in a while, especially if we start feeling worse for some mysterious reason. The same holds true for treatments (drugs, herbs, supplements, etc) that we've tried in the past and found ineffective; they might start working again.

Don't assume that there's no hope of reversing the decline. It might be as simple as removing a food from your diet or adding a supplement. The difficulty is that there is no one answer that works for everyone; you have to experiment to find what works for you.