How would you describe your brain fog?

[Strawberry]

I don't have it.

That's that thing.... that stops my... ummm... it....brrr... ummm. (points to head) it doesn't.... ummmm.... oh what is that word? You know... ummm... (motions with hand in front of mouth imitating speech)

Wait, brain fog? Yeah, I have that. I repeat myself a lot because I don't know I was just talking about it.

I just said I didn't have it? Have what? Oh brain fog! Sorry, I forget sometimes.




It is that lovely thing that makes me sound like a blithering idiot! Poor word retrieval, sometimes it turns into babble between the brain and the mouth. And oh yeah, that sinus infection feeling where you have that odd sensation in your head. Forgetting my phone number, or where I live. But I can point (north south east west) its that direction! Getting lost on a road I drive every day...

 

[Mij]

I am only able to absorb and process information for a short period of time and then I need to lie down to recover. I don't have short or long term memory issues.

For the most part, I would say that when I'm overdoing physically it will also deplete my brain energy. If I'm over using my brain it will affect my equilibrium and I have difficulty walking a straight line and start to slur a bit. That's when I know I need to stop immediately.

 

[Mrs Sowester]

For the most part, I would say that when I'm overdoing physically it will also deplete my brain energy. If I'm over using my brain it will affect my equilibrium and I have difficulty walking a straight line and start to slur a bit. That's when I know I need to stop immediately.

I lisp when I get tired - nice to know I'm not the only one.

 

[Strawberry]

For the most part, I would say that when I'm overdoing physically it will also deplete my brain energy. If I'm over using my brain it will affect my equilibrium and I have difficulty walking a straight line and start to slur a bit. That's when I know I need to stop immediately.

Wow, that sounds like what I used to do for up to 15 years! My mom thought I was a raging drunk, until we went on a 10 day long trip and she knows I never touched a drop of alcohol on the trip. I would just hit a certain point in the day when I would suddenly get punch drunk. Then in the last 5-8 years my hands and feet and lips would also go numb. If only I had known back then what I know now,. They were HUGE warning signs.

 

[u&iraok]

I don't get it as bad as I used to, but I think the best description I have is that it doesn't feel like there's enough room in my head for it to do the things it needs to do, to process all the information that's going into it; basically, like there's a spanner in the works. I think this makes more sense to me than anyone else though!

Me too. I can't hold more than one thing in my head at a time and that, barely. And having to do multiple things even if they are in a row, even if it is as simple as get a drink of water, go to the bathroom, make the bed, it overwhelms me. And that's without outside stimulation, imagine with! I think about my dog and I remember that she could understand 3 concepts at one time. Dogs do better than me!

I think it's a combination of bad memory and bad executive function.

 

[Aerose91]

Me too. I can't hold more than one thing in my head at a time and that, barely. And having to do multiple things even if they are in a row

I think it's a combination of bad memory and bad executive function.

I have the exact same

 

[JuliaMaple]

I never knew what to compare the feeling of brain-fog with, until I had my appendix removed, ofcourse under general anesthesia.
When you wake up from anesthesia, there is this huge fog over you as well, the brain is numb and does not work properly. There is this inability to fight it.
I felt like that is pretty much exactly the same feeling as brain-fog. There is no way to fight it, its as if the brain is partly under anesthesia. Partly numbed.

On wikipedia there is this line: "general anesthesia suppresses central nervous system activity, and results in unconsciousness and total lack of sensation."

I have wondered if the brain fog is a problem with the central nervous system.
I think brain-fog does feel like its close to this. Not full anesthesia, but partly the system seems numbed, and you have no control over it whatsoever, just like with anesthesia.
There is no fighting it. Because it takes away the 'fighting power' as well, this is numbed too.

Do others feel like this comparison makes any sense? Or is my brain-fog type different? (I can imagine there are different types of brain-fog.)

 

[Justin30]

Confusion, blank stares, what was I doing over hear, forgetting words, I am sure theres more

 

[Hip]

I have wondered if the brain fog is a problem with the central nervous system.
I think brain-fog does feel like its close to this. Not full anesthesia, but partly the system seems numbed, and you have no control over it whatsoever, just like with anesthesia.

I agree, I tend to think that brain fog might be similar to partial anesthesia. Brain fog definitely feels like a dimming of consciousness.

Perhaps by looking at the way anesthetics are thought to work (see here), we might get some insight into what causes brain fog.

 

[JuliaMaple]

I agree, I tend to think that brain fog might be similar to partial anesthesia. Brain fog definitely feels like a dimming of consciousness.

Perhaps by looking at the way anesthetics are thought to work (see here), we might get some insight into what causes brain fog.

That is interesting, I am definitely going to do that.
I was just thinking, normal sleeping is also a dimming of consciousness.
In a way the body creates a sort of anesthesia for itself, to be able to sleep.
Maybe for some people with brain-fog, it could be caused by a natural sort of anesthesia effect caused by the body. normally during the night, and reversed in the morning with cortisol, but with brain-fog patients not reversed very well.
Maybe sometimes its low cortisol.

Lol, just wildly creating seeing links, there is probably no logic to it whatsoever.
I also think there are many different causes of brain-fog, for many different people.

 

[rosie26]

I can't remember who said that brain fog felt like having been hit with a stun gun. That is how it feels to me.

 

[tinacarroll27]

I can't remember who said that brain fog felt like having been hit with a stun gun. That is how it feels to me.

I like this!! This is just how I feel, like I am drugged or stunned and I can't string a thought together. Another good description is hung over. It effects my concentration and I just can't focus my mind on things. I also feel I have lost some serious IQ points. My mind is like sludge!!

 

[JuliaMaple]

I like this!! This is just how I feel, like I am drugged or stunned and I can't string a thought together. Another good description is hung over. It effects my concentration and I just can't focus my mind on things. I also feel I have lost some serious IQ points. My mind is like sludge!!

Me too, it describes it really well.
And I think IQ does get lower when there is brain-fog.
I once did a little experiment with an online test that was about spatial thinking. Which is a part of the IQ test that I am usually really good at, I could go through the challenges quickly. But now, when there is brain-fog I cannot even get through the first challenge. My mind cannot find the links, cannot follow threads, cannot remember important bits long enough, cannot place bits of information together etc. The difference is horrible.
Its a really cruel symptom.

 

[parabola]

as a brain paralysis.
brain is there, but its unaccessible.
as a building with many doors. but you just get into the entrance hall.

Oh my god this is exactly how I described it! When I took prednisolone I was so overwhelmed that I still had all these really detailed memories I thought I'd lost, and I described it just like that; as though like I had access to all of the 'rooms' again. Can't even describe the feeling of pure joy, being able to luxuriate in the vivid inner world of your own brain again. It's how I remember feeling as a child.

 

[tinacarroll27]

Me too, it describes it really well.
And I think IQ does get lower when there is brain-fog.
I once did a little experiment with an online test that was about spatial thinking. Which is a part of the IQ test that I am usually really good at, I could go through the challenges quickly. But now, when there is brain-fog I cannot even get through the first challenge. My mind cannot find the links, cannot follow threads, cannot remember important bits long enough, cannot place bits of information together etc. The difference is horrible.
Its a really cruel symptom.

I can't do IQ tests any more. I've lost my ability to be analytical and have lost spatial awareness. It's so frustrating!! I've also noticed my spelling has got terrible and I seemed to have developed dyslexia I never had before.

 

[Gamboa]

When I have brain fog I feel like I have been drugged or poisoned. My head feels heavy and full inside as if the pressure is too high. It isn't quite a headache but is close. I feel as if there isn't enough oxygen, blood and or glucose reaching my brain and everything slows down.

I can't make decisions, definitely would score lower on an IQ test, can't speak properly and find actually talking to people very fatiguing.

It feels like I haven't slept for days despite having done so nightly.

If it is mild I try to push through which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Once it gets bad the only thing I can do is go to sleep.

 

[eastcoast12]

It's funny, I absolutely understand what you guys are talking about but it is definitely hard to explain to someone.
I always explain it in 2 parts. How it feels and how it effects me cognitively. So this is the best I came up with to describe how it feels. I think it's a pretty good description. So take the feeling of when you first woke up from your worst hangover you've ever had minus the the vomiting. Add the feeling that you feel right after you've had your bell rung really bad then add the feeling of a heat stroke type headache. Then multiply that by 10 to 100 depending on the day.
As for what it's like I feel like my brain is always a second behind my sensory organs. Like there is quicksand in between my eyes and my brain. so simple processing like recognition and recall are always delayed which can cause confusion and you seem like your always trying to catch up with reality.
Usually after people hear that they get it

 

[rosie26]

It's funny, I absolutely understand what you guys are talking about but it is definitely hard to explain to someone.
I always explain it in 2 parts. How it feels and how it effects me cognitively. So this is the best I came up with to describe how it feels. I think it's a pretty good description. So take the feeling of when you first woke up from your worst hangover you've ever had minus the the vomiting. Add the feeling that you feel right after you've had your bell rung really bad then add the feeling of a heat stroke type headache. Then multiply that by 10 to 100 depending on the day.
As for what it's like I feel like my brain is always a second behind my sensory organs. Like there is quicksand in between my eyes and my brain. so simple processing like recognition and recall are always delayed which can cause confusion and you seem like your always trying to catch up with reality.
Usually after people hear that they get it

The headache does feel like a heat stroke and probably has something to do with it in part because I used to get a lot of heat in my head - not so much in the last 2 years since menopause. I seem to be getting abnormal heat in other places now.

It's been such a long time since I had a hangover. I think the last one I had was in my late teens - that's over 30 years ago. I stopped drinking back then because I didn't tolerate it well. So my memory of a hangover is vague with the passing of time even though I remember feeling pretty awful next morning but I can't remember it in detail.

 

[knackers323]

big doses of oregano oil help my brain fog within an hour or so

 

[pattismith]

Out of the above listed symptoms, for me personally, my brain fog is typified by:

Poor short-term memory (for example, you may constantly forget what you were just about to do, or what you just did).

Poor working memory (so you cannot grasp or juggle more that a few facts or figures in your mind at one time, often making problem solving much more difficult, and making multitasking ie, paying attention to more than one thing at the same time very difficult).

Anomia, which is problems recalling words or names.

Slips of the tongue (semantic paraphasias), saying a different word to the one you intended often by unintentionally substituting a categorically-related item, or an item with similar qualities or characteristics, instead of the right item. For example, saying "axe" instead of "hammer" both are in the category of tools, and both have the qualities of being weighty metal implements that you strike with. It is as if the brain aimed to use the right word, but missed ever so slightly.

Miscategorization of environmental stimuli (like answering the phone when the doorbell rings).

Lack of focus, so that it becomes difficult to remain focused on the task at hand (this is possibly related to the poor short-term memory and working memory).

Confusion, being very easily perplexed by situations.

Lack of awareness of the things going on around you.

It describes very well my problems too! I notice that my paraphasia started very long ago, and went worse with years.
When it started, I was totally conscious of the problem, I could realize by the time I was saying the wrong word that I was doing it.
But now, I am not fully conscious of doing it....Maybe because of my poor memory, I don't realize anymore when I use the wrong word....So sometimes people tell me if I really meant this or that, or sometimes I just have the feeling I didn't use the right word...