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brain fog memory/thinking problems


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I am trying to figure out a bothersome symptom--it is hard to describe. You know how you feel when you wake up too soon and do not feel right at all head wise? I feel like that most of the day. I also have a hard time thinking, remebering, concentrating. It is almost like you have a cold or took cold medicine-you just do not feel clear/alert/just kindof out of it feeling. My eyes also bother me a lot when I feel this way (blurry, spots). Is this POTS or something else and does anyone know what helps? Any ideas on what is causing it-specifically (just blood flow??) I will wake up like this and it will last a while if not the whole day. I would appreciate any ideas. Jennifer TX

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Hi jennifer

I know exactly what you are talking about..feeling like you are drugged!

I believe that it is related to POTS..

I find that if I wake up feeling like this.. that it is just best to go back to bed and "sleep it off".. if I am able too.. I have also found that if I try and fight it.. and just go about my daily grind.. that that "feeling" will get worse.. and I will start to feel worse.. and the likely hood of me having a syncope episode during this time.. if I force myself to get going.. is very likely..

I unfortunately do not know what causes it.. it could be lack of blood flow.. low BP.. but i believe that its Pots related..

good luck

linda

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Yes! I feel this way so often. I am unable to read or concentrate on anything .... I can't even carry on a conversation often when this happens.

My eyes also bother me -- they often get kinda "watery" and almost have a dull ache behind them.

Sleeping is really the only thing that helps me when I'm like this. I actually have to fall asleep -- if I lay down for a nap for a few hours but don't fall to sleep I will feel the same way when I get up.

Just letting you know that youre not alone in this,

Lisa

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Yup I get this constantly. It's very common for us, but I don't know exactly what causes it. For me it's also difficult to concentrate (the Florinef made that awful), so writing papers is a bit difficult. I haven't found anything that helps, yet, but am looking!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hi jennifer

I know exactly what you are talking about..feeling like you are drugged!

I believe that it is related to POTS..

I find that if I wake up feeling like this.. that it is just best to go back to bed and "sleep it off".. if I am able too.. I have also found that if I try and fight it.. and just go about my daily grind.. that that "feeling" will get worse.. and I will start to feel worse.. and the likely hood of me having a syncope episode during this time.. if I force myself to get going.. is very likely..

I unfortunately do not know what causes it.. it could be lack of blood flow.. low BP.. but i believe that its Pots related..

good luck

linda

Yeh i agree the best way to make it go is to try and sleep it off ! :D ... however this has a negative side long term as your sleep patterns get screwed up and then you may find it hard to sleep at night and hard to be awake in the day. Have you found this has happend to you linda? or have you managed a way around it .... please share it with me if you have! hehe.

I spent years sleeping until 11am to try and make sure i didnt have so much pain and brain fog. No i am slowly working to push my time clock back so i can wake up before 9... ive made it to 10am ... well the past two days i have .. its so exciting, i hope it lasts.

So yeh, just letting you know i too know this feeling. Its really horrible. Especially around times when you really need your brain (like exams or essays). I think mine gets really bad when i am stressed and exgahsted (sp?). Usually at the end of semester. However over time i am getting it less.

My personal way of helping it is drinking earl grey tea ... i think its my answer for a caffine addiction. I wish i had something more medical to advise :blink:

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That is exactly how it feels. It is so awful, it is difficult to have a conversation that is the least bit complicated and I am unable to read a book because I constantly space out and can't remember anything about it, even when it is something I enjoy. I also have bad vision and I have the close up vision of a 40 year old.(let's just say that that is pretty bad) I haven't found anything that helps. I have heard and read numerous times that it is caused by the lack of blood and oxygen flow to the brain. Hope it gets better for everyone soon! :D

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I hate it! I feel like such a friggin' idiot sometimes and that is bad because I am a full-time grad student in a very academic/erudite field filled with pompous jerks who like the sound of their own voice. I, too, like the sound of my voice, but I feel all jumbled inside sometimes and then what comes out is yoda-style sentences. People stare at me as I talk about that cabinetmaker guy who made um, um, um, cabinets out of uh, what is that material that grows on trees, uh wood, right and his stuff looks really um er pretty? And then, I just think, d'oh, there's my career. However, I can often rebound with something witty on one of my good days. Then, I babble on about the exquisite inlays on a serpentine-fronted commode with brass escutcheons. Now that I read that, I think that it might be best if I stay 'dumbed down,' hehe. Sorry, I am just so frustrated by this problem that I have to joke around about it. People who know me are just used to it and know that there are a million well-formed thoughts inside but they can't come foward. Also, I have the long-termed memory of a cat and a slightly less upsetting short-term memory. My friends are always saying "do you remember when...?" and I rarely do so sometimes I will just nod and say, "yeah those were crazy times." It is embarassing to tell them that I am drawing a blank on something that happened when I was twelve when I am only 24 right now. I had a grandmother with dementia who remembered being twelve better than I do. (mostly because she sometimes thought she still was 12. Sorry, another off-color joke. I adored her and cared for her and it was hard to see her mind go, so I am not actually serious about that last bit) :-)

Good luck. I have not found a solution to the problem. sorry.

Leah

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haha oh no .. it does get embarassing sometimes ... i remember i was helping out at a conference and the head academic lady (who thought she was super important... so everyone was running around after her) ...she kept asking me about sound equipment ... i could not remember the word for headphone or microphone so i just sort of stood there making strange noises and signs with my hand for about two minutes ... she gave me lots of strange looks... i better not want to study or work at her university anytime soon haha.

For a similar reason my year 10 chemistry teacher thought i was really slow (plus i use to drop things all the time due to shakyness caused by chemicals) and would talk to me like english was my 2nd language. When i nearly toped the class in our year 10 exams she was so shocked she said "Wow eve you did so well!" in front of the whole class in this "wow i have a really super retarted girl in my class" kind of suprise.

I feel really sorry for people who do suffer retardations or strokes as it must be annoying to have people talk to you like you cant understand 24/7.

I dont understand people who are stoners .... i spend most of my time trying to make sure my mind is fully funcitonal... they try to avoid it.... oh im so jealous .. if only we could swap minds. (without the addiction)

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Even though I have recently been feeling stronger during my day, my mornings are pure brain fog. I get up at 5:25 faithfully so I can leave the house for work at 7:45! I have to stumble to the kitchen and brew a large mug 1/2 if coffee. I am very light sensitive too. I am sure my blood pressure is low but I don't know how to measure the fact that every part of my body feels drugged! And I take no meds! It feels like every cell from bones to brain cells are frozen and have to wake up.

Although it takes time, at least by the time I have finished the coffee I am able to shower and then get into all my compression garments. It is amazing that I can "come around" and feel awake by 8am! I still am struggling to find ways to "wake up refreshed" but for now, this ritual seems to help.

Can you come up with a formula on the days when you just MUST get up and out? Can you tolerate a cup of real coffee? Maybe it would give you just enough pep to get you going?

best regards, tearose

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Guest Finrussak

not to beat a dead horse. as they say, but my last 15 yrs of experience comes from suffering brain damage from Lyme and related tick bornes...and with dealing with fellow LYMIES!!! But we share the brain fog ( we like to call it being a "Lyme-brain" as in lamebrained) I myself have been known to leave a pair of underwear in the freezer ( clean thank goodness), and describing the fridge as "please get me some water from the cold thing...the box in the kitchen...where the food is"

We also tend to be aphasic ( no words for the thoughts stuck inside) and speech dyslexic ( thers a better name for it...cant remember---like box shoe for shoe box...and spoon soup for soup spoon etc)

On top of this reading is impossible...Ive stared at a 3rd grade text[ trying to tutor a child] at frighteningly unfamiliar words, yet I am EBD ( everything but dissertation) of PhD in Biology!!! SCARY

Plus we get "cognitive alzheimers"...like we KNOW we should know it, but dont...at least those with real alzheimers dont realize after awhile what theyre missing...I too had a great aunt with it and at first she was ocnfused and knew she forget stuff...but then it became harder on us but as for her she becam blissfully unaware, in her own world...and happy...we were lucky she wasnt one of the more aggressive personalities I guess.

anyway...the point is some Lymies have tried Rhodiola...new for U.S. but used Europe and Russia for years...seems safe...you can google it...make sure its "standardized" ...it improves memory and thoughts and clears some of the fog.

PLEASE always check with your DR and Pharmacist first, especially if on other drugs. Be careful and cautious about other "formulas" like the one recently advertised on TV as guaranteed to boost brain power...theres some not so nice stuff inside!!

I myself havent yet tried the rhodiola...working on other stuff and the fog isnt as bad now that Im back on abx.

What now worries me is now that I also have the dysauto stuff will my Lyme-brain fog worsen to.....total blankness???? :)

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YOu might have to read some of my other post to understand this post completely- what i am about to tell you -does not make senses but it is true.

I have told you i have Parkinson's diseade (PD) for which i got something put in my brain called a deep brain stimulator- DBS which worked till i had the battery changes in april. I kept it on for a month -which i kept getting a worse and worse neck pain- till i oculd not tolerate it- at the same time i had a bad head ache and i was more fatigue and i had the worse brain fog but i thought that was due to life with PD and POTS something i had to just live with. but the neck pain was too much so i thought i would try seeing if the DBS had anythihng to do with it. within minutes i felt like a cloud came off my head- i felt great- my neck felt better, my mood felt better and i felt free from the brain fog//////////what i thought was PD might actually be POTS???????????? Of course you guys cannot turn yourself off but i did get the PD/POTS doctor at NIH to look into it alittle bit -too see if my HR changes when i am turned on and maybe connect this brain fog with a chemical reaction to a release of chemicals in the body that results in the braub fog- this might be just coincidence but it was not till i read this brain fog items written here that it became clear to me that the brain fog that i was having was not PD - but this is what I feel like = to me it another piece of the puzzle thati been tring to understand- the reason i did not understand why i could not finish the puzzle was i was trying to put a PD pieice into a POTS puzzle / It makes so much more sense to me now. Now to get the doctors to listen. I know this is wierd- but maybe this little miricle that made me feel better can help other people -too. because i know that it felt great to ahve the fog lifted from my head. Everytime I turn the DBS on-ithe fog comes back- usually worse. Some of testing will be on and off DBS while getting blood samplles.

By the way= the importatn fact about this is not what my body does but maybe this is something that doctors have never tested POTS patients blood for before- theree are certain chemicals that is involved with POTS- maybe there is a connection??????????

God bless

Kathleen

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:)

I am trying to figure out a bothersome symptom--it is hard to describe.  You know how you feel when you wake up too soon and do not feel right at all head wise?  I feel like that most of the day.  I also have a hard time thinking, remebering, concentrating.  It is almost like you have a cold or took cold medicine-you just do not feel clear/alert/just kindof out of it feeling.  My eyes also bother me a lot when I feel this way (blurry, spots).  Is this POTS or something else and does anyone know what helps?  Any ideas on what is causing it-specifically (just blood flow??)  I will wake up like this and it will last a while if not the whole day.  I would appreciate any ideas.  Jennifer TX

I hate to say it, but I know what you are talking about. Like having medicine head but worse. I have not figured it out yet either. I try caffine and that works but I feel the crash worse later. I am going to try drinking ice cold water as soon as the fuzzyiness starts and in the morning before taking any meds. The tiredness is so bad that I get confused and can't remember if I took any meds.

Pamela

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