Brain fog

I have had this certain feeling of mental fogginess as long as I can think of. It is hard to describe it, although it has started to affect my life more and more. It affects my ability to concentrate and pay attention a lot.

You know the moments, when after standing up too fast, you lose balance and blackout comes for a couple of seconds because the blood does not reach the brain so fast. To be honest, I love these moments, as these are the only moments in my life, when I feel absolute clarity, being in the exact moment.

This hasmade me wondering about it for a while now, although it sounds too weird to see a doctor for it. So I decided to google about it. To my surprise I came across lots of people having a similar condition called brain fog, also mental fog and clouding of consciousness (by Wiki) . It is more a pseudo-science (subjective), although the symptoms always tend to be the same:

Brain fog may be described as feelings of mental confusion or lack of mental clarity. It is called brain fog because it can feel like a cloud that reduces your ability to think clearly. Common symptoms include:

-Loss of mental acuity
-Forgetfulness – decreased short-term memory
-A feeling of spaciness and inability to think clearly
-A feeling that you’re in a fog or a dark cloud is over your head
-Decreased attention span
-Mild depression and/or anxiety
-Lack of spatial awareness
.Difficulty concentrating or a lack of focus

Although, as far as I can see, the overall scientific community does not approve it due to lack of data, I did not find any scinetific articles about it and there is no method found to prove such condition. It is subjective and usually only the person who has it can explain it, so often doctors tend to dismiss it as imagination.

To be honest, I have no clue, what to do. Has anybody came across this before or had similar condition? Should I see a doctor about it?

Get off of the typical Americanized diet and start learning how to eat properly.

reply to post by Cabin


Hey,
I too suffer from similar symptoms. especially the blackouts in the few seconds after standing up to fast. and your right it does cause an almost euphoric sensation througout the body. I've asked my doctor about it and he said something about the arteies in my legs being too big. iv got class in a bit so ill post more late. I'd love to disscuss this with you further.

reply to post by Cabin


I can only suggest getting tested for Lyme's Disease. Those symptoms are involved with the disease. Also you may consider drinking non fluoridated water or using any products that contain it.

www.healingwell.com...
ehealthforum.com...
www.samento.com.ec...

Also research Cats Claw and its effects.
Good Luck to you.

reply to post by Cabin
Or what you experience could also be a sign of having too low blood pressure or low blood sugar or any myriad of other medical conditions that could lead to serious health problems if not properly diagnosed and treated. Do not put your faith in the internet for medical diagnosis- see a doctor. Your life could depend on it.

Definitely go and see a Doctor just to be on the safe side, though be weary of anything they prescribe you.
Do you drink much alcohol? Smoke or drink caffeine?

It could just be a depressive spiral. Depression can cause all the symptoms you describe and worrying about them makes it worse.

also get your liver checked out, simple blood test from your doc
can determine if its the cause.

Millions of Americans suffer from Hepatitis C and dont know it,
many live a long life and die of old age without ever knowing, but
for the ones it has drastic effects, it can be quite the battle.

For sure ask your doc, symptoms like that can be evidence of something
major happening to your body, if caught now you can prevent years of very
painful living. i would not wish the pain on anyone.

Better to get checked out and be safe than to have a doc tell you in the first
meeting 'well, your not dead yet.'.

Something about my overall profile:

Sleeping is pretty fine, 7-8 hours every day, although irregular. I go to sleep anywhere between 12 PM and 5 PM, depending on day and when I must wake up.

I am heavy smoker, 1 pack of red ones a day.

I drink alcohol sometimes. When I drink, I tend to drink quite a lot, although maybe once a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. Average is around 1-2 times a month.

I do not drink fluoridated water.

I have been tested for Lyme disease.

My nutrition is healthy, non-American.

I do lots of sports.

My blood sugar is okay, although I have some problems with hemoglobine. Sometimes it too high, like now, sometimes too low. Currently I am not allowed to participate in official competitions due to too high hemoglobine.As doing being physically active I have full blood analysis once every year.

I have been diagnosed Hypothyroidism, although it came this year. On previous years my THS has been fine.

Overally most of my "worse" lifestyle has come recently. I have not been always a smoker although this fog has been always, also the hemoglobine and thyroid problems started last year. Never had any problems with them before.

I wonder if it may be some kind of cell phone field? When I was younger I talked a lot with my cell phone. If I remember correctly it was Nokia 3510i at that time. In summer I talked over 6 hours a day on average, sometimes even 12-15 hours a day.

reply to post by Cabin


Hey Cab,

Do you feel tired all the time?
Any weird aches & pains?
How long have you had the symptoms you describe?
What was your health like, immediately prior to the onset of these symptoms? (Any illness/virus that required antibiotics or similar meds?)

(regardless of the answer to my questions above.... I'd still advise going to the doc!)

GTD

Ya'll need to be checked for Autoimmune .... Sjogrens .. Lupus .. MS ....
You listed some symptoms .... Good luck to you.

Originally posted by Gordi The Drummer
reply to post by Cabin

 

Hey Cab,

Do you feel tired all the time?
Any weird aches & pains?
How long have you had the symptoms you describe?
What was your health like, immediately prior to the onset of these symptoms? (Any illness/virus that required antibiotics or similar meds?)

(regardless of the answer to my questions above.... I'd still advise going to the doc!)

GTD

The tiredness is true. I feel often tired, basically always. I drink lots of coffee due to this. I used to not drink although recently it has gone to around 5-10 cups a day. Although I drink also lots of water because of this.

Aches & pains: old sports injuries only. I basically never have a head ache, although I often feel some kind of pressure in my head, in the temples.

I have had this symptoms as long as I remember.

Overally my health is fine. I am ill maybe every second year or so, which I guess is pretty normal. Usually some kind virus, like flu or angina.

Ditch the American diet. Make your foods from scratch. use more organically grown foods and it will help. Avoid eating cruciferious veggies without boiling them and watch the raw spinach. I had a similar thing happen and made a lot of changes and it is gone. I still have low blood volume, so I have to keep my BP up a little.

Homeade chicken soup with some cabbage, celery, carrots, onions, a clove of garlic, and ten drops of tabasco sauce or a chili pepper. Add a little salt and some pepper corns. A little soysauce helps to increase the tyramine levels. Throw a potato in it to for phosphorous and potassium to balance it. A little poultry xeasoning contains sage and thyme, they are good for you. After a couple hours remove the meat from the bones and return the bones/scraps/skin to the pot. Eat some of the cabbage and potatoes and carrots at this time. Put the chicken in the fridge and boil the bones, scraps for at least three hours more. Strain out the juice to another pot and put it back on the burner. Pick at the bones and eat the veggies.

Skim the fat off the top of the soup and add a couple more celery stalks cut small, and a few carrots a little more onion and a crushed garlic. Return the chicken pieces from the fridge to the pot and add some more soy sauce to taste, a little salt can also be added at this time as well as a few more drops of tabasco sauce. Boil for about a half hour and add some rinsed frozen veggies. When it starts boiling again add noodles. Cook till the noodles are done. Reheat what you are going to use, not the whole pot, this way things don't lose their chemistry.

It will form NAC and this chemical may help you. It can help to protect the mitichondria in the body. It also helps break up stuff in the lungs and the added sulfur in the blood helps to keep it from agglutinating. The veggies at the end also load it up with minerals and the boiling of the initial veggies helps keep the temp of the boiling water below 185 which retains many vitamins. There is a lot more to this including Beta blockers and Tyromines to raise brain chemicals and adrenalines. The celery gives curcumin which helps the body regulate BP. The glutamates are mostly bound so there shouldn't be a problem with that....Use Kikkoman soy sauce, don't use the fake soy sauces. The soup also contains the base for the elastins protein that we cannot produce. and plenty of glucosamine/chonderine. This soup will not help blood vessels much because it contains onions but it will help the joints




On another note, eating beets or drinking beet juice can raise the efficiency of oxygen use by the body. I just read an article on that. This will boost the ability to think but the drawback is that too much can cause kidney stones. Be sensible.

reply to post by Cabin


Ah, ok...

The Brain Fog and tiredness are very common in M.E. or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

They're usually (but not always) accompanied with a myriad of weird and wonderful aches/pains/headaches/muscle & joint pains etc.

I have Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome, which is a form of Chronic Fatigue.

It followed on from a bout of glandular fever type virus of some sort, swollen glands/sore throat etc

I have a theory that the Chronic Fatigue condition came about as a result of the broad-spectrum anti-biotics that I was prescribed, but if you don't have the aches & pains, and didn't receive anti-biotics prior to the onset, then it's probably unrelated!

regards,
GTD

Okay, this is something I've done a lot of research about, and in my case I've solved it completely.

First off, telling someone to change their diet doesn't work when they have brain fog, a change of diet actually requires concentration sustained over time and you're not thinking clearly enough to really do that, in all likelihood. Brain fog and will power are mutually exclusive, ask me how I know...

Thinking clearly and rationally requires a certain brain chemical in adequate amounts, acetylcholine. It's one of the neurotransmitters and it's the one that makes you feel wakey, clear headed, rational and analytical. In other words, it's the exact opposite of sleepy and ready for bed, or brain foggy.

If your levels of acetylcholine are not high enough, you'll be brain foggy.

It's easy to raise the levels; get yourself some over the counter lecithin pills; they come in either soy based or sunflower based, sunflower is slightly more expensive and probably a better option for various reasons that don't matter now. Just get what you can afford. A month's supply is maybe 10 to 15 bucks in the US. Lecithin is about half choline, which you need as a building block to create the acetylcholine in the brain. You *could* eat high choline foods like egg yolks, etc, but this is a nice direct route without much calories or cooking involved.

Take one at first in the morning just to make sure there's no untoward reactions, and then if you feel fine, try two in the morning. The effect is rather subtle at first but you should notice within 20 minutes (and building over a few days' time) that you feel more awake, analytical and just plain have about 20 IQ points more readily available to work with. Don't take it at night or you'll have trouble sleeping. It's the exact opposite of the serotonin-melatonin cascade effect that prompts your brain to sleep. The effect of the morning's dose will carry over nicely all day long; I sometimes take two more later in the day if I'm going to be in a high pressure, verbally taxing situation, like a meeting with lots of people requiring lots of talking, or giving a presentation or some such, even a party that I want to be up for.

Other more complicated supplements you may want to look into include DHEA, Keto-DHEA, pregnenolone, high dose Vitamin C (see the excellent discussions of that here on ATS), adequate vitamin D intake, and on line search for 'smart drugs' or 'nootropics'.

I personally would not be without the DHEA, pregnenolone and various vitamin supplements but you need to get your head clear enough to start with so you can do more research. The lecithin should help you get there.

I would add in that make sure you get enough exercise, especially if your job is cubicle oriented, avoid fluorescent lights (they're poisonous as far as I'm concerned, our eyes and pituitary gland are NOT adapted to that wavelength at all), make sure your blood is oxygenated regularly by short walks. Lower your intake of carbs and especially sugars and wheat. Get some sunlight every morning, your pituitary depends on it to not feel like you're in hibernation mode.

Just saw this:

The tiredness is true. I feel often tired, basically always. I drink lots of coffee due to this. I used to not drink although recently it has gone to around 5-10 cups a day. Although I drink also lots of water because of this. Aches & pains: old sports injuries only. I basically never have a head ache, although I often feel some kind of pressure in my head, in the temples. I have had this symptoms as long as I remember. Overally my health is fine. I am ill maybe every second year or so, which I guess is pretty normal. Usually some kind virus, like flu or angina.

Yeegads! That much coffee is ridiculous, back off on that! And 'angina' is not a virus. I'm not sure what country you're in or if English is a second language to you, but start doing some medical research and educate yourself.

reply to post by Gordi The Drummer


Try taking a Molybdenum supplement, that helps the sore muscles. You can eat cream of wheat also or eat roasted peanuts, they are both high in molybdenum. If taking the supplement, don't overdo it, it will lower copper levels to low. High copper levels can lead to depression.

Originally posted by rickymouse
Ditch the American diet. Make your foods from scratch. use more organically grown foods and it will help. Avoid eating cruciferious veggies without boiling them and watch the raw spinach. I had a similar thing happen and made a lot of changes and it is gone. I still have low blood volume, so I have to keep my BP up a little.

Homeade chicken soup with some cabbage, celery, carrots, onions, a clove of garlic, and ten drops of tabasco sauce or a chili pepper. Add a little salt and some pepper corns. A little soysauce helps to increase the tyramine levels. Throw a potato in it to. after a couple hours remove the meat from the bones and return the bones/scraps/skin to the pot. Eat some of the cabbage and potatoes and carrots at this time. Put the chicken in the fridge and boil the bones, scraps for at least three hours more. Strain out the juice to another pot and put it back on the burner. Pick at the bones and eat the veggies.

Skim the fat off the top of the soup and add a couple more celery stalks cut small, and a few carrots a little more onion and a crushed garlic. Return the chicken pieces from the fridge to the pot and add some more soy sauce to taste, a little salt can also be added at this time as well as a few more drops of tabasco sauce. Boil for about a half hour and add some rinsed frozen veggies. When it starts boiling again add noodles. Cook till the noodles are done. Reheat what you are going to use, not the whole pot, this way things don't lose their chemistry.

It will form NAC and this chemical may help you. It can help to protect the mitichondria in the body. It also helps break up stuff in the lungs and the added sulfur in the blood helps to keep it from agglutinating. The veggies at the end also load it up with minerals and the boiling of the initial veggies helps keep the temp of the boiling water below 185 which retains many vitamins. There is a lot more to this including Beta blockers and Tyromines to raise brain chemicals and adrenalines. The celery gives curcumin which helps the body regulate BP. The glutamates are mostly bound so there shouldn't be a problem with that....Use Kikkoman soy sauce, don't use the fake soy sauces.

edit on 19-3-2013 by rickymouse because: (no reason given)

I always eat organic foods. My grandparents have a farm and I get most of my food from them. I never eat outside, do everything from scratch.

Thank you for advice. Never head of the NAC or tyromines and beta blockers before before, definetely gonna try the recipe Unfortunately probably can not get hold of the Kikkoman sauce due to being non-American.

reply to post by Cabin


Most real oriental Soy sauces are brewed and aged naturally. Naturally Aged meat helps you think. NAC...N-acytlcycteine....is destroyed by heat. Overcooking meat destroys it. I don't like eating raw meat so found an article by a biomedical person who tested his wifes chicken soup to try to disprove it's medical properties. It backfired and he wrote an article on the net, his wife probably made him do it

Originally posted by signalfire
Just saw this:

The tiredness is true. I feel often tired, basically always. I drink lots of coffee due to this. I used to not drink although recently it has gone to around 5-10 cups a day. Although I drink also lots of water because of this. Aches & pains: old sports injuries only. I basically never have a head ache, although I often feel some kind of pressure in my head, in the temples. I have had this symptoms as long as I remember. Overally my health is fine. I am ill maybe every second year or so, which I guess is pretty normal. Usually some kind virus, like flu or angina.

Yeegads! That much coffee is ridiculous, back off on that! And 'angina' is not a virus. I'm not sure what country you're in or if English is a second language to you, but start doing some medical research and educate yourself.

Yeah, I need to cut down on the coffee.

Sorry about the angina. I translated it directly from this language to english. In English it is Tonsillitis.