Foggy Brain

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Hello,

I just wanted to ask around if you people can relate.
My biggest problem in my life is my nearly constant state of brain fog. Those words describe it really well; I cannot focus, everything is mushy. It makes me feel as if I operate so much below what I could achieve if only my mind were clear.

Only at night, after some time without any stimulation but my book (just an example) it clears and I feel like myself. Then its sleepy time and I wake up and .... so foggy again. It is driving me crazy and makes everything much harder then it needs to be.

Can you relate? Any input on this matter? Much appreciated!

Is it sort of like depression but without the crushing feelings of sadness, so sort of an apathy like state?

There are many reasons you could feel that way, and the scope of each reason can range from small to large. For example, it could be something as simple as excessively lacking in iron, as when you lack iron you are constantly and/or easily fatigued, cannot concentrate etc. It could also be something more complicated such as sensory overload (I'm still not sure about sensory overload).

I think I can relate to it, and I used iron as an example for that reason. I had really low iron and vitamin D and found that out in a regular blood test, so then I went on supplements until my levels normalized. The strange thing was, I didn't feel better afterwards and I still had something like this 'brain fog' you refer to. It's sort of a state of indirection, apathy and laziness(?) for me, hence why I questioned 'depression without the sadness'.

I guess that it could relate to not having a directly focused goal in life. I'm really just cruising through, but when I am focusing on researching/discussing ASDs I seem to be more sharp, kind of like I have a goal. I know what I'm working towards and I enjoy it. I'm really not sure, perhaps you should see a psychologist about it.

No, I would not say that. I am no stranger to the occasional depression, and its different.
It can cause depression, as I feel I am stuck with 20% of my capabilities.

After minutes of thinking I think I found a good way of explaining: Everyone feels a little drowsy, foggy when they wake up. Getting the world in focus, switching on the brain; the first few moments or minutes after waking up. That is a foggy brain.

And mine never goes away.
Everything stays far away, a bit unreal, I cannot focus. The world is swirling around me and my brain is lagging behind; like having a bad internet connection in an online game.
At night it is so much better, even gone. It is why I want to stay awake at night and sleep at day.

People think I am on drugs because of my slowness. School was very difficult because of that. Study impossible.

Ive had my blood tested, it was ok. I also do daily excercise, does not help either. I smoke alot to fight it (stupid I know, trying to stop. meh) and Ive gotten a small alcohol issue, too. Stopped drinking for good because I cannot drink in moderation. Numbing numbness is not a healthy thing to do. Coffee does not really help either.

edit: Forget to say how sleepy it makes me. I can sleep so well during days. Love going to bed when the sun rises.

I sometimes feel foggy or "out of it," but I've found that watching what I eat and drink can help. Junk food, heavy meals, etc, all contribute to it, and surprisingly so does caffeine (see: coffee).

I had terrible problems with brain fog...pretty similar to what you are describing. Brain just won't function properly, can't think clearly, cognitive functions working on a go slow, drowsy much of the time...

I also had bad headache and dizziness as well.

I stopped all medications, quit smoking, cut down on carbs, completely removed certain processed sugars such as HFCS and other food additives (colourings, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, MSG and so on) and the brain fog went away.

I still eat some carbs but stick to limited amounts of sugar (table or caster or icing but not HFCS etc), honey, limited grains (oats, occasionally wheat but as I am paleo the wheat is a cheat) and root veg such as parsnips and butternut squash.

Basically the cleaner and more natural I keep my lifestyle and diet the less brain fog I get.

I still need to take the occasional nap during the day once in a while but mostly the brain fog and drowsiness are gone.

I'd suggest avoiding using nicotine to try and help as it made things worse for me. My symptoms were greatly improved just by quitting smoking....

The diet brought about further improvements too.

yes.

also, things get extra spacey after 5:00pm.

Last edited by AdamAutistic on 30 Jan 2014, 8:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Also I avoid alcohol, don't use any illegal drugs and never have excluding the bit of cannabis I tried twice as a teenager (didn't like it) and try to get regular exercise and plenty of fresh air (even it if it just sitting in the house with a nearby window open).

I also tend to avoid the use of chemicals in other ways as well and try to use gentle or natural bath or beauty products.

Oh and I swopped cows dairy for goats where possible.

Ken Kesey has his narrator talk about being in a fog all the time when they put him on psychotropics in, "One flew over the cuckoos nest". I experience a kind of fog when I consume dairy products. I think that they are making me high.

Last edited by Stannis on 30 Jan 2014, 8:59 am, edited 2 times in total.

Not sure what country you are in and if they deliver there but Lush.co.uk do some nice products (do watch some of the ingredients though if you want to avoid using SLS on your hair as their shampoo still contains it. Still nice products though).

I also wanted to ask... do you drink or eat a lot of products with sweetener like Aspartame in them? I used to drink them all the time in high school and was in a nearly constant state of fogginess and headaches. Eventually I started noticing a correlation between drinking a diet soda or a Crystal Lite and feeling sick shortly after and cut them out. Never been back as strong or as often since.

Yes!

I have had Foggy Brain for over a year now and it is quite frustrating. I have been working on it with my psychologist, trying different things. So far the only reliable solutions is precisely what you note here:

It seems I have a need for periods of "hyperfocus". That is, periods where I can fully and completely focus my brain on something to the exclusion of all else. It is only after such an activity that I can then see, interact with, and enjoy the world more fully. It is as though periods of hyper focus give my brain a re-boot - a fresh start, if you will.

As a result, I am now experimenting to find out what activities can put me into a hyperfocus mode so that I can take advantage of its benefits. The good news for me is that often those things upon which I hyperfocus do themselves have value; this makes it a win/win.

Examples I have found so far are reading and predominantly right-brain activities such as art and music. It seems the less such activities require left-brain, physical interaction with the world the more I am able to thereafter interact with the world in a non-foggy way. ( I gained a lot from the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain".)

The big exception is aerobic exercise: if I can get "into the zone" with aerobic exercise such as treadmill, stair-steppers, the less foggy my brain is thereafter. That one is a big win/win: I get exercise plus my brain works better afterwards.

I bet there are some neurological brain-wave type things going on here. I am just chuffed to have stumble upon some things that work for me.

Despite what you said, it sounds to me like classic depression. Either start with some meds or change the meds you are on.

This has been my normal state my entire life, no matter what my diet or lifestyle. There's a window sometimes in early evening, when focus clears to the level of sharpness it ought to be all the time. Some days there's not even that. What drives me nuts is the inability to focus enough to make myself accomplish things. I'm certainly not physically incapable, but something in my brain seems to actually resist focusing, engaging with a task, and getting it done.

For instance, I can waste my entire day randomly posting here - my brain will focus enough for these short bursts - but I've got a novel I should be working on and for the life of me, I can't make myself focus on it. It's as though there was a part of my brain consciously expending tremendous effort to sabotage me and block me from getting anything done. I feel it as almost a physical force - a magnetic field that fogs my thought processes just enough to divert them from where they should be.

I'm pretty sure Lex Luthor is behind this.

My six year old daughter seems to have this. It's hard to tell since I'm not her, but this describes her really well. She was diagnosed with autism shortly before her 5th birthday.

She seems to be constantly zoned out. You talk to her and she doesn't here even when you start the conversation with her name. Even if I touch her shoulder lightly first. Even if I'm right in her field of vision. I usually have to repeat every sentance a few times, I'm not sure if she's not hearing me or if it's not getting processed or what. Sometimes she says "I didn't know you were talking to me" (even though I said her name a few times and she is the only one in the room). Other times, once she has heard me, she forgets 3 seconds later. Literally zones out and has this blank look. Kind of like hwen you walk into a room meaning to do something, but you forget. One time she went to use the bathroom and was in there for 15 minutes. I go to check on her and shes sitting on the toilet still staring blankly off into space. I ask whats up and she says, "I don't know I can't remember" and then I indicate that maybe she was using the toilet and she says soemthing like "oh yeah you are probably right. uh. I'm not sure if I went already." She literally forget if she even did her business. Same thing with her homework. Forgets in the middle that she needs to finish it.

I'm so not sure what to do about this as it's clearly not an intentional behavior. I"m going to keep rechecking this thread to see if anything more is said that could help.

I have this too, and it drives me nuts.

For me, it's "only" the first few hours of the day (just how many hours, and how bad it is, varies), but because I usually have work to do, it basically wrecks everything - I can't get started because I can't focus, I feel I can't do anything else because I have to get the work done first, and then when I finally can focus, I end up working all night. Then I sleep most of the day, and then the whole mess starts over. Nighttime is definitely a better time for me, and I'm happy to be a bit nocturnal, but lately it's got completely out of hand.

And yes, it does feel as if I could get a lot more done if I didn't need three or four, or sometimes six or eight hours "warm-up time" before I can actually do anything. I never seem to have time for anything, because I lose so much of it to this inability to focus and get the important things done. And when I really need to do something now and my brain just won't kick in, it leads to utter despair.

I shall be following this thread with interest, as I've never yet figured out what might help - what I eat or drink, or when I do it, doesn't seem to make any difference. I already take iron and vitamin D supplements. I definitely don't get enough exercise, but I do get some, and regularly; I've also recently started doing a few exercises first thing in the day, for unrelated reasons, but it's not making any difference to this.