brain fog/cloudy thinking

Hi Minnesota, this is a very frustrating illness isn't it. I have had this for about 7 years & just can't seem to figure it out either. At my worst, with the cognitive problems, I carried around a day planner that I had everything in. People, phone #'s, addresses, lists, lists lists. Everything I thought of I put in there & it helped me a lot. I called it my brain & carried it everywhere. lol! I quit using it a few years ago because I just got tired of carrying it around. So now I just do my best to remember & use my smart phone & apps to keep track of things.

I am trying dark chocolate (85% cocoa) to see if this will help my energy & cognitive problems, been on it about 10-12 days. I did some reading about it on the internet & decided to give it a try. It takes about 5 or 6 weeks to really see an improvement. I really haven't noticed much of a difference but I do think I am more awake & less foggy. I find myself engaging in conversations & reading more, also, I am looking into things I gave up & feel like doing them again which is odd since I am feeling really tired but my brain is more alert. Is this due to the chocolate? I have no idea but usually this time of year I am down for the count. Maybe I am just seeing a placebo effect.

Caren, from this forum, has seem a marked improvement in her cognitive functions with Magnesium Malate. She will hopefully come on & tell you about it. She has been on it for about 6 weeks now & has seen a large change. I am excited to try it as soon as I am further along with the dark chocolate.

I am hoping for a big change with these but we will see. What do you do for fatigue? I would love if you would share. Many hugs, Denise

Great recommendations!  I will get some MM and dark chocolate today.  Even if they just help a bit that would be great.  For fatigue issues, I have seen some improvement by taking the following:  NT factor. D ribose, amino acid power mix, and Tyrosine.  I would say I regained about 25% of my lost energy levels by taking these supplements all together.  Trace minerals may also be on my list as others have recommended this too.  It is great to see what others have tried in this forum, and get some real world reports.  My doctor says there may be an immune system modulator to try and will dicuss this at my appointment in 3 weeks.  I guess there is so much trial and error with ME.  Having patience is hard, because you just want something to work and bring some health back.  I am coming up on my 2 year anniversay of getting ill which is causing me to reflect back a lot.  Almost seems like a different person then compared to now.  Onward.

Hi, I am brand new here and I have the same thing plus memory loss.
The Dr. says that even though I have brain damage from an accident I should not have ANY symptoms.
They did a scan and found that I had a meningioma (brain tumor) and over time, it continued to grow (still no symptoms) and I opted to have it removed. I have no after effects and never had one seizure, so YAY!

I have bad seasonal allergies and thought that may be why I feel this way but no matter what time of year, or what I take or don't take for the allergies, I still feel the same.

The severe fatigue, brain fog and memory loss worsens by the day. My blood work comes back as perfect including thyroid and it makes ZERO sense... SO FRUSTRATING!!

I researched adrenal fatigue and have those symptoms and PTSD. I have been medicated for depression and have taken every anti depressant on the market over the last 8 years and nothing phases me. I just go through hell getting off of them.

I have symptoms of ADD and they gave me adderall which DOES help me, but I forget to take it and you can't take it late day -(I already have sleep issues, don't need more) plus it makes me jittery.

I got off of all soda and consume NO aspartame, only stevia. I drink a lot of water and eat fairly healthy. That is really important so if you drink soda, ESPECIALLY diet soda, or consume anything with artificial sweetener, I do recommend stopping. Also the eight or more glasses of filtered water a day.

I have a referral to see a memory specialist but can't afford the visit.

Anyway, maybe something here might help you?? I hope it does!

:)

Post Edited (DisenchantedOne) : 1/21/2014 2:42:01 PM (GMT-7)

Hi,
Have you tried doing a yeast cleanse? Sometimes yeast can build up in our gut, because of antibiotics and our diet depleting our normal good bacteria, and other medications like steroids. The good bacteria are what keep the yeast buds under control, but when there are not enough good bacteria, the yeast over take your gut. The yeast then pokes little microscopic holes in the lining of your gut, causing leaky gut syndrome. This then allows toxins from your gut and waste to leak into your system. The toxins can then affect your nervous system including your brain. This is where the foggy brain comes in. I had this really bad years ago, along with IBS, acne, eczema. I did a strict yeast cleanse diet, eliminating foods with yeast, wheat/gluten, sugar, even fruit for the first few weeks, corn/corn products, vinegar, salad dressing (made my own with olive oil and lime or lemon), alcohol (especially beer and wine), mushrooms and moldy cheeses (Feta, Blue cheese). I took Caprylic acid, Pau D'Arco, Probiotics, and also yeast killing enzymes. And I did a 2 week prescription for Diflucan. I slowly re-introduced fruit into my diet after a few weeks, and then after 6 months slowly re-introduced other foods. I try to do a yeast cleanse for a month at a time once a year now to maintain a healthy gut, and I have stayed Gluten free. It has helped a lot with the brain fog and the other symptoms, my IBS is gone too!
I learned a lot about it from The Yeast Connection website and books. Huge help. IT lists many symptoms of yeast overgrowth, brain fog is just one of them!.
Check it out to see if you think it may apply to you.
Good luck and I hope you get some answers!

Natalie,
Nurse, and lupus survivor

Hi I'm new here 52 year old female with brain fog really bad the last few months, I find it hard to concentrate or focus and don't sleep well. My lists have lists, if I don't write it down I will forget it. MRI came back clear. It's very frustrating and scary any help would be appreciated. Thanks Dotty

Hi Minnesota, I was wondering if you have tried any diet changes, especially since you have GI trouble too. I have a thread called Sugar if you care to read it.

minnesota - I can't believe you can work full time with this...I want to get back to part time at least

i am going to try the dark chocolate protocol also

I take d - ribose, malate, b complex, vit c, a high quality multi vitamin, olive leaf extract, fish oils

Is there anything else I should be trying for CFS? How do you get sleep under control and how do you help fatigue? Ive heard Gingko Biloba is good for blood flow to brain?

mINASOTA--------magnesium mALATE EVERY DAY AND




pREVAGEN HELPS MEMORY ----I CAN BE BFIND AT wALGREENS DRUG STORE....


cAREN
AND

wACKERS - juicing REALLY WORKS-I DO IT. dO YOU WANT SOME OF MY JUICING RECIPES ?

cAREN

I will try to tell me story and be brief. First of all, I have had 3 concussions in my life which may have set the stage for some of what I am dealing with now. First weekend in December of 2010 I came down with what seemed like a minor bout with the flu. Basically I have not felt the same since. Initially I was getting bad headaches along with the fatigue and spaciness so down the road I went with numerous doctors. All tests were coming back normal yet my condition was still unimproved. I was found to be low normal in testosterone, and was put on injections to raise this. No real improvement with this, and eventually I found my way to the famed mayo clinic here in MN. After 2 days there, again no tests that could reveal anything. Only my subjective statements of unusual unrelenting tiredness and a feeling of being off balance. A balance test showed deficiencies, but not glaring. After one year I actually had a friend who was taking Adderall for ADD let me try one....and I noticed improvement. I brought this to my doctors attention, and he had me try Provigil first. This didn't do much, so he prescribed Adderall. Being that I wanted to still work and have some social life, my doc realized that quality of life mattered a lot to me and that being on a small dose under his care was a good decision. I starting augmenting this with other supplements to see what the best combination was. b12, D ribose, L carnitine, and DHEA all seemed to help a bit. But even with this, I was just keeping my head above water in regard to keeping my job. Then I had a number of gastro issues flare up that has to be part of the whole CFS thing. I never had any of those problems until the CFS hit. I think it is so critical to have a doctor who believes in what you are dealing with, because fatigue and brain fog are so subjective and hard to really quantify. I realize I have a mild case of this, and am appreciative of the fact that I can still work FT (some days are very tough though) and exercise a bit. I made a vow early on with this that I can't let CFS dictate my life. My time with family and being able to provide for them means everything. I guess that is why I push through many events in order to be fairly normal looking. That is also why I am willing to take a bit of a risk medication-wise to allow me the chance to participate in things I took for granted when fully healthy. Being dog tired all the time is depressing, so any combination that can pull me out of that state is priceless. In sum, Vyvanse and Saline IV's plus some supplements are what I have found to make me the most functional.