Fibro Fog

Is it just me or does Fibro fog have a striking resemblance to how the mind is when your not fully awake. I have always gotten out of bed dragging and blurry. I would get two cups of coffee at home and it improved, then another on the way to work and my mind was clear. This symptom feels an awful lot to me like how well the brain is working just getting out of bed. And I have noticed over the years its getting worse and worse and my mind totaly waking up is getting harder and just drinking coffee doesn't get it moving. Which doesn't seem so odd to me that coffee doesn't clear it up, since the coffee, years ago was just a pick me up quickly to a place my brain would have reached on its own. Now the coffee tends to just excite more stress without clearing up anything. And now on allot of days, it just can't get there at all. That is preaty much what it feels like to me, a brain that isn't completely awake.

Yah, I know what you mean. Writing these post are fun. I sit there sometimes for 5 minutes trying to get a word that should be simple and sometimes have to just give up and use a different word. The I go back and read the post and it's like OMG, how many run on sentences, miss spelled words and poor grammar can I put in a post. And I got a A+ in technical english in college and the highest grade points in my Algebra class. I took a Menza test when I was in my 20"s and scored 138, two points short of the genius line for that test. Now if you put a IQ test in front of me I know I would just be sitting there staring at it for 3 hours.

And I work in a Smoke Shop of all places. I don't smoke, but its the only job I could get that has almost no heavy mental or physical demands on me, and the guy is a friend that doesn't relate to the problem, but gives me the benefit of the doubt. Anyhow, being a smoke shop, and having worked there for a year and a half, I have seen the same customers hundreds of times, and I cannot remember what a single one of them smoke, and don't even recognize about 75 percent of them when they come in. For the first few months they would say, "the usual". I now have them all trained that there is no such thing as a usual for me. You have to tell me every time.

My memory and focus started to improve for about a month when I tested out taking very high amounts of Vitamin C in ascorbic acid form, like in the range of 1 or 2 grams every hour or two, and 800 milligrams of COQ 10 through the day. I did this because of a theory that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is cumulative mitocondria damage from free radical cascades, and if you kept a high enough level anti-oxidents going in, the mitocondria might have a chance to start repairing themselves. Being Obsessive and willing to try "almost" anything, I did what the protocol recommended. I had a higher energy level right off the bat, and more clarity and better memory after awhile. I started to remember customers better and their "usuals" but I had to stop doing it. The high ascorbic acid levels were blowing the drugs out of my body as fast as I was putting them in, causing higher levels of muscle tension and pain. High levels of Vitamin C going in are notorious for detoxing any chemical out of the blood stream fast.

Bloody catch 22's on this are nuts.

This is a normal brain. "ZOOM!" This is a brain on Fibro. "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"

Most of the time for me. I don't have the foggiest idea what causes it. "Foggiest" get it? Okay, so its lame.

All I know is it turns off and on like a light switch and how much time the switch is on is getting less and less as the years go by. I am 51, so I don't expect to be as sharp as I was in my twenties, but this is rediculous. I know I have dropped probably 20 to 30 IQ points over the 13 years I have had this. It might be worse then that. My communication skills are still okay, but problem solving and memory are in the toilet.

Its either circulation and oxygenation to the brain that is causing it, or its from long term drug use, like Klonopin, and Opiate pain killers, or its brain chemistry and synaptic connections.

Brain chemistry and synaptic function are a reasonable bet. This really started hitting me hard about 2 years ago, and I decided to try eating allot of turkey for the Tryptophan to produce more serotonin, since I hate the way anti-depressents effect me. Being the once again, completely obsessive person I am, I cooked a Turkey breast every other day. You have to eat one to two pounds of Turkey a day to get enough Tryptophan to have a major impact. And that is what I did. Two pounds of Turkey a day for about a month. I noticed a major improvement in my ability to focus the day I ate it, but no long term gains. What I didn't realize though, is that Tryptophan is the largest amino acid and poorly absorbed, having to compete with all the other amino acids in the Turkey. What your actualy jacking up on Turkey is Dopamine a whole lot and Serotonin a little. Dopamine is your focus and relaxation neurotransmiter.

So, anyhow. I have considered biteing the bullet and going back on high dose Amitriptelene and Paxil and eating those nasty side effects for 6 months to a year and see what happens. All of these downers I have lived on for so long, and lack of exercise, circulation and oxygenation maybe behind this.

Or I need Dr. House. Not really sure.