Cloudy with A Chance of Brain Fog

Waking up to an array of different symptoms each morning is pretty standard for those living with a chronic illness. My least favourite symptom is ‘Brain Fog’.

What is Brain Fog?

It is a blanket term that describes problems with memory, problem solving, focus and other cognitive functions. Also referred to as mental fatigue.

My Experience

For me, I feel super clouded and stuck in a haze of memory loss combined with the inability to think clearly. Over the course of three years I’ve gone from experiencing brain fog once a month, to once a week, and now it’s an everyday ordeal. I often find myself zoning in and out, entering a daydream like state randomly throughout the day. My brain feels like a camera with a broken autofocus. I’m constantly trying to correct my mental state and my ability to focus. I can be talking to someone familiar and completely forget their name. The worst is forgetting what I was saying mid sentence or experiencing a memory blanks during important conversations. Brain fog can unfairly present me as rude and distant during these moments.

How long does each cloudy moment last?

It varies day to day, there is no rhyme or reason to it I just have to wait for it to pass. It can be as short as 30 minutes or as long as 3 to 4 hours

If you don’t live with brain fog…

Imagine that feeling you get when you go on holiday, the point where you’re sat on the plane wondering if you locked the front door or packed sun cream. Now, imagine that’s your everyday state of mind…It’s not fun.

Living with brain fog is incredibly frustrating, hard to explain and even harder to understand. In my next post I will share the ways in which I manage my Brain fog!

Before you go…

I recently made it into the Top 10 UK Chronic Illness Blogs & Top 50 Sleep Blogs! If you are wanting to read more on Chronic illness & sleep please go check out Feedspot’s comprehensive lists.