Excellent and detailed article on "brain fog"

[LisaBear]

I have a problem with that. I feel all weird. Sometimes I start to feel funny like something is happening to me. Then I start not breathing right I guess, and it makes me feel numb and I tingle around my mouth and other places on my body. It is very scary for me.  I know that I worry a lot about things I have no control over and then it happens.

 

[sneakygirlamy]

  this website is the greatest thing that has happend to me since I started having axiety...I have the brain fog to the point that I find myself pacing around my house trying to accomplish simple tasks like laundry, which can take me hours to do one load...i just can not focus on anything other that my health....which I have been to the emergency room over and over to digestive specialist and there is nothing wrong (so they say) so it must all be anxiety...and I read this forum and find out I'm not alone ...that is the best therapy...but the fatigue is the hardest part...I need hepl with that so I go to yoga...it helps some...

[nemesis]

I know exactly how that feels Amy. During my worst days I'll walk into rooms in a total daze unknowing as to why I wanted to enter the room in the first place. I'll watch movies and be completely unable to follow even the most trivial of plot lines as I'm so internally focused on the anxiety and it's symptoms. Even driving has become a bit of a danger at times as my attention is turned inward. This site has also been a huge help in allowing me to realize that I am not alone with these symptoms. It was such a relief to finally understand that I am not going mad. These symptoms are just another terrible component of a severe anxiety condition.

[tmicrowave]

yeah this was fantastic!
crying always brings me some clarity afterwords too
just a tip
cry it out!!

[Josie]

hi there i feel like im going through anightmare im getting severe tingling in my hands and feet has anyone else had this also my veins are really standing out i really feel im gonna die ive not slept for over a week nearly i cant cope, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have been through that before.  I never did have my veins standing out.  Are you having any other physical symptoms that your anxiety is effecting or vise versa?  When was the last time you had a complete physical with blood tests and all the jazz?  Could you be having side effects from any medications?   Let us know how you are doing. 
Brain fog is very scary for me. 

[Josie]

I checked out the website and wow!  I am going to keep looking into it and discuss this with my doctor and psychologist. Brain fog for me is very scary.  It feels like my mind is dying and I can't get anyone to understand what is going with me.  There have been times I wish I knew I was dying just for the fact there could be an end to it. 
I'll keep reading more of it.

[feelinganxious]

Newbie here-

I had been on Zoloft for many years because of anxiety (at the slightest physical symptom, I convinced myself that I had a terminal illness, many trips to the doctor, etc.  I'm sure that you guys know the drill).  I went off Zoloft for both of my pregnancies and had a very difficult time during the pregnancies because I would constantly work myself into a panic convinced that the babies had died).  Soon after I delivered healthy babies, I went back on Zoloft.  Fast forward 7 years, and I decided to wean myself off of the Zoloft.  I did so, and suffered horrible withdrawl, but was successful!  No anxiety... until Winter Break (I teach).  Suddenly, without warning, I felt those flu-like symptoms.  I passed it off as post-crazy-week-at-school letdown.  Spent the first day in bed, and assumed that I'd feel better the following day.  No such luck.  OK, so I needed two recovery days.  I'm on day 8 and still no relief.  As a matter of fact, last night was horrible.  I couldn't get to sleep, nor stay asleep.  I hear you talking about brain fog, and am not sure that this is what I am experiencing.  I have constant sinus-like headaches that are secondary to a fuzzy brain feel.  I am still able to concentrate on things, but I feel like I have the flu.  I'm just not 100% mentally.  I can go through the motions of everyday life, but regularly have these pangs of panic in my stomach that are followed by sweating.  These feelings of panic are intensified at night, where they, when I finally get to sleep, awaken me regularly, and cause me to have to talk myself down before finally getting back to sleep.

Wow, I've never written about this before. 

Maybe this post belongs somewhere else, but I appreciate any feedback (misery loves company).

-M

[christiaan]

yep, crying and going mental on a punching bag or pillow also helps. I realised that reducing ones caffeine intake also helps, but going mental on some object still gives the best results for me and check your sinuses with your doctor, it may also be the cause for "brain fog"

[GimpyGirl]

Brain fog is a huge issue with me...I feel "very slow" at times.    I'll feel spacey, out of it, trouble focusing, dizzy and off balance -- I'll feel like whatever I'm looking at is tilting a bit.   When talking to people, I sometimes feel like I'm in a dream.  It's very weird and scarey and makes me not want to drive or even stand up.

This is exactly how I feel!  The best way for me to discribe it is I feel like I looking through foggy glasses with cotton stuffed in my ears.  I get dizzy...I feel slow and uncoordinated.  Sometimes at work when helping a client I fell like I forget how to type or think!  The "brain fog" is always there for me...Somedays it is a bit less than others and sometimes I feel like the "fog" is shutting down my brain which prompts me to panic of course.  I am glad to know that I am not the only one who has this feeling...I hate when I try to describe it to someone and they look at you like youre nuts!

[Marcee3]

Wow, I'm Sooo glad to have found this site, I always thought I was going crazy and no one could relate to this surreal feeling I would get (off & on since I was a teen, Im now 25) This was the symptom that started my anxiety attacks up again!! I haven't had anxiety attacks since I was in my teens. But I recently started feeling eery & surreal which set off panic attacks for weeks!!! Im glad to have stumbled upon this particular forum and article!!. I'd love to talk with someone who can relate to me

[palapenio]

omg I totally went through this before I didnt know it was normal and it used to happen to me atleast once a month. I didn't knopw it had a name for it.

wow where is it from?

[nemesis]

Hi guys, heres a most interesting study Ive recently uncovered on the dpselfhelp forums. It touches on a number of key depersonalization and 'brain fog' type symptoms. I hope some of you may find this insightful.

Effect of naloxone therapy on depersonalization: a pilot study

Yuri L. Nuller, Marina G. Morozova, Olga N. Kushnir and Nikita Hamper
Bekhterev Psychoneurological Research Institute. St-Petersburg, Russia.

To test the hypothesis of the role for the opioid system in the pathogenesis of depersonalization, the effect of naloxone (an opioid receptor blocker) on the symptoms and corticosteroids secretion was studied in patients with depersonalization syndrome. Fourteen depersonalization patients were treated with naloxone: 11 patients received single doses (1.6 or 4 mg i.v.) and three others received multiple infusions, with the maximal dosage being 10 mg, and the effect of naloxone on symptom severity was determined. In eight patients, the cortisol, cortisone and corticosterone content in the blood plasma was determined prior to and after the 4 mg naloxone infusion. A reversed-phase microcolumn high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection was applied for assessment of glucocorticoids. In three of 14 patients, depersonalization symptoms disappeared entirely and seven patients showed a marked improvement. The therapeutic effect of naloxone provides evidence for the role of the endogenous opioid system in the pathogenesis of depersonalization.


Introduction
Depersonalization is a change of self-awareness such that the
person feels unreal. It is characterized by the loss of emotional
perception or a blunted feeling of one’s own body and its functions,
etc. Patients with this condition find it difficult to describe, often
speaking of being detached from their own experience and unable
to feel emotion. A similar change in relation to the environment is
called derealization. Depersonalization can manifest itself as a
symptom in the structure of various psychopathological syndromes
or as an independent syndrome. In the latter case, where the
depersonalization syndrome is unrelated to any other mental
disease, it is defined as a depersonalization disorder (Nuller, 1982;
American Psychiatry Association, 1994).
Depersonalization syndrome often has a long, lingering course
which is resistant to therapy (Shader, 1994). Antidepressants,
neuroleptics and electroconvulsive therapy usually fail to produce
any therapeutic action. Only very large doses of benzodiazepines
produce a therapeutic effect in some patients (Nuller, 1982; Gelder
et al., 1989). In cases where depersonalization lasts for months and
years, no psychotropic therapy has documented efficacy. When
depersonalization is a part of another mental disorder, it is most
often a major depression. In such cases, depression can become
resistant to therapy and have a lingering course.
An effective medical treatment of depersonalization is impaired
by the lack of data on the biochemical mechanisms of this disorder.
Depersonalization usually develops as a reaction to severe
emotional stress, or can emerge from acute anxiety and tension in
various mental illnesses. The fact that anxiety is involved in its
genesis is confirmed by the therapeutic efficacy of large doses of
anxiolytics in the acute depersonalization syndrome (Nuller, 1982;
Nuller and Mickalenko, 1988). Stress can be accompanied by
secretion of endogeneous opioids, mostly beta-endorphins. This
helps to explain the hypoalgesia or total analgesia found in
depersonalization (Nuller and Mikhalenko, 1988; Moroz et al.,
1990; Abugova, 1996) as well as a less pronounced pupil reaction
to morphine (Nuller and Mikhalenko, 1988). These observations
led us to suggest that disturbance in the opioid system such as the
increased endorphin secretion and/or a change in the sensitivity of
opioid receptors play an important role in the pathogenesis of
depersonalization. To verify this hypothesis, we investigated the
effect of naloxone – an opioid receptor blocker. Stress is also
characterized by changes in secretion of corticoids. Therefore it
was of interest to determine the levels of corticoids under
depersonalization.

Methods/Subjects

Fourteen patients (nine females and five males, mean age 32 years)
were assigned to treatment with naloxone. In six patients,
depersonalization was the only manifestation of a mental illness
and they met the DSM-IV criteria for depersonalization disorder.
Eight patients had mixed depersonalization and depressive
symptoms with dominating depersonalization syndrome. In three
patients, the duration of the disease was less than 1 year, in seven
patients, it ranged from 1–5 years; in two patients, from 5–10 years
and in two patients, 14 and 16 years.
The control group for plasma corticosteroids included 36 healthy
volunteers whose age ranged from 25–45 years and whose
corticosteroid level in the blood plasma was determined twice for
two subsequent days.

Naloxone Administration

Naloxone (Polfa) was injected i.v. at 12 in the afternoon in a
single-blind placebo controlled design, with placebo always first.
The patients had one dose of naloxone, which was followed by
further doses if they did not respond. Eleven patients had one
infusion, the doses were 4 mg in nine patients and 1.6 mg in two
patients. Three patients had multiple naloxone infusion: in one
case, 2 mg infusions within 3 days (6 mg total) and, in two other
cases, multiple infusions with doses increasing from 2 mg to 10 mg
every 2 or 3 weeks (50 mg total). The maximal number of
infusions administered was 10. Between the naloxone infusions,
these two patients received tranquilizers (lorazepam, 6 mg per day;
phenazepam, 8 mg per day; hydroxyzine, 200 mg per day) and
antidepressants (paroxetine, 60 mg per day; mianserine, 90 mg per
day).

Biochemical Methods

The cortisol, cortisone and corticosterone content in the blood
plasma was determined in eight patients prior to and after the
naloxone infusions. Blood was taken from a catheter inserted into
the ulnar vein, and kept open with heparin. The first sample was
taken at 11.00 h immediately after the catheter was inserted; the
second at 11.30 h, after 10 ml of physiological solution (placebo)
was infused iv.; the third at 12.00 h, then the infusion of 0.4 mg of
naloxone (1 ml of naloxone solution and 9 ml of the physiological
solution) was made; the fourth at 12.15 h before the 4 mg naloxone
infusion (10 ml of the solution) and the fifth at 12.30 h.
For measurement of glucocorticoids, a reversed-phase microcolumn
HPLC with ultraviolet (UV) detection was applied. A
150 ´ 1 mm column filled with Separon SGX C18 5μ and linear
gradient elution (70 : 30 to 35 : 65 water-acetonitrile for 30 min)
was used. The technique allowed a good baseline separation of
aldosterone, cortisol, cortisone and corticosterone (Gamper et al.,
1996). The detection limit (UV detection at 254 nm) was
approximately 5 ng/ml. Serum protein electrophoresis was used to
extract the substances of interest from the serum.

Results

Efficacy was assessed using the depersonalization scale (Nuller
and Mikhalenko, 1988) and subjective response. The depersonalization
scale was administered before the naloxone infusion and
after 4 h (peak effect). In three of 14 patients, depersonalization
symptoms disappeared entirely. Seven patients showed a marked
improvement: with symptoms reduced by more than 50% on the
depersonalization scale. One patient showed moderate improvement
and, in two patients, the improvement was short and
insignificant, one patient showed no positive effect.
Thus, 10 of 14 patients showed a considerable therapeutic
effect, which is undoubtedly a success considering the therapeutic
resistance of the depersonalization syndrome. In addition, the
subsequent benzodiazepine therapy (lorazepam, 6 mg per day;
phenazepam, 8 mg per day; hydroxyzine, 200 mg per day within
4 weeks) resulted in a fast and complete reduction of depersonalization
in three patients (two demonstrated considerable and one
moderate improvement), although, in two of these patients, the
same drugs were not effective prior to the naloxone therapy.
After reduction of depersonalization, four patients showed no
evidence of any mental disorder except for the personality traits
they had had in the premorbid period; five patients continued to
express the symptoms of major depressive disorder, which was less
severe than before the depersonalization had manifested itself and
responded quickly to the antidepressants; one patient was found to
be deluded with intense anxiety. This condition showed a good
response to antipsychotic therapy.
In most cases, the first signs of improvement were recorded
soon after the naloxone infusions (within 20–40 min) and the
patients’ perception of the world was marked by greater brightness.
A complete reduction or disappearance of depersonalization
occurred within the interval of 1–4 h and, in some patients, continued
for as long as 12–24 h. This was followed by some
deterioration, although the depersonalization never recurred to the
initial level. Five patients showed evidence of a stable improvement.
Two patients had considerable but not total reduction of depersonalization
due to the naloxone therapy. Immediately thereafter,
they received long-term benzodiazepine treatment. The impression
was that benzodiazepines stabilize the improvement that was
reached as a result of the naloxone therapy.
No side-effects were recorded when naloxone was
administered.
Table 1 presents the corticosteroid data. The depersonalization
patients have a very low initial cortisol level compared to the
control. The cortisone level also decreased, but to a smaller degree,
whereas the corticosterone content appeared to be slightly higher.
Upon 4 mg naloxone infusion, the cortisol content was found to
reliably increase compared to its post-placebo level. With respect
to cortisone, it increased but not as drastically and the corticosterone
content remained unchanged.

Table 1 Plasma corticosteroids concentration (ng/ml) in normal controls and depersonalization patients
Cortisol Cortisone Corticosterone
Control group (n = 36)
After catheter insertion 30.5 ± 2.65 22.48 ± 3.24 9.61 ± 1.69
Depersonalization group (n = 8)
After catheter insertion 13.98 ± 0.95*** 16.77 ± 2.54 13.90 ± 2.66
30 min after catheter insertion 11.91 ± 1.36 14.45 ± 2.63 10.45 ± 2.01
15 min after placebo infusion 10.21 ± 1.09 13.84 ± 2.22 9.16 ± 1.10
15 min after naloxone infusion (0.4 mg) 11.53 ± 2.55 15.90 ± 2.56 7.97 ± 1.20
15 min after naloxone infusion (4 mg) 18.64 ± 3.35 20.33 ± 3.17 9.93 ± 2.01


Discussion

Previous attempts to use naloxone for treating mental disorders
proved to be unsuccessful (Abrams et al., 1978; Volavka et al.,
1982; Keuler et al., 1996) and an insignificant positive effect of
short duration was recorded only in case of mania (Janowsky et al.,
1983). The opioid system seems to play an insignificant role in the
pathogenesis of the endogeneous depression (Banki and Araio,
1987). As mentioned above, we used indirect data which suggested
the importance of the opioid system in the pathogeneses of
depersonalization, i.e. some depersonalization symptoms resemble
the effect of morphine and depersonalization arises as a reaction to
an acute emotional stress, which causes endorphin secretion.
The positive therapeutic effect of the opioid receptor blocker,
naloxone, offers some evidence for the implication of the opioid
system in the pathogenesis of depersonalization. This role is also
confirmed by the influence of naloxone on the cortisol secretion in
depersonalization patients: the low level of cortisol in depersonalization
patients could be explained by the fact that endogeneous
opioids inhibit CRF secretion. By blocking the action of
endorphins, naloxone increases the cortisol secretion (Delitala
et al., 1994). The depersonalization patients were found to have
a much lower cortisol content in plasma, which was drastically
increased by naloxone. The increase of cortisol level coincided
in time with the therapeutic effect of naloxone. There was a
reduction of depersonalization symptoms without any signs of
anxiety.
Our data do not provide sufficient evidence to conclude whether
the therapeutic effect of naloxone is only related to the blockade of
the opioid receptors or to some other factors that affect the opioid
system. In most patients, the positive action of naloxone developed
during the first hours after the infusion and, in many, the
improvement lasted more than 24 h. Because the half-life of
naloxone is approximately 60 min, this suggests that naloxone
increased the patients’ therapeutic sensitivity to the drugs that were
previously not very effective for these particular patients.
One naloxone infusion was sufficient to entirely eliminate or
considerably reduce all the symptoms of depersonalization in four
patients who had a relatively recent depersonalization syndrome.
However, some symptoms recorded prior to depersonalization
reappeared and were easily treated by conventional medicine. Our
previous data on the positive effect of large doses of benzodiazepines
on depersonalization (Nuller, 1982) are evidence for the
close relationship between depersonalization and anxiety. In most
cases of chronic depersonalization, syndrome reduction was not
accompanied by manifestation of affective symptoms. Here,
depersonalization seems to be unrelated to anxiety and might
become autonomous. The change of sensitivity in opioid receptors
may be important in cases of chronic depersonalization.
In conclusion, some clinical manifestations of depersonalization,
such as analgesia, the suppression of corticosteroid
secretion and especially the positive therapeutic effect of the opioid
receptor blocker, naloxone, offer evidence for the implication of
the opioid system in the pathogenesis of depersonalization.




Address for correspondence
Professor Yuri L. Nuller
The Psychopharmacological Department
Bekhterev Psychoneurological Research Institute
3 Bekhterev St
St-Petersburg 193019
Russia
Email: nuller@J3971.spb.edu
References
Abrams A, Braff D, Janowsky D S, Holl S, Segal D S (1978)
Unresponsiveness of catatonic symptoms to naloxone.
Pharmakopsychiatry 11: 177–179
Abugova M A (1996) Indices of pain threshold as a method of
objective assessment of depersonalization therapy efficacy.
Bekhterev Rev Psychiatry Med Psychol 4: 120–122
American Psychiatric Association (1994) DSM-lV: diagnostic and
statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edn. American
Psychiatric Association, Washington DC
Banki C V, Araio M (1987) Multiple hormonal responses to
morphine: relationship to diagnosis and dexamethasone
supression. Psychoendocrinology 12: 3–11
Delitala G, Trainer P S, Oliva O, Fanciully G, Grossman A B (1994)
Opioid peptide and alpha-adrenoreceptor pathways in the
regulation of the pituitary–adrenal axis in man. Endocrinology
141: 163–168
Gamper N L, Velicanova L I, Korolyova N M (1996) Determination
of six corticosteroids in human serum by reversed phase
microcolumn HPLC. Proceedings of the 18th International
Symposium on capillary chromatography V111, pp. 1655–1663
Gelder M, Gath D, Mayou R (1989) Oxford textbook of psychiatry,
2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Janowsky D S, Judd L L, Huey L Y, Rish S C, Segal D S (1983)
Behavioral effects of opioid receptor antagonists in
psychopathological states. Psychiatry Clin North Am 6: 403–414
Keuler D J, Altemus M, Michelson D, Greenberg B, Murphy D L
(1996) Behavioral effects of naloxone infusion in
obsessive–compulsive disorder. Biol Psychiatry 40: 154–156
Moroz B T, Nuller Y L, Ustimova I N, Andreev B V (1990) Study of
pain sensitivity based on the indicators of electroodontometry
in patients with depersonalization and depressive disorders.
Zhurnal Nevropatologii Psichiatrii 90: 81–82
Nuller Y L (1982) Depersonalisazion – symptoms, meaning, therapy.
Acta Psychiatr Scand 66: 451–458
Nuller Y L, Mickalenko I N (1988) Affective psychoses. Meditsina,
Leningrad
Shader R I (1994) Manuel of psychiatric therapeutics, 2nd edn.
Little, Brown and Company, Boston
Volavka J, Anderson B, Koz G (1982) Naloxone and naltrexone in
mental illness and tardive dyskinesia. Ann NY Acad Sci 97–102

[GimpyGirl]

I have been on 10mg of Celexa for 2 months now and it has really helped the DP/DR.  I still have it from time to time but I can take Ativan and it helps.  Out of all the symptoms of anxiety...This has got to be the number one worst!

[Jehepe]

Hello all..first of all let me introduce myself briefly.. My name is Rie and I actually found this board looking for something or someplace to help my husband. He was Dx'd with GAD many years ago..took Zoloft for about 6 years off and on but when he started finding no relief he was put on Lexapro which made him entertain suicidal thoughts. He went off all meds and was ok for about 2 years then a hand injury set off a case of anxiety that has been dragging him down since January.  His anxiety seems to stem from a fear that he is incompetent at work and will  get fired and we will lose everything...this has always been the way his anxiety manifested. The "brain fog" feeds the sense of being "stupid" and then he panics and then he DOES make mistakes etc..a vicious cycle. When those errors come back to haunt him then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
 Anyhow..reading these posts and seeing others put into words what he tries to explain to me is very helpful..and I hope to get him to read and post here as well...I just wanted to thank you for being willing to put it all out there for others...I hope this forum might be like having talk therapy whenever he needs it rather then when they can schedule him....Thanks

[dirkfunk13]

Now that I understand "brain fog" I think it isn't bad at all.  It's totally normal, and healthy.  And caused by over-stress.  It is your brains way of shutting down and resting while still being awake and active.  Nothing more.  Just laugh to yourself and go with the feeling.  Seriously.  They last a few hours and then go away.  I don't know how many times I completely freaked myself out over "brain fog" for no reason at all.  Once you realize little things like this you are on the road to recovery.

I also HIGHLY reccomend the book, "From Panic to Power," by Lucinda Bassett.  Look it up on Amazon.  Life changing.

Word.   

[Tashy]

Wow its great to know that im not alone with this strange feeling. This feeling is what starts off my panic attack. And i would think i was losing my mind .
I just want to say thanks for all the advice =)

[arijones1]

To Samantha J.
Your body in diverting blood away from your extremities and placing it to major muscle groups, it is part of the fight or flight response IE anxiety, and is perfectly normal, think of it as you falling asleep on your arm, and waking with tingly feeling, same thing.
Dont worry about the symptoms, it all normal, the anxiety will be worse if you do,

[stresshead]

thankyou very much for your posts. they have helped me through times of uncertainty whether i was in immediate danger or terribly worried.  John

[shrublet]

Hi MinnieMe,

Please do not provide links to commercial sites on these forums. As stated in the community guidelines:

Please do not spam the forum or create a profile for the sole purpose of driving traffic to your site or include links in your profile, in your posts (or elsewhere) to competing sites or forums (this also includes links to commercial sites). We also ask that members post at least one meaningful subject within a reasonable period of time after creating a profile. Please do not be afraid to post. We are here to help you!.

I would have sent you a private message, however, you are not at ten posts yet. Thanks for your understanding.

[smile1973]

hi there i feel like im going through anightmare im getting severe tingling in my hands and feet has anyone else had this also my veins are really standing out i really feel im gonna die ive not slept for over a week nearly i cant cope, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Samantha j,
There are loads of sites that say tingling in the hands and feet are a very common symptom of anxiety.  I think the fear and anxiety you are feeling about tingling symptoms are worsening your anxiety - it's a viscious circle.  When I had my first attack 16 months ago it lasted for 10 days and I was so focused on the bodily sensations I was feeling that they got worse.  I phoned the doctor about 3 times a day because I was convinced I was going to die right there and then!  Finally on the 10th day I got to speak to 'an understanding doctor'.  He explained to me that anxiety breeds anxiety and explained what happens in the body.  30 minutes after putting the phone down, my 10 days of hell came to an end.  It was like because I had an explanation for what was happening, I subconciously stopped worrying about it, and when I stopped worrying, the symptoms just went.  The anxiety about the fear of it, was causing the anxiety symptoms.  When anxiety about it went, so did the symptoms.  I hope this helps.  Maybe you should pop the docs, and when you get reassurance from him/her, hopefully the viscious circle will stop.  Big hug to you x

[Phily-D]

I don't experience, except with very rare exception, any of the dizziness that others are describing here.  What I do suffer from is a constant lack of being bale to commit things to memory.  It is the single biggest problem in my life and I belive all others have stemed from it.
Because of this defficiency, I cannot accumulate knowledge.  People will be describing/explaining things to me and I find that I have already forgot the underlying idea of the discussion before they reach the end of their explination.  It is if I cannot relate "a" to "b" to get to "c" because I have already forgoten about "a" before we get to "b."
I don't know if this can be categorized as "brain fog", but if I had to come up with a term to describe my experiences with an inability to accumulate knowledge, it would seem to be a good fit.

[cmonpilgrim]

Here, here brother.

I've got the same trouble. It takes it's toll on a broad spectrum things in your life - and has really shaken up the confidence I had in my own intelligence. It's hard to keep social connections when you forget everything you learned about them, hard to complete tasks when you can't relate the beginning to the finish and hard to pursue goals without the ability to retain knowledge.

I definitely put this down to anxiety and depression rooted brain-fog, based on the timing of it's development . And yeah, it helps to have some explanation of why my brain feels like a bowl of mashed potato.

At least as you work through any anxiety and make progress, the fog should get less foggy. And you'll have a new appreciation for knowledge retention and brain clarity when things start to pass over. Even if you forget what I've written already by the time you get to this part. I almost have.. 


 

[NothingButAName]

A little bit on brain functioning...Important, please read

There are four different levels to the "mind tension" or lack of mental relaxation that we have during the day. Each level has its benefits and hindrances, they are all needed, one of the major positive side effects of being relaxed is better memory. Here is a list of the different levels of brain waves and how they work with anxiety and memory. These just refer to how fast the mind is cycling, they call it CPS or cycles per second and I’ll order it from the fastest to the lowest CPS.

Beta - beta is our natural waking state, often when we walk around and are alert we are here and have the fastest thought process, our mind goes from one thought to another and we are able to focus on the task at hand. The problem arises when the mind becomes too fast and too high into this spectrum, anxiety, insomnia, and depression can happen. You know when you feel like your mind is "racing" and you can't sleep, or that your mind is just going haywire and you're anxious? That’s because you're in the higher level of the beta spectrum, caffeine and other “alertness” chemicals can increase these side effects by increasing the rate at which your mind cycles.

Alpha - alpha state is a bit slower and a more relaxed brain wave pattern than beta. This is when we are daydreaming and pretty involved in it, when we take a jog sometimes, or just go out and drive around just to clear our mind this state is activated. Doing whatever relaxes us or consciously willing it to happen activates this brainwave pattern. Sometimes poetry helps this along or looking at art because basically the more creative your mind becomes and the less logical it becomes the closer to sleep you go (you relax). This state is traveled through on your way to sleeping at night...if you cannot slow your mind down and stop being so logical you will not go to sleep. Also insight and increased memory flows from this state of mind, have you ever had a flash of inspiration and an AHA moment happen when you're doing something mundane and feel relatively relaxed?

Theta - this is the state right before sleep which is most in touch with your subconscious mind. Right before you fall asleep there is a small moment where the visuals in your mind start getting mixed with reality...you start believing that you are somewhere else rather than in bed. Basically the logical functions of the brain are starting to shut down at this point and you're ready to believe your creative thoughts. Intuition is greatly increased at this level and once you can maintain this state at will and create imagery (the predominate language of the subconscious mind) you can basically recreate your life as you see fit. Hypnosis tries to work on this principle

Delta - at the peak of this level we have dreams at night. After we go deeper though our dreams are either not able to be remembered or they are simply not there.

Meditation helps to train the mind to find a more relaxed state of common, rather than high levels of awareness which creates forgetfulness and anxiety. Hope this was helpful guys, I’ve got a question to ask of some of you though but I’d rather do it in pm than anything else so pm me if ya can.

Thanks,
Aaron

[MDPhDgirl]

Hi guys, I haven't read the article yet but am really excited to do so also. I'm new here - I'm actually an MD trying to come to terms with having a diagnosis of anxiety, and am still in denial somewhat. My symptoms started the same way - the world just started to tilt one day, and now all of my attacks start that way. If you look up a chapter on "dizziness", you will find a whole list of problems that can cause dizziness - middle and inner ear infections, excess fluid in the inner ear, crud in your semicircular canals, inflammation of the vestibular nerve, etc, etc. I actually went out and just bought some motion sickness tablets two days ago and am taking one half a tablet in the morning, and so far haven't had any spinning sensations this weekend!!! Yay!!! Am going back to the Psychiatrist this week for a better drug for the anxiety, but wanted to let you guys know that regular OTC motion sickness tablets are also used in medicine for dizziness.....
Hugs to you all, so happy to have found this site!

P.s. I just read the article on page 3 about Naloxone. I have to tell you that in medical school I learned about low-dose Naltrexone treatment for women with ovulation problems, multiple sclerosis, and other ailments. Naltrexone is very similar to Naloxone, and very very small doses of it taken at night over a period of about 6 months are supposed to boost your body's own production of endorphins. You wake up the next day feeling wonderful. I don't want to endorse it though - it's a fairly new, controversial treatment. One of the family med physicians with whom I worked was traveling around the country promoting it. It personally made me feel great but significantly cut down my hours of deep sleep - so I felt wonderful, but I was getting sleep deprived. I stopped taking it. Also, if you mistakenly overdose, you can give yourself cardiac arrhythmias (ie. flirt with death)!!! Just wanted to add some info for those interested.

[Yellow_ball]

goose, [bgcolor=#ff0900]this was the symptom that started it for me[/bgcolor], i completely blame every symptom i ever had on this one symptom.

it was the worst by far, and the most disturbing. I also tried emailing that doctor but never got a reply.
but i agree with you that site is great for information on brain fog.

My troubles started when I was around 25 years old (I'm 53 now...!). I remeber that I was driving back from seeing my father, who was very ill as he had just had a stroke. I did have a lot of personal problems at the time, Marriage and money preoblems among others!!! Anyway, as I was saying, I was driving back, it was at night and I just turned my head to look out of the side window and it seemed like the whole world suddenly tilted and I felt a wave of diziness!! The feeling really shook me up as I had never felt anything like it before. Well, that was the start of everything for me...

Wow, thats amazing because that's what started the anxiety and things for me too. I was hanging out with a friend and we went to go check out some cars at a dealership and I got out of the car and immediately I felt as though the whole ground was tilted one way and I asked my friend if he felt it too and he kind of just laughed and said no. After that I have just felt so on edge and anxiety all the time. I started thinking I had a brain tumor and such because my mother just recently went for an operation for a brain tumor and I was freaking out trying to read up on what I had. The more I read the worse the anxiety was. The brain fog just feels like your in a dream all the time, and it's like your out of body just looking around and it feels as if your on auto pilot or something. Some days can be really good as far as the brain fog, sometimes its just there a tiny bit and I feel great. Other times I just can't do anything, and it makes me have panic attacks and think I'm going to die.

I also get really fatigued and my arms and legs feel like they are a million pounds and I feel dizzy and like I'm not able to get around without trouble.It's so awesome to hear that people have felt the same thing as me. Have you been tested and stuff? I got an CAT scan and a MRI and everything came back normal, and even blood tests and nothing.

I can't even go to the mall without feeling the brain fog, and I just walk around in a daze not feeling as if I'm even there. Like if someone comes up to me and talks to me it's like it takes a couple seconds to kind of react and talk to them ... but you feel as if your like a retard talking back.

PLEASE! If you know how to make this better or control it let me know. This would make my life alot better as it's very hard to go about my day to day routine feeling like this.

Oh My God. That is it. The same thing for me. And it is eating me from inside. Sometimes I feel like I can't deal with it any more. That is it, finally I feel like I am not alone any more.