Brain Fog

Having Fibromyalgia brain fog is almost as debilitating or even more debilitating as the constant pain and chronic fatigue. It is so difficult to describe what it feels like. Brain fog, chronic fatigue and strong pain medication together is a nightmare cocktail, it is like a “Cement Mixer” cocktail,  Bailey’s and lime juice mixed together which makes the Bailey’s curdle. That Bailey’s and lime juice is just like my brain – Curdled!

These are a list of symptoms associated with brain fog:

• Short-term memory loss
• Misplacing objects
• Becoming easily distracted
• Forgetting plans
• Difficulty carrying on conversations
• Inability to remember new information

My own description of it is that my brain feels like it’s in a knot and it can’t function properly. It is awful, embarrassing and frustrating. People generally don’t understand it as it is something that they have never experienced before. Some days I can hardly put one foot in front of the other. I used to be as sharp as a tack but now I feel like I have complete memory loss at times. I am terrible at remembering people’s names. I forget complete conversations, I struggle to remember simple instructions at Roller Derby, and I constantly forget to take my medication in the morning, afternoon and at night even though the pain should remind me to take my next dose of medication. Halfway through a conversation, I can forget what I am talking about or not be able to find the right words mid-sentence. Sometimes if I am doing a job and I think I may have forgotten something I have to go right back to the start and redo the whole thing again to make sure it is right, I might have to redo it 3/4 times until I get it correct.

I have to put reminders on my phone, on the computer, calendar, diary and I also put post-it notes around the house for everything or I will forget things I am supposed to do. The only problem is that I forget to check my diary and my calendar. So certain things do get forgotten/missed which is completely unintentional. I do my very best to write everything down so I don’t miss anything.

I am even finding writing this blog quite difficult as my brain just isn’t functioning as it should. It’s like part of my brain has got up and left even though my body is active. It scares me, I am worried that my brain function may stay like this forever. But each day is a new day and who knows what lies ahead.