I’m all over the place this week, and mentally, I’m having a hard time getting my brain to settle. For whatever reason, the Fibro fog has been thick the last couple of days, and trying to express a coherent thought is like trying to communicate through a big ass cotton ball covering my head.
The worst part is…I’m a writer. I write for a living. I write for pleasure. I write when I’m happy. I write when I’m sad. I write when I have something to say, and I write just for the sake of putting ideas on paper.
I write.
And to write means, you need to remember some basic words. Losing words is like cutting off an arm for me, and I’m not talking big words. These are not the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious of words I’m struggling with.
Nope.
It’s your everyday words like File. Bacon. Gloves. Truck.
Sounds impossible, right? An exaggeration?
Well, it’s not. Just this week, I was telling Roy, “I had to go to… ahhh… to… ahhh…”
“Walmart,” he supplied.
Yep. I couldn’t produce the word for the store I went to three times. And why did I have to hit up Walmart three times? Because every time I went, I forgot to get multiple items on my grocery list for the couples’ snowmobile weekend.
THREE. FREAKING. TIMES. IN THREE FREAKING DAYS!
Not only did I forget to purchase items on my list, I forgot I had a list, and to add insult to injury, I was unable to express my frustration in simple words.
Of all the symptoms associated with Fibromyalgia, cognitive dysfunction is the hardest pill for me to swallow.
- Memory loss.
- Inability to concentrate.
- Becoming easily distracted.
- Confusion.
- Forgetfulness.
- Misplacing objects.
- Difficulty carrying on a conversation.
- Inability to retain new information.
- Struggling with tasks done a thousand times.
There are times the cognitive difficulties – or brain drain – I suffer, impacts my day-to-day life more than the physical pain associated with my conditions.
Walking into my boss’s office and forgetting why I’m there. Stopping mid-conversation because I can’t remember what point I was trying to make. Thinking of a creative idea or a great line and losing it before I can write it down. Reminding myself, I have an appointment scheduled and forgetting it five minutes later.
None of these seem like a big deal on their own, but add one brain fail on top of the other, day-after-day, and it feels like you’re constantly swimming upstream in a river of molasses with floaties tied to your ankles.
So I did some research. What I learned is not good news. While “fibro fog” or “brain fog” is a common complaint among people with Fibromyalgia, the cause is not fully understood. Furthermore, it’s not a symptom that gets much attention from the medical and research community.
Fucking great.
What I did find were a lot of suggestions, most of them common sense, that can be applied to combat brain fog.
- Avoid caffeine (causes sleep disturbances).
- Use a planner (great when you can remember to use it).
- Organize your space (cuts down on squirrel distractions).
- Eat healthy foods (well duh).
- Take your medication on time (super important to avoid brain buzz when taking SSRIs).
- Reduce your stress (easier said than done).
- Exercise regularly (no surprise there).
- Establish routines (impossible to do on a couples weekend).
- Avoid multi-tasking (HA! Can someone tell Roy I can’t cook and clean at the same time).
- Breathe deeply (sure, when it doesn’t hurt your chest).
- Get better sleep (uhh, people with Fibro rarely get sleep, never mind better sleep).
My Simple Strategy for Combating Brain Fog
STOP what you’re doing.
- Trying to sew a dress and can’t figure out how to thread the needle? Put it aside and walk away.
- Burnt the cookies because you forgot to put the oven timer on? Throw them in the garbage and walk away.
- Reading the same paragraph over and over? Shut the sexy romance book and walk away.
- Basically, go for a walk. Or a bath. Or a nap. Anything that requires little to no brain cell usage.
- Repeat as often as required.
Giving advice is so much easier than taking it, but I’m going to take my own now. This blog was a bitch to write, it’s taken me six days, so I’m walking away. I’m going to hop in the hot tub and then take a nap.
Hopefully, a few of these rambling words resonate with others, and if not…well, I tried!
Until the next blog – peace out pain sufferers.
Current pain level 5/10.
Jeepers, this all resonates! ❤️ Keep on keeping on.hard some days , I get that!
Good advice: “Stop and walk away.” 👍
I thought not knowing how to use my sewing machine was just I don’t know what I thought but holy fuck! I did do that today while sewing I just couldn’t get my brain around doing something very simple so I came up stairs and cooked. But thought I took out six pork chops but no I took out twelve. Can’t win! Thanks Edith your blog sure helps.
P,S, before my children say something about my language it’s a bad week!
Your last comment about sewing inspired me! Bad weeks happen, and if having to cook 12 pork chops doesn’t qualify for an F-bomb, I don’t know what does!
I really don’t know what I have, I think maybe it’s better not to have a diagnosis in my case, but reading your experience made me be more forgiving of myself about forgetting things today and not being able to make a decision when the details of a task changed and I had to decide on something new. I felt really foolish because I had immediately forgotten something after I was asked to get it while I was at the store. I felt kind of defective. But looking back, I think it’s just a symptom.
Thanks for sharing, Katrina! Glad we are able to connect and find some common ground. I’m also hard on myself when it comes to the cognitive difficulties associated with my conditions. I think acknowledging them is half the battle when it comes to giving ourselves a pass on the blame game!
Of all the symptoms, I think I just realized this, this is the one that actually bothers me the most because of what it does to self…🥺😥
Agreed. I’m known for being super organized and on the ball at work, so when I’m not, I feel like I’m not contributing the way I should be.
My trick…..I simply don’t plan or expect myself to remember anything….my phone has become my memory. I got in the habit of writing everything I need to remember on the phone (which I rarely forget to bring with me….but sometimes do forget at home). Since its a habit now, I don’t even need to remember to check it while at the store…I just do.
Why are our brains so useless…..well for many many reasons. Our brain is busy using up its resources just to cope with the pain. Add to that, the fatigue from not sleeping. Add to that any medication side-effects (some medications make us drowsy/dopey, others like benzodiazepines taken for anxiety/sleep simply wipe out short term memory). Add to that the negative impact of mood (depression/anxiety). Our gas tank (cognitive reserves) is empty and we’re running on fumes. We are in constant cognitive overload – so I think we can be forgiven for forgetting to buy the key ingredient (pasta) in the dinner (maple curry pasta) we’d plan to make last night.
Thanks so much for this, Diane! I honestly didn’t even think about medication side-affects and their effects on memory and energy levels!
This is so true, and one of the reasons I dislike SSRIs so much. For me it was like taking a stupid pill daily!
Appreciate this post. Let me try it out.
Good Luck!
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