Brain fog

[Elizabethtracy]

Can anyone tell me how brain fog affects them I know what the dictionary says but would like other people with ataxia tell me how it affects them.

[wobblybee]

Brain fog...makes me feel apathetic.its being in a cloudy bubble. . I lose interest and can’t concentrate. For me, it can last a few hours, or sometimes go on for days, and I just rest and zone out till it passes. Luckily I don’t have a job where I need to function mentally..and there's no predicting when it could descend..its’s just a case of fingers crossed if an event/outing is planned.🙂 But it does lift, and it’s as though it never happened

[Elizabethtracy in reply to wobblybee]

Thank you yours are a lot worse than mine I just forgot how to spell simple words and names of somethings

[wobblybee in reply to Elizabethtracy]

🙂 It can vary for most people...and words often evade me too

[MaryRH]

It’s helpful to hear fromwobblybee isn’t it?! Brain fog makes me feel tired and depressed, though I find it significantly easier now that I recognise it’s part and parcel of ataxia, so I know it will pass and I need to go easy on myself until it does. I become forgetful (and that’s what use to really frighten me), unable struggling to finish sentences, my vision becomes particularly unstable and I’m generally much more clumsy. A few years ago I recognised the feeling but thought I should just pull myself together so went out in the car. On a significant A road I couldn’t remember how to cancel my indicators and it terrified me (I had to pull over, pray, breathe before I remembered). I felt like I’d forgotten how to drive. So I don’t take the car out now if it descends, and I tell my husband what’s going on in my head knowing that I don’t need to feel embarrassed but also that he’ll support me and not treat me like a child as a result (this has taken time as you can probably tell!) all the best

[Elizabethtracy in reply to MaryRH]

Thank you for your reply I also cannot finish sentence sometimes also if someone says I don't answer its in my head but doesn't come out or I don't know what to say its as if my brain doesn't work quick enough or is it because of my speech I don't know ataxia has a lot to answer too

[penelope2]

Well I had brain fog for so long, years, that I didn't realise I had it. Went gluten free when someone told me about neurological conditions often are helped with GF.The effect was dramatic!

Brain fog was for me feeling 'spaced out' all the time, not able to concentrate on task on hand, not being able to focus mentally on what I was doing or where I was, low in mood, a feeling of being absent and not there, so really 24/7.

These feelings started to lift within a couple of days of GF.

So why not try GF, you have to do it 100 per cent though, it might help ataxia but this will take months and it is not easy to stick to.

But brain fog can lift quite quickly, maybe days.

A word of warning, the GF food on shelves can be highly processed though and not particularly healthy.

Best wishes.

[Elizabethtracy in reply to penelope2]

Thanks for your reply I have thought about gluten and have tried to talk to my partner who does all the cooking (I don't like cooking and the odd times I do use thr oven always seem to burn myself) I didn't push it as he already does a lot for me but I will look in to again