Managing Brain Fog

[Londonlupie]

Hi everyone, happy Monday!

I know for a lot of us SLE folk Mondays can be particularly challenging as the week resets, so just sending positivity out to all. Take care of yourselves!

Mondays for me usually mean battling with some severe brain fog as I sit down to work at 9am. I've had a bumpy couple of weeks anyway, so it's no surprise that this morning I feel like my life is in a haze, but I wondered how everyone tends to deal with their brain fog day-to-day?

I try to stay extra hydrated, take schisandra, Korean ginseng, and B-vitamin complex, but as usual nothing seems to take effect. I did previously try exercising in the mornings, but unfortunately that can make me crash and can intensify the fogginess.

Stay well everybody!

Alex

[Roarah]

I find that getting a consistent eight hours of sleep, eating 40g of fiber per day( most of which is in my big bowl of all bran) , a thirty minute brisk walk and practicing mindful meditation daily has eliminated brain fog for me. In my 40s I had a severe stroke and had severe aphasia and cognitive deficits but after two years of this consistent routine my cognitive testing has improved greatly and I feel so clear and focused and healthy now. Even better than before the stroke.

Hope your Monday was a nice one. I have a snow day in the States so the school I work in is closed today and most likely tomorrow as well so my Monday is postponed until Weds.

[Londonlupie in reply to Roarah]

Thank you Roarah, this is really reassuring and helpful. I do try to stay active within my limits, but unfortunately I live on a very busy road in London with a high Covid rate, so trying not to go out much right now for walks. Hopefully by the spring things improve as it certainly does help shake off the morning stiffness and brain fog! Hope you enjoy your Monday off

[Roarah in reply to Londonlupie]

I live in a nyc commuter town in Connecticut where we were hit hard in the early days and again after Thanksgiving. Our school has remained open for in person learning since September so I am exposed daily so still walk outside in my mask most days but last week saw temps in below -9f ( that is roughly -23c ) so I use a mini trampoline for thirty minutes instead of walking outside. Today shoveling up to 18 inches of snow will be my exercise, lol.

Try just light exercise in the house or even put on a few songs and dance for a few minutes every day. My dad has Alzheimer’s and light exercise has stalled his progression greatly. We need to keep blood pumping to our heads to avoid cognitive decline. Daily exercise is proven to prevent dementia which really is just advanced brain fog.

[Amakura]

Hi there

Brain fog is the bane of my life, since being diagnosed with Lupus!

I've recently started mindfulness and yin yoga after my other methods of doing strenuous exercise and trying to push through it, brought about unwanted outcomes. In other words, it just invited my other symptoms to gatecrash the party. So far, so good, with the mindfulness and yin yoga but overall, I would say not to fight it but to work with it, so to speak and eventually, it disappears temporarily. It's an ongoing process, for now.

By the way, during the recent blood test webinar with Lupus UK, it seems there might be a possibility - not sure as it was offered as an option for a future webinar subject - for brain fog to be featured. So, I would keep an eye out for any announcements.

You also might find either the insight timer app helpful or any alternative mindfulness apps. For yin yoga, I started with Travis Elliot via YouTube and progressed onto his online tutorials, which attracts a monthly subscription, by the way. Another yoga practitioner via YouTube is also Yoga with Adrienne - also, a great starting point for beginners as well.

Good luck and just know, you're not alone.

[svfarmer]

Happy Monday and sorry to hear of your brain 🧠 fog - I too suffer and quite often if I converse with anyone I suddenly can’t remember what I was just talking about or I can’t think of the right word - makes me feel like a real idiot and find it quite embarrassing 🙈- so far I haven’t found a solution but know that it’s worse when I’m tired 😴 xx

[Jamaica21 in reply to svfarmer]

Omg this is me. Today I was in a meeting via Microsoft teams with a patient and lost my train of thought. This is happening often now and repeating myself 🥵

[svfarmer in reply to Jamaica21]

It’s horrible isn’t it x

[Allydee]

I've been on a health kick since 2nd Jan - reduced calories and carbs and eating mainly mediterranean food (I was given a Lupus cookbook for Christmas). I have also (as a minimum) gone out for a walk each day and increased it when I've had the energy to do so. The area where I live does not have many 'pretty' areas to walk but a really funky playlist makes all the difference! I've lost 11 pounds (I'd put on two stone with Lupus/lockdowns) and my main reason to do so is painful knees...rheumy said weight loss was my only option other than going on more drugs. What I have found is that my concentration levels at work have also substantially imporved - so that even on an 'off day' like yesterday, when I was very tired physically and just wanted to sleep - I still managed to get some good stuff done. Not necessarily easier to stay at work all day (fortunately I'm working from home which helps) but I don't get so frustrated and helpless?? It also seems to have helped my stress and anxiety levels. I was eating all the wrong stuff all of the time to make me feel better or to perk my up on the bad days, but all it was doing was exasperating the symptoms. I guess it's about making changes until you see what works for you? I'm certainly going to continue as even if I don't lose much more weight the mental benefits have been worth it. I'd hoped that the complete revamp would have elimnated Lupus symptoms completely - for some reason, I still believe that will magically happen and very annoyed when I have bad days!). However, it has definitely helped. Hope you find an improvement x

[Meg52]

The March Seminar is about Brain fog. Paul says it was the most requested topic.