Do you have brain fog?
- Do you feel as if you used to be much smarter than you are now?
- Do you keep forgetting things?
- Do you have trouble following book plots, TV shows, and conversations?
- Do you have trouble holding on to more than one or two thoughts at the same time?
- Do you find it difficult to learn anything new?
- Do you feel as if your IQ varies by the day?
- Do you feel spacey and out-of-it?
- Do you feel as if your brain is fuzzy or foggy? This can feel almost literally so, and is sometimes likened to peering through fog, so the name brain fog is an apt one.
If any of these ring true for you, you probably have brain fog. Brain fog is a symptom rather than a disease. It often accompanies chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity, hypoglycemia, yeast overgrowth, and a number of other conditions.
What are some of the causes of brain fog?
There are many possible causes of brain fog, and taking care of the problem and reducing the brain fog depends on identifying and addressing the cause or causes.
Inability to concentrate and mental confusion can be caused by a biotoxin such as from mold. The cognitive effects of mold exposure can be so severe that those affected are sometimes misdiagnosed as having Alzheimer’s disease. A related condition, an overgrowth of yeast or other parasites, is a common cause of brain fog.
Dental work is a common cause of brain fog. Mercury, the main component of metal fillings, is a major player. In addition to its direct nervous system toxicity, mercury blocks magnesium and manganese transport required for memory, resulting in lowered ability to concentrate. Another dental cause is dental infection such as is found with root canal procedures and periodontal disease. If you have more than one kind of metal in your mouth, you could have what is in effect a battery, putting out electrical charges that can interfere with the brain’s electrical charges. If you sometimes feel like your brain is shorting out, you might be more accurate than you think.
Blood sugar swings such as those in hypoglycemia, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes can cause brain fog. Someone with diabetes, who well knows when to take insulin or glucose to prevent problems, might find himself or herself unable to figure it out when under the influence of diabetes-related brain fog.
Chemical toxicity is a major cause of brain fog, whether it’s an acute exposure, or an ongoing low-level exposure, or due to an unusually high chemical sensitivity. Fatigue, brain fog, and forgetfulness are some of the most common symptoms of pesticide exposure. Formaldehyde, found in many places from cabinets to carpets, and the artificial sweetener aspartame have been linked to brain fog. Chemicals can cause meningeal contractions, which can reduce blood flow and thus oxygen to the brain.
Chemical sensitivity is a common cause of brain fog. The degree of brain fog correlates with exposure. An acute chemical reaction experienced by some people is instant brain fog – you can forget where you are in mid-conversation, or be unable to figure out how to avoid continued exposure when the solution is obvious to your non-brain-fogged self.
Allergy or sensitivity to foods and other substances can contribute significantly to fatigue. The commonly experienced mid-afternoon fatigue and inability to focus on your work might well be due to what you ate at lunch.
Stress can cause brain fog, since you’re on overload and can’t seem to handle another thing, including lining up your thoughts and remembering what you need to remember. Stress can be emotional in origin, caused by chemicals or allergies, or caused by other illnesses. Some illnesses such as hypothyroidism have brain fog as a major symptom.
Structural problems, especially in the neck, can reduce blood flow and oxygen to the brain, leading to unclear thinking.
A person with fatigue or brain fog who also tends to have low blood pressure (BP) might find, if regular blood pressure measurements are correlated with energy or mental clarity, that the lowest BP measurements correlate with fatigue and confusion. If this is the case for you, this provides a valuable direction in which to focus attention in the healing process.
A deficiency of salt or other minerals can contribute to low blood pressure and its resultant symptoms. supplementation with Kona Gold (Integris) or taking 1½ level teaspoons per day of mineral salt in water or on food can help if your low blood pressure is salt-sensitive.
People who fly or climb to high altitudes without supplemental oxygen often experience muddled thinking, not surprising considering the brain’s huge need for oxygen, and less energy. On a daily level, getting less than the optimum amount of oxygen can lead to brain fog and lowered energy. Toxins and allergies can cause red blood cells to clump up, lowering their ability to transport oxygen. The end results, fatigue and brain fog, are due to oxygen starvation of the organs and tissues.
Senior moments – the momentary forgetting of words or thoughts as you get older – might be as much from an accumulation of toxins and inflammation as from aging itself. You may well feel as if you’re getting senile. But here’s the good news about that: unlike aging, toxic accumulation can be reversed, along with the associated brain fog symptoms.
Hormones play a part. Women may notice that their thinking is at its foggiest just before their periods, clearing markedly by day 4. The water retention that commonly occurs just before the bleeding starts also affects the brain, causing brain swelling.
Many medications, including those that are, shall we say, self-prescribed such as alcohol and marijuana, can cause brain fog. In the case of alcohol and marijuana, that can actually be a desired effect, but long-term use of these substances can lead to semi-permanent impairment in thinking and memory even when clear thinking is later desired.
Mineral deficiencies such as of potassium can contribute to brain fog. Actually, any nutritional deficiency can muddy the thinking process. Dehydration can cause confusion and disorientation.
What can be done for brain fog?
Since brain fog is a symptom rather than an actual illness, treatment involves identifying and addressing the cause or causes of your particular case of brain fog. Detective work such as that done by CAM practitioners can help get to what is actually going on. A detoxification diet can uncover food-related causes. There are protocols that can help detoxify chemicals if that’s what you need, or to treat yeast and parasites.
For more information
Brain fog, which often accompanies chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and chemical sensitivity, is discussed in the book Ending Fatigue, Pain, and Reactivity, by Dr. Andrea S. Dworkin and Dr. Bill Kellas. This book is available at CAM and through this website.
