posted
So I've heard this term thrown around a lot, but can someone explain to me what it feels like?
Posts: 81 | From Central PA | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
It feels like you are super tired and very difficult to think, in a way that does not compare to anything else because it is just so much worse. I've had life time insomnia and gone very long periods of time without sleeping and that feeling has got nothing on the feeling Lyme brain fog gives you. It is very clear what others mean by the term the very first time it happens to you.
Posts: 526 | From NJ | Registered: May 2007
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lymeHerx001
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6215
posted
kinda like a hangover.
Your vision is not clear. Your thoughts are not clear. Your thoughts are not clear Your thoughts are not clear.
Did I repeat myself?
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
I used to write easily and well. It now takes me 1/2hr to put together two simple paragraphs that make sense. I can't think on the fly, or make sense of complicated instructions.
I forget everything. Who I talked to, what I did, what I said, the name of common objects, how to spell words I've known for 30 yrs, ect.
I would be SOL if I had to go back into the professional workforce. I really think I may understand what Altzheimer (sp?) patients must be going through in the early stages.
I want my brain back!
-------------------- When you reach your "wits-end" remember this: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27 Posts: 397 | From Loudoun County Virginia | Registered: Mar 2007
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JimBoB
Unregistered
posted
quote:Originally posted by lymeHerx001: kinda like a hangover.
Your vision is not clear. Your thoughts are not clear. Your thoughts are not clear Your thoughts are not clear.
Did I repeat myself?
##
I don't know, did you? It wasn't all that clear to me.
Kidding aside, it is not real funny when you have it. It is downright scarey.
When I was on the road hauling old cars two years ago, I would go into a gas station and could not find my way back to the interstate, MANY times a trip. It was frustrating, annoying, and like I said Scarey.
HERBS help a lot. Now my brain is pretty clear, MOST of the time. Once in awhile have a relapse, especially when trying some new medicine, that I probably shouldn't be taking.
LisaS
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10581
posted
What herbs helped you Jim? Nothing so far is helping me with brain fog.
I get lost while driving. And sometimes people will be talking to me and all I can do is stare straight ahead. I can't talk or respond or even understand all that is being said.
It is like waking up from anesthesia all day long...
CaliforniaLyme
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 7136
posted
For me it was clouded thinking that progressd unfortunately into incipient true dementia. I could not hold memory. I began with word finding problems and inability to concentrate- then it began to be getting lost- and before that actually I kept losing my CAR and would wander around parking lots, up and down the aisles- then I could not cook because I could not remember what was on and what was off- then I could not get things- could not rememebr to get JUICE for my kid from the time it took ehr to ASK me to the time I got to the FRIDGE-
CONFABULATION began then when I would try & fill in the blanks but getit wrong- find myself in kitchen,
why am i here why why why
oh i must have been on way to laundry room- go change laundry go back livingroom
kid asks JUICE MAMA JUICE?
darnit juice juice!!!
return to kitchen
why am i here?
over & over
then one day, terrible day,
WHAT is her NAME?> spent so long TRYING to remember my two year olds NAME- could NOT remember- I KNEW she was MY kid- I KNEW that- but what was her name>?? I tried to remember for almost an hour- it was so scary- and it felt like she KNEW that I had forgotten- finally- like we were practicing social skills I asked her, "what's your name?" and she told ME. Evan. her name is Evan.
Thank god for IV RocephiN!!! THANK GOD!!!
once I served a meal with uncooked meat and burned green beans. Put the rawmeat on the table and the burnt green beans. my husband said that was when he began thinking about a tertiary care facility!!!!
(glad I got rid of HIM!)
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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CaliforniaLyme
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 7136
posted
p.s. and I mean burnt to a black crisp!!!
p.s.s. I also began htinking things WRONG like I had to stop driving because I got dangerous. I began stopping at green lights and people would HONK and yell and I would be like, 'WHAT? the light is GREEN!!" all of a sudden red and green were backwards with meaning in my mind. I ran red lights and stopped at green and didn't undertsand why the world was driving badly until I had another grown-up in the car who explained to me that green= go and red=stop and I went OH S)*!&. Somehow it seemed RIGHT that green was stop!!! So no more driving - no more cooking- could barely walk then anyway so... lif became so small-
p.p.p.s. But don't worry most people brain fog is a constant chronic thing not progressive and leading to dementia- I am tertiary-
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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Foggy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1584
2. A pressure like sensation in the head with a tight forehead and/squeezing sensation that drives me nuts. 1 & 2 always go hand in hand.
Posts: 2451 | From Lyme Central | Registered: Aug 2001
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CaliforniaLyme
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 7136
posted
p.s. I should mention here that after IV Rocephin I had this faint brain fogginess left that went away with MEPRON!!! It was Babs!!!! I thought it was residual Lyme but it was Babs_! So for me progressive encephalopathy/dementia was Lyme and brain fog was Babs-
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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Boomerang
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7979
posted
I am still trying to figure out the Babs thing. Hubby has the brain fog, just like you guys describe, down to a T. With the head pressure and everything.
His words are "backwards" or something. I can't describe it right, but his words just don't work right. He thinks he is saying the right thing, but he isn't.
But Babs is night sweats and stuff, and he doesn't have that. He doesn't fit the classic Babs symptoms.
I dunno......
Posts: 1366 | From Southeast | Registered: Sep 2005
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When I zone out it feels similar to a concussion without the pounding headache.
My wife noticed it this weekend, when I took her out to dinner and I became disorentiated getting out of the parking lot.
I had a 50% chance of choosing correctly- of course I went the wrong way.
She drove the rest of the way home fussing at me, since this was the first time she had seen me spaced out.
It may happen anytime or any place.
I hope that starting my antibiotics last week brought it more to the surface.
I woke up the next day with plenty of energy, clear headed, and with only slight joint pain.
I drive @100 miles a day to and from work.
Due to gas prices and because I enjoy it soo much I often ride my Harley.
Lately it has stayed in the garage since I just don't feel right, not quite dizzy but just off.
I hope that in the future significant research will advance our plight and allow us the ability to enjoy our lives once again. Take Care, Ken
-------------------- "We can easily forgive a child whom is frightened of the dark: the real tragedy is when men are afraid of the light." Plato Posts: 37 | From OuterBanks NC | Registered: Apr 2007
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sixgoofykids
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11141
posted
quote:Originally posted by LisaS: And sometimes people will be talking to me and all I can do is stare straight ahead. I can't talk or respond or even understand all that is being said.
I get this, too. It's like the person who's talking to me is really in a movie, it's like they're not real and I'm not supposed to respond.
When I do that, my kids really simplify what they're asking down to the very basics so I can understand.
Once I was at the grocery ... you know how you have a list, yet at the same time you are thinking about other things you need? Well, I got so disoriented that I had to call my husband. He immediately could tell what was wrong without my explaining ... he asked simple things like, where are you?
He told me to get what was on the list, don't worry about anything else, then go home. When I got home I could call him and tell him what else I needed and he'd buy it. For a long time after that I always took a kid with me to the grocery.
I have babs and am on Mepron. I don't have this happen as often.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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posted
I think everybody has their own interpreteation for brain fog. For me its a disconnected drugged or drunk type feeling. Similar to that or derealization or depersonalization where you feel disconnected to the world. I also have memory problems and difficulty finding words etc and i guess they add to the brain fog.
Beverly
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 1271
posted
Hi PBizzle,
The worst brain fog I had was from Babesia, I felt as if I was losing my mind. I could not remember that the pan in the oven was hot and grabbed it with my bare hand.
I didn't remember what the silverware was for in the drawer. I could not remember to look at my answering machine. I had speech problems, word finding problems, and horrible mental confusion.
I would repeat myself over and over, and had instant memory problems. I got lost while driving. Basically everything that Sara said, she said it very well! The one thing that helped clear me of this was treatment for Babesia.
Boomerang
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7979
posted
Wow, Beverly.
It is truly frightening how much what you are describing sounds like Alzheimer's.....
Posts: 1366 | From Southeast | Registered: Sep 2005
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Beverly
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 1271
posted
Yeah it truly is Boomerang.
Posts: 6641 | From Michigan | Registered: Jun 2001
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