M.E. symptoms explained Cognitive dysfunction - Brain fog

 One of the most embarrassing and disabling symptoms of M.E. is what we commonly call Brain fog, known in medical terms as cognitive dysfunction.

Ive cheated for this as copying and pasting from the ME associations website( in red) - as suffering from brain fog right now!  This explains it well.

Often referred to as ‘brain fog’ by people with ME/CFS, cognitive dysfunction is how doctors refer to problems with normal mental functioning – concentration and short-term (working) memory in particular.

It’s a worrying and often very frustrating part of having ME/ CFS. The symptoms can fluctuate and vary from mild to severe. The cause remains uncertain and there is no effective form of drug treatment available – although self-help coping strategies can be helpful.

What is cognitive dysfunction

Typical symptoms include:

• Short-term memory lapses
• Difficulty in concentrating or sustaining attention
• Difficulty with processing incoming information and retrieving stored information
• Trouble finding the right word, remembering or mixing up commonly used words
• Problems with carrying out everyday tasks that involve any form of sustained mental activity

Problems with short-term memory and poor concentration inevitably lead to other cognitive difficulties.

“In practice, cognitive dysfunction means that people with ME/CFS experience problems with a wide range of tasks that relate to normal and effective mental functioning. In particular, they experience significant difficulties with short-term memory, the learning and processing of new information, and the ability to concentrate for more than short periods of time.” Please follow the link here for a lot more on this symptom and how it affects people with M.E. MEA Cognitive dysfunction Brain fog has been an extremely prominent symptom for me, even worse than usual recently. Tasks like creating this blog need breaking down over days or weeks and enlisting help from others at times. I would normally then do spell checks and double check what I have written for errors but I have decided not to do this anymore - so people can see exactly how it is affecting me at any one time.  How it is affecting my life - I am constantly forgetting things - not just words but actual events or memories. Apparently I have discussed something I brought up with my partner this week 3 times in the past and I have no recollection of discussing it despite him trying to prompt memories - I simply can not recall, I find this quite upsetting some times but try not to let it bother me. Practically it can be dangerous or have an impact on my life - I left my bank card at my local shop, I have left doors unlocked at home, forgotten the cooker or my heat pad is switched on, attempted crossing a road thinking it is safe when it is not ( my daughter has pulled me to safety many times). I cannot remember if or when I have taken medication - so use a dosing box - but frequently cannot recall what time I took pain relief - I make a note when its bad. Sometimes it can make me feel disorientated and affect me visual or spatially - I can be clumsy often. Brain fog can affect our attention span, ability to concentrate, understanding things, working things out, and making decisions - the amount of time I struggle to make a decision simply because I struggle to think of the  issues surrounding etc I have lost count. I did not even know my decision making was affected by the brain fog until recently. We learning more about M.E. and its effects all the time - and forgetting bits of it all the time too 😁 Often doing too much physically or mentally, or even stress and bring on brain fog or worsen it. Another symptom that also affects our thinking is background noise/light and activity. For example sometimes when I have brain fog I cannot follow a simple conversation with one person when there is background noise such as Tv, other people chatting, music, lights flashing etc. It is why I avoid noisy environments a lot of the time or if I am out to see a band occassionally I will not chat to people much because I simply cant at times.  The effects of all this can leave people feeling quite vulnerable. Note it took me 4 sessions to write this slowly because of brain fog - having to lie down after one session. I also started to write a whole new version 3 months later - completely forgetting I had written this one and saved it as a draft ready to check it over! So this demonstrates how badly my memory is affected.