Brain Fog

[txplowgirl]

No kidding! Should you have been behind the wheel?!

Other than forgeting where I was I was fine. I just had to set there for a few minutes until my brain focused on where I was going. Lol, I went to the dr after I had several of these episodes with the fork, tv remote and the directions. I really thought I was having symptoms of alzheimers. The dr listened to me and asked if I had heart palpatations and a tightness in my chest. I said yes. He tells me I was having anxiety attacks! I looked at him and I came back with" you'ld have anxiety too if you forgot these things!" He wouldn't run tests or anything. Grrr, growl, grrrr. But I remember being real dizzy just before these episodes and feeling kinda spacey. Anyway, and I can remember walking into walls and/or doors or setting there and kinda spaceing out like I was behind a wall. I could see and hear but everything was muffled. I guess what some people call an out of body experience. No fun at all.

And I can relate to a lot of what Korwyn above me posted. Uhhh, that transposing numbers and letters gets me every time.

[Harpgirl]

Don't know if anyone here watches The Simpsons, but I feel like Homer when he had the crayon removed from his brain.

My husband read this thread tonight, thanks very much to all who replied. He was actually very surprised by the number of posts in such a short amount of time. He shouldn't scoff anymore. He realizes now that these "episodes" are not my fault. I don't think he fully blamed me anyway, he was just frustrated by the situation.

Just tonight, we went to a friend's house for their son's birthday but had seperate cars because he came from work. As we were leaving and he was helping me put the boys in the car, he says that he gave me the car keys. I have no memory of this at all. I searched everywhere, including the baby bag where we did eventually find them after a second search, but he had already driven off and I thought they were in his pocket. He was very annoyed about having to drive back, but I think he understands now that I didn't do it on purpose.

Anyway, he liked the reference to the Simpsons because he had actually seen that episode (I haven't seen that one). He said his favorite part was when the dr was putting the crayon back in and they knew it was in far enough when Homer thought getting an extended warranty was a great idea.

[anabananakins]

Just now, I gave my 1 year old his sippy cup and totally forgot to put the rubber stopper in it that keeps it from leaking. I heard, "trickle, trickle." He was so enthrawled with watching the juice pour out onto the floor! As annoying as that was, he was so cute!

Aww, cute! And sometimes, you just have to embrace the disaster When I managed to drop a plastic bowl of bolognaise sauce on the floor (I missed the counter entirely) with such force that it splashed everywhere (including the ceiling), I just had to laugh. It looked like there'd been a massacre.

[Harpgirl]

Aww, cute! And sometimes, you just have to embrace the disaster When I managed to drop a plastic bowl of bolognaise sauce on the floor (I missed the counter entirely) with such force that it splashed everywhere (including the ceiling), I just had to laugh. It looked like there'd been a massacre.

I would have laughed too!

[Korwyn]

It's just occurred to me that there's a statistic that something like 20% of ADD patients are unresponsive to medication...who knows, maybe someone out there is working on research on gastro-related ADD type symptoms?

GAPS. I have personal experience with a friend's son and one of our grandsons whose ADD/ADHD improves immensely when on a GAPS diet. (Gut And Psychology Syndrome).

[Mummyto3]

I've also had the typing thing. All the time. I type the wrong words then have to retype and then do it again and again. It's sooo annoying. I'm also usually a very fast typist.

[NoodleUnit]

The thing I've noticed with typing is that my right hand ( I'm right handed ) seems slower than my left now. So I'll type "it" for example, and discover I've typed "ti" instead, my left hand hit the "t" when it normally would but my right hand hit the "i" way slower. I've taken to re-reading everything I type now. This may be due to the right-sided neuropathy more than brain-fog though.

Have to say, this has been a great thread for making me realise I'm not on my own with all of this stuff. Thanks for starting it

[Mummyto3]

The thing I've noticed with typing is that my right hand ( I'm right handed ) seems slower than my left now. So I'll type "it" for example, and discover I've typed "ti" instead, my left hand hit the "t" when it normally would but my right hand hit the "i" way slower. I've taken to re-reading everything I type now. This may be due to the right-sided neuropathy more than brain-fog though.

Have to say, this has been a great thread for making me realise I'm not on my own with all of this stuff. Thanks for starting it

Exactly the same. I wouldn't have said my right hand was slower. I just think my brain gets muddled up or i'm trying to type too fast lol

[Harpgirl]

Have to say, this has been a great thread for making me realise I'm not on my own with all of this stuff. Thanks for starting it

No problem I'm really glad I started it too. I was starting to have the mental capacity of my grandmother. I'm looking forward to being gluten-free long enough for this to go away.

Another thing I do that drives me crazy. I'm trying to write a book and my brain jumps ahead of the scene I'm in and I have to conciously stop my pen (I create better by hand), think about where I was when I was writing and go back to that. I've been a writer all my life and never had that trouble till now. I've given myself a break from it till I get my brain sorted.

[speedy2056]

No problem I'm really glad I started it too. I was starting to have the mental capacity of my grandmother. I'm looking forward to being gluten-free long enough for this to go away.

Another thing I do that drives me crazy. I'm trying to write a book and my brain jumps ahead of the scene I'm in and I have to conciously stop my pen (I create better by hand), think about where I was when I was writing and go back to that. I've been a writer all my life and never had that trouble till now. I've given myself a break from it till I get my brain sorted.

I'm a writer, myself. I write articles online, and it used to take me around a half hour to get one out there but now I can whizz one out in around 5-10 mins. And I do not believe the quality has deteriorated! I'm also writing a movie script, and I can feel myself becoming more creative now than when I was on gluten/wheat.

[Harpgirl]

I'm a writer, myself. I write articles online, and it used to take me around a half hour to get one out there but now I can whizz one out in around 5-10 mins. And I do not believe the quality has deteriorated! I'm also writing a movie script, and I can feel myself becoming more creative now than when I was on gluten/wheat.

Yay! *insert dancing banana* There is hope for me yet! I'm soooo looking forward to the next gluten-free months/years!

[GlutenFreeManna]

I had to call my sister the other day. She has lived at her home now for 8 years or so. Numbers never used to be a problem to me. I was like a walking telephone directory and could recall telephone numbers/mobile numbers easily. I had to get the telephone directory out to find the number, then realised I couldn't remember her surname either

I can relate to just about every post in this thread but this one describes me exactly before being diagnosed when it came to numbers. I would read a number on the page and have to repeat it several times and even look at it while dialing to make sure I got it right. I couldn't just look at the number and dial or if I was looking for an address I couldn't remmember the street number, even if it was a 3 digit address. My husband always just thought I was bad at remembering numbers. At one point however my memory got so bad I could not remember my parent's home phone number--the same number they have had since I was a child living at home and that I knew as a child and throughout my college years. Thankfully we have cell phones with preprogrammed numbers or I would never be able to call them.

Then this year I realized my memory for numbers has improved dramatically in the last 18 months since I've been gluten-free. My husband and I were looking to buy a house but since we live in a big city (and have not been here long) and were unfamiliar with a lot of neighborhoods we did a lot of driveby house shopping to narrow down our neighborhood. We would make a list of addresses of houses for sale and plug them into the GPS to go drive by them and see if we liked the neighborhood. Well, my GPS does not give the house number until you actually turn onto the street. Sometimes we were on very short blocks and my husband (who was driving) would ask me what the house number was before we turned onto the last street. I was surprised to realize that I was actually remembering house numbers that I had programmed in an hour before without looking at the GPS or my written list. I wasn't right 100% of the time but the fact that I was right on a good numebr of them really tells me my memory has improved. My husband was also shocked. He just always thought I was a little ditzy with a bad memory for numbers.

BTW Harpgirl, That thing with the keys that you and you husband went through--We've done that countless times in our five year marriage. I'm always losing my keys or my phone or something and my husband swears he handed them to me minutes earlier. I also locked my keys in my car no less than 3 times (might of been 4) in the 1st year I was married--once while the car was running and that was hard to do too because my car at the time had a safety lock that made it so you had to manually lock the door if the keys were in the ignition. Thank goodness for triple A.

[collgwg]

wow i feel the same as everyone else here its horrible having this brain fog

i will be showing my husband this thread as well

i have not been able to work for 12 weeks so far now I'm a cashier and last going off i had money in my hand and i had no idea what to do with it or how it got there and how to count it it was awful

i did not realize how bad this brain fog was until i went gluten free for 2 months then i get allergy testing done and get pure gluten to go into my system and i am hit like a tone of bricks i am dizzy off balance everything is going by too fast omg driving in the car i could not look up i had to keep my eyes closed when we went to the store

its great to know that we are not alone experiencing all of these symptoms

[speedy2056]

Yay! *insert dancing banana* There is hope for me yet! I'm soooo looking forward to the next gluten-free months/years!

I have only just started and so am I!

[txplowgirl]

I'm a writer, myself. I write articles online, and it used to take me around a half hour to get one out there but now I can whizz one out in around 5-10 mins. And I do not believe the quality has deteriorated! I'm also writing a movie script, and I can feel myself becoming more creative now than when I was on gluten/wheat.

I've got 7 books in my head and everytime i go to write it's like I lose the translation from my brain to my hand. What I think and what I write are 2 different things. I have even tried to recite what's in my brain into a recorder and the same thing happens. What I have in my head does not come out of my mouth.

I wish I had a copy machine for my brain, that would work, lol.

What's even worse is if I get anything like a paragraph or 2 down on paper, I lose it from my head and can't remember what the situation was that I was writing about. Talk about driving you crazy.

When I was 14 I tried writing a book. It took six long months every single day after school I would come home and write for about an hour. I typed it all up and sent it in to Readers Digest. Back then they took fictional stories. They sent a letter back telling me they would take it but I had to write 3 more chapters. I couldn't do it, I had given them everything I had in my brain and I didn't have 3 more chapters in me.

[speedy2056]

I've got 7 books in my head and everytime i go to write it's like I lose the translation from my brain to my hand. What I think and what I write are 2 different things. I have even tried to recite what's in my brain into a recorder and the same thing happens. What I have in my head does not come out of my mouth.

I wish I had a copy machine for my brain, that would work, lol.

What's even worse is if I get anything like a paragraph or 2 down on paper, I lose it from my head and can't remember what the situation was that I was writing about. Talk about driving you crazy.

When I was 14 I tried writing a book. It took six long months every single day after school I would come home and write for about an hour. I typed it all up and sent it in to Readers Digest. Back then they took fictional stories. They sent a letter back telling me they would take it but I had to write 3 more chapters. I couldn't do it, I had given them everything I had in my brain and I didn't have 3 more chapters in me.

But you are off gluten now, right? From your first sentence it sounds like you are still consuming gluten.

[txplowgirl]

But you are off gluten now, right? From your first sentence it sounds like you are still consuming gluten.

That's just it, i've been gluten free 2 years now and I still have this problem. But then I've been sick from the age of 8 so, I have 30 something years to make up for. I understand nurological problems take a lot longer to clear up. So maybe in a couple of more years I might be able to write my books. Hope, Hope.

[love2travel]

Man, I can relate to so much of this! I had been blaming my brain fog on fibromyalgia (called fibro fog) so I think I have a double dose of it. Bumping into things is incredibly annoying and because I have fibro those spots really hurt for weeks and weeks. My chronic pain doctor said if my husband were to stub his toe it would hurt for minutes; if I were it would hurt for several weeks as FM exacerbates pain. I normally type up to 125 wpm (I actually won a national contest years ago when I was in college) and the speed hasn't changed - it's just that sometimes I type something and re-read it and realize I took about ten sentences to express what I could have in two. My family has always taken pride in our spelling, grammar and vocabulary; now I sometimes struggle with grasping words, both in typing and speaking. My short-term memory is atrocious at times (long-term memory is excellent).

It is fascinating that when I was diagnosed with celiac disease I was shocked as I had no obvious symptoms and had been associating them with my chronic pain (and the painkillers, narcotics and opioids for that pain) and fibromyalgia. Now I realize that celiac plays a bigger part than I had previously thought! All of the above are factors.

When I do not sleep (I also have chronic insomnia) I find my intelligence level decreased. That is when I struggle more than ever with ST memory, concentration and finding words. My attention span grows shorter as well. Sometimes it feels as though my brain short circuits.

[pondy]

Oh can I relate to this brain fog business!

My co-workers & family noticed that I was rather "spacey".

I had times where I would just blank out - not thinking, not moving. At work I would get lost in whatever task I was doing - like I'd forget why I was going into a room or what I was supposed to do. It happened all the time.

Scary because I feared some neurological damage...

On the up side I now have improved memory function. I can multitask! I have fewer & fewer space-outs.

Remember that we don't get well overnight. I'm only a couple months gluten free, but hey, this is a healing process & it's different for everyone.

Go easy on yourself & hang in there!

Best,

Pondy

[obaketenshi]

Now THIS is familiar territory for me. There are days where it feels like my head is encased in cotton, thinking is like frozen molasses, and I just sort of stumble through the day, unable to think or function well. I have a TERRIBLE short term memory, that gets worse on the bad days, to the point where I can't remember a six number sequence, or I'll trail off literally in the middle of sentences, like the thought had been erased.

The bad days, caffiene, nicotine (I use it in a similar manner to xanax), and choline don't even touch it. I am hoping going gluten free helps.

[IrishHeart]

Tell hubby-it's very real. (sorry if this is long)

Neurological issues CAN result from nutritional deficiencies (iron, folate, B-vitamins and fatty acids-omega 3) as a result from malabsorption in celiac. Neurotransmitters like dopamine and seratonin are also greatly impacted. There are many medical articles written on this connection to gluten--if he needs "proof". I know there has been much written about gluten acting as a "neuro-toxin".

I had this strange feeling like I was sleep- walking in my own life for over 2 years. I felt the same way as many of you describe--- I did things, but later wondered how I did them or looked back on things as if they were "unreal". I felt like I was "high" or something. I became sad and felt "dark"... I am normally a very happy, vivacious, chatty person!! I was told it is "menopause", stress, and a few other misdiagnoses I won't bore you with.

I kept saying to my husband, I feel "surreal" and he would reassure me I was all right. (good thing he never doubted me--I am sure it sounded like I was nuts ).

It came on slowly, starting in 2008 "off and on"...and by 2009, I was in real trouble. It was frustrating because I am a super-organized person and I lost the ability to do this--without keeping notes. I know how Alzehimer's manifests, so I knew it wasn't that.

To me ,it's a bit like being drunk, but without the fun. I told my sister I felt as if someone were poisoning me. I had this brain fog so bad at one point, I felt as if I were living in a bad dream. I would walk into the kitchen to make dinner and have to THINK about what the hell I was doing in there. It made me frustrated and I would actually burst into tears because I couldn't handle more than one pot on a burner on the stove. (I am a gourmet cook for pete's sake!) Thinking about what to make for meals made me feel overwhelmed and anxious. Forget doing the bills--took all of my concentration and I made mistakes all the time in the checkbook. If someone were giving me NEW information, I had to write it all down. This was very upsetting to me. My short term memory suffered.

I had vivid, frightening dreams. My brain was working overtime all day/all night.

I am the trivial pursuit queen in the family, so imagine my concern when I couldn't recall even simple things.

I had to stop reading because I couldn't concentrate or retain what I had just read. This is my passion; I used to read 3 books at a time! I had trouble articulating and had to search for words (I was an English Prof. who spoke in front of large lecture halls without notes and then, this happened. It made no sense! ) What the hell was going on??

Obviously, this brain fog affected my whole life!

Often, I would have to hold on to my husband's sleeve when I went out in public because I felt "overwhelmed and scared" and like I could not walk straight. (I have never been shy or afraid of anything in my whole life!)I kept saying "I don't feel like ME anymore". I developed anxiety so bad, I was shaking and would actually cry when he left me alone at home.

I was so physically ill --losing 90 lbs. rapidly, my hair falling out, developing burning chronic pain--and to lose my brain function too, was more than I could bear. I thought "I'm going to die before someone figures out what's wrong with me."

I had vertigo. I had to stop working out at the gym when I slipped on a treadmill.

I banged into walls because I misjudged where they were in relation to my body and tripped on stairs. I had distorted vision and suffered many bruises (a vitamin K deficiency, BTW).

I had to stop driving for fear I could not react quickly enough. That really did me in.

When I started researching what was wrong with me, it was very difficult as I had to read things over and over again. I repeated myself while talking and in my writing....I KNEW I was doing it, yet couldn't seem to stop it.

I would ask my family members and friends..."Am I making sense? I feel like I am not speaking properly." They assured me I was...but I felt so weird.

I felt as if my brain were dipped in vaseline. I felt like I was hallucinating sometimes and I was awake half the night for a year and a half because of bizarre dreams and insomnia. Most people get so sleepy from gluten? I get RACY.

Believe me, the brain--like so many other organs-- is very much affected with celiac disease.

BUT...it has virtually disappeared in just 6 months since DX and going gluten free! I still have a hard time with all that "weirdness" as it seems like it's "compacted" time I lost somehow. That was the scariest sensation I ever dealt with in my life and I do not wish to ever experience it again.

I KNOW when I am accidentally glutened because the first thing that I notice is....I feel strange and "cloudy" in my head and my mood drops like a stone....

[collgwg]

Scary because I feared some neurological damage...

so did i due to back surg a couple of years ago my entire right side was affected

everyone that i know said i must be going through menopause even the Dr thought i was going through menopause

come to find out that it was not the back Surgery and it was not the menopause its celiac this brain fog really throws us for a loop doesn't it lol

[NoodleUnit]

Thinking back on the last 9 months ( I caught on to it fairly early on I think ), the biggest problem, for me, was I had *so* many symptoms that mentally I couldn't keep track of them all due to the brain fog. Every time I went to a doctor: a/ he/she would look bewildered because I was listing apparently conflicting symptoms; most importantly, b/ I wasn't able to keep that list coherent or even complete when I went to see them.

The only way I was able to keep it all together was to write it down, and the first and only time I actually got somewhere was when I kept a symptom/food diary for 2 months; THEN went through it and condensed it a couple of times to make it coherent. Only after my neuro read that and finally saw all the symptoms together that I simply couldn't keep in my head, did I make any progress.

[IrishHeart]

Thinking back on the last 9 months ( I caught on to it fairly early on I think ), the biggest problem, for me, was I had *so* many symptoms that mentally I couldn't keep track of them all due to the brain fog. Every time I went to a doctor: a/ he/she would look bewildered because I was listing apparently conflicting symptoms; most importantly, b/ I wasn't able to keep that list coherent or even complete when I went to see them.

The only way I was able to keep it all together was to write it down, and the first and only time I actually got somewhere was when I kept a symptom/food diary for 2 months; THEN went through it and condensed it a couple of times to make it coherent. Only after my neuro read that and finally saw all the symptoms together that I simply couldn't keep in my head, did I make any progress.

You sound like me! I started keeping a journal when I developed symptoms and writing it all down somehow kept me "sane" (ha!) I kept a word file of my 60+ symptoms and as I added more and more, I would just copy the list and bring it to the dozens of "medical professionals" I saw in 3 years. Lots of tests run, nothing conclusive except vitamin deficiencies, massive weight and muscle mass loss, which no one found alarming. I had horrid burning nerve pain, but two neurologists said it wasn't a nerve problem because EMGs were "clear". (small nerve neuropathy doesn't appear on EMGs) I was deathly ill, had erratic thyroid and glucose levels, crippling pain, lived in the bathroom, etc. etc. Even still, I got the "eye roll" and lots of "I don't know what your problem is" a hand-off to another doctor and then, the script pad came out and I was offered pain pills, anti-anxiety pills, tranquilizers, sleep meds and anti-depressants. I tried one or two of them and they made me very ill--ended up in the ER twice--so THAT did NOT help me.

And I did all this when I could barely function. I held onto my sanity for dear life. As I said, I have an amazing husband for support.

If your basic blood work isn't too "abnormal"--the doctor assumes you are all right. This is what keeps so many from being diagnosed properly.

I suppose if you have never experienced this feeling, you just can't imagine how bizarre it feels.

[sreese68]

Just thought I'd mention that you can have neurological problems from gluten and still have B12 levels that are good. Neuro issues are not always due to vitamin deficiencies - I've read this in a couple of places and seen it in myself. If I understand things correctly, the immune system directly attacks the neurological system in this case. (For those who are going to bring up the current accepted range of B12 levels: My neurologist is one who will supplement those with B12 levels on the low but considered acceptable range. He believes the average range to be too low for some people. So if he says my range is good, I believe him! LOL!)

Anyway, I definitely suffered from brain fog when I did my gluten challenge. It was VERY scary. My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at 48, and she first started showing signs of dementia at 47. I'm 42. She lived for 15 years with that horrible, horrible disease until her body just shut down. I asked my neurologist if my mother's Alzheimer's could have been brought on by undiagnosed celiac, and he said that there's not enough research to know at this point.

For the last couple of years, I've had problems thinking of the right words to say, forgetting what I was supposed to be doing, lacking motivation, fatigue, feeling a low level of anxiety, etc. Just this last week, I've felt AMAZING! I feel so cheerful and optimistic and motivated that it feels like I'm high! I know going gluten-free is no guarantee that I won't end up like my mom, but I am hopeful!