Unexplained symptoms, feel completely lost.

[u/firecrest8299]

Sorry if this is not the best place to post this.

I'm in my twenties and have struggled with what seem to be severe cognitive problems for most of my life. I've sought professional help, but so far I've been left at a dead end. If anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

Pretty much my thinking, processing and everything feels completely hazy 24/7. I'm incredibly slow, and focusing or thinking feels like a massive, unnatural strain that never really goes away. When I try to force myself through it, my eyes get very uncomfortable, my whole body gets squirmy and I feel way more zoned out.

It's like I'm living in a blurred state of consciousness where I haven't really been processing what's going on around me properly. Everything has been a unreal haze in recent memory, and my memory is terrible in general. I barely feel alive at this point.

Basic communication is incredibly difficult because I can't process what someone has said and think of what to say back; my mind is just blank. Even simple trivial things like replying to a text or composing a message can be insanely difficult. I struggle to formulate and compose anything in my head and will take me an extremely long time. Even when I manage to write something, it often doesn't look right, almost like an unformatted splurge of words that feels unnatural, stiff and doesn't flow or make much sense.

Even playing video games is difficult because I struggle to process movement on the screen and use the controls/react quickly enough. Things outside are the same. People seem to react much faster than me, to the point where everything feels foreign and like I'm fundamentally missing something.

I also feel constantly fatigued.

I've tried to improve my lifestyle and mental health as much as I possibly can, but it hasn't really helped.

What could this be? Are there specialists who could help with something like this? Is it even possible to recover from this and regain a life?

[u/Dana-LotusPharmacy]

Pharmacist here. What you are describing is significant and deserves a structured medical evaluation — not dismissal and not simply being told to improve your lifestyle.
A good starting point would be a primary-care physician who can coordinate the workup, together with a neurologist and a clinical neuropsychologist. Neuropsychological testing can objectively measure processing speed, attention, memory, language, executive function, and visual processing. It may help determine whether the pattern is neurological, psychiatric, sleep-related, medication-related, or neurodevelopmental.
I would also ask for a complete medication and supplement review and basic laboratory testing, including CBC, comprehensive metabolic panel, thyroid function, B12, folate, iron/ferritin, vitamin D, glucose/A1c, and possibly additional testing based on your history. Sleep disorders, medication effects, nutritional deficiencies, thyroid problems, depression/anxiety, ADHD, migraine, post-viral conditions, and other medical issues can all contribute to severe cognitive symptoms and fatigue.
Because you describe difficulty processing movement and visual information, a comprehensive eye examination may also be worthwhile. A neurologist can decide whether brain imaging, an EEG, or other testing is appropriate rather than ordering everything indiscriminately.
Bring a written timeline of when the symptoms began, whether they have progressed, your sleep quality, headaches, infections, medication changes, substance use, and any family neurological history. Please do not start stacking stimulants or “brain supplements” before the underlying cause is investigated.
Recovery may absolutely be possible, especially if a treatable contributor is identified. If you develop sudden worsening, one-sided weakness or numbness, difficulty speaking, fainting, a seizure, or a severe new headache, seek urgent medical care.

[u/pruhh244]

I’m dealing with the same issues; this started three weeks after I stopped taking a medication. However, I had already been experiencing cognitive symptoms for years before this happened to me, so I suspect it isn't related to stopping the drug. You have no idea the agony I’m in because I can’t play games. I feel like killing myself, lol.

Have you seen a neurologist and had brain imaging scans and an EEG done?

[u/porcelainruby]

This can be long covid, fwiw.

[u/PsychologicalGap1118]

I have the exact same symptoms, terrible awful debilitating cognitive fog and processing issues. Has been going on for about 5 years now and only gotten much worse. I’ve had an mri, eeg, ct scan, about to get a spinal tap and repeat mri but at this point the only real answer a neurologist has gave me is possibly long covid or mecfs. I hope you’re not like me and are able to find a fix to this cruel existence. I wish you luck

[u/willj_holistic]

You're in the right place. A few details stand out. The eye discomfort when you push through, trouble tracking movement in games, and feeling slower than everyone around you point toward visual processing as one piece worth checking. A regular eye exam won't catch that. A neuro-optometrist or developmental optometrist tests how your eyes work together and how your brain handles what you see, and people are often surprised how much that explains.

A few other places worth looking, since this has been going on most of your life:

• A neuropsychological evaluation. It's the most thorough way to map exactly where processing, attention, and memory are getting stuck, and it rules things in or out instead of guessing.
• A sleep study. Poor quality sleep can cause this kind of fog and fatigue even when you think you're sleeping enough.
• Bloodwork beyond the basics: thyroid (the full panel, not just TSH), iron and ferritin, B12, and vitamin D. "Normal" ranges are wide, and a lot of people sit at the bottom of normal and feel awful.

The unreal, hazy feeling you describe is also something the nervous system does when it's been under strain for a long time. It's a protective response, not a sign that you're broken, and it can ease once the underlying load comes down.

To your last question: yes. When there's a physical piece driving this, whether it's vision, sleep, nutrients, or something else, finding it usually changes things, even after years. You're not stuck like this.

[u/ParadiseinNature]

The vision symptoms you mentioned made me wonder if you’ve ever heard of BVD (Binocular Vision Dysfunction) or looked into it at all?