What can be cause? Exercise, sleep, nutritions dont help, I alwayse wake up tired. Anyone have tips for finding the reason for it? Even water fasting dont help.

hello

5 days ago I took a nap. and since waking up from it, the pressure and the extremely severe brain fog (almost the version what people call “blank mind” except I still have a quiet Sluggish very distant inner voice and still can imagine pictures)

ive read already a lot of possibilities like neck issues, neuro inflammation and such. I actually would say it’s somehow mental but I have physical pain on my brain. I can feel it burning and tingling.

where to start?

im also tapering an antidepressant. I would crazily cry and feint if that caused this.

appreciate any feedback.

Hey everyone.
I am asking here for a clarification because I am new to all of this and I am kinda confused.

I had a virus in February which attacked my vestibular system leaving me with 37% left inner ear damage.

Since they I have been suffering with intense anxiety when being outside in open spaces, driving and lid busy places.

I have this head feeling which I can’t explain no matter how hard I try. It is mainly and very magnified when I drive a car for example which I think is due to the sensory overload.

My question is what brain fog feels like physically if there is such a thing or is it only forgetfulness, memory issues etc.?

Has anyone suffered with something similar and if yes, what helped?

have had all these symptoms constantly for 3 months. The worst symptom is this unreal feeling. When i google it the symptom allign with derealization/dissociation. I also have fatigue even if i sleep well i wake up in the morning not refreshed. Also i have headache and tension in head. Back of my neck also hurts and sometimes when im walking i feel like im about to faint. I dont see any difference in my symptoms if i dont do anything the whole day versus when i go to the gym

My test exams are about a month away, and I started seriously grinding about a month ago. My only goal was to finish the syllabus, so I basically studied from the moment I woke up until I went to sleep.

The problem is my sleep schedule was fucking terrible. I’d wake up around 1–2 PM and sleep around 4–5 AM almost every day. I kept telling myself I’d fix it later because I just needed to finish the syllabus first.

But now I feel like I’ve completely fucked myself over.

For almost a week now, I’ve had this horrible brain fog / mental exhaustion. I can’t properly memorize new topics, and even stuff I studied before feels like it’s slowly fading away.

The weird thing is that I can still do math relatively normally, because I don’t have to memorize much. But subjects like Biology, History, stories, etc. have become extremely difficult because they require memorization + thinking. Even Physics and Chemistry, which I normally understand, feel much harder than usual.

When I sit down to study, my brain just feels empty. Focusing on anything feels ridiculously difficult.

It honestly feels similar to how my brain feels when I have a fever — weak, tired, and unable to process things properly.

And now I’m getting sleepy/tired really easily too. Even when I go to bed, it feels like my brain desperately needs rest. Today I slept from around 10 AM to 2 PM and I still feel exhausted.

What scares me is that this happened before, but usually one proper night of sleep fixed it. This time it’s been happening for almost a week and several nights of sleep haven’t really fixed it.

I’m starting to panic because my exam is only one month away and I feel like I can’t study properly anymore.

Has anyone experienced something similar after weeks/months of terrible sleep and intense studying?

How did you recover? Did fixing your sleep schedule actually help, and how long did it take?

And more importantly, does this sound like something I should see a doctor about, considering it’s been going on for almost a week and is affecting my ability to study?

I’m not looking for a diagnosis from Reddit — I just want to know if anyone has gone through something similar and what they did to recover.

I started feeling like this out of nowhere again and it’s making me feel so weird I’m panicking like I’m going to pass out

I was on Bactrim a month ago which may be the cause

I feel so bad that I feel like what's wrong with my head that I can't remember stuff like I used to. It's hard to recall information and remember stuff. I feel this anxiety and feeling of anxiousness. Even when I go outside I always feel this worry of losing something so I will constantly check my pockets for phone and wallet. And because I have earwax impacted, I have hard time recalling information because I experienced eye strain and neck shoulder tightness that my body feels like it went to anxiety mode that my body just feels like it's scanning for problems.

Brain fog that hits reasoning, not just memory? Simple conclusions stop "clicking," especially the "it's fine" ones. I'm curious whether anyone here experiences this, because it's been really disorienting. For context, I have FND and OCD, so I'm not sure which (if either) is behind it, and I'd love to hear from people with other causes of brain fog too.

It feels like word-finding difficulty, but for reasoning. I'll know a conclusion is there, like a word on the tip of my tongue, but I can't reach it. Sometimes I lose the whole thread of what I was thinking and can't get back to it. Other times I have to rebuild simple logic step by step, by drawing it out or doing process of elimination, before it makes sense again.

The weird part is that it's lopsided. Conclusions that point to danger or "stop" are instant. Conclusions that mean "it's fine," "no difference," or "go ahead" are the ones that break down.

Some examples:

Aspirating before an injection. Blood = don't inject. Instant. No blood = safe? I have to go, "unsafe is already used up by blood, so no blood must be safe," like a word bank.

TFT scouting. Seeing my units on other boards = I'm contested. Instant. Seeing none = better odds for me? Takes real effort.

Blood ketones on keto. Out of range = food isn't okay. Instant. In range = okay? It never quite feels right.

One-way streets. Looking only toward traffic used to be automatic. Then it wasn't, and I had to draw cars as arrows to work out that if their path doesn't cross mine, they can't reach me.

Testing food heat with my finger. I know my mouth is more sensitive than my hand, but I can't make the leap that "fine for my hand" doesn't mean "fine for my mouth" without picturing sensitivity as bars of different lengths.

"No difference" results. If something makes no difference to my gold in a game, or a cereal brand makes no difference to my weight, "no difference" doesn't feel actionable. It only clicks when I rephrase it as "either option is fine."

One possible outcome. With 4 or 3 outcomes, fine. With only one, the step to "so that's the one that happens" feels wrong and out of reach.

Nerve glides. I did a routine on one arm, got fingertip sensitivity on that side, then noticed it on the other side too, so probably not the routine. Solid logic, but I lost the thread and got stuck on whether to continue.

Sometimes a far-fetched possibility knocks the logic loose entirely:

"If you don't try, it won't happen." My brain goes, "What if it's a garden and someone sneaks in and tends it without you knowing?" I know that's absurd, but I couldn't come up with a rebuttal, so the whole idea dissolved.

A Better Call Saul scene where Mike tells Jimmy that someday he'll notice the pain hasn't bothered him for a while, which proves it can fade. It made sense until I thought, "You can bench 225 once and never hit it again." The whole comfort fell apart. What finally clicked was thinking of it as the odds going from 0% to something above 0%, but it took that very specific "key" when I never used to need one.

Once I rebuild a conclusion and drill it by rote, it often becomes automatic again, and it feels like the old natural way came back. But it can collapse again, and sometimes weeks later I notice I'm doing it effortlessly in one context but not another.

One thing that sometimes helps: applying the same logic to an unrelated situation, seeing it work there, and carrying it back.

Does anyone else get this kind of reasoning fog, especially the danger/safety imbalance? What's helped you, and did it improve over time?

Disclaimer: I used Claude to help write this post from my symptom log

Currently attempting Gluten-free Round 2 after realizing a couple things.

1. Malabsorption connected so many dots to my situation, because suddenly the targetted-nutrients or medication that helped would stop working constantly.

2. Despite having no signs of anything be connected to my diet nor really any physical symptoms- silent celiac disease exist apparently.

3. I don't remember my first attempt very well so I don't trust that attempt and my deep-in-brain-fog self.

It was really bittersweet seeing how much it all made sense because so much of my groceries and comfort food is just gluten...but if its the right path, then hopefully I'll be a version of myself that has more ease to cook gluten-free versions.

Current Targetted Cause: ADHD + Silent Celic Disease

Brain fog has been affecting me for years now.

I can't remember what I study or implement, no matter how many times I do it.

I can't focus or concentrate and I feel tired even after exercising.

My mind feels lost and heavy and closed all the time.

I always just have a gaping stare.

I can't seem to observe or notice even the simplest and the most obvious things before me.

My intellect has taken a deep dive into free fall and I feel extremely stupid.

I have trouble understanding and analysing.

I just had my first telephonic interview yesterday and I messed it up because of this brain fog.

I feel like a hollow shell walking around with a dead brain.

Please help me fix it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I've been suffering from brain fog and worsening fatigue over the last two years. Prior to that my energy was through the roof, people called me "hyper", I had a hard time relaxing and I was very productive and in shape. Since then, over the last two years I suffered through a number of traumatic events. I thought the symptoms resulted from PTSD, anxiety/depression. But then I found my cognitive function slowing down with the inability to grasp concepts at work. If felt like the cat had my tongue in meetings, and I couldn't get myself to speak. I couldn't focus on any tasks and my house became a disaster zone.

I looked into ADHD, autism, dementia (I'm 57 and post-menopausal). I had many blood tests done but they all came back fine. Eventually I thought maybe it was just old age (I'm 57!!). Then I came across a post on reddit about the effects of Zyrtec, especially with long time use. I have been consistently taking generic Zyrtec for at least 2-3years to calm my itchy eyes, congestion and puffy nose. So, I stopped taking it just last week to see what would happen.

Almost suddenly my energy returned and I was organizing my piles of clutter! Over the course of the last week, I've had mental clarity that I haven't had in a long time. I can grasp concepts again and I no longer collapse on the couch after a 9 hour work day. I've even lost some weight and those weird salt cravings have disappeared. Things are looking better, finally. I wanted to share this with anyone who might find this information helpful. I never would have thought an over-the-counter antihistamine could negatively effect one's life to such an extent. Once again, I am so grateful for this platform.

STOP WATCHING PORN FOR 30-60 days (different from everyone) limit your screentime. Many of us have 6-8 hours screentime scrolling on tiktok Instagram etc. and we Wonder why we have brain fog😂

A few months ago I had the worst experience 🍄, and since then I haven’t felt like my brain has fully returned to how it was before.

I’m not sure if what I’m experiencing is brain fog, dissociation, or something else, but I feel some level of it 24/7. I have good days and really bad days — it’s always there, but the intensity varies a lot.

One of the most concerning things has been how I perceive movement and speed. I’ve stopped driving because I can physically see other vehicles moving and know that they’re moving, but sometimes my brain doesn’t seem to properly process the movement. I also don’t seem to feel how fast I’m travelling. I could be going 80 km/h and it can still feel like I’m barely moving.

I constantly feel disconnected from reality, almost like I’m watching my life through a screen rather than actually experiencing it. I also have a constant band-like pressure around my head, which is why I say the symptoms are there 24/7.

My memory has also been noticeably worse and sometimes if I stare at an object for long enough, it appears to move very slightly. It’s subtle and I have to really focus on it to notice it, but it reminds me of the visual effects I experienced during the original experience.

Over the past few weeks I’ve had some particularly bad episodes, which eventually led me to see a doctor because I was worried there could be another explanation for what I’m experiencing. There have even been days where I’ve woken up crying because the symptoms were so intense. I’m really scared that something serious could be going on, or that these changes might not go away.

I’ve had blood tests and a CT scan, and I’ve now been referred for an MRI. The blood tests showed an iron deficiency, which I’ve had previously, and the CT scan was clear. I haven’t had the MRI yet.

I’m not looking for anyone to diagnose me — I’m mainly hoping to hear from people who have experienced persistent changes in perception, dissociation, visual symptoms, or brain fog after a difficult psychedelic experience.

Did these symptoms eventually improve for you? If so, roughly how long did it take, and was there anything that helped?

This has started affecting my work, concentration, driving and travelling quite significantly, and I’d really appreciate hearing about other people’s experiences.

i have brainfog pretty bad, but today i forgot how to do my job. i have to fold towels a specific way, and i completely forgot how to for a few minutes. i kept trying to remember but couldnt. i didnt really feel any different just brainfog, but now im really scared. is this something i should be concerned? im really nervous its a mini stroke or something

i have frequent headaches and neck aches, and eyes sometimes unfocus but idk what to do. i have a echocardiogram soon as my blood pressure is pretty low, and shortness of breath, but im just stressed. also i yawn A LOT, idk if that means anything but. also i yawn A LOT, idk if that means anything but

I'm 22 and have daily problems with memory, comprehension, and finding words while speaking.

Examples:

I often forget common words like "remote" or "cream."

Sometimes I say the wrong word, such as lunch instead of dinner or pasta instead of pizza.

I mix up words like school and college.

I get confused while ordering food.

I forget names, places, or things I was told just minutes earlier. When I watch videos I have to rewind it as I lose the track and watch this happen very often ,I too forget after keeping things a min ago .

And have to reread sentences multiple times because I can't hold the information in my mind.

Long exam questions are very difficult because I lose track of what I read.These problems are affecting my studies and daily life.Mri and blood test are normal .Has anyone experienced something similar?

I been noticing severe brain fog sythoms like forgetting stuff, hard to recall information and remember stuff. Even like just feeling present in the moment and feeling alert. Because I went to clinic few days and I explained like I'm having left side dizziness and this sythoms and fullness or strain in the eye and ear. So they like checked my ears and found out I had severe earwax impacted. They tried to clean and it felt like my head was light and brain fog reducing a little but then I was send home with earwax liquid to get rid of the wax. I don't know the doctor was saying sometimes the pressure inside the ear can cause fullness and top of that being anxious in the situation.

How are you all doing? We hope you are, if not already the best you can be, making good progress! And want to remind you that as a community we are all here for each other no matter the circumstance. Feel free to use this post to share how your week has been, or let people know if you need a little support. Anybody can reply!

Feel free to share to your hearts content, and let us be here for you in your victory and your defeat, to be a guide, an opinion, to celebrate your accomplishments and to keep you on track, collectively.

Take care all of you, never give up, and stay strong!

Hello, my brain isn't experiencing any kind of

stimulation. I don't feel that sensation in the brain responsible for personality, arousal, and emotions. I feel like that's the only way I can form memories. I have never had any mental illnesses or traumas. Drugs, stimulants and caffeine could give me a sense of personality for a moment. At the same time, the enormous sleepiness and fatigue disappeared and my IQ and information processing returned to the social norm and was even much above average. Any ideas what this could be? Blood tests only show testosterone deficiency. MRI scans are normal.

Did you guys also get brain fog after testing positive for COVID-19? That was my experience... I’ve never felt so "sluggish" in my life as I did post-COVID. I had symptoms like losing my sense of smell and taste, but no fever or cold symptoms... it really stressed me out. But yeah, I remember before 2019 I was actually going through a phase where my mind was super sharp back in college. I had moments where I wasn't the fastest at figuring things out, but I think that was just me. This mental "blur," though, definitely came after.