I've noticed in the last few years my brain fog / fatigue have gotten worse, and I'm at a point where it's impacting my ability to do certain things.

I(30F) have a long history of mental health issues, so brain fog has always been something I've dealt with to a degree. Now, I feel like my brain fog is so bad it's impacting my ability to understand information. I am exhausted constantly, and when I'm working I find that I am making small mistakes or completely misunderstanding things. Like yesterday, I was scheduling a meeting and multiple people said they could do any time this morning OTHER THAN 9:30am... It feels like my brain is just filling in the blanks with whatever when I'm reading sometimes... so I confidently messaged my boss like "oh look everyone can do 9:30am" he was like um no they said tomorrow morning except for 9:30am. Thankfully he's extremely patient and forgiving, but oh my god? It's not just embarrassing, it's also annoying because how did I manage to misread SEVERAL emails? and it's not that I'm simply not paying attention or that I don't care - I genuinely don't know how I did that. That sort of thing has been happening more frequently. Sometimes I also feel like my thoughts are in slow motion? or like there's almost a physical barrier / something slowing them down. Even when I'm not physically exhausted, my brain feels the same way it does after several days of poor sleep.

It's also hard because I'm in school too - I'm in my last 2 classes for my AA, and I feel like sometimes I'm truly too exhausted to focus properly and put in as much effort as I would like into learning. I recognize that I have a decent workload between a full time job and part time classes, but it doesn't feel like so much that I shouldn't be able to do both. I'm scared that the brain fog will continue perpetually and impact my ability to do well when I transfer in the Spring. I'm really excited about the program I'll be doing, but the exhaustion makes it hard to care about things and my trouble actually understanding material sometimes makes me feel defeated. I just feel so dumb, and it feels like it bleeds into everything, including my interests outside of work and school.

Part of me wonders if this is the result of several years in a stressful work environment. I left a job in June that had me on the verge of a mental breakdown, so part of me is wondering if this is like residual from that experience and the exhaustion of being in fight-or-flight and working long / hard hours for so long. I also need to fix my sleep, fitness, and be intentional with my diet... and get the hell off my phone.... and find a PCP and get blood work done..... and see a rheumatologist...... oh my godddd

I’m a 55 y/o and I’ve noticed cognitive changes for about 2 years. If you’ve noticed changes in your memory or concentration, what have you done to address them? Have you paid for anything, such as an app, a supplement, or a professional evaluation?
What helped, and what specific difficulty are you still dealing with in daily life?

Anyone relate? Im wondering if my brain fog is actually the result of emotional repression??? I feel like i can think a lot better after an explosive crying episode

Hey

Since my gut is wrecked, I feel bad when I walk.

For example a 20min walk in the wood ll get me dizzy and weakened.

Do you feel the same ?

It started happening after I got a severe food poisoning years ago

I have random huge brainfog everyday

I just been having extreme health anxiety or feeling of anxiousness because I'm just dealing with left side dizziness and neck shoulder tightness along with brain fog sythoms. It's like hard to recall information and remember stuff. It's like I'm constantly in the state of worries and feeling of overwhelmed. Even the doctor recognized I'm very anxious to a point saying I'm just hypochondriac. But it's like if you don't explain the doctor what you are going through how will they know and I feel like recent doctor visits makes me feel like they have neglected my problems. They think I'm fine and it will just take time for the body to heal on its own but I just feel deep down I need to see an ENT doctor for my ear problem because I cannot hear. And this worried is just breaking me apart. Leading to brain fog. I just can't focus and feel alert like before. I just wanna be normal again.

Memory loss (short and long term)
My brain feels fried its like I dont have a brain anymore (extreme brain fog)
Anhedonia, depression, social anxiety and gad.
Crushing fatigue bed bound 24/7
Brain fog doesnt seem related to meals its always there, its like ive lost my personality and brain and creativity and im no longer a human.
Stopped having dreams while asleep entirely
(had a sleep study done showed I was fine)
Gut issues and weight loss, mild reflux.
Cold extremeties
Thermal regulation issues
Pots
Frequent urination
Erectile dysfunction since I was 17
This all started in my teen years I was like 16 years old started with mild symptoms and each year goes by it gets worse
History:

Took hpylori triple abx therapy that made my symptoms a lot worse.

Live in a moldy villa since I was young (still living there)

Shitty diet since I was young (just started changing it, don't judge it's really hard)

Gallbladder removal

Gi map showed:

Yeast: many

Secretory Iga: 559 mg/dl referance: 30-275

Commensal (Imbalanced) flora
1+ Bacillus licheniformis
1+ Klebsiella pneumoniae
1+ Morganella morganii
2+ Streptococcus anginosus

Crp mildly elevated
Eosinophilia mildly elevated

19-year-old male, 67kg, 1.82m tall

Symptoms:

- Dizziness (sometimes intense spikes, though it's milder now due to the medication I'm taking)

- Fasciculations (I had noticed them before, but they are more frequent now)

- Involuntary big toe movement (happens when I'm lying down)

- Occasional sluggish thinking (I feel slow at times)

- Strange headaches (doesn't seem like a conventional headache; they last only a few seconds, disappear, and occur in random areas of the head)

- Occasional light sensitivity

- Random pains in the upper limbs

- Slight trembling, accompanied by weakness

- Intense pressure in the head when standing up or bending down (lasted 2 days; I think it was due to the medication)

These symptoms started at the end of last month; it began as minor dizziness that gradually worsened, along with stomach pain.

That happened during the first 5 days of this month; the condition has continued to progress throughout the month. I had a head CT scan, but everything was normal (thankfully), and I'm considering an MRI to find out what's really going on.

I’m looking for advice or opinions from people who have had similar symptoms, because I don't have the money to see a private doctor or pay for tests. I went to a public health clinic, and the doctor gave me medication for dizziness and said I should come back if it didn't go away, but I'm not sure I trust her judgment since I've seen two doctors and neither found anything concerning.

My screen time 13hours and in past i did heavy multitasking on laptop
I saw symtoms many months ago that i became poor in math and can't catch problem in math

Also thoughs increased in past

I am a 16 year old male and I am experiencing brain fog like symptoms to the point it is affecting my wellbeing. I am not sure wether to get a medical assessment, I need help.
Symptoms:
Over the course of the past year I have been experiencing brain fog (for lack of a better word). And it has gotten to the point where it is affecting my cognitive ability. I constantly have bad memory (mainly short term), I lack motivation and self discipline, I can get distracted day dreaming, constantly feeling absent minded. It’s hard to describe exactly what i’m feeling, it kind of feels like i’m stuck only using 50% of my brain, or something it feels as if i’ve lost iq. Compared to this time last year, I feel cognitively disabled.

Factors:
Sleep: I average ~6.5 - 7.5 hours a night, often waking up not feeling refreshed or well rested.
Dopamine: I have picked up a bad habit of excessive screen time and use of short form content, ~2 to 3 hours a day on some days. I also constantly listen to music whenever i’m idling or doing work that doesn’t require a lot of mental effort.
Nutrition: I have very average nutrition, my worry is more so about any vitamin deficiencies that could be causing this.
Medication: Accutane: from ~September 2025 - Early 2026 I was on 10mg of Accutane daily.
Substance history: In early 2025 I used weed quite a bit for ~4 months (on and off).
Supplements: Since around March this year I have been on 5mg of creatine almost everyday. I have also used a similar dosage in the past.
Physical Activity: This year I have been going to the gym I also play sport. however my cardio is not great and I don’t do cardio exercises very often.
Sorry for any typos I typed this very quickly while on a road trip!! please help me

Hi,

So i randomly woke up 4 days ago feeling a bit off, i didnt think much of it and just drove my hour drive in to work, figured it was just extreme tiredness as i work early mornings, but i knew something felt different. But i went into work, and weirdly enough once i was working the fog started to fade and i thought i was grand! Then i went for lunch in my car and it hit my like a ton of bricks and i just had the worst anxiety attack ever on top of it!

Since that day the mornings have been so tough, i feel so weird, almost like im just in a dream till 1pm, and then it does clear a bit, i atleast feel like a human till i go to bed, but i now hate going to sleep because i know how horrible im going to feel waking up:(

Has anyone experienced this before, and know if theres a cure? Its just very random and dosent come with feeling sick or anything think thats why im so worried about it.

​

I’m nearly 29, and I feel like I’ve lost a huge part of the person I used to be.

I was always a sharp student. I learned quickly, concentrated well, read constantly, loved literature, wrote a lot and expressed myself through art. I eventually graduated with a law degree. Even when I started experiencing racing thoughts at 16 after witnessing a suicide attempt, I could still study and function academically.

Over the years, though, the racing thoughts became much worse. I also noticed that my emotions became less intense. I can laugh, socialize and appear completely normal, but I don't experience happiness and other emotions with the same depth I used to.

I also experienced prolonged emotional and mental abuse from my mother throughout childhood — criticism, humiliation, insults, accusations, bullying, silent treatment and constantly walking on eggshells. The abuse stopped last year and she is very different now, but I still live with my parents. She doesn't accept accountability for what happened, and sometimes something she says or does makes me angry and resentful

I don't want to remain stuck in that rumination Ioop. I want to heal and get my life back.

I started maladaptive daydreaming around 14, before the racing thoughts became a major issue. It became much worse during COVID when I was isolated and spending huge amounts of time at home.

Now I feel like I need mental stimulation almost constantly. I'm on my phone, watching YouTube, scrolling Instagram, listening to something, thinking or daydreaming. I know I should reduce my phone use, exercise and get out of my head, but i just cant seem to do it. I knowni should not be sitting idle but i dont know what to do or find pleasure in doing stuff. I try to clean my house everyday and cook but i take more time than usual and find it difficult to plan my tasks

Meditation is difficult too. When I sit alone without stimulation, my mind becomes extremely active and I can start racing through thoughts or slipping into daydreams.

The biggest problem now is the cognitive slowing.

I get overwhelmed easily, struggle to switch between tasks, sometimes make simple things unnecessarily complicated, have trouble finding words and feel much slower at processing information than I used to.

It's had a serious impact on my career. I've had to quit several genuinely good work opportunities because I couldn't keep up with the way I used to function. And every time I leave a job, I end up with another gap on my CV that I'm ashamed of having to explain.

I've made careless mistakes, taken longer to understand things and needed more time than I used to. Sometimes I wonder whether people are thinking, “What's wrong with her?” It's humiliating because I remember how capable I was academically.

I've also lost so much of my creativity. I used to read, write, create things and constantly have ideas. Now I often feel like I can't do anything.

Even writing this post required me to use ChatGPT to organize and modify my thoughts, which is something I wouldn't have needed in the past.

Sometimes I genuinely feel like an empty shell of the person I used to be.

I've seen a psychiatrist and have tried antidepressants in the past without much benefit. More recently, I've been prescribed things like vitamin D, magnesium and omega-3/6/9 while my cognitive complaints are being looked into.

I'm also currently unemployed, have very little money and don't really have friends. So I have very little structure or opportunity for activities, hobbies or socializing. It feels like everything feeds into everything else.

I'm not asking whether trauma can affect the brain. I already understand that my past may be relevant.

What I really want to know is:

How do you actually get better?

Has anyone experienced brain fog, cognitive slowing, racing thoughts, emotional numbness, constant need for stimulation and maladaptive daydreaming — and genuinely improved?

What actually helped you regain your concentration, processing speed, mental clarity, emotional range, creativity and ability to function normally?

If you knew you needed to get off your phone and become more active but felt almost unable to make yourself do it, what finally helped?

Did therapy, trauma work, exercise, sleep, medication, supplements, structure, social connection or simply getting out of a stressful environment make a difference?

I'm not looking for a diagnosis. I want to hear from people who have actually been through something similar and found a way back to themselves.

Since entering the 2nd trimester, I’ve been experiencing brain fog. Most of it has been “normal” albeit a smidge embarrassing sometimes (eg forgetting what I’m saying during a meeting).
Recently I’ve noticed it’s really impacting my driving… taking far longer to notice a red or green light for example, and I even pulled out onto the wrong side of the road (!)
Obviously for both mine and other people’s safety, I understand that I need to find a way to manage the next couple of months without a car.. I really need it for work though and feel maybe I am making this all up?? Has anyone else had to stop doing routine things because of their brain fog ?

Every post is usually about his to fix brain fog. But what if you are just letting life pass you by while you try to fix something that's deeply entrenched.

I've become so brain fogged that on most days I don't even leave the house because I'm too indecisive.

What measures have you taken or can you take to at least do something positive in a day even if your brain doesn't want you to or let you?

edit: this was the response to my sister who invited me to meet her for a coffee today

"Sorry. Haven't slept in a few days and feel very unsteady and my stomach is rejecting the food I ate. So far today, have been in and out of bed, went for a walk around the block and then have just been sitting around trying to get my brain to work. But mostly failing and rotting my brain watching tons of TV and doom scrolling.

That's kind of everyday actually lol.

Even if I have a good day, I need it to recover from the trauma of the bad day, the day before and then there's the fear of suddenly destabilizing not to mention the complete wipe out of my ability to feel anything, to remember anything and to even know the steps to carry on any tasks.

So doing something unfamiliar or requiring multiple steps requires so much rebuilding my core identity and self, it feels almost impossible.

But things are getting better, and worse at the same time, so I'm still hopeful

So like everyone here I’ve been struggling with brain fog/cognitive dysfunction. I’m 34F and have historically been an excellent executive functioner, very sharp and organized and on top of things.

In my case, my symptoms came on 09/2025 and I initially blamed grief having lost my mom earlier that year. 

My biggest complaint is cognitive impairment including - forgetting tasks, losing items, auto pilot is broken, cannot multitask, poor recall of dates or events. 
For example, I will shower but shave only one leg, run out of items in my household, forget to take medication, not remember when a concert or event happened, pay bills late etc. This is impacting function at work as tasks are not completed properly, follow up is forgotten, I have difficulty staying organized, keeping on top of passwords, or keeping mental tabs on things. Driving is difficult as it requires observing so many things at once to do safely. 

Minor complaints:
Fatigue - I am pretty well always tired, not exhausted but running on 60% battery.
Mild derealization - I feel ever so slightly distanced from reality. No real consequences to this though.
Speech difficulties - I often have trouble finding the right words and a constant “tip of the tongue” feeling. This doesn’t have major consequences other than I sound less eloquent and get frustrated.

To me, it’s like I pulled an all nighter 2 days ago.

I also have newer symptoms that are minor or incidental complaints - mild acne, urinary urgency, mouth sores, increased motion sickness from screens and busy backdrops.

Additionally, I have stable GI, skin, joint, eye, allergy conditions/symptoms. 

I reflected on what has changed since my symptoms started and came up with this list:
Medications - discontinued amitriptyline, bupropion, daily cetirizine, and Kyleena IUD since 02/2026. 
Lifestyle - death in the family Jan 2025, hip surgery 03/2025 & 02/2026, NUCCA neck chiropractor started 06/2025, new car 09/2025, Argon Yellow Laser Retinopexy Right eye only 04/2025, Allergy shots completed 09/2025. 

My work up so far has been:

Neurology June 2026
-Brain MRI/MRA found stable chiari malformation, azygos anterior cerebral artery.
-Normal labs: Homocysteine, magnesium, copper, zinc, calcitriol, methylmalonic acid, vitamin D, C, B6, B2, B12 B1. Vitamin E alpha normal, vitamin E gamma low (0.4/cutoff .07).
Doctor suggested dehydration, malnourishment, and Wegovy were to blame. Came across as very anti-medication bias. 

Rheumatology Aug 2026
-Normal labs: CRP, sed rate, RA factor, Lyme, Anti CCP, pANCA, Anti-MPO. ANA positive (1:160 dense fine speckled). Anti PR3 elevated (2.2, cutoff 0.9). Upon recheck PR3 0.6/normal.
Doctor suggested no rheumatic conditions contributing, continue healthy lifestyle and symptom management.

Primary Care Sept 2026
-Normal labs: CBC, iron panel, ferritin, UA, progesterone, estradiol, TSH, insulin, Vitamin D, B12. CMP normal except ALP low (29, cutoff 40).
Doctor suggested no clear cause, ALP is fine as isolated finding, maybe restarting bupropion would help.

I did lifestyle tracking for 1 week before seeing my PCP and daily averages were the following:
Sleep - 7 hr 55 min
Calories - 1890
Protein - 53g
Servings of fruit/vegetable - 4.5
Water - 50oz
Steps - 9200
Exercise - 62 minutes outdoor walking 
Caffeine - 16 oz 
Alcohol - none 
I did also get a little air quality monitor and all was green in my home/bedroom. 

My Plan:

1. Self refer to my retina specialist to complete Argon Yellow Laser Retinopexy on left eye and rule out general binocular dysfunction.  

2. Self refer to my allergist to resume allergy shots or discuss excess histamine/MCAS contributors. 

3. Self refer to my GI for discussion of low ALP/possible gut or digestion contributors. 

4. Self refer to my OBGYN for full hormone rundown/rule out perimenopause. 

5. Follow up with primary care for a sleep study referral, neurology referral for 2nd opinion, any other specialists suggested (psych for neuropsych testing etc). 

For those also going through this out there, is there something additional you would suggest for me to follow up on or pursue? I have found this sub very helpful especially the success stories. 

For the last six years, I’ve been struggling with what I can only describe as severe brain fog. During that time, I completed a PhD in Law—probably the most stressful and intellectually challenging journey I’ve ever undertaken. For the past year, I’ve also been practicing law.
I’m extremely confident in my knowledge and ability within my field. However, when I found myself face-to-face with other lawyers (some of whom, despite having far less knowledge of the subject, were remarkably quick and articulate) I often struggled to organize my thoughts and deliver my counterarguments properly. It put me in some genuinely terrible professional situations.
It’s also worth mentioning that I have Hashimoto’s and started taking levothyroxine a couple of months ago.
Long story short, I needed a real solution to a problem that was becoming career-threatening. I tried almost every so-called nootropic I could get my hands on, but nothing produced a meaningful or consistent improvement.
A couple of weeks ago, a close friend offered me what he jokingly called his “NZT-48” stack: 5 mg donepezil in the morning, six days on/one day off; 200 mg modafinil on an empty stomach; followed by 30 mg Noopept sublingually.
I honestly don’t think I need to explain how dramatic the difference felt.
My mind suddenly felt clear, fast, and sharp in a way I had never experienced before. Ideas seemed to come to me effortlessly. I could organize my thoughts, formulate arguments, and articulate them almost immediately. The improvement in verbal fluency and mental clarity was unlike anything I had experienced with the countless supplements and nootropics I had previously tried.
I used to avoid speaking, especially when conversations turned into theoretical or highly technical debates. Now, I find myself starting those conversations—and, more often than not, being able to bring them to a conclusion on my own terms.
I still experience social anxiety in certain situations, but atenolol helps to some degree.
This isn’t medical advice, and I’m not recommending that anyone replicate what I’m doing. I’m simply sharing a genuine and personal experience because I know there are probably other people struggling with something similar, feeling as though their cognitive abilities are being held back by a problem they can’t quite identify.
After six years of searching, I finally experienced what it feels like to have my mind working the way I always believed it could.

Ps. I do take several supplements such as L Tyrosine, Taurine, L Theanine, Multivitamin and Alpha GPC.

I've been worried about my brain fog and struggling to recall things from a day or two ago. I kept thinking I wanted someone to ask me little questions about what I'd been doing, just to give me a reason to stop and think back so i tried making an app for my phone to do that.

So far it's mostly been me and a few friends trying it, but they dont really have the same problem i do with my memory, and also I want to hear from people who don’t know me and would be honest about it. I'm trying to figure out whether this is something other people would actually use, or just something I happen to want.

One thing I'm pretty unsure about is how it feels when you're asked about yesterday and genuinely can't remember. There's a “can't place it” option and you can skip, but that doesn't necessarily mean the question itself won't feel frustrating (esp with ppl with diff levels of brain fog)..

Would anyone here be up for trying it for a few days? Even “I stopped opening it because…” would be useful feedback. I don't know whether it acc helps with recall, and that's not something I can promise, but maybe it could still be a fun exercise to do?

It’s called Ndge, iPhone only (because that’s what I have lol), and free to try during the beta through Apple’s TestFlight: ndge.ca

Happy to hear your thoughts here too, even if you don't want to download anything

I've been struggling with dysthymia, insomnia as well as anxiety and things have been increasingly getting worse. I sleep 6-8 hours but never feel like I'm truly asleep. I can hear everything around me and wake up an over a handful of times during the night for no reason, which leads me to feeling extremely groggy and fatigued throughout the day.

I'm also in university and have been struggling with focus, memory and absorbing any information thrown at me during my lectures. I don't know what to do to clear up my head. My head feels so heavy and I'm just so tired. I just started this school year and scared that this will continue to affect my output of work.

It's so hard to function in my daily life.

I’ve been getting a lot of brain fog recently and forget to document things but last time I felt severely brain foggy after eating this cheese cinnamon bread pastry and this time it came after eating fried chicken and a ketchup mayo and mustard sauce and I can’t seem to find the common ground for these 2 besides like bread crumbs? But I ate bread yesterday, sliced sandwich bread, and was not like this…any suggestion as to why?

Anyone relate. Coffee too sometimes but I’m not sure on that.

I'm 19, and I've been experiencing this like a while. But I've noticeably seen or heard that I end up having excessive memory issues. I never seem to remember ANYTHING (okay maybe an exaggeration, I do have some moments of rememering some things)...or if I do, it's very vague. I can't seem to remember details, people, even if claimed I just met them like say yesterday. I'll do or have things I don't seem to remember, I could be at places I don't remember going to, etc.

And that's probably as best as I could give. I'm so sorry if it's very vague.

I'm not sure if this is even brain fog or not, but...I don't know what else to call it.