Brain Fog

[maemai]

I love your key story..... here's my key story. I was getting ready to move and my apartment was being shown during the day. I got home a little late one night after a very tiring day and my key wouldn't work! I thought they had changed the locks. I had my boyfriend come over with his key to see if it would work. About the time he got to my apartment I was looking at my keychain and noticed there was a key I didn't remember having.... then slowly it came to me that the extra key was for the top lock, which I had not used in several months. I had completely forgotten that I had a different key for that lock and of course when they showed my apartment earlier in the day, they had locked both locks. Luckily the boyfriend kept me and we are married now!

I turn into a stoned goldfish.

For example: Once I spend half an hour looking for my keys. I looked high, I looked low, and I was half an hour late for work. You know where I finally found my keys? IN MY HAND! Top that.

[schuyler]

I turn into a stoned goldfish.

I feel like I'm stoned (no other way to describe it) and I have the 3-second attention span of a goldfish.

Really.

I would have a lot of blonde moments. A lot.

For example: Once I spend half an hour looking for my keys. I looked high, I looked low, and I was half an hour late for work. You know where I finally found my keys? IN MY HAND! Top that.

I'll ask someone a question and then I won't remember the answer 5 seconds later. Or I'll say something and it doesn't make any sense. It's a lot better now. I don't get so distracted by shiny things

That sounds exactly like me. All of it. The keys thing just happened to me today. My family actually watched me search the house for my keys and said nothing (although I'm sure they were laughing). After awhile I gave up, and then my mom said "Have you checked your hand?"

When I'm glutened, I become so forgetful that my cousin has started calling me Dory, after the forgetful fish in Nemo.

If anything, Celiac has taught me how to laugh at myself

[lorka150]

Another way I can describe it is that if I were to shake my head back and forth, my eyes go slower than the rest and can never focus.

[shellbean]

I have the brain fog alot. When I get it, my eyes go a little blurry and what I am thinking I want to say and what I actually say are completely different. I get tongue tied and I suddenly forget what I was saying in the first place. I forget how to do some of the simplest things. I was always smart and learned new things very quickly and never had trouble speaking but now it's like someone hit me with the stupid stick. It is very frustrating. I sound like I don't have a smart bone in my body anymore. I'm afraid the brain fog will cause problems at my job because even though I have notes on how to do everything, I get so confused and when I look at my notes, I swear it looks like greek to me. My friends (what I have left of 'em! ) are a little confused themselves because they knew me to be smarter and to have a good memory. Not anymore...I forget what I did yesterday!

[Guest TerpyTaylor]

My brain fog makes me feel like my whole body is made out of lead. I get completely exhausted and I can't finish thoughts or sentences. My face will feel flushed and really hot. It usually doesn't last long, about a few hours, and it helps me a lot to take a nap. I've actually pulled over on the side of the road before and slept because I absolutely could not function. I have fibromyalgia as kind of a result of celiac, so maybe this makes my "brain fog" a little different. It was at it's worst, happening almost every day, right before I found out I had celiac. Now I hardly ever get, only if I get glutened badly. Brain fog is hard to explain, but the feeling is so awful; I'd rather be sick to my stomach or something!

[penguin]

I would have a lot of blonde moments. A lot.

For example: Once I spend half an hour looking for my keys. I looked high, I looked low, and I was half an hour late for work. You know where I finally found my keys? IN MY HAND! Top that.

I did it again!

Yesterday morning I went to the store before work to get some chips (healthy, I know) and I stood outside my car in a near panic that I locked the keys in the car. They were in my friggin' hand. I think the peroxide is just seeping in

[Februaryrich]

Evil Gluten! Before the exams I barely eat just to make sure I don`t get glutened

[AVR1962]

For me I get the headache, then I get dizzy, my speach is like you described but my memory becomes realy bad. I will forget that I had already planned a meal and plan another one. I don't know how many times I have bought duplicate items. I will make an appt and totally forget I made it or have a conversationa nd have no memory of even talking to that person. I am a piano instructor and do some rather complex theory with my older students and have actually had to apologize because I had forgotten some of what I trying to teach, drving I may forget where I am going. Using an ATM machine I may go blank and forget the steps for a few seconds til I can get my brain back on track. It feels like what I would imagine Alzheimer's to be. My family knows when I have been bit as my teen daughter will tell me I am not making sense and will ask me if I have been eating gluten. High fructose effects me the same as gluten. It will last for 3 weeks, first 2 being the worst, so I have to be very careful.

[AVR1962]

For me I get sudden bursts of dizzyness and everything goes kinda shimmery, like my eyes can't focus right. Things that normally take little thought require great concentration to do correctly. It is very "out of body".. that's a good description. I'm studying to be an engineer, so I normally can't talk too eloquently (extreme number bias), but during those times I literally cannot think of any words. My mouth moves but no sound comes out.

I also feel extremely cold for days after a glutening.. it's as if my body cannot retain any heat. We are all so bizarre.

I too have problems staying warm but I had not linked it to the glutens, very interesting.

[Twinklestars]

My brain fog feels pretty much like elonwy explained on the first page. I often feel like I'm operating in a bubble at a slower pace than everyone outside it. It's so weird.

[Katrala]

I'll go somewhere and then think, "How did I get here?"

[pricklypear1971]

Ever seen the movie Get Him To The Greek??? Well, it's like I smoked a Jeffrey. Gluten and salicylates trigger an overstimulation if my adrenals - complemented by a feeling that someone closed doors in the hallways of my brain. So, it's like my thoughts are going down the hallways, but can't get in certain rooms to get the info they need.

And when I'm not Jeffried - I just want to lie down and sleep. And noises drive me nuts and I just want to lock myself in quiet dark room.

And the WORST part us that my brain is so screwed up during this time it takes a while to realize what's going on and by then I've already snapped at someone or done something stupid.

AND I've been on an antihistamine for DH (yeah, I know - doesnt work) that is also an antipsychotic and it's like someone tossed a soft, furry blanket over my brain. I couldn't remember anything more than 2 days ago and didn't care. Now I'm coming off it and have a brain. Scary part - I have a brain. Good part - I have a brain.

Aaaack!!!!

One of my first symptoms of improvement from going gluten-free was "thyroid" brain fog lifted. Happened when I started thyroid meds too. Came back this year with a vengeance.

And let's not even get into the shaking hands.....

[zoogirl]

Brain fog is one of my biggest issues, along with extreme chronic fatigue. Before I figured out the gluten connection just a couple months ago, I was really starting to worry that there would come a point where I wouldn't be able to function well enought to do my job. It was also the first thing I noticed an improvement in after going gluten-free.

For me, I guess it's most similar to a 'stoned' feeling. It feels like my mind is working through mud or something. Someone can be talking to me and I won't be able to follow anything they're saying. Like they're just speaking gibberish or something. If I get distracted during a task, I have to really think hard to get back on track even if its something I've done a million times.

I'm currently having a relapse of all of that since I've fallen completely off my gluten-free diet. Constantly reminding myself how much better I function and feel while I'm on it will be the only way to get back on track, I think.

[Februaryrich]

I get the eyes symptom too. I can't read stuff like my eyes won't focus on the letter correctly and I am part of another world. It's bad. Really bad.

[color-me-confused]

Has anyone tried treating brain fog? It's very similar to fibro fog found in fibromyalgia, and those patients are sometimes treated with drugs like Concerta (ADHD med) or Provigil (often used for narcolepsy) which clears the fog.

[pricklypear1971]

Has anyone tried treating brain fog? It's very similar to fibro fog found in fibromyalgia, and those patients are sometimes treated with drugs like Concerta (ADHD med) or Provigil (often used for narcolepsy) which clears the fog.

Quite frankly, I'd be terrified to try it. I react to EVERYTHING. besides, going gluten-free does it for me. Probably with a little help from thyroid meds.