i've reviewed posts on here & i saw several mention "symptoms of brain or mental fog".

could you PLEASE be more specific in the presence of a new person like myself?  WHAT in sams-hill is a "brain fog"??  if you dont get down to specific details, HOW will us new people know if we have it?!

thank you.  while you're at it, please refrain from future use of such general non-specific terms.  this doesnt help anyone seeking help at all!  

To quote your words "What in sams-hill is a brain fog??"

GOOD QUESTION.  If I went to my doctor with THAT complaint, I DONT think they'd understand me!  I'd need to be more SPECIFIC!

I guess because of the symptoms that I have experienced, I believe that brain fog is the mental confusion, forgetfulness, inability to think clearly that is experienced by many people with sleep apnea.  I described some of my symptoms with the words "brain fog" and my doctor knew exactly what I was talking about.  

mimi

This discussion is exactly what I've been looking for because I think I have it.  It comes and goes and usually goes away in the evenings. These are my symptons: lack of alertness during the day and and I'm not able to think as sharply. I also feel like I'm walking around in a daze, kind of like a zombie. My mind and my body don't feel in sync with each other. I've been attributing this to stress, anxiety, etc. Please let me know what you think.

Jeff

JeffS

I was diagnosed because of insomnia - I can't sleep at night even though I'm really tired.  I was exhaused all day long - fell asleep at my desk at work, would fall asleep as soon as I got in the car (as a passanger), forget things all the time.  I snore enough to bring down the roof (that's usually a sign).  I would sit at my computer at work and do something and then apparently I would nod off and do the same thing again because I could not remember if I had already done it or not.  Brain fog is just a description of how many of us feel.  You are just not all there.  My whole life changed.  Can't handle stress at all anymore.

If you think that you might have sleep apnea, talk to your doctor and do it immediately.  Your doctor can set you up for a sleep study, that's the way to know for sure.  

mimi

Reply Person.

If the doc you are referring to is a sleep specialist and he/she doesn't know what brain fog is, I'd find myself a new doctor!

mimi

I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea a few years ago after undergoing a  sleep study because of snoring. Since it didn't interfere wih my normal activities, I didn't really see the need to do anything about it. But I feel that I have may have brain fog after reading this post. At times I feel like I'm just not all there. It's kind of been scary not knowing what has been wrong. I had been thinking of other things like stress, anxiety, depression.

I'll have to read more about this. I'm thinking that it occurs because I'm not getting enough sleep at night and that a CPAP should help.

For years I have had trouble remembering things...I could not remember the details of my study time table , even though I looked at it for a week, i had to refer whenever someone asked me about the following days lectures.. I could not remember what I did yesterday without really using alot of energy to gather my recollection. Am a university student and recently i have realised that my concentration, alertness level is so poor that I can't keep truck of a conversations or even remember sequences in a movie. can't remember my dreams in the morning. I might study a certain topic and not remember most of the things in a couple of hours. I always feel drained, tired and withdrawn.

Its ruining me and I need some guidance. One thing am sure of is that I have a lot of tension and get frustrated easily. My night sleep isn't good either.

You definitely need to find a sleep doctor/pulmonologist and get a sleep test.


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Jeffs.....I had gotten a promotion and had to learn new programs for the computer and lottttssssss for other stuff I worked hard for a whole year ...with the hyper focussing and brain fog ................I needed to make my own charts and ways for me to learn all the new things...in the end I couldn't handle it like mimiW said the stress that I could handle before I could handle no more.......I turned in a resignation letter and had all I could do to keep from crying..( this is before I knew I had apnea ) I thought I was having a breakdown ( I was sort of)   today I am still sad about that job I had worked hard to get ...............now I work hard to stay awake............

I think the thing I do most is use the wrong word for things, over and over again.  Not the same words, just different words and I say something that maybe starts with the same letter but isn't the right thing, or a word that was said recently, or I just sit there and can't remember at all the word I want to say.

My spelling gets worse when I type.

I have a harder time remembering what I came into a room for.

I have to concentrate on the tiny thing that's right in front of me that I'm trying to do because I'm unable to concentrate on more than one thing at a time.

I'll be in the middle of doing something and forget what I'm doing.

I feel spacy, out-of-it, tired, not able to think clearly (which is where I assume the term "fog" comes from).

All I want to do is sleep.

Hope this helps a bit.

Oggie


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I always tell my kids....
Just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD.

Geez Oggie, isn't the cpap helping you at all?


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Respironics? M-Series Auto w/ HH & C-Flex; Flexfit? Hybrid? Mask, Encore Pro 1.8i

Yes, I can definitely relate to your symptoms, since I've had some of the same ones. At least now, I know what the problem is and that I'm not going out of my mind. There have been times when I just didn't feel all there, spacy, dazed,  and my mind and body weren't in sync with each other. At other times, I couldn't think of the right word to use. One time in a job interview, I couldn't think of the word "customer," so I had to use the word "purchaser". I'm sure that didn't do me any good in the interview.

JeffS

Personally, I have never been told what "Brain Fog" is, but when I heard it, I understood immediately.  I struggle with various levels of it, but it definitely starts out with ADHD-like symptoms [can't focus, forget why I came into a room, etc.].  When it gets worse, I start to feel like I'm running on some sort of Autopilot all day.  It kind of feels like I'm floating through everything, and not actually interacting with any of my surroundings.  I'll walk to lunch (I'm in college, so it's a cafeteria), and just get in line because I see a line in front of me - regardless of what they're serving in that line.  When I try to read, I feel like my head is up in the clouds, and I can't read further than a paragraph without having to start over and reread everything because I've forgotten what I've read.  I finally got so bad that I was completely ineffective at doing any thought-related activity, and I'd go days without sleeping - regardless of how hard I'd try.  

I just started CPAP one week ago, and I'm starting to feel it all clear up...slowly, but surely.  It feels kind of like when you get a car stuck, and you just keep spinning the wheels - and then finally, you start to feel it catch, and you can get moving again.  

I highly recommend getting checked out, even if you just think you're starting to wander down the road of sleep deprivation.  It really makes a huge difference.

HHopper...

Those are the symptoms I felt before treatment with CPAP! Over the past few months I've had some problems with my mask, which lead to (although only in part) to a decrease in compliance.  Also stress in my life has been contributing to not being able to sleep a whole night through, and so there's been some sleep deprivation issues there, as well.

Decrease In Compliance=Increase In Symptoms, i.e. Brain Fog.

But I can say that, for the most part, the brain fog is never as bad as it was before CPAP.  I look forward to sleeping through the night with 100% compliance so that I can feel all better again.

 

Oggie


_________________
I always tell my kids....
Just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD.