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This may seem an odd way
to begin this Guide: Brain fog? "What?" "Huh?"
"What about the
serious stuff for goodness sake? My mind is fine,
so get on with it!"
"I can't see
properly! What about that?"
"I'm so exhausted,
I can hardly move!"
"I keep tripping
over my own feet; well, foot!"
"My legs
feel like they are on fire!"
"I keep dropping
things!" ...
This could easily be a
very long list so I'll shut up and get to the point. You get the
idea, I'm sure. This Beginners Guide is about introducing you to
multiple sclerosis, in all its colors.
What
is brain fog?
I'm glad you asked!
Brain fog is the name given by the MS Community at large;
to a common complaint by people who have multiple sclerosis, that
they cannot think clearly. It may even be why you went to your
doctor.
More than likely however, is that brain fog has crept up
on you slowly over the years. You are probably aware of 'something';
you just don't know what, making it difficult to think clearly. Some
people describe it as 'like having cotton wool in your head'. Over time, the 'cotton wool' feeling that prevents you from thinking
clearly, gets worse and you must exert increasing amounts of energy
to fight through the 'brain fog' barrier to accomplish, well,
just about everything.
Before diagnosis, or a 'possible' multiple sclerosis diagnosis; 'brain
fog' was just 'how it was' and was probably something you were
never quite fully consciously aware of. You may even have thought
everyone else is the same.They're not.
Brain fog is generally lumped into the term, 'cognitive
difficulties' or 'cognitive dysfunction'.
Cognitive dysfunction actually covers a whole range of different
things, one of which is 'brain fog'. There are other things but I'll
leave them for now. This is a Beginners Guide, remember? |
