View Full Version : Experiences dealing with fatigue or brain fog during studies/work?
Hi,
I have anxiety related to my course at medical school and am dealing with incredibly persistent fatigue and brain fog in relation to this. I am not sure how to continue studying with these symptoms, and I can't help but feel so disadvantaged, unconfident, and scared about what to do. Does anyone have any experiences of working with fatigue and/or brain fog?
I had brain fog for around 2 months at the start of this year when I was more anxious about my health. Just don't let it beat you down. Not thinking about it is the cure, believe me. I stopped worrying and it disappeared. I was certain at every day at 2pm it was at its worst and I felt like going to sleep. You're getting the fog because you're worrying about the fog. Positive vibes your way!
I had brain fog for around 2 months at the start of this year when I was more anxious about my health. Just don't let it beat you down. Not thinking about it is the cure, believe me. I stopped worrying and it disappeared. I was certain at every day at 2pm it was at its worst and I felt like going to sleep. You're getting the fog because you're worrying about the fog. Positive vibes your way!
Thanks for your reply! It always makes me feel so much better knowing I'm not alone. How did you go about not worrying about brain fog even when it interfered with your daily tasks? It's interfering with my studies and so I sometimes can't help but worry :(
So from my experience I began exercising, which really helped. Gave me time to concentrate solely on that, the coordination and counting of repetitions at the gym on weights helped me a lot. Always found it to be a simple exercise, but relieves me thinking of other things (and if you go three or so times a week you'll notice the physical benefit soon enough, which makes you feel better about yourself too).
Also, if you put too much pressure on yourself and think you aren't doing well that'll only add to the trouble (I know studying for medicine is hard, I have some friends who are now doctors and remember them complaining about the rigours of it!) I know the feeling, I have to be creative for a living and I struggled immensely to generate ideas when I had the brain fog. I can't stress enough that lots of small amounts of stress can unconsciously creep in and cause physical discomfort.
I now understand the physical symptoms I have from anxiety / health anxiety came from a multitude of areas. Working at a high-level in my job meant all my colleagues were high-achievers also. So that made me stressed. I moved overseas and that was stressful. I was engaged and was certain for some reason the embassy wouldn't let my fiancée in the country. Then my wife couldn't work until now and that was stressful on a personal level. Then my Dad got diagnosed with Motor Neurone disease and that was it. I started having back pain, that led to a multitude of other symptoms and it led me to think I had a whole host of things. So many.
Are you suffering from anything else?
So from my experience I began exercising, which really helped. Gave me time to concentrate solely on that, the coordination and counting of repetitions at the gym on weights helped me a lot. Always found it to be a simple exercise, but relieves me thinking of other things (and if you go three or so times a week you'll notice the physical benefit soon enough, which makes you feel better about yourself too).
Also, if you put too much pressure on yourself and think you aren't doing well that'll only add to the trouble (I know studying for medicine is hard, I have some friends who are now doctors and remember them complaining about the rigours of it!) I know the feeling, I have to be creative for a living and I struggled immensely to generate ideas when I had the brain fog. I can't stress enough that lots of small amounts of stress can unconsciously creep in and cause physical discomfort.
I now understand the physical symptoms I have from anxiety / health anxiety came from a multitude of areas. Working at a high-level in my job meant all my colleagues were high-achievers also. So that made me stressed. I moved overseas and that was stressful. I was engaged and was certain for some reason the embassy wouldn't let my fiancée in the country. Then my wife couldn't work until now and that was stressful on a personal level. Then my Dad got diagnosed with Motor Neurone disease and that was it. I started having back pain, that led to a multitude of other symptoms and it led me to think I had a whole host of things. So many.
Are you suffering from anything else?
Thanks again for your reply! It always makes me feel so much better when I hear about similar struggles and know it's not just me who goes through this.
Your advice about exercise is really good and I've recently started going to the gym and lifting weights too, and this is pretty much the one time of the day when I feel some relief from brain fog.
It's also interesting to hear about the stressors that contributed to your anxiety because it makes me realise that I've also been facing quite a few, beyond just academics, and this likely contributed to the symptoms. In addition to brain fog, I also have a lot of tiredness.
If I may ask, what was the most successful way for you to get some symptom relief? Do you think decrease in symptoms was more attributed to the stressors of your life decreasing, to you dealing better with those stressors, or due to you starting to accept the symptoms and focusing less on them?
I've felt like the most relief I've had from it is through accepting that I'm going through a stressful time, acknowledging the stress and setting aside time to relax and just do things I want to do and because of this I've seen a decrease in fog, headaches, burning sensations in my hands and feet, spasms and a decrease in muscle tension. Sometimes my body tries to throw up some additional symptoms but I just bear with it and they tend to ease off.
Still bearing with a couple but I feel 90% back to my normal self, so it's only a matter of time till I'm there. Had the final test I had yesterday as my doctor advised a chest x-ray a couple months back and I took it and it came back totally fine. All my blood work was fine. Acknowledged all of it was mental stress.
The exercise has been the most helpful. Setting myself some small goals and sticking to them really improved my mood and restored confidence in myself. Seeing the gains and feeling that I wasn't as tired doing certain exercises after a month or two was fantastic and really has made me realize my physical and mental wellbeing are the most important things. Being active and taking your mind off things is great, arrange it around your schedule, so you don't feel too busy. Enjoy your weekends. And give yourself time to relax. You've got yourself to University to do medicine, you're already doing so well, just have to push a bit further, but do it on your terms.
Also, talking about it and the problems I faced was critical, luckily I had a couple of people amongst my friends and close family. Realized I could be helpful if I told some people on here what I was going through (still kind of going through). Hope it's helped! The fog will go! Always available on here if you're feeling low.
On a more humorous note, I always think, if you're feeling a bit shitty, stay positive, eat some pizza you'll move through it.
comm1291
Just wanted to let you know you're not alone. I'm in Pharmacy at a Cancer Centre, so every day when either hearing patients symptoms or reading discharge Rxs, I end up in a tizzy. I seem to "develop" brain tumour symptoms everyday, specifically Glioblastoma Multiforme.
Of course, I'm 99.9% sure deep down I don't have a BT, but this leaves me with the foggy head. The only real remedy I find is not reading into your "symptoms". Good luck
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