Dementia / brain fog that comes and goes?

[darkside4k]

Hey everyone,

Hope everyone is doing well. In general I've been doing better with my health anxiety this year other than a few small flare ups. However, I have a weird one I'd like to get people's thoughts / experiences on today.

So, this starts actually way back in December 2020. I had a period of intense brain fog. I would say it lasted about a week. I felt very brain fogged, disconnected from the world, etc. I immediately stopped any medication I was taking and also cut out caffeine (I drink Coke Zero). Like I said, after about a week it subsided and I kind of forgot about it. Then, a few weeks later it came back again for about a week or so. Then, it would disappear again for a couple of weeks. Then come back, rinse repeat. However, from April through mid August I actually only had about 10 days of brain fog over that entire period basically (I keep a health journal). And, from mid-June, through July, until about August 12th, I had *zero* days of brain fog. Like, no symptoms of brain fog at all. I considered it a weird quirk of my past that I ever had to deal with it and did not expect it to return it had been gone so long.

But, on about August 12th, the brain fog returned and it has been with me in the same fashion since. Here about week, gone a week, then comes back, etc. So far this week I have had it yesterday and today. When it started this week, I decided to cut all caffeine cold turkey for a while and see if that helps any.

Now, another weird thing about it is when I wake up in the morning I feel totally mentally clear. No brain fog. However, about 10am the brain fog hits me. I usually also feel fatigued on the days I have brain fog. Just generally tired, like I need to sleep. Then, in the late afternoon or early evening the brain fog will usually lift and many times I am again perfectly mentally clear in the evenings. It's very strange.

So, my number one fear is some sort of dementia / Alzheimers. My grandmother had Alzheimers at 65 or so. I am 35. However, I do not know if these symptoms of coming and going with such extended periods of "normalcy" (even weeks at a time) is really consistent with dementia or Alzheimers? I'm too scared to Google it. Maybe early Alzheimers can come and go like that? If anyone knows I would be happy to know - like I said, I'm too scared to Google. Maybe some sort of brain tumor? I also wonder if it is some sort of sleep disorder. My wife says she doesn't really notice me snoring excessively or anything though. But, I can't ignore the combination of fatigue that is usually present with the brain fog that makes me think it may be something sleep related.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

[MyNameIsTerry]

There are all sorts of things that can simulate dementia-like symptoms and when treated things return to normal. Certain imbalances in the body. I'm only mentioning this because we tend to think of dementia as a condition rather than it occurring as a symptom.

Within mental health disorders we can experience elements of this too. But even stress or poor sleep can do the same. Just try staying up a couple of nights and trying to remember stuff. Our neurochemicals being affected by prolonged stress can cause us to experience things like this. Many threads across the forum are proof of this alone.

If your anxiety or depression is so bad you can't think straight then it's quite possible. I went through periods that were so bad I would be staring at a few numbers unable to add them together. My career meant I worked with figures and calculation all the time.

You can't think straight with brain fog. Things you normally do seem beyond your comprehension but once it clears you are able to work through them. You can struggle to make decisions, And the anxiety or depression symptom.

I've seen dementia assessment and some of the tests anyone on this forum could fail due to not being able to think straight. Other tests we would have no problem with. Whilst someone suffering dementia may vary across the assessment if they took it more than once they would still score lower than expected for their age. We wouldn't. And coming & going isn't something they would experience in the way we experience it due to our symptoms getting in our way. They wouldn't need brain fog or dehydration or lack of sleep or anything else to cause this as it's there all the time for them.