Brain fog

[imogen84]

Hi all, I am in the midst of a pretty bad Health anxiety attack that's been going on for 2 weeks. I know the cause and I am trying to deal with it but I have the worst brain fog I have ever experienced and I feel like the more I think about it the worse it gets?! It's like this thick cloud in my brain that I feel like I have to squint through and I am always thinking about it. When I don't think about it and I get stuck into somthing else it goes away until I realise and then it's back again, am I really doing this to myself????

[RadioGaGa]

Brain fog is entirely normal.

Lack of sleep, caffeine, hangovers and anxiety (amongst many other things) trigger it in me.

It will be your uncontrolled anxiety causing it.

I was on Sertraline for a while which completely killed my anxiety. It also made me stop caring about everything else, which is why I came off it. I never had brain fog on it because I didn’t care !

The brain fog I had coming off it was insane. Forgetting conversations I’d just had, feeling like I was in a perpetual dream-like state….

Brain fog now makes a weekly appearance when I’m hungover. And throughout the week when things are hectic in work.

Brain fog is normal.

[NoraB]

Anxiety changes how the brain functions. The stress response (fight or flight) means that activity is increased in the part of the brain responsible for detection of danger and reaction; at the same time suppressing areas responsible for executive function, learning and memory. Basically, your brain is now primed for you to react to danger, rather than writing your shopping list....

This is all very real, and not at all imagined. It is a normal part of the stress response that you are continually triggering with your anxious thoughts. The answer is to challenge your HA thoughts, and to work on turning the stress response off by using deep breathing techniques etc