# Brain fog and tired



## Dreamland (Jun 1, 2005)

My DP is in somewhat of a remission mode, but lately I've been suffering what can only be described as a brain fog. I feel so unbelievably tired and have the ability to sleep for 12 hours straight, but I don't. Anytime I put my head down I pass out into this deep sleep. My appetite is off the charts as well; I can eat twenty pounds of mashed potatoes if you let me. As far as this brain fog is concerned, I sometimes experience a three second delay before I remember the name of a familiar place or someone's name, but I can still recite detailed theoretical jargon in an instant. It's the familiar things that appear eclipsed by this fog in my head. Anybody else experience this? I mean the sleeping is out of control and I'm going to the doctor to get some blood work done.


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## Ben (Apr 21, 2005)

Yes, I have this. Something is definitely occuring with us on a fairly peculiar level as our subconcious is defintely hyperactive during our most "brain-fog" moments, almost as though we're kind of on the verge of sleep. If someone were to ask me what I did the day before, sometimes I cannot give them detail descriptions like I could earlier in my life; however, I am able to think about some of the most complex stuff in my mind while my eyes are closed and I'm simply pondering. I like to solve puzzles, and some of the most complicated ones I've been able to solve due to a "flash" of some image in my mind while in this state; I cannot explain it, but it's there.

I've never completely come out of this "brain fog" as you put it, but I've learned to live with it and use it when I can. My guess is that we'll all definitely have it at some point.


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## orangeaid (Jun 24, 2005)

I'm sure not this is the case for everyone, but there are many people who say that brain fog is from extreme anxiety/depression, granted I am not saying this is the case for everyone. But there are some people who just cant think straight because of those two, and if you look at symptoms of those you can see they relate to yoru train of thought/memory.


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## nemesis (Aug 10, 2004)

> there are many people who say that brain fog is from extreme anxiety/depression


And I would most certainly be a case in hand. My experience with fog has definately started to clear once I tended to my problems with anxiety.


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## Da'Burgh (Apr 25, 2005)

That's a good point. That explains why the times in the past when my anxiety was so high that it's hard to recall it.


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## Guest (Jul 7, 2005)

I'm sure not this is the case for everyone, but there are many people who say that brain fog is from extreme anxiety/depression[/quote]

I def. think there is a connection. The anxiety worsens the situation, and for some may be the cause of it. I know that for me taking Klonopin helps a bunch if I'm in a tight position.

I have a question when people talk about brain fog. When you say that, do you mean that everything feels kinda hazy and you're looking through a sheet of glass? I get that at certain times a bunch. And when that starts to happen anxiety picks up and I start to wonder, "well, where do I exist? where is here?" and other equally retarded questions. Then I get this other wierd sensation, like my feet aren't my own or that I'm kinda watching myself from a distant. All equally annoying.


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## orangeaid (Jun 24, 2005)

personaly I thought brain fog was always the term I used for feeling dumb.

For example when I am under anxiety I cant think straight, you know how that is right? Your mind is stressed and it can not concentrate on anything at the moment (denpending on the severity). Depression also makes the body tired and makes you feel crappy, so I think it too adds to mental fatigue.

Brain fog to me = mental fatigue, when you cant think sharp enough, you have clouded thoughts, a lot of break in thoughts, sometimes forgetting your thoughts.

From brain fog sometimes I will notice it and create even more anxiety, its a vicous cycle, but now I have to realized that if I calm down then I will be ok.

For example I have been feeling like shit, just spacey a lot lately. Last night i ate a nice snack, had a ton of milk* and just sat back and relaxed. I know its hard to relax when you feel so bad but I think I just kinda let go, and for a few hours last night I felt like my old self again, it was a great feeling. I think I am just running high on anxiety.

Milk has some crap in it that makes you sleep sounder, it is something found natural in the body? I think and it triggers sleep. Espcially in warm milk. Anyway I found after drinking a few glasses before bed I have started to feel better, but it could just be all in my head. But hey its worth a shot.


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## +[ thedeadpoet ]+ (Jul 23, 2006)

orangeaid said:


> some crap


Its called L-tryptophan.

Brain fog to me is much the same, and I know for a fact its caused by a combination on anxiety and depression. Most of the time I'm listless and incapable of organising my thoughts.

For instance last night I decieded I wanted to make a cup of coffee. I boiled up the kettle, put two spoonfulls of coffee in the cup, added milk, water and one sugar and proceeded to drink, as you do.

I burnt the f.ucking lip off myself. Turns out I hadn't followed the above method at all, but instead I had poured boiling hot water into the cup and added nothing but sugar.

My parents were sitting a few feet away, and had they not been there I wouldnt have been anxious and in consequence wouldnt have done that. I cant believe I've f.ucking anxious around my family...the one group of people I could actually talk to, and now I cant because my brain shuts off due to anxiety.


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## Ni Hi Li St. (Jul 1, 2006)

Doesn't anyone feel as if brain fog is similar to the state of mind when one's mind is near sleep? I mean, if anyone would notice their thoughts before going to sleep, it would be very different than the thoughts when one is totally conscious (my roommate once asked me if he could have his soul back as he was falling asleep).

I don't know if it's the same, but as I have a history of being really anxious talking to people, I notice that I sometimes lapse into a state of mind where I act tactlessly due to some loss of focus. It's as if something in me takes over making me say (or having trouble to say) and do weird things. Worse, upon knowing that I'm becoming weird, I get even more anxious, creating further bouts of weirdness. It's like that vicious cycle someone described earlier. So in a sense, I think I can relate to what you're all saying.

However, I'm not sure if my experience above counts as brain fog. Anybody wants to give their opinion on this?


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## peacedove (Aug 15, 2004)

I experience this brain fog too. I was actually going to start a topic about it on here but then I saw this one.

It's gotten so bad. I was going to ask.... Does anyone know of any ways to lift it???

I constantly have to tell myself to focus, repeatedly. I'm just so spacy.

I also have a fatigue problem. I want to lay down and go to sleep so bad right now. Today I got to work a little early and took a nap in my car before going in. Luckily I set my cell phone alarm and actually awoke to it when it went off.

I'm always tired. Even when waking from a 12 hour sleep. I thought I was starting to get better, a little more awake, since I lowered my meds... but today proved me wrong.

This fog sh*t makes me feel so stupid. It actually feels like I'm about to go cross-eyed sometimes.... I though that was some vision problem so I asked an eye doctor but he just looked at me like I was crazy....

How can I clear my head!?


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## Dreamland (Jun 1, 2005)

I posted this about a month ago and I just noticed that it must be bothering other as well, since it's back on the list of recent topics. I just woke up from a nap and just like what Peacedove is describing, I can sleep all day and all night but still feel tired; and I'm active too with running and working out out. It's getting really bad again and it feels like I'm in a perpetual state of jet-lag. It's not so much DP anymore but it has evolved into some 24/7 hypnotic state.


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## Guest (Aug 30, 2006)

yea i get this too it really sucks. I can sleep for 12 hours and feel exhausted when i wake up. or i can sleep for 6 hours and feel exhausted when i wake up. it doesnt matter. im just always exhausted.

and i feel like im in some dreamy state, and oh yea even my dreams are strange. im even DP'd in my dreams. how messed up is that.


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## +[ thedeadpoet ]+ (Jul 23, 2006)

Its just a constant dream.

No more. This must end here, and this must end now.
Two weeks of ten hours sleep and at least five hours vigorous exersise per night seems promising...

I'll let you know how it goes.

Good luck.


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## livinginhell333 (Feb 19, 2005)

jesusmyangsthasabodycount said:


> yea i get this too it really sucks. I can sleep for 12 hours and feel exhausted when i wake up. or i can sleep for 6 hours and feel exhausted when i wake up. it doesnt matter. im just always exhausted.
> 
> and i feel like im in some dreamy state, and oh yea even my dreams are strange. im even DP'd in my dreams. how messed up is that.


i'm dped in a lot of my dreams as well. its pretty crazy, you sleep to get away from dp/dr and you have them in a lot of your dreams, but i also get some good ones and a lot of dreams have feeling and emotion in them, probably mostly anger or something.


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## greensong (Aug 13, 2006)

I have brain-fog 24/7, and it goes hand-in-hand with the dp experience for me. Sleeping doesn't help. As *orangeaid* said, it just feels like an overload of mental fatigue, so much of it that I can't access myself.


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## +[ thedeadpoet ]+ (Jul 23, 2006)

The only thing that relieves it for me is Marijuana and alcohol (strictly as a combination) and stimulants (although not coffee), such as Cocaine and Amphetamines, but its bad enough being like this without being a drug addict.

I'd have no problem in taking prescription amphetamines, but it appears to be quite difficult to aquire them in Ireland. I dont want to suggest them to my psychiatist because I dont want another one of those 'looks' I got when I suggested Clonazepam for my anxiety.

And strangely, amphetamines dont seem to intensify my anxiety at all. I'm totally calm and focused when under the influence (contrary to popular experience?)


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## comfortably numb (Mar 6, 2006)

I had brain fog for most of my goddamn life. Only recently i found out that brain fog is actually a condition. I thought it was actually normal. I always found that the brain fog was much worse in the morning. Especially if i hadent slept well the night before. I always felt very spaced out and could barely function if i didnt get a good nights sleep.

During my teenage years i self medicated with marijuana. Smoking tons of weed actually cut through my brain fog. But when the weed high went away the brain fog would usually come back.

The past few years i self medicated my brain fog as well as dp/dr with opiates. Im prescribed them for chronic pain but for awile there i used them to treat my psychiatric problems more then my pain. Opiates even one as weak as codeine reduced my brain fog. I get very energetic on opiates unlike most people.

I wouldnt recomend using opiates to help anyones brain fog because you might end up with a addiction to deal with as well as brain fog. Tolerance will also make sure that you have to keep upping the dose.

When i started taking clonazepam my brain fog went away almost immediatly. I didnt realize that there was really anything wrong with me until i got better. It was like looking at the world through new eyes.

It's been about 8 months or so since my brain fog went away and it hasent returned since. Well it did come back for about a week when i gave up smoking but it went away again. That week sucked.


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