Brainfog and fatigue until the late afternoon or evening
Posted , 53 users are following.
Hi,
My name is Sem (male, 31 from Belgium), suffering from brainfog and fatigue for a long time (6 years) and hope to get some help on this forum. I will try to keep it short. (sorry for my english)
Symptoms:
- I get up in the morning and after about 1-2 hours I get hit by brainfog (headache, pressure in my head, feeling heavy, problems to concentrate,feeling low...) and fatigue. Mostly these symptoms get better in the late afternoon. During the evening I feel normal most of the time. The difference between morning/afternoon and evening can be very big. When I go to sleep I feel pretty normal. After a good night of sleep (no sleeping problems) I wake up and the same pattern repeats itself. The severity of the symptoms can vary greatly depending on the period. One week I feel like a zombie all the time and can hardly function, the other week I feel tired but a lot better. I have no idea why. (I have tried to link it with food or sleep or stress but there is no clear correlation). The symptoms have a serious negative impact on my life.
In this 6 years I'v tried many things to figure out what is the problem:
- Endless blood tests. They where always fine.
- Urine tests.
- Sleep study. No problems with sleep.
- Cortisol saliva test
- Ultrasound scan of the blatter and the kindeys
- eEg research
- CAT scan of the sinuses
- EMG research (not sure of the translation)
- CEIA bilan (not sure of the translation)
- Endless diets: Low-histamine diet, low-sugar diet, no-gluten diet, no-diary diet,...
- I tried a lot of supplements (for more then 3 months) but there is nothing that gives me a better feeling.
- Psychotherapy
- Allergy test: I am allergic to histamine and mercury
- Food intolerance test: this is the only test where they found a potential cause of the symptoms. According to the test i'm intolerant to almond nuts, diary, gluten, yeast, eggs, and bananas. I avoided these foods for 3 months without any results.
Is there somebody out there with similar symptoms? Is there somebody that can give me advice in my search for a better health? How can I get rid of these headaches and the fatigue?
Especially the difference between morning/daytime and eventing is very striking. It reminds me of adrenal insufficiency (the symptoms are very similar) but i have tested this and they seem to work normal (blood test and saliva test).
I have no idea why this happens to me. I eat healthy (vegetarian, lots of vegetables, no fast food, a lot of whole foods, not a lot of sugars, not a lot of processed foods,...) and I do sports at least twice a week (only during the evening because during daytime it is difficult).
Hope to get some help here! Thanks in advance!
Greetings,
Sem
5 likes, 82 replies
l82609 sem63774
Edited
Hello,
I realise this is an older post, but I wondered if you had any update on this please? I am having similar symptoms. This first started five years ago and lasted for a few months, since then I have had a few similar bouts, lasting a few weeks at a time, and am currently going through a month long bout of this. Like you I wake up feeling fine, and then by early afternoon start to feel pretty off. I have difficulty concentrating and reading, and can tell that I am mentally very sluggish. I then have an hour or so of feeling very foggy and experience speech difficulties, including finding the correct word to use and remembering what something is called. I can also feel quite dizzy and clumsy during this. After a while this resolves and I feel fine by the early evening, and generally feel really good then. Again I spend the evening feeling fine, and wake up feeling fine the following morning, only to have the same pattern the following day. I have found that in addition to the foggy feeling it feels like the lining of my nose is very swollen (but I am not congested/sneezing/having allergies) and I can experience some tingling and numbness in my left cheek.
This was initially diagnosed as migraine. I had experienced migraines previously, but these were quite different in that I would get lots of visual issues (tunnel vision, stars etc.), followed by an incredibly painful headache lasting a few hours, which would generally resolve after vomiting. These were few and far between, and certainly not happening every day. I saw a neurologist who thought it may be being caused by muscle spasms (due to the left cheek issues). Brain MRI was normal. All bloods are also normal. I also suspected adrenal fatigue, but my saliva cortisol is high throughout the day, and never low. This could possibly indicate stress as a cause, and I feel it may be a contributing factor, but not the sole trigger, as I can be under times of great stress and not have these symptoms.
The fact that the symptoms are only present for part of the day and follow such a regular pattern makes me wonder if it is caused by some sort of hormonal rhythm/cycle. I had thought perhaps female cycle issues (my problems first started after coming off birth control pill), but given that you are male experiencing a similar thing, this seems to discount that.
I would appreciate any thoughts or updates that anyone has on this please. Thank you for reading.
m1818 l82609
Posted
Hello, I am not sure if this forum is still active but I was wondering if you have made any progress in getting a diagnosis or any relief. I have all of the same symptoms as you including the sinus inflammation with no cause and the tingling in the left cheek. My MRI was also normal except for the fact that I have an enlarged thymus and my bones are dry for my age (early 20s), my CRP is also elevated. I have previously been diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation syndrome and POTS, though the treatments have not helped the severe brain fog and short term memory issues.
Tennyx sem63774
Posted
Hey Sem, your symptoms match mine almost perfectly. Did you ever get an answer for this? I just got diagnosed with Neurocardiogenic Syncope from a positive tilt table test. However nothing the doctors have asked me to try has alleviated the daily fatigue - so I'm not sure that's it. Did you get a diagnosis or find a fix for these issues?
robbie97655 Tennyx
Posted
I got diagnosed with Neurocardiogenic Syncope too. I had 4 fainting spells in a year, all brought on my triggers (not eating enough, alcohol etc)
But on the 4th faint I hit my head and have only experienced the symptoms you mentioned since then. So ive not been able to tell if it was the NS or a head injury thats the cause.
kate92707 sem63774
Posted
hi sem, have you had any luck figuring out what is causing these symptoms that are also dependent of time of the day?
I have been dealing with the exact debilitating symptoms for over 2 years now. have gone through also many specialists and tests without any answers.
yrnkrn kate92707
Posted
For me, fasting until lunch greatly helps.
kate92707 yrnkrn
Posted
yrnkrn, i have noticed that breakfast amplifies the symptoms greatly. will try fasting until lunch. what is that though? so bizarre!
yrnkrn kate92707
Posted
Kate, usually a bit of food eaten before late afternoon will trigger a fatigue 1-2 hours after eating. I have found that eating big dinner only to be most effective. After getting used it's not that hard. Also saves much time and supposed to be more healthy!
kate92707 yrnkrn
Posted
i have tried fasting in the mornings but unfortunately does not improve my symptoms.
Do any of you have root canals?
sarah53670 yrnkrn
Posted
Is that reactive hypoglycemia?
sarah53670 sem63774
Posted
Hello Sem,
I have a similar pattern of fatigue. I've had it for 15 years. It started off only affecting me in the morning, then it extended further into the day – late morning, lunchtime, late afternoon, until finally I only had a few hours in the evening when I felt normal. I feel very drained, also a bit faint, especially if I do any exercise. I also can't stand still for long e.g. in a queue. I look a bit pale in my face and people say I look tired. The fatigue seems to be located around and behind my eyes, in my head though, it's not actually tired eyes. (I don't usually have a headache though.)
Once the feeling wears off, I feel completely normal, and quickly try to do chores and exercise late in the evening, like you do!
I thought it might be reactive hypoglycemia, but having a snack doesn't seem to help so that may be ruled out – still trying to find out on that one. My other thought was a circadian/biorhythm disorder, but the specialists only seem to look at sleep problems, and I don't think it is a sleep problem. I will try to look at migraine next, although my symptoms don't really fit migraine. POTS seems ruled out because I don't have tachycardia.
Nobody seems to be able to grasp the fact that it wears off at a certain time as being the key piece of information. They keep investigating vitamin deficiencies and other causes that couldn't possibly be causing symptoms that wear off every afternoon.
It surely must relate to something cyclical in the body.
Cheers,
Sarah (in Australia)
sarah53670 sem63774
Posted
Hello Sem,
One more thing – I have been reading a bit more about POTS and discovered that there are various forms of POTS, as well as a range of other autonomic disorders (dysautonomia) that can cause fatigue and headache, not necessarily involving tachycardia. I am not sure if you have been tested yet for this, but as you said you had headaches I just thought I'd mention it.
One experiment would be to get out of bed one hour earlier or later, and see if your fatigue wears off one hour earlier or later. I haven't tried this myself because I am a bit unwell with another medical problem (unconnected) and am just too tired/disorganised at the moment.
Cheers,
Sarah
CFSucks sem63774
Edited
I MIGHT'VE FOUND A SOLUTION FOR US ALL...
I've endured identical symptoms and relief efforts since my CFS began ten years ago (after a severe bout of mono). I've since significantly adjusted my lifestyle -- I exercise daily (when possible) and eat very healthy (processed/grain/dairy-free, mostly fruit/vegetables/fish) which has helped but not sufficiently. After trying numerous doctors/supplements/therapies I finally tried low-dose Naltrexone and instantly realized astonishing results. My CFS (and recent rheumatoid arthritis) issues subsided and though minor setbacks persist two months into it (typical symptoms one day/wk, insomnia/vivid dreams side effects), I'm very optimistic as I experiment dosages/etc. (currently 2.5mg/day).
I feel like I'VE GOTTEN MY LIFE BACK (!) and highly recommend any fellow CFS/MFS/RA sufferers to explore LDN. Please reply on your LDN experience if applicable... Thanks, Mike
yrnkrn CFSucks
Posted
Thanks for writing!
I had heard of similar cases of success with LDN but have not tried it myself yet.
timothy46938 CFSucks
Posted
I have chronic fatigue/brain fog (non-MFS) & take 3 mg LDN at 5:30 then 1.5 mg at 5 pm before a nap:
fatigued/foggy all day, until after nap at 5 pm (several naps during day make no diff) when I feel "normalish" 7/10.
This "more alert after 5 pm" only started recently with start of CPTSD (adderall no longer works during day (hyperarousal) but a tiny bit 2.5 mg helps after 5 pm.