HELP! Brain fog, fatigue, extreme short term memory loss, feeling spacey 24/7.

Posted , 89 users are following.

The last year of my life has been a brutal one. At the age of 22, I am in the lowest of lows and I desperately need some help!

Here’s my tale:

About a year ago, a couple months after an extremely strenuous relationship, I began noticing that I was tired all the time…and all around, I wasn’t really satisfied. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed my friends, and activities…but life just wasn’t as bright and vibrant anymore after a month of noticing this ever-present fatigue, it got a bit stronger. I would wake up each morning completely zombie-mode…and that feeling would remain throughout the entirety of my day, until my head hit my pillow that evening.

Initially, I suspected some form of sleeping disorder. I set up a sleep study, got my thyroid checked, ferritin levels, all the basics. Sleep study revealed I sleep just fine and all my other blood tests came back negative.

The fatigue and the weight of the world slowly got worse over the next handful of months, UNTIL I woke up one morning and everything escalated greatly. I felt completely stoned. I couldn’t think right. I couldn’t concentrate. I felt inebriated. I felt totally disconnected and spacey. I felt as though I had no control over myself. I lost drive and motivation. I lost a lot of confidence.  I always had an incredibly sharp memory. It was actually something well known about me to those in my family and friend circles. Yet, on this morning, almost all new information could not be retained. Things that happened earlier in the day, by evening, I felt they happened a day or two before. I could no longer recount the activities I took part in. This is possibly the worst of all the symptoms. The extreme short term memory. I have no context for time and I sort of feel like I’m just floating through life suffering.

For months I visited doctors getting tested by specialists. I visited a neurologist, infectious disease, I had an MRI, & I had about 20 different blood tests. NOTHING. My doctor literally said “I have no idea what this could be. I am beside myself” TOTES reassuring! I tried altering my diet entirely to organic and all natural. I continued my workouts and ran 15 miles a week. I tried sleeping even earlier. I tried all I could think of .

I have scoured the message boards and found a few people suffering from the same, but without answers.

I’m not sure if depression is the culprit, but depression sure has found its nasty venom-coated fangs into my veins. Tired, depressed, failed memory, no drive, scared…it’s no way to live. I want my life back.

PLEASE OFFER INSIGHT! I will be so grateful J

Sincerely,

Taylorsaurus Rex

8 likes, 92 replies

92 Replies

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  • Posted

    I have been feeling this way for awhile and it just keeps getting worse, I can not get any work done. All I want to do is go home and go to sleep or watch tv, but I don't really register what is going on when I am watching tv. I try to read things and it takes a VERY long time to read anything to have it make any sensem seems i have to read the same sentance 3 or 4 times to make sense of what i read. I dont know what to do but what you said is exactly how I feel and its getting worse.

    • Posted

      I'm seriously tired all the time also. I understand your feeling of the brain not working. Sometimes I can't even understand what people are trying to say to me.

  • Posted

    Hello, I have been experiencing the EXACT same symptoms. My only reccommendatiuon to you is to drink water. You will be surpirsed how drinking 10 cups of water a day will change your life. Improved cognitive functions, increased energy levels, etc. I reccommend you drink 6-8 cups of water in the morning and maybe 4 in the afternoon. But 10 cups is the MINIMUM. Try it, and let us know. 
  • Posted

    OOOOOMMMMFFFFGGGG!!!,

    Iam crying right now. Your symptoms match mine. Sorry for the bad language. But i have the same problem as you. And because of it I have been bullied since 2nd grade (iam in 10th grade right now) and this symptoms are horrible. This has ruined my life. All of it. Iam failling school cause of it. And suffer from stress and deppression. I thought of suicide but I will not let anyone pity me so no. Because of this brain fog thing, it has killed my life. Before in my life i used to be the first in class in some subjects but now iam almost last. Iam failure to anyone who is part of my life. And iam scared and I swear as iam writing this iam crying. I dont know what to do. I have exams and i study and studyand study but nothing wants to fit... I only want to be normal. Sometimes i dont even feel emotion (rarely happens) and its getting worse. It ruins my life it fells liike my bi

    Ody is on autopilot. Iam scared I cant concentrate. Thats my issue but taylor i have a question. Do you have an imagination? Try this, you put your favorite music on and try to imagin you are the main character. Though I cant concentrate i still have huge imaginatio. Please try it idont know if it works. But i feel like my iam in the clouds and all this is a dream but at the same time its not. Idont know how to explain it. But if you respond to this... thanks alot.

    • Posted

      I forgot to specify but i became more and more lazy. Anyways, I came to conclude that this brain fog thing comes from anxiety. Its the only thing we all have in common. I have been un der it all my life and because of it iam unable to think and concentrate properly. And only getting worse.
  • Posted

    How are you now?  This sounds like Depersonalization to me
  • Posted

    Have you got an update for us, I have a lot of these symptoms and they are getting worse the more time goes by. I blank out so hard now and can't think at all and go into a zombie mode and can't even hear my own thoughts. It's awful I've been to so many doctors and they say there are no physical explanations and they say they believe it's psychological... My family says it's all in my head which doesn't help when the doctors come to the same conclusion I feel hopeless if you have an update please let us know. There seem to be a lot of people with similar symptoms, thank you!

  • Posted

    I have the same. I have taken an CT-scan, they didn't feel nothing. I remember I started crying when the doctor told me, he meant it was good new but for me it meant that they still hadn't figured out why I'm allways tired, and why I sometimes have massive hadaches when I've slept less than 16 hours. It comes in wawes that last for a while, and then dissapairs without traces. And then it comes back. I can't function, I'm irritable, I can't work.. And worst of all is that nobody understands. "Everybody is tired". Well yes, but not so tired that they get hedaches without 16 hours sleep or start to cry over nothing because they're tired! It started 10 years ago. Still they haven't found anything. I feel like an old person, but because I'm "only" 26 I'm not allowed to feel tired or old. I have my whole life ahead of me but I feel like I already lived a lifetime. I have done so many tests, taken so many blood tests.. Still all my test show that I have the healthiest body in the world! At the moment I'm fine with sleep, but I know it's coming back. It allways does. I'm trying a psychiatrist now, just to find out again if it's something mental. I'm on the verge to give up, I'm so tired of tests and nothing. I feel like the doctor look at me as an hypercondriac because it's allways something. Because og my bad memorie I forget everything I wanted to talk about, and since I have had it for so long I'm not even sure what symptoms aren't normal! I hope somebody get a diagnosis, and I'm so selfish that I want to say I'm glad I'm not alone. I don't wish this on anybody, but I feel less alone now that I see more with the same symptoms. I wish everybody the best of luck! And please post if you get any hits or ideas of what it is.

    • Posted

      It surely sounds like depression but don't think all depression is long term and deep. A 6 month doctor's prescription of Wellbutrin, a good rest time and Dr. Caroline Leave's book "Switch On Your Brain" did miracles for me.

      As a good doctor described to me; our brain, just like a normal muscle, gets harmed if under constant pressure. Pressure from strained relationships over a long time, even being in a cross-cultural scenario for years or other stress etc. This influences the chemicals between the neurons in our brain that influence the signals sent and can result in this "fog". One major result of depression is sleeping problems. I wasn't sure if I perhaps have depression because of all these negative symptoms but then got advice that all of it is caused by depression. At last I experience a breakthrough and decided to come back here to tell what helped me. It was not a difficult solution after all the struggles!

  • Posted

    Have you been tested for Lyme disease & it's coinfections? My husband just recently found out he has it after being misdiagnosed for over 8 years. It's often misdiagnosed as cfs, fibromyalgia, RA, ms, and a whole host of other things,and that's IF they don't tell you there's nothing wrong with you. We've been all over the country to different specialists, including mayo, looking for answers, so I understand your frustration and desperation for answers.Your symptoms sound pretty consistent with it, and you do not have to have a bullseye rash like most people think. You also don't have to even be bitten by a tick yourself. It was recently discovered Lyme can be transmitted sexually if it is active in your body at the time. Chronic Lyme is just now beginning to be recognized by the medical community and there are still many doctors who don't acknowledge it, partly because the tests are so unreliable. There have been a lot of break throughs recently and doctors and researchers are finally starting to understand more about the compexity of it and how to treat it. I would suggest finding a Lyme specialist, not just any dr, and have them test you. They have several specific panels they run that are sent to a Lyme lab in California that is much more reliable than the testing done at your GP. They are also much much much more knowledgeable about the disease than any GP or anything you'll find online. I can't begin to tell you the wide ranged crazy symptoms this stuff can cause. Definitely get tested if you are still having problems. If it's lyme, thosr symptoms will only worsen and multiply until you get the correct treatment. We were told you need 3 months of treatment for every one year you have Lyme (most Drs only prescribe 4 wks of antibiotics 😳wink. My husband is currently 3 months into treatment and the difference it's made is unbelievable.

  • Posted

    Have you heard of hemochromatosis

    My mum has been diagnosed with it recently, has been suffering with it for over a year before getting a diagnosis, Tonnes of blood tests etc and 18months later she's got a diagnosis... worthwhile checking out if you haven't got anywhere?

  • Posted

    Do you have and medical implants or devices. I know lots of people that suffer from these symptoms w and silicone medical device in there body
  • Posted

    I am really sorry to hear your problems !! 😒 I was diagnosis with Fibro back in 2012 but it started way before that , my primary Dr finally did all the test and gave me diagnosis and referred to a really good neurological Dr and he is been helping me a lot !! But this last 3-4 mos is taking a toll on me mentally and physically!! My memory is getting really bad and my left side now has neuropathy and I am losing muscle tone !! I also have vocal cord damage which is a rare condition in Fibro !! So I am really start to worry and my family doesn't understand and I don't want to make them worry !!

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