Maybe it's a half life crisis getting to the grand old age of 40 (50+ will say that 40 isn't old), or the male menopause (according to Wikipedia this sets in at 30), but for the last 2-3 years I've been suffering from brain fog.
If you've Googled for Brain Fog, you'll probably have stumbled across this page knowing what it is. If you don't, here's a brief intro... Brain Fog is not a currently recognised medical condition, people who suffer from it have it "all in their head". Brain Fog is frustrating experience when you know what your brain is potential of, yet it seems to be working in a go slow mode. My old car had a limp mode when it was about to pack it and it restricted the speed to 40mph. Brain fog is like a limp mode. Symptoms can last hours to months to years. I work in IT developing applications, I need my brain to function properly or my work suffers. After years of experiencing brain fog, I can predict when my work is going to suffer.
When I was 38 I started getting Brain Fog. Initial research on Google suggests that alcohol, chemical imbalance (vitamin or mineral deficiency), caffeine can contribute to the issue. Around the same time my eye lid developed a twitch, think it's called Myokymia (previous post). Maybe the two were related, but I managed to solve the twitch with a magnesium supplement. It's been 6 months since having this supplement and the twitch hasn't come back.
The brain fog still remained. I love my beer and I love a coffee. I don't gamble, smoke or do illegal drugs, but I like my two drinks. It was painful to give them up. I could whittle on about them for a while, but I found that caffeine was directly responsible for the brain fog. Grabbing a coffee at the local coffee shop (especially the bean to cup variety) would cause me to have a brain fog episode lasting 2-4 days afterwards. These days I'm mostly on red bush tea, decaf instant coffee and decaf tea. Even green tea is out of the picture.
Things have slightly changed on the alcohol front. Previously I could have 6-8 pints of beer (around 4.5 to 5.5% in strength) and my hangover would last a day. Having the same amount of beer now takes me 2-3 days to recover. I've tried to cut down on my beer intake. Beer is not related to my brain fog, so I can enjoy this substance abuse.
I do feel my brain has changed in the past 12 months. My memory isn't as good as it was. I can remember something in one room and know that when I go into another room to do it, I'll have forgotten what I've gone into the room to do. I've been reading a book on mindfulness, which terms "autopilot" being something we do without knowing we're doing it. Like going to make a decaf coffee and putting a tea bag in my cup. Maybe forgetfulness is the first stage of old age, Alzheimers, depression or having too much time to look up medical conditions on Google. I hope it's the latter.
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