Brain Fog

Brain Fog

Lots of people come to me for “brain fog”. I have news for you. Brain fog is a NOT a psychiatric symptom. It is actually bad news because there is no easy way to treat it. Stimulants and other ADHD medications can work but in most cases, in my experience, they do not. In fact, they frequently have side effects where the body responds to them by getting activated but the brain fog persists and the individual is just as uncomfortable as before, just in a different way. It is a weird feeling! Brain fog is frustrating to treat for everyone involved. 

You see, brain fog is usually a sign of nonspecific immune activation and low level inflammation. Because the innate immune system (not the adaptive one) has access to the brain (components cross the Blood Brain Barrier), it can cause symptoms of the brain such as brain fog (as well as contribute to depression, anxiety, etc).

Inflammation can have many different causes, here are a few:

• Food sensitivities; you keep eating something that bugs your immune system. Gluten and dairy are the most common culprits but it really can be anything! Consider an elimination diet and see if it helped resolve the symptoms.

• Biotoxin infestation. Think Lyme and other illnesses

• Mitochondrial dysfunction or other factors affecting the optimal functioning of the brain. If there are multiple illnesses (such as hearing problems, diabetes, psychiatric conditions, sensitivity/negative reaction to general anesthesia and certain IV fluids) in your family that follow a maternal inheritance, it is worth considering. 

• Being overweight. Fat is an inflammatory tissue. It releases cytokines that promote an immune system activation. Cytokines literally damage the brain tissue. Not a good thing! It has been shown that the bigger someone’s belly the smaller their hippocampus, the brain part responsible for learning, memory and mood regulation. Try Weightwatchers or Noom. If you BMI is over 30, consider seeing a weight loss doctor.

If your symptoms are severe and do not get better with simpler interventions, consider looking to get on the Shoemaker protocol. 

It is always important to look for a root cause, but in the case of brain fog that is the only way to get rid of the symptom.