Conquering Brain Fog / Feelings Of Derealization / Fatigue- Need Some Suggestions

[Elchapchapchapo]

Hey all - this has been the hardest challenge for me since beginning recovery from whatever the fudge I had starting a couple years ago. It is the consistent brain fog / fatigue / and feelings of derealization. I basically feel nothing.

I am curious as to if someone else has had something similar and overcame it?

I had started to type this the other day and saved as draft and since seen some improvement. I recently began supplementing MB and think this may be the reason why. The brain fog went down pretty drastically. Probably from 6 / 10 to a 3/10

I am just at a stand still because I feel fatigue yet just taking temp was at 98.9. Temp is usually in the ~98.5 area.

It is the biggest damper on life - the feelings of derealization / deperonsalization. It's as if it takes me a second to respond to everyone and almost like I am acting when talking to people rather than being able to talk to them. It's like I wait for them to stop talking versus genuinely having something to say. I honestly hate talking to people and will avoid conversations because of it. It feels as when I am talking to someone or whatever that I feel nothing. Nothing at all. I'm almost like emotionless. My replies to people really suck and keep things short with easy answers because I feel like I have to answer immediately and also thats the best I can muster up. I realize there are things like social anexity etc, however this is correlated with health and i think more specifically with the brain fog.

It would be awesome to have someone comment who has gone through this as well.

As far as diet goes, avoid pufa, hit daily recommendations, drink milk, use coconut oil, gelatin, liver weekly

Currently Supplement
Vitamin B1 25mg - 50mg daily
Vitamin b2 - 25mg daily
Biotin 25mg daily
MB .5-1.5 mg daily
Lisuride .50mcg - 100mcg daily
Thyroid .75mcg T3 / 1.50mcg T4
Zinc 30mg
Occasional Aspirin
Magneisum Bath 2-3x weekly
Taurine 1-2g daily
Pregnenolone 7.5 mg 2-3x a week

My current plan of action is to raise calories up to see if this helps. Then try cutting out milk and also working on the liver - have vitamin k2 on the way. Because even after quite sometime i still have a sense of fatigue and i think this lies in the liver. It kinda frustrates me because I've been at this for awhile and just have expected it to be all gone by now. Although having said that, there are improvements. Just need to keep going. And thank you guys for your support. Much appreciated.

 

[x-ray peat]

Hey all - this has been the hardest challenge for me since beginning recovery from whatever the fudge I had starting a couple years ago. It is the consistent brain fog / fatigue / and feelings of derealization. I basically feel nothing.

I am curious as to if someone else has had something similar and overcame it?
I had started to type this the other day and saved as draft and since seen some improvement. I recently began supplementing MB and think this may be the reason why. The brain fog went down pretty drastically. Probably from 6 / 10 to a 3/10

I am just at a stand still because I feel fatigue yet just taking temp was at 98.9. Temp is usually in the ~98.5 area.

It is the biggest damper on life - the feelings of derealization / deperonsalization. It's as if it takes me a second to respond to everyone and almost like I am acting when talking to people rather than being able to talk to them. It's like I wait for them to stop talking versus genuinely having something to say. I honestly hate talking to people and will avoid conversations because of it. It feels as when I am talking to someone or whatever that I feel nothing. Nothing at all. I'm almost like emotionless. My replies to people really suck and keep things short with easy answers because I feel like I have to answer immediately and also thats the best I can muster up. I realize there are things like social anexity etc, however this is correlated with health and i think more specifically with the brain fog.

It would be awesome to have someone comment who has gone through this as well.

As far as diet goes, avoid pufa, hit daily recommendations, drink milk, use coconut oil, gelatin, liver weekly

Currently Supplement
Vitamin B1 25mg - 50mg daily
Vitamin b2 - 25mg daily
Biotin 25mg daily
MB .5-1.5 mg daily
Lisuride .50mcg - 100mcg daily
Thyroid .75mcg T3 / 1.50mcg T4
Zinc 30mg
Occasional Aspirin
Magneisum Bath 2-3x weekly
Taurine 1-2g daily
Pregnenolone 7.5 mg 2-3x a week

My current plan of action is to raise calories up to see if this helps. Then try cutting out milk and also working on the liver - have vitamin k2 on the way. Because even after quite sometime i still have a sense of fatigue and i think this lies in the liver. It kinda frustrates me because I've been at this for awhile and just have expected it to be all gone by now. Although having said that, there are improvements. Just need to keep going. And thank you guys for your support. Much appreciated.

As you mentioned this sounds more like the after effects of extended isolation and social anxiety. Everyone feels socially awkward at times. Too much focus on it only makes it worse. I don't think any supplement or food change will help. The cure is just to get out there and socialize though I know its easier said than done. IMO anything else is a waste of time.

 

[gilbert90]

I can relate very much to what you said, interesting that MB helped witht the brain fog, i've bought it myself but havent tried it yet, might just give it a shot now. I've always assumed my issue is with Dopamine, alot of what you described
sounds like low dopamine actually, its the typical symptoms you see on forums regarding porn and marijuana-addiction.. Take care

 

[Constatine]

Yeah I must say I have spoken with many people with your exact symptoms on many forums and it is almost always due to porn and masturbation. This is the essence of dopamine receptor downregulation. Just avoid all sexual activities for a month (tough I know) and see how you feel.

 

[brainfog]

Brain fog and fatigue is something i suffer from also. If i take a hot shower the brain fog and fatigue goes away within 1 second. So i think its the blood flow that is the problem due to a weak pulse/heartbeat.

Ive had days or hours were i have felt very clear in my head and no fatigue - but it coincides with other things like warm skin, good energy, better sleep, better digestion, able to tolerate more fluids etc.

Edit: take your pulse when you take your temp. Sometimes my temp is good but my pulse is 100-110 - so by just looking at temp alone can get a false "reading" about your health status.

 

[member 2106]

I know the feeling very well. Oddly enough, the only time I felt completely free of brain fog was years ago when I was avoiding sugar...but that didn't end well. I think what @x-ray peat says is true, because on the rare occasion I have a successful social outing, the fatigue sometimes lifts for a bit, and a sense of self-worth prevails. That seems to have a lot to do with it, more than nutrition. It has nothing to do with masturbation for me - I've rarely masturbated for about a year, and still suffer from this. I think in my case it may be exacerbated by lack of sunlight (unavoidable at this time of year), but I've also found coffee to help, sometimes, as well as not oversleeping or overeating. All just been temporary fixes, so, like you, I'm not totally sure what's going on, but I do sometimes suspect it has little to do with what I'm eating, but is more like a malaise of the spirit, which might be cured by overcoming feelings of isolation and social impotence, and spending less time in introspection, as well as discovering a sense of purpose. Oh, and also: regular exercise, as long as it's fun and ideally sociable, can make a big difference. Please let me know if you find a solution.

 

[ecstatichamster]

Consider dropping the taurine for a week.

 

[Constatine]

I know the feeling very well. I think what @x-ray peat says is true, because on the rare occasion I have a successful social outing, the fatigue sometimes lifts for a bit, and a sense of self-worth prevails. That seems to have a lot to do with it, more than nutrition. It has nothing to do with masturbation for me - I've rarely masturbated for about a year, and still suffer from this. I think in my case it may be exacerbated by lack of sunlight (unavoidable at this time of year), but I've also found coffee to help, sometimes, as well as not oversleeping or overeating. All just been temporary fixes, so, like you, I'm not totally sure what's going on, but I do sometimes suspect it has little to do with what I'm eating, but is more like a malaise of the spirit, which might be cured by overcoming feelings of isolation and social impotence, and spending less time in introspection, rediscovering a sense of purpose. Oh, and also: regular exercise, as long as it's fun and ideally sociable, can make a big difference. Please let me know if you find a solution.

That's an interesting situation you've got yourself in, and it seems to be a very common one. X-ray's point is well founded but I do believe it can be fixed through methods other than stubborn social interaction. Shifting your brain to a pro dopamine state via nutrition and environmental factors, reducing prolactin (especially this one), increasing mitochondria energy output, reducing serotonin, etc should all help (but not necessarily fix the problem)...but is the root of the problem nutritional or due to a hostile social environments? Or maybe a combination of both. One thing I do notice that strikes me as odd is that healthy people who are isolated tend to strongly yearn for a better circumstance. It is a passionate thing in and of itself and yields a sense of purpose. But your problem seems to be a lack of a "wanting" or rather a dopamine related problem. I think that you are in an unfavorable circumstance and have found a way to cope with it. However coping mechanisms are inheritly negative as it tricks your mind into thinking that your needs are met when they really aren't. This can create a very subtle misery that persists as long as the circumstance persists. Try starving yourself of all your coping mechanisms and live fully in your circumstance (whether it be loneliness, social isolation, etc). You will then develope a powerful energy to change the circumstances as your body and mind's needs are unmet. I may be completely off basis here as I made plenty of assumptions on your situation so please forgive me if I'm pointlessly rambling.

 

[member 2106]

I may be completely off basis here as I made plenty of assumptions on your situation so please forgive me if I'm pointlessly rambling.

Not at all! Good food for thought.

 

[Pet Peeve]

I had DP for years. It went away with time for me. I think the best clue is the glutamate receptors, that you have some imbalance there. Magnesium and taurine are anti-glutamate so to speak. DP is connected to low glutamate. I would try l-lysine 500 mg on an empty stomach and see how you feel, it had a drastic effect on me. It raises glutamate.

When it comes to the liver and methylene blue I have similar experiences. Now I take fungal enzymes with food (broad spectrum) and pancreatic enzymes on an empty stomach. You could also look into serrapeptase as an additional experiment. Pancreatic enzymes work on the pancreas the same way natural dessicated thyroid works on the thyroid, or so I've read. Without the enzymes to break down food it will go in the blood and in the small intestine and cause inflammation. Without properly broken down proteins your liver will suffer. When I started taking the enzymes with protein my liver dumped old crap for days, a lot of what I suspect was estrogen. Lecithin in eggs would also help the liver to get rid of bad stuff.

 

[Elchapchapchapo]

See it's different for me I suppose. Because there are times when I'm in the state I'm referring to and I know it's not worth it to go and socialize because it's more a waste of time then anything. I feel too off to make good conversations at all. It's better to stay in and work on something or reasearch as this is a better use.

Because I will have reverse days and it's like my metabolism has aligned with the stars. My brain fog is gone. I feel calm and am a social king. I feel a sense of presence as well.

Compare that to a day of brain fog and fatigue. I don't feel a sense of presence and it's hard to make up sentences to talk.

I started off today with the reminiscants of this feeling from yesterday. Now after a few hours have passed it is gone and I feel delightful to say the least. Very weird.

I will say though I am taking lisuride so I am suspect of it being wrote off as low dopamine.

I just don't understand the fatigue aspect of it. Maybe just need more sleep. I feel MB has been extremely helpful lately and I really am starting to think it is either liver / mitochondria related. I'll know here very soon as vitamin k dose 5 mg will begin today.

Thank you all for replies so far you guys are awesome :)

 

[ReSTART]

Are you sure you're not just having good and bad days?

 

[Elchapchapchapo]

Yeah I think it's more complex then that...especially when the regular feeling of fatigue / fog is the expected state to wake up in and that was the baseline. I have more faith though now as of right now I feel much better and delightful. Closer to a sense of wellbeing.

 

[PhilParma]

I don't feel like making a long post (as I'm having a bit of brain fog myself at the moment), but I've experienced(/am experiencing) 90% of what you talk about. Brain fog/fatigue that gets worse as I take in more calories. Methylene blue reduces the brain fog, and bag breathing reduces the fatigue. These things help. I think the root cause is saturated fat and carbohydrates competing for metabolization in some way. Blood sugar dysregulation. Brain fog from high blood sugar, fatigue from low blood sugar, and fleeting moments of normalcy in between. My symptoms were at their very worst when I was relying heavily on coconut oil for calories. When I cut out coconut oil, my ability to handle carbs went up and up (although it's still not great.) That super smrt Asian guy just made a post about this yesterday, but now I can't find the post. Basically, you might have to choose between saturated fat and carbs; they can't both be high. Just out of curiosity, I'd like to see a typical day of yours plugged into cronometer. Not that I'm in a place to recommend you make any changes, but it would be interesting to see.

 

[Elchapchapchapo]

I can relate very much to what you said, interesting that MB helped witht the brain fog, i've bought it myself but havent tried it yet, might just give it a shot now. I've always assumed my issue is with Dopamine, alot of what you described
sounds like low dopamine actually, its the typical symptoms you see on forums regarding porn and marijuana-addiction.. Take care

Yeah dude, the more I think about it now the more I realize what could be causing this and what I've found to be improving it. So basically took some ritanserin the night before last to increase sleep quality. It worked in this regard but I think made me pretty fatigued. I took 2mg of MB yesterday and 1 extra drop of thyroid to compensate. Strangely enough I also took a decent dose of gelatin. Woke up today feeling kinda shitty but as day progressed felt better and better. I think this is because MB, Thyroid, and Gelatin combined. I had noticed this the other day when I took 2x the gelatin as usual and had positive effects. The things I am doing - MB, Thyroid, Gelatin, Ritanserin I think are working slowly in my favor and I just need to give them time to do their thing. Sleep quality is so much deeper now and I can thank Ritanserin a lot for that. I started dosing it everyweek and am glad I did. I don't think anything can beat SWS.

I also recently quit supplementing niacinmide by natures way and ordered some from health natura. I think natures way niacinmide may be funky...

I'm surprised and shocked I feel so much better today. I woke up thinking "oh boy heres another day of just barely going through life like a robot." And then came improvement.

I had DP for years. It went away with time for me. I think the best clue is the glutamate receptors, that you have some imbalance there. Magnesium and taurine are anti-glutamate so to speak. DP is connected to low glutamate. I would try l-lysine 500 mg on an empty stomach and see how you feel, it had a drastic effect on me. It raises glutamate.

When it comes to the liver and methylene blue I have similar experiences. Now I take fungal enzymes with food (broad spectrum) and pancreatic enzymes on an empty stomach. You could also look into serrapeptase as an additional experiment. Pancreatic enzymes work on the pancreas the same way natural dessicated thyroid works on the thyroid, or so I've read. Without the enzymes to break down food it will go in the blood and in the small intestine and cause inflammation. Without properly broken down proteins your liver will suffer. When I started taking the enzymes with protein my liver dumped old crap for days, a lot of what I suspect was estrogen. Lecithin in eggs would also help the liver to get rid of bad stuff.

Thanks for l-lysine reccomendation. I find this kind of interesting - do you have sources? Nothing too serious on the inquiry so if you cant remember that's okay.

Was wondering if you know if they can test the pancreas? Or how did you determine that you were deficient to begin pancreatic enzymes?

 

[Elchapchapchapo]

I don't feel like making a long post (as I'm having a bit of brain fog myself at the moment), but I've experienced(/am experiencing) 90% of what you talk about. Brain fog/fatigue that gets worse as I take in more calories. Methylene blue reduces the brain fog, and bag breathing reduces the fatigue. These things help. I think the root cause is saturated fat and carbohydrates competing for metabolization in some way. Blood sugar dysregulation. Brain fog from high blood sugar, fatigue from low blood sugar, and fleeting moments of normalcy in between. My symptoms were at their very worst when I was relying heavily on coconut oil for calories. When I cut out coconut oil, my ability to handle carbs went up and up (although it's still not great.) That super smrt Asian guy just made a post about this yesterday, but now I can't find the post. Basically, you might have to choose between saturated fat and carbs; they can't both be high. Just out of curiosity, I'd like to see a typical day of yours plugged into cronometer. Not that I'm in a place to recommend you make any changes, but it would be interesting to see.

Woow - its awesome to meet someone with something similiar and they can understand :) haha sorry its on shitty terms though.

I'm thinking your probably on to something here. I was insulin resistant a couple months ago. My new tests will be planned soon and I expect to see IR lowered if not gone.

I had a huge carb day yesterday and didn't suffer too much from it woot woot. I'll have to punch stuff in and share so you can see.

Have you tried the b vitamins to help? Also how is your estrogen level?

I really think liver is involved somehow. I just haven't quite figured it out yet.

 

[barefooter]

Hey, I can totally relate. About two years ago I had pretty consistent brain fog, fatigue, and scary DP/DR symptoms after not taking good care of myself and experiencing some intense psychological stress that really left me rattled. I think it took about a year of taking really good care of myself and getting away from excess stress to fully get over it. I think one of the most beneficial things I did was joining a gym and lifting weights 3-5 times a week. I gained a good amount of muscle, and as I put it on, I felt like I was much more able to handle carbohydrates, and the stressors of life.

I also pretty much dropped all of my supplements. I was so frantic to find answers when things were bad, I was popping all kinds of supps and I think I may have actually been making things worse. If you are going to be taking a supplement, have good reason to. Just swallowing a bunch of stuff is not going to fix you.

Have you ever had a genetic test done like 23 and me? From this I learned I'm met/met on the COMT gene, which means I don't get rid of excess dopamine in the brain as easily. I'd always assumed my symptoms were from low dopamine, but I think it may have been the opposite the whole time, and trying to raise my already high dopamine may have been very bad. It might be useful for you to get the test if you can afford it.

 

[ecstatichamster]

I think causes of brain fog are mainly endotoxins

For instance, low T3 levels lowering intestinal motility and letting endotoxins in more readily.

Or consuming indigestible raw veggies that ferment in the bowel.

I would drop supplements except maybe for thyroid and activated charcoal.

 

[Elchapchapchapo]

Slowly working that way hamster.

I had read your reply above as well about the taurine. I'm on a liver cleaning supplement diet atm. And one day hope to be supplement free.

I may have to try the activated charcoal, but right now I like the carrot haha :)

 

[blackkzeus]

How does your brain fog manifest itself? Do you have trouble processing information? Thinking clearly?