Brain fog? Will I ever get rid of it?

[CatherineF]

I am struggling with more and more severe brain fog. Year by year it is worst and my tiredness is stronger. Did you have this problem too? Brain fog/cognitive impairment/derealization? It is a feeling I have 24/7 like I was not here, not alive, behind some curtain or wall. It makes me feel like I was not alive Now I know it is sleep fragmentation and tiredness what is the main cause of this. Does anyone have/ had it too? Please tell me that you are better now? I need to have hope, I need to know that I will be alive again...

[Emilia]

Hi Catherine..... How long have you been on cpap? Your machine is an older model.... do you have the software/card reader to monitor your therapy? My brain fog lifted around the third DAY of therapy and has been good ever since (almost a year now). It is important that your therapy be monitored for leaks, pressure adjustment needs, etc. in order for good efficacy to occur. If you do not have the software or card reader, you will find it difficult to achieve this unless you just tweak things randomly and hope for the best.... NOT recommended! Unfortunately, your machine uses a proprietary card/card reader that is almost impossible to find for purchase anymore.....unless someone has an old one lying around that is willing to give or sell to you. If you've only had your machine a short time (less than 30 days), you may be able to get it swapped out for a more modern machine that will give you full data easily.

I hope your settings on your machine are good and will provide you with good therapy. Your brain fog should and most likely will vanish provided you are receiving good results. The sleep fragmentation should also dissipate as most of us now sleep through the whole night without any wakeup calls or bathroom trips. It takes time.....you didn't get to this condition overnight so don't expect it to remedy itself overnight......

Best of luck..... keep us posted on your progress.

[ameriken]

I've been on for about 6 weeks and it is slowly but surely going away.

What you describe sounds like someone who is not even on CPAP therapy, so it may be time to get another study done, and perhaps get a new machine and settings. Yes, there is definite hope for the fog to lift...if your therapy is working...go see your doctor.

[CatherineF]

I can't actually say that I am on CPAP therapy yet, because I am struggling with mask issues, mouth leaks, trying quattro and swift fx, nothing works for me yet. I am having huuuge difficulties falling asleep with CPAP also. Quattro mask leaks like hell, I am sure I have a good size though. Swift on the other hand is not good because of small mouth puffs (not leaks) I get and it wakes me up every 10 seconds. S8 is only my trial machine, to see if it will work for me, I will buy another one when there will be some effects, BiPAP or S9 I suppose.

Ameriken those are my pre-therapy symptoms, intensified by further sleep depreivation caused by CPAP adjustment problems.

Thank you for encouragement, answers and good wishes, I wish you best of luck too.

[Lori Dawn]

Hi, Catherine,

I know exactly what you mean about the brain fog. I had it pre-CPAP, too, and I had it BAD! I had exactly what you describe, to the point of temporary disability from my job at one point. It seemed to be at its worst after a period of high stress and working too hard. I would cut back, and go to bed (literally) for six months or more, only getting out of bed for what ABSOLUTELY HAD TO BE DONE.... WORK, no energy for anything else. I went through several cycles of this over the past 20 years. I have been on EFFECTIVE CPAP therapy for almost 12 weeks now, give or take, and I am happy to say that brain fog is a thing of the past! I am feeling better and better and have made major changes in my life that I would never have had the strength to do before CPAP. I never imagined that I could feel this good! So THERE IS HOPE, you can absolutely take it from me!

So, please... I know it's hard, but stick with it. As Emilia said, it is IMPERATIVE that you be able to monitor your therapy. I did not have that capability the first two times I tried and ended up quitting. I didn't see any improvement, and couldn't find any good reason to continue. I lost seven years of my life because of that. You MUST get a machine that gives you data. Once you start getting effective therapy, you WILL see improvement. And you cannot know if you are getting effective treatment without being able to monitor your data. It takes awhile sometimes, so stick with it. IT IS MOST DEFINITELY WORTH IT!

[Paper_Nanny]

I can't actually say that I am on CPAP therapy yet, because I am struggling with mask issues, mouth leaks, trying quattro and swift fx, nothing works for me yet. I am having huuuge difficulties falling asleep with CPAP also.

I think the key word in that is "yet". Nothing works for you yet, but don't give up! It may take awhile to find the right mask for you and to adjust to falling asleep with the CPAP on, but once that happens, it can make so much difference.

[ameriken]

I can't actually say that I am on CPAP therapy yet, because I am struggling with mask issues, mouth leaks, trying quattro and swift fx, nothing works for me yet. I am having huuuge difficulties falling asleep with CPAP also. Quattro mask leaks like hell, I am sure I have a good size though. Swift on the other hand is not good because of small mouth puffs (not leaks) I get and it wakes me up every 10 seconds. S8 is only my trial machine, to see if it will work for me, I will buy another one when there will be some effects, BiPAP or S9 I suppose.

Ameriken those are my pre-therapy symptoms, intensified by further sleep depreivation caused by CPAP adjustment problems.

Thank you for encouragement, answers and good wishes, I wish you best of luck too.

Good...in that you have most of what you need and just have to work through and work out the difficulties. Don't give it up because you can get through it and get to the point where therapy is successful, and it will be.

So, the answer is yes: when you have tweaked your therapy to where you are sleeping, have little/no mask leaks, have the right machine and pressures, etc etc etc, then yes, the brain fog does go away.

Stick around the forum and post any specific difficulties you need help with and you'll get it. Again, persevere because the end results will come and are definitely worth it.

[CatherineF]

Thank you all I am happy that you are better and now at least I can have hope... I wonder what is this that is responsible for foggy brain, what is the mechanism of this? Does anyone knows?

[maryjop]

I was so grateful to see this blog about "brain fog". I have it for many years and could not make doctors, therapists, friends or relatives understand what I was talking about. Diagnosed 5/18/2011 "severe" and have had machine since 7/7/2011 and have been unsuccessful in getting to sleep with the mask on (same one that was used in my sleep study). I slept through the night during the sleep study so I thought this would be a piece of cake!

Thank you, everyone, for taking the time to reach out to help those of us just starting out. My whole day has been turned around just to know I am not alone.

[nanwilson]

Catherine
Some folks need a change in attitude towards new things they are trying. Sit down, smile and say "This IS going to work, I just have to perservere and I will get better". We all know that the "gold standard" for this crazy disease is cpap, and cpap is a big pain in the butt to get used to. But patience and perseverence WILL make it an easier task....you WILL make it through the fog, and you WILL have so much more energy, and you WILL so much better, and you WILL get to go to bed, put on your gear and think....hhhmmmm this does work....I'M GOOD. You will need to stop looking for alternative ways to fix things...this is the GOLD STANDARD. Many have tried the alternatives and voila..they are back to their cpaps and doing better.
Cheers and good luck
Nan

[KatieW]

Yes, brain fog does go away. As others have said, you need to optimize your cpap therapy, so work on that first. I found that when you are getting good sleep, you will then have the energy and ability to improve other areas of your life--diet, exercise, social activities.

[Roger2]

Hi Catherine, I too have had similar problems (brain fog) and very light headed at times for years. I suspected that my medications had much to do with it so several years ago my doctor started switching my medications and changing them to another type of drug and finally we got it under control. Things were fine until last May when I developed pneumonia for which I was hospitalized for eight days. The doctors at the hospital changed some of my medications and added a couple. Since that time I have had the symptoms return.

I have been on a cpap since June of this year and it has helped a lot but I still have the lightheaded feeling and some tiredness but much less. It is apparently helping but we are still looking for other causes like the medications as well as a cardiac problem. In any case my sleep study which I got a copy of last week, it did show that I need to be on this cpap machine so I will keep trying.

The information I have been able to glean from this board has been very helpful. I don’t really have my cpap tweaked yet but most of what I have learned came from here so stay tuned.

If you’re having problems with your mask, there is a post on the board in another topic with a link to some videos on how to adjust your mask. You might find something there helpful, I know I did.

I will keep you in my prayers.

Roger

[SleepyT]

Thank you all I am happy that you are better and now at least I can have hope... I wonder what is this that is responsible for foggy brain, what is the mechanism of this? Does anyone knows?

I'm going to say too low levels of oxygen...brain is not getting enough...hence the brain fog.

[CatherineF]

Thank you all for answers and hope

Thank you all I am happy that you are better and now at least I can have hope... I wonder what is this that is responsible for foggy brain, what is the mechanism of this? Does anyone knows?

I'm going to say too low levels of oxygen...brain is not getting enough...hence the brain fog.

Unfortunately it is not a good answer because I am suffering from UARS - multiple awakenings, no desats, low AHI, so in my case arousals are "guilty" but I wonder what is the exact mechanism, "tiredness" of the brain and body, damaged cells, those things definitely occur when we don't get enough sleep, not enough deep sleep, our sleep is extremely fragmented.

And actually I am certain that when we don't get enough good quality sleep, cells in our bodies are dying faster, they do not regenerate well, are more prone to mutations etc. It is not highlihted here. It seems that only apneas and hypopneas pose the risks but it is not true. Fragmented sleep is also terribly harmful IMHO. Apneas always occur along with fragmented sleep so of course combination of apneas + hypopneas + fragmented sleep is worse than sleep fragmentation without apneas, only with eg flow limitations or simple snoring but sleep fragmentation is very harmful to nervous system that coordinates other body actions and observing my case I can see how harmful "only UARS" is.

For example, everyone knows the risk of apnea and its harmful effect lets say on the heart, higher BP, cardiac failure etc are likely to occur when we suffer from untreated moderate- severe apnea. But it should be noticed also that people with UARS have lower HRV just like SA patients (heart rate variability) because of constant overstimulation of sympatetic nervous system and this ratio is the lowest before death not without a reason... Overactive nervous systems, which leads to anxiety, depression etc and those are harmful to the heart also. Autonomic nervous system balance is one of the keys to good health, parasympatethic NS acts like a "healing brake" for our cells, our bodies. If it is missing, we can't be healthy. Cells are regenerating only when our parasymp. NS is in action, which is not common in people with SA/UARS or other SD.

[avi123]

In my case I call it Residual Daytime Sleepiness and/or a semi narcolepsy