Brain Fog

“To overcome you need to not necessarily suffer but find solutions to the problem it’s easy to suffer, everyone can do that in some form or another but to find a solution to overcome that unnecessary suffering is vital in moving forward.” (BC)

The above quote is something that I have personally worked by for a few years now. I had to carefully develop it as a guiding principle in my life, especially due to the numerous challenges and struggles I faced with Sepsis.

Where do I even begin? This is certainly not new to most people, and it's something that many of us might experience from time to time. Many of us are prone to dealing with a bit of”Brain Fog”, whether that happens to be convenient for us or truly genuine. It can be a little amusing at times, which is why we laugh it off, but it's also a common reality that many face.

Nevertheless, it happens—my ordeal with brain fog was so incredibly severe after battling Sepsis that I often found myself forgetting the names of family members at times, as well as the names of places and even items that were once completely familiar to me. This experience was not only very frustrating but also extremely worrying, leaving me feeling uneasy about my own cognitive abilities. I can only describe the feeling of brain fog as one of profound disorientation and heightened vulnerability regarding my cognitive skills, making everyday interactions more challenging than they used to be.

However hard that might be to digest at the time, it is a very common side effect of experiencing Sepsis and being in a coma. Our brains simply don’t cope well with the aftermath, but it is important to know that this condition can be improved and the time deficit reduced through a bit of dedicated rehabilitation. I saw it as a challenge rather than a hindrance, and while most of the time I maintained this positive outlook, there were indeed moments when frustration would bubble up and get the better of me. This reaction is completely normal; no matter how optimistic you try to remain, brain fog can still linger in the background. It occasionally sticks its forgetful head out which feels almost routine at this point. I just have to chuckle when I reminisce about the complexity of certain assignments I tackled, yet, on the flip side, I struggle to remember where I placed my car keys—now that's frustrating, yet amusing at the same time! its not just remembering that’s the issue here its the fact that this never used to happen and now you feel like a idiot for not remembering and its just not like the old you very out of character. some might say but this is very common amongst people in general but not for me I dont forget and now I do, where has the sharpness gone. That’s the issue!

I would think that all of us, at some point or another, suffer from this effect, not just the unfortunate few who have had to endure what I have gone through and what others have experienced. However, I had a scary experience whilst driving to go do some shopping with my wife as I knew the name of the shop that we needed to go to as we have been there hundreds of times before, but I just could not remember how to get there a road I have driven plenty of times, I had to play it off with my wife as a joke and ask her is that shop next to ermm? so that she would finish my sentence with the answer I was looking for, and the direction as to where I was going, but inside I was embarrassed and humiliated showing vulnerability and weakness, something I feared would be a permanent effect after Sepsis.

Habits and repetition played a massive role in my journey of overcoming the challenges posed by cognitive difficulties and the frustrating experience of brain fog. Repetition, repetition, repetition—this mantra became my mantra and ultimately developed into solid habits. For me, this was absolutely key to regaining some control over my daily life. It was the simple, yet effective processes that made all the difference; for instance, always placing my keys in the same designated spot each day ensured they were easy to find and always visible when I needed them. I also carried a small notebook with me at all times, diligently writing down tasks I needed to accomplish or bills that needed to be paid, making it a point to update it daily. When I found myself struggling to recall a person’s name, despite knowing them well, or trying to remember the name of a street I had traveled down many times, I would remind myself not to panic. I learned that the lost information often returned to me in the most unexpected moments—perhaps later that day or even the following day—it would simply pop into my mind and stick. I often experienced frustration over my inability to remember seemingly simple names and processes, but I found comfort in the process of writing things down and placing items in the same spot repeatedly. This approach turned into a reliable strategy that helped me navigate my day-to-day life with a bit more ease.

This was my personal yet simple successful strategy in overcoming about 80% of the persistent brain fog that had been clouding my mind. It’s within this grey area of recovery that many people find themselves haunted and uncertain. There are no specific or universally set recovery steps to follow, except for the fundamental principles of rest and proper recovery. The recovery part can feel ambiguous and daunting. Unfortunately, you have to actively put in the effort to search for ways to look at challenges from different perspectives and ultimately find the right solution. Sadly, not all of us are equipped or mentally prepared for that fierce battle, nor are we always sure about how to successfully tackle it. but just make a start to structure and as you go along it will fall into place, It takes patience and time.

There are still daily brain fog issues that I have to deal with to this day some have come and gone frustratingly enough but the reality of the day is never give up!

Have a PLAN in place follow the PROCESS and stick to the end GOAL

Never give up