This is probably the sympton of fibromyalgia that most distresses me having had a first class brain prior to first becoming ill, fellow students at university used to reckon I must have a photographic memory but my brain was capable of much more than that, it could analyse the info and make connections and draw conclussions...now I often have huge difficulty even finding the right words! A nightmare..
Managing Fibrofog - The Cognitive Dysfunction of Fibromyalgia: "Perhaps the most frustrating complaint I hear from patients with Fibromyalgia is the fibrofog.
Unlike the pain and fatigue which are usually constant nuisances, this problem causes unpredictable difficulties with our thinking. The unpredictability is the very reason it’s most frustrating. You never know when it will strike.
Fibrofog… is the cognitive dysfunction brought on by Fibromyalgia. Its symptoms include:
• Forgetfulness
• Absentmindedness
• Concentration problems
• Confusion
• Disorientation (get lost easily)
• Difficulty finding or saying words
• Short-term memory loss
• Difficulty understanding what you’ve read
• Difficulty calculating simple math problems
• Mixing up words
• Right-left confusion
• Poor ability to give directions.
Additional cognitive symptoms with more emotional components include:
• Depression
• Irritability
• Anxiety
• Panic attacks.
Fibrofog is not a dementia or early Alzheimer’s.
We demonstrate normal learning and memory although we process information more slowly because of our Fibromyalgia."
