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Updated April 19, 2021

Brainfog. It’s part of many people experience when they have a chronic illness. Yesterday, I discussed what brain fog is and what causes it. Today, let’s talk about how to cope. When you have brain fog, there are number of things you can do to reduce the density of the fog, helping you get better at concentrating and focusing, even improve your memory.

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What to do about brainfog

1. Get tested.

It’s important that we don’t dismiss brain fog as just a natural part of our condition or side effect of the meds (more on that in a bit), but actually take a look at whether something else is going on. In addition to chronic conditions, brain fog can also be part of other medical issues, such as an issue with your thyroid, low vitamin B12 levels, sleep apnea, depression, or not eating the right kind of diet for your body. So get your butt to your doctors to get tested.

2. Get treated.

Whether you have an additional condition or your brainfog is part of your chronic condition, get whatever treatment you can. For RA and other types of autoimmune arthritis, that’s the Biologics and other DMARDs, for fibromyalgia it’s about getting on top of the pain and getting better sleep. For anyone who has trouble sleeping, it’s trying to improve that, whether with meds, investing in a good bed, or improving your sleep hygeine. It can be about addressing vitamin deficiencies, such as low iron or B12 levels. For instance, I get a weekly B12 shots and without it, I couldn’t do half of what I do.

Getting treated also includes taking a good hard look at your medication and whether that is contributing to your brain fog. Quite simply, a fuzzy brain is a side effect of a lot of different medications. I still remember when I started taking muscle relaxants at bedtime to deal with my fibromyalgia — I was a zombie for three weeks until my body adjusted. Depending on a number of factors, you may want to switch to another medication or, if the medication successfully addresses other aspects of your condition, you may choose to keep taking it and finding ways to cope.

If at some point you feel dismissed by a doctor, this is where that other name for brainfog I talked about yesterday — cognitive dysfunction —can help. Brain fog sounds more like just one of those little problems that everybody slightly giggles about, but cognitive dysfunction? Now that’s actually a lot more serious and could get more attention from your medical team.

3. Relax

Over time, I adjusted to having a brain that instead of being a steel trap is more like a floppy sieve. I developed strategies to fill the gaps, but I also cope by caring a lot less about it. If someone claims I said or did something I don’t remember, my answers tends to be “did I? I’m sure you’re right.” The more relaxed I am about this, the less importance it has. Which is not to say it’s not frustrating, but it really isn’t the end of the world that I can’t remember simply everything that’s ever happened.

4. Exercise your mind

Just like being physically active can improve your muscle tone and stamina, so can you brain benefit from a bit of exercise on a daily basis. And, because we all like to be sharp, whether or not there’s a chronic illness involved, there have been actual study showing that certain ways of exercising your brain can be particularly helpful to improve your memory, hone your concentration ability — exactly what you need.

These kinds of exercises include jigsaw puzzles, playing cards and dancing — learning new rules and applying them — learning any new skill or language, moving your body exercise that requires focus (e.g., tai chi), meditating. It’s about getting your brain out of the routine, the things that you do without having to think about them, and challenging it to learn new things and applying them in real life. Switch it up.

Another tip is to involve all your senses, quite deliberately. Again, it’s about keeping your brain active and connecting different parts of it, but I also think it helps us develop those other senses to give us additional cues. When I first got fibromyalgia, it felt like I could now no longer use my mind the way I always had. I found myself frequently rewinding a few seconds or minutes when I was watching a movie or TV show. It was as if I was studying how people expressed thoughts and emotion by using their bodies, rather than just relying on the words they said. I’m better at remembering conversations now, not just because my brain fog has improved, but also because I use non-verbal cues to build the memory.

Watch my Facebook Live about living and coping with brainfog:

5. Brainfog coping tips

Number five on the list is figuring out ways of coping. The following have helped me:

Notes. I write everything down (and usually forget to look at the notes), but I also set alarms in my email, on my phone, use my electronic assistant (Google Home, Alexa, and the like are blessings for brainfog peeps). I’m pretty upfront about having a crap memory. If people ask me to do something, I make sure they know that they should remind me (obviously, this works better in your personal life than if you’re working as a brain surgeon).

Simplify. You don’t have to become a minimalist — not everyone is geared towards that — but it can be helpful to use some of the techniques and philosophies. For instance, the less stuff you have to keep track of, the more likely you are to remember where things are. Or that you have them in the first place!

I also try to keep my daily list of things to do limited to about six items, which I prioritize (this notepad automatically limits the daily list). This way I am more likely to get through all my list without feeling discouraged and upset that I can’t do it all and the act of writing it all down is another cue to help me remember what I’m doing. Crossing things off is also a delight and makes me feel accomplished!

Organize. This is where the minimalist movement and Marie Kondo can be your (metaphorical) friends. Now more than ever there are storage solutions like baskets, bins, and trays that are functional and beautiful. Once you have simplified and culled the herd of stuff, putting like with like and then placing them in bins or baskets makes it much easier to find.

I used to regularly lose track of everything, but organizing my home helped tremendously. My pantry is organized with trays, one containing grains, another pulses, a third oils and sauces, and so on. I do the same with much of my other stuff, so now I only have to remember where the box or basket that holds a particular category of stuff is, rather than the twenty individual items in the basket. It’s made my home look nice and tidy and I am working on a habit of putting things away when I’m done with them – easy because: baskets – which means less likelihood of losing control again.

Even if you do everything on this list and more, chances are you’ll continue to have brainfog — like with pain, coping is often about chipping away at the problem, so you can be the best you can be, under the circumstances. Getting used to that idea, especially after getting acquainted with the ‘cognitive dysfunction” thing can take some time, like with everything else about your chronic illness. Be patient with yourself and try to forgive your body for not being able to withstand the onslaught of it all. And remember that you are not alone in this. I’m in that boat with you, as are so many of our chronic illness friends. We learn how to deal from each other, so reach out, talk to others, share coping tips. We learn how to laugh at the thing from one another, as well.

One more thing. Start talking about it in a wider context, whenever possible. Brain fog is one of those things that make us feel vaguely (or a lot) ashamed. But you haven’t done anything wrong, so challenge that perception when you feel it.  And then put pressure on our medical teams so they understand that we need a lot more research into this, it needs to be part of treatment regimens.

Do you have tips to deal with braindfog?