As an Aspie, I get a form of this. I don’t forget where my car is (I use a form of physical memory that works well for me), but I have the perennially lost keys problem and at times I can blank on what I was doing.

What’s really annoying is several people throughout my life have suggested “why don’t you put your keys in the same place all the time?”. Whilst a nice sentiment, it’s not possible if you have a habit of picking things up and putting them down in random places, or just not being able to remember to put them in the same place everyday. I’ve tried, and it just doesn’t work that way for me.

Getting up to do something and then blanking on what the hell I was doing, or getting distracted by another task isn’t uncommon. If I’m ill, it gets worse, and if I’m at my computer it usually manifests in my taskbar being full of programs, and me wandering around the house a few times a day without actually doing something.

GPS is a really rather nifty necessity to me, but for slightly differing reasons. I find lists almost impossible to remember, so a device that tells me an instruction at a time when I need it is fantastic :D.

Being intelligent, yet forgetful, is a pain in the backside sometimes. A lot of people just plain don’t understand that I can remember how to code (or previously excel at education) everyday, but not the other everyday memories people take for granted :<.

I often get episodes of what you call “brain fog”. I tend to call it CRS (Can’t Remember Schitt) though. Sometimes I’ll call it a ‘brain fart’ if it’s just a minor incident

I usually play off this dilemma to others as something like this: “Don’t mind me, I suffer from CRS, and sometimes I even enjoy it”. They tend to look at me with a baffled look on their faces.
Since I don’t explain it any further, they’ll most often walk away.
I often imagine them thinking ‘what the heck is CRS ?’ It helps me to try and have a sense of humor about it all. I get the irony of it all, even if others don’t.

This line …. I need cake mix….why the hell am I in Sears…. Had me rolling around laugh crying!! Fantastic article, glad you managed to remember what you were writing long enough to write it 🙂

That is an article just as good as Coffee in the Cereal by Lorna Moorehead, gave me a smile, thank you. I am a 42 man, DX with relapsing remitting, MS, I have been having a lot of those issues, and I can relate. I borrow a phrase from Lorna, (even though I am a man) I suffer from P.M.S, Probably Multiple Sclerosis.

Wow, me too. I am not USUALLY too bad, but when I get bad – yikes! I have caught myself making mistakes doing a technique at work that I have been doing for years. I can’t always form sentences easily, and oddly enough, I can be filling out a form and I’ll keep having to correct myself on the date even if I have to write it again on the next page. I feel so crazy at those times. This is all part of the reason that I have a Cheshire Cat tattoo. Sometimes I feel like I’m not all there – but as I’ve said before, like the Cheshire Cat, may the last thing to disappear be my smile.

Great article! And timely for me… I’ve had fibromyalgia for about 37 years & chronic migraines for about 35 years, though I wasn’t properly diagnosed until 20 years ago. Wow, I just realized it’s been 20 years. I lose track of time, and I mean LOSE TRACK. I hadn’t talked to my mother in awhile, and last month when she called me I learned I hadn’t talked to her for 4 years! Over the past few years the fog has gotten worse. I’ve started keeping a journal of all my symptoms and how they affect me, and often it takes me up to an hour to write a paragraph because my train of thought has derailed. I lost my last job after only 6 weeks because I couldn’t learn the job fast enough, and that was 2 years ago. I don’t even get called back for interviews anymore, and I have to wonder if its because I live in a small town and word has spread. I had never been out of work for more than 6 weeks before this. Now I don’t think I’m even capable of holding a job anymore. I’m perpetually exhausted and in pain, and it feels like my brain has turned to swiss cheese; full of holes. I was an English major with a near-photographic memory and a large vocabulary. I could remember everything I read, and when I had to learn to operate a new machine or piece of equipment I just read the manual and ended up knowing more about it than anyone else in the office. Friends and family from all over the country would call me to help them spell words (which I realize is a little ridiculous, but its true). Now, every movie I see is brand new because I don’t remember seeing it before, and I haven’t been able to read a book in about 15 years. I used to read a paperback a day for years. My biggest fear is that some day I’ll develop dementia and nobody will notice. My husband is disabled with serious heart problems and its likely I’ll be widowed within 5-10 years, and my youngest child just started his senior year of high school. Last week I was shopping at Walmart with my husband, as we do every week as well as using the pharmacy there, and I know the layout of the store perfectly well. Suddenly I was lost! I didn’t know which way to turn and started to panic. All I could do was follow my husband and try to hide my fear. My husband chalks up the cognitive problems to the medications I take, but this happened to me about 12 years ago, several years before I was on any medications. I started out losing a couple of days, and then couldn’t remember how to get home from my brother’s house (somewhere I went 3-4 days a week). At that time my doctor wanted to take away my driver’s license, but put me on antidepressants instead. The memory and concentration problems are worse to me than the never ending pain and have me scared. I try to laugh it off, but its just not funny anymore.

I haven’t managed to read the whole article – but will in installments!!!

I just wanted to say what a relief it is to me to read other peoples’ stories. I will be eternally grateful to have been introduced to this web-site.

Thank you everyone. SO SO much :o)

Oh I laughed when I read this article! You see last Friday I had to go to the grocery store. Being the brain fog expert that I am, I carefully wrote out a shopping list. I know, amazing isn’t it? I even remembered to put it into my purse before I left for the store, how shocking is that? When I finished shopping I was so pleased with myself that I had followed my list, I congratulated myself & even bragged to the bus driver (who knows me & my brain fog very well) that I had accomplished my mission. I was on cloud nine, until I unpacked the bags and realized that I had not gotten the very first thing on the shopping list: toilet paper. Which was the whole reason I had needed to go to the store in the first place, I was out of toilet paper.

Great article, that’s me too.

Thank you s much for this article. It helps to know that I am in good company. I am an author and I love to write. It is one thing I can do when I am out of the fog and do in spurts. I thank God for editors because I will think of something to put in the story, and find out through editing, that I put it in several times. For example, one character couldn’t pronounce his Native American friend’s name, so he called him ‘James’. That little diddy showed up three times. I think the editor thought I was nuts.

Another problem I run into with the fog is that authors are expected to help market their books. Some of the instructions for marketing from the publisher and other online people get all jumbled in my head. If I ge a lead on a radio interview, I panic because, even in conversation with my friends and family, I stop short and forget what I am saying. Usually, I laugh and say that even I am bored with my subjects…or something along that line. It has been a year since I did a live interview. It is very hard to explain to people who don’t understand fibro fog.

Sales are going well in spite of me. Another thing that has caused me trouble is that when I get direct orders for books, sometimes I send the books twice. I write myself notes on a spreadsheet in my computer. When I forget to write that the book was sent, I end up sending another copy. When my reader contacts me and says that I sent an extra copy, I am so embarrassed that I tell them to keep it and bless someone else with the extra.

Once in a while crazy things like that happen. I could identify with the parking issue and most of the issues you brought up. Your articles on here help me cope. Thank you again.

Thanks again,Steph. Right on the head as usual. And I like your new title!

At work when I go off in one of my dazes everyone just says “Squirrel” (from movie ‘Up’) and gets it.

So true Steph! …well maybe except for the part about YOU making the cake 😛 Hopefully you’ll forget I said this by tomorrow, I know I will!!

I always joke at Christmas that I am as surprised as the rest of the family as to what is in their packages. I wrap, label and uh oh, forget! So Christmas morning is as much fun for me as for them. And yes, I really do keep a list of what I got each of them, but it never seems to take away the surprise. And of course there are always several gifts that I have “hidden” from my kids…and myself that I discover in about February!

I absolutely loved the article & thanks for making me laugh about something that upsets me no end! I have to share this with my family, so they know ours is not the only house were you have to “play charades” to try to finish Mom’s sentences. Thanks Stephanie!

This happened to me before I was diagnosed. Talk about scary! Now I know so it’s not so bad. But, it is awkward and not everyone gets it.

I have been having episodes of brain fog alot. It is very difficult to handle, because before I felt pretty sharp. Someone at work could ask a question ansd I readily knew the answer. Now I sometimes forget the question itself. I say I am going to take my pills and 5 mins later I can’t remember if I did it or not. My husband now sets out my pills and so I just look in the container to see if its empty to know if I took them. I feel bad for the additional responsibilities I have put on him. Geesh!!! I have even gotten up to go to the bathroom and I am standing half way in the living room trying to remember where I was going. I thank you for letting me vent , and although I am sorry and KNOW what you are going through I am glad to know I am not alone.

My husband calls it CRS: Can’t Remember Sh*t.

MiniMorg, I am the same way. I read your comment screaming, “This is me! This is me!” I’m only 31 years old and do not drive anymore. I have narrowly missed so many accidents only by the grace of God. It’s just not safe for me. I tried to use the GPS on my phone and even that confuses me. The worst things that have happened to me is to forget which side of the road is the right side and what to do at intersections and stop signs.

Thank you for letting me know that I am not alone. My older friends just don’t get it and tell me “if this is how you are now, I hate to see you at my age.” The only thing I can say is that I will be blessed to live to your age.

I’m sure this is a great article, but in my brain fog I can only read one section at a time and then I have to start over because I’ve forgotten what I’ve just read.

Probably by Christmas I’ll be able to finish the whole thing . . . if I can remember to do so!

Bloody brilliant that vague look and the what’s the word for syndrome. Wish I could say I don’t relate but I do

I call it the groggy-foggies because not only is my brain stuffed with dust bunnies, cotton baton, and cheesecloth, I’m usually only half-awake (or very tired) at the same time. The groggy-foggies seem to be worse in the morning and evening, though the afternoon probably is the same: I just don’t remember. I was somewhat relieved that I could blame it on fibro, rather than dementia which runs in my family! In fact, I try to blame all my quirks, tics, and eccentricities on fibro.

I loved this article. I have been experiencing this so much lately, it is frustrating & embarrassing. I laughed so hard, I’m so glad to know that I’m not alone!

Oh my. This is my life. Laughed so hard at the Cake Mix thing. Also, my BFF cannot at ALL understand why I seem incapable of EVER knowing where my cell phone is. She says “always put it in the same place.” Excellent plan, good advice.

One problem…what happens when (NOT if) I forget the place?

Its so frustrating I just make it to seem as amusing as possible. I even wrote a personal book about my most hilarious mishaps.
Anyway it can be downright scary. I once went into a shopping centre I knew very well and suddenly realised…I had no idea which way was out or even why I had entered.
I’ve put driving on the ‘back seat’ of my agenda (bad pun I know) because I will look at traffic lights and suddenly they will mean nothing to me. Nothing at all. I will forget where I am, where I’m going and even how to do the most simplest of operations.
Scary.

Brain fog also affects my typing ability. Causes letters to be jumbled in words or typing two words that both start with the same letter and forgetting to the s on the second word.

Brain fog is just for chemo anymore.