Thyroid Disease: Dealing With Brain Fog

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As you stand there and watch it agitate like clothes, you wonder if you’ve really lost it. As if thyroid disease doesn’t have enough symptoms for you to deal with, brain fog is one of the inevitable ones that can be really frustrating. Or even sometimes funny. Or sometimes scary.

Living In Fog

Brain fog is sometimes indescribable. It tends to be different for everyone too. You may have memory issues, trouble thinking, poor word recall, or do things way out of the ordinary. The good news is, you most likely are not developing dementia or something worse. Your thyroid hormone levels may just be off.

Somedays, you may feel very clear and as if the fog has “lifted.” Some days you may feel like you’re living in a fog. It’s okay, many people with thyroid disease have this symptom and it is very real.

Brain fog can be a sign of something serious, especially if it is accompanied by symptoms of; blurred vision, headaches, high blood pressure, or fainting spells. It is definitely something to get checked out by your doctor. If you are otherwise in good health and had a recent physical, it could be a sign of thyroid disease.

You may feel most of the time like you are living in a fog, and some people complain this symptom lingers even after thyroid treatment begins. The goal is to make sure you are on enough thyroid medication to reduce this and other symptoms.

Dealing With Brain Fog

If you have thyroid disease and are living with brain fog, there are a few things you can do to deal with it. Here are a few tips to ease this annoying symptom:

Make Lists: Get yourself a notebook and pen. Note any appointments, things you need to get done, phone calls you need to make, and places you need to go. Take it to work with you. If your boss gives you a task, write it down. If you need to remember someone’s name, write it down and a few notes about them. Most often, thyroid brain fog only affects “short-term” memory.

Designate a Spot: Find a spot in your house to keep important items that need to go out the door with you. Maybe a bowl next to the front door with your keys, cell phone, and glasses. As soon as you walk in the door, put these things in their spot. It soon becomes a habit and you won’t forget them.

Use Photographic Memory: When you have memory issues, try looking at something for a while. If you can get a snapshot into your mind, you can think of what you saw later. For instance, an address you need to remember. Write it down and look at the paper for a few minutes. When you need to remember without the paper in front of you, just remember the paper. Try it, it really works!

Use “Google.” Google can come in very handy for word recall. If you are thinking of a name of something, just Google what you remember about it. Because Google is such a highly advanced search engine, sometimes just a few related things will pull up what you are looking for. The name of a song? Google any words to the song you can remember. Name of a place? Google the city, attributes, what the surroundings look like.