OMG, it’s incredibly, profoundly difficult to talk about this.

Here you have such a verbally unmatched phenomenon with so much of that weird colliding context and fluctuation in generic communicability that you might as well explain to a 2D entity how the third dimension works.

It is a miracle I even was able to recognize it by name when I first came across it.

In ancient times, it was said that the Persians would debate their ideas once sober and once under the influence in order to align clarity with perspective, and here you have this thing, which sees this and is like “hold my beer”, fading in and out like old age, flickering the old internal lights without anyone’s planned consent, and misguiding thought navigation.

I cannot speak for everyone, but there are a number of us who will tell you they don’t dare write fiction (or nonfiction?) if there isn’t absolutely every reason to believe they’re in the safe zone, mind’s eye, verbal recall, and comprehension (including that of relevance, which already has a relative nature) be damned, further complicated by the “there are different kinds” which ranks it in the realm of “phases”, “moodiness”, and “DID alters” (my step-step-kids each can attest experience with one of those three).

What does your own mind match it up with?

  • whaleross@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    That’s not brain fog. You’re romanticizing a medical condition. My brain fog feels like my brain is walking through water. I know where I’m going and I know how to get there but every step on the way is slow and cumbersome and takes way more energy than it should. IDK what you are talking about. Delusional euphoria maybe.

    • Call me Lenny/Leni@lemm.eeOP
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      2 months ago

      You then try to explain what brain fog is like with brain fog. You’d be the first person to imply it doesn’t manifest differently for everyone. For me, what you said isn’t at all unrelatable.

      • whaleross@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I have no idea what you are saying. Maybe the frustration of trying to communicate but not be able to find the right words in the right order are the perfect illustration of what it feels like with brain fog. Except apply it to everything and a massive headache when trying to force it. It’s nothing to be romanticised. It’s not something anybody would want. Drunken delirium is something entirely different.

        • Call me Lenny/Leni@lemm.eeOP
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          2 months ago

          If I come across as trying to romanticize anything, that is not my intention. I never said what I suffer from is desirable or anything, and I’m not going to start now.

  • itchick2014 [Ohio]@midwest.social
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    2 months ago

    To me, brain fog feels like my thoughts are swimming in the subconscious ocean and it takes a lot of energy to dive down and actually comprehend them. It isn’t that the thoughts do not exit, but rather that they are outside of reach of use until significant mental effort is undergone to reach them. Using those thoughts for any purpose then requires even more mental energy…energy that feels like the mental equivalent of walking up the stairs…it seems easy for the first few steps but progressively gets harder until at some point, if you haven’t used the thoughts yet, you just give up out of sheer exhaustion.

  • A_Very_Big_Fan@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    It feels like exactly what it says on the tin, personally.

    It just feels like my mind is foggy, so if I have to go off-script while I’m working or doing things at home or with friends, it takes a lot of energy to see through the “fog” and figure out what to do. But when things are going as planned (or “on-script”) I can just kinda navigate blindly.

  • delicious_justice@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    For me it’s constantly having that word you’ve used 1k times just out of reach, coupled with feeling like there are two (or more) levels happening in my head: one trying to have a verbal conversation and the other wondering silently when my migraine/headache will go away.

  • Crackhappy@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I can quantify the brain fog that I’ve experienced, mostly because I’ve recovered a bit. I experienced a 30% overall reduction in productivity as well as cognitive capability since January 2020 (when my son arrived back from Wuhan). I’ve compensated for the lack of memory capability I was used to by just writing things down that I used to just remember. I’ve also compensated for my general lack of cognitive function by retraining my brain with the basics. It’s not easy, but it’s doable. However, I feel that I’ve been let off easy compared to many others.

  • B4tid0@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Dumb. Can see but I am not really able to process it or it takes me a real long time. That’s the simplest way I can put it.

  • cardboardchris@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    For me it feels like complete inability to focus on anything or to recall specific concepts (like not being able to think of a word).

    This is a super interesting thread because I wonder if what I’m experiencing is even brain fog at all, or just ADHD. And I also wonder how other folks know when they’re feeling brain fog.

    Like, do any of you have a test for yourself to know when you’re feeling brain fog (or inversely, a test to be sure you’re not)?

  • thantik@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    This shit was either written by AI, or a highly disfunctional ADHD person on crack.