I was diagnosed in my very early thirties with Hypothyroidism and then with Hashimoto’s. I was the one that pushed my doctor at the time, for some blood work to see if I had a problem.
That doctor, that I soon left for many reasons, laughed at me when I told him that I either thought I had a brain tumor or I might be having a thyroid issue. He, condescendingly, asked me why I thought that.
I started to describe to him that I was having a lot of trouble concentrating on any one task for very long. I also told him that without any reason, I couldn’t remember things that were just told to me a few minutes ago. Several times, I parked my car in a lot and totally forgot where it was. I went on to explain that my eating utensil would fall right out of my hand in the middle of eating and that I often misplaced things.
He continued to enjoy the humor of what I thought was a very serious problem, maybe early onset of some brain issue or things of that nature. He grudgingly sent me for blood work, telling me nothing would be found, because after all, I was a mom and working and so I must be over anxious about my life. He told me it was unlikely that I had anything wrong with me other than I needed to just listen better and focus on people. Clearly it was explained to me that when the blood test got no results, it was unlikely that there was anything wrong with me.
His office called me the next day, the tune was very different. My TSH was extremely bad and a prescription was called in for synthroid. I asked to speak to the doctor, and he advised me to see an endocrinologist but told me that thyroid disease is the easiest thing in the world to treat. He told me that there was nothing to be concerned about as, “You just take a little pill and you are good to go.” Thyroid disease is no big deal. Easy disease…. easy treatment…..Yeah….. about that….. well that is a different blog, one I will entitle, “Biggest lie I was ever told.”
“Still having these symptoms? No worries! We will give you more synthroid. That will help!”
I never did get “better’ and over the last twenty some years, that brain fog issue got worse, along with a host of other symptoms that joined it, a list too long to get into. It is hard to explain to other people because brain fog is a little different for everyone. My experience was more like many times during the day, I would feel like I was walking in a haze. It felt like you got up and you were still in dream land. You walk around most of the day, trying to stay focused and you end up exhausted because you are spending tons of energy, trying to make it look like you are okay. I am a teacher, and I work part time in the evenings at Walmart. I also am a mom, and haze was not going to work for me.
So, I had to come up with clever ways to compensate for it and to hide it. I used to walk around with all kinds of papers in my pockets, notes about where I parked my car, important meetings for the next day. Sometimes, I would write notes that I had no idea what they even meant. After awhile, I got a lot better at it. I would write more details and at the end of the day, I would compile the notes into one big note and put that in my pocket the next day. Then I got really great at doing it on my smartphone! I never would go in a parking lot and not write down where I parked my car. EVER…
A few times, I admit, that I would be meeting a friend for lunch or something, then I would not write it down and counted on walking to my car with that friend because I could remember the proximity my car was to theirs. But plenty of times, I have walked parking lots.
Most of my family and friends reading this blog will think I am talking about someone else. I gave off a persona of being completely with it and pulled together. Ask anyone. I would do all kinds of tasks, keep up with deadlines you can’t imagine and do all kinds of projects and activities with my classes and no one knew, that all along, I had all my little helpers in my pocket to keep me on track. Little do they know what an effort that was. I think that is why I often was able to identify and work with ADHD students so well because I can completely understand their situation.
Big tasks were always broken down into small steps. I would make a list of the steps needed to achieve the goal and work in small chunks. I could never just sit and work on one thing at a time. Rather, I had to have five or six projects going and work on one only so long. People thought that I, too, had ADD.
Brain fog is REAL! And there are medical reasons you have it!
The truth is, when you have thyroid disorders and Hashimoto’s there are medical reasons why you have that brain fog!! I am not a doctor and my facts are only from articles that I have read on the internet, and books that I read about Hashimoto’s or Hypothyroidism.
It stands to reason that if inflammation contributes to these disorders, and it does, then that inflammation will have effects on all parts of your body, so cells that are part of your brain can get inflamed, too! Long before I met Dr. Jack, I had actually researched that because I didn’t understand why it never went away. I spent a lot of time talking to the endocrinologist about the issue of brain fog and why it didn’t ever seem to disappear despite larger doses of synthroid. Well there were reasons for that, too!
You see, in everyone’s brain there are immune cells, too, called microglia. They have two speeds, a hundred miles an hour or a snails pace.
They are quick responders to disease and injury and they can cause a lot of problems. So if your regular cells are inflamed, guess what? So are those. I started researching that and here is what I found out. When your gut is inflamed, those little microglia get aggravated too.
So you go in complaining that your symptoms are still bad. And what do they do? they give you more synthroid… But that is not curing the inflammation at all! That brain fog never goes away because it isn’t curing what is really wrong. There is a whole blood brain barrier and that inflammation is a big part of the problem. That barrier is not doing its job, the microglia are aggravated, they are firing fast because they are aggravated…. You are exhausted because they are fatigued…. It’s an endless cycle and guess what?! You are still foggy, probably even more!
From books and articles I have read, most of the doctors doing research in that area agree that gluten is like public enemy number one to blood brain barrier and also to those microglia. So when you cut the gluten, and then if you take really good supplements, such as the ones in Dr. Jack’s protocol, it helps to heal the blood brain barrier. Reactions calm down and your brain fog starts calming down.
Brain fog is a real problem for a lot of people. Since I have been working with Dr. Jack, things in that department have improved dramatically!!! No more pocket notes. I can sit and complete a task for an extended period of time. I park my car and remember where it is. I can follow conversations without taking a million notes. I can write this blog, uninterrupted by that weird misty haze.
I used to bring home tons of school work, now I get lots done at school. I never could sit and pay more than three or four bills at a time, now I get the whole job done! I am able to organize my thoughts and carry on more lengthy conversations without taking a ton of notes. The lists from my phone are basically down to minimal information. I still keep lists but I don’t need a list to keep track of all the lists I kept. And I don’t need a list for every little thing.
Brain fog……….. I am so happy to do without that symptom. When I realized it was leaving me, I couldn’t believe it. I was sitting working at my desk at school, doing a project, and suddenly the bell rang. I realized that I had spent the whole period on it, and was able to complete it. From there, I started noticing that my attention span increased, as did my endurance. It really is amazing how much energy you have when you aren’t spending it on just trying to appear normal!!!! It is truly one of the best things Dr. Jack has done for me.