Have you been experiencing noticeable variations in your mental speed? Do you suffer from pain, discomfort, and inflammation? Have you been experiencing fatigue, especially after meals or exposure to chemicals, scents, or pollutants? If you answered yes to any of the previous questions, you may be experiencing brain fog, unclear thoughts or concentration.
Brain fog is a well-known symptom associated with a variety of health issues. It can affect many brain functions, including memory and concentration. It can occur as a result of poor lifestyle habits, including stress, an unhealthy diet, and lack of sleep, or due to other health issues, including multiple sclerosis and chronic fatigue syndrome. Moreover, brain fog can be accompanied by other symptoms like vision problems. In the following article, we will discuss brain fog and vision problems.
What is Brain Fog?
Brain fog can make a person feel as if the processes of thinking, understanding, and remembering are not working as they should. It can affect memory, the ability to process and understand information, visual and spatial skills, the ability to calculate and solve problems as well as executive functioning. If these essential brain functions don’t work efficiently, it can become challenging to understand, focus, and even remember simple things. It can ultimately lead to stress and fatigue.
A variety of health issues can lead to brain fog. People with multiple sclerosis (MS) may experience changes in their ability to make decisions as well as to process and recall information. These changes are generally mild or moderate and they do not affect a person’s ability to live independently. However, they can be frustrating and these can make it difficult to complete regular tasks. Fibromyalgia can also affect a person’s concentration and memory. Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is another chronic, or long-term, health issue that can result in brain fog, fatigue, and other symptoms, such as vision problems.
Changes to a person’s hormone levels can also affect brain function, especially during pregnancy or menopause. A 2013 research study found that hormonal changes throughout a woman’s menopausal transition made it difficult for women to learn or retain new information and to focus on challenging everyday tasks. Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s disease can cause hormone imbalances. Memory and thinking problems similar to brain fog are also common in thyroid disorders.
Depression is a mood disorder that affects how a person thinks and feels. Problems with memory, focus, and decision-making can contribute to brain fog. There may also be problems with sleeping and a lack of energy, which can make concentrating and completing everyday tasks much more challenging. Stress and anxiety can also make it difficult to think clearly.
Vision Problems and Brain Fog
Many people with brain fog due to multiple sclerosis (MS) or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) also experience vision problems. Healthcare professionals believe that vision problems associated with CFS and other health issues are caused due to brain dysfunction rather than eye dysfunction. Our brain constantly transmits signals into our eyes which allows us to know where we are as well as what it is that you’re seeing. The brain is also in charge of controlling the eye reflexes, including pupil dilation due to light and dark changes. However, these brain and eye functions may not work properly with brain fog.
Most frequently, patients with brain fog experience vision problems where their environment appears to be blurry or it seems to be foggy. According to Dr. Peter Rowe, director of the Chronic Fatigue Clinic at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, these vision problems most frequently occur when standing up, making the patients also feel lightheaded.
Furthermore, other vision problems that CFS and MS patients commonly experience with brain fog, ultimately include:
- Difficulty when focusing on objects, generally those which are close up
- Inability to see objects in peripheral vision, as though they have tunnel vision
- Dizziness and being unable to look at moving objects without feeling dizzy
- Seeing an excess amount of “floaters” and/or “flashes of light” in their vision
- Intolerant to light or feeling discomfort in bright rooms and outdoors in the sunshine
- Feeling as though the eyes are dry or as though they’re itchy, gritty, or burning
Proper Health Care with Brain Fog and Vision Problems
People with brain fog and vision problems associated with CFS, MS, or any other health issue will commonly visit an optometrist or ophthalmologist. However, an eye exam will generally return as “normal”. In addition, prescription lenses may not help because of rapid vision changes. If you do wear glasses, tints may ultimately help reduce sensitivity to light.
Because blurred or foggy vision is the most common problem associated with brain fog, researchers and healthcare professionals believe that improving blood flow to the brain can help improve symptoms. Treating any underlying health issues and/or practicing proper lifestyle habits, such as eating a healthy diet, engaging in exercise or physical activity, and sleeping properly can help promote proper blood flow to the brain and ultimately improve brain fog and vision problems.
Blurry or foggy vision, among other vision problems, are frequently believed to be a temporary symptom and are more associated with lightheadedness and blood flow to the brain. You may need to see a cardiologist or a neurologist to treat lightheadedness or dizziness. If you have chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), multiple sclerosis (MS), or any other health issue where you find that you can’t tolerate bright light, you should wear sunglasses when you’re outdoors in the sunshine.
Brain fog commonly includes feelings of confusion and disorientation, where it can make a person have difficulty thinking, understanding, and even remembering basic information. Brain fog is a symptom, rather than a single disorder, associated with vision problems and other health issues like CFS and MS. Researchers and healthcare professionals believe that because brain fog can ultimately affect brain function, it can also affect essential eye reflexes responsible for these well-known vision problems, among other symptoms, including fatigue. – Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T. Insight
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The following Neurotransmitter Assessment Form can be filled out and presented to Dr. Alex Jimenez. Symptoms listed on this form are not intended to be utilized as a diagnosis of any type of disease, condition, or any other type of health issue.
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Have you been experiencing noticeable variations in your mental speed? Do you suffer from pain, discomfort, and inflammation? Have you been experiencing fatigue, especially after meals or exposure to chemicals, scents, or pollutants? Brain fog is a symptom that can affect many brain functions, including memory and concentration. It can also be accompanied by other symptoms like vision problems. In the article above, we discussed brain fog and vision problems.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal and nervous health issues or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We use functional health protocols to treat injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. To further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez
- Sissons, Claire. “Brain Fog: Multiple Sclerosis and Other Causes.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, 12 June 2019, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320111.php#1.
- Orenstein, Beth W. “When Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Harms Vision.” EverydayHealth.com, Everyday Health, 4 March 2010, http://www.everydayhealth.com/chronic-fatigue-syndrome/vision-problems.aspx.
Additional Topic Discussion: Chronic Pain
Sudden pain is a natural response of the nervous system which helps to demonstrate possible injury. By way of instance, pain signals travel from an injured region through the nerves and spinal cord to the brain. Pain is generally less severe as the injury heals, however, chronic pain is different than the average type of pain. With chronic pain, the human body will continue sending pain signals to the brain, regardless if the injury has healed. Chronic pain can last for several weeks to even several years. Chronic pain can tremendously affect a patient’s mobility and it can reduce flexibility, strength, and endurance.
Neural Zoomer Plus for Neurological Disease
Dr. Alex Jimenez utilizes a series of tests to help evaluate neurological diseases. The Neural ZoomerTM Plus is an array of neurological autoantibodies which offers specific antibody-to-antigen recognition. The Vibrant Neural ZoomerTM Plus is designed to assess an individual’s reactivity to 48 neurological antigens with connections to a variety of neurologically related diseases. The Vibrant Neural ZoomerTM Plus aims to reduce neurological conditions by empowering patients and physicians with a vital resource for early risk detection and an enhanced focus on personalized primary prevention.
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