Brain Fog: Why Your Brain Suddenly Feels Like Dial-Up Internet

November 25, 2025 JoLeave a comment

Let’s cut the polite medical fluff and get to the truth:
Brain fog is real, it’s intrusive, and it can make you feel like you’re slowly losing your mind… even though you’re not. We not only deal with it within our illnesses but alot of us have Menopause or Perimenopause right along with these other intrusive issues

And the worst part?
Everything is affected.
Memory, focus, emotional regulation, sleep, language, motivation — pick a brain function, and menopause and Bipolar, ADHD, and Fibro toss a snow globe at it.

You’re not imagining this. And you’re definitely not “lazy” or “slacking” or “not trying hard enough.” What you’re feeling is neurological turbulence, courtesy of hormones that suddenly decided to jump ship without leaving a forwarding address.

Let’s break down what’s actually going on, in normal-human language.

🌡️ What Menopause Brain Fog Actually Is

Imagine your brain has a hype squad.
The leader of that hype squad? Estrogen.

Estrogen talks to your neurotransmitters — the little brain chemicals that run your mood, your focus, and your memory — and keeps them energized and coordinated.

Here are her three favorite teammates:

Serotonin → mood, emotional stability
Dopamine → motivation, attention, reward
Acetylcholine → memory, learning, focus

When estrogen starts dropping during perimenopause and menopause?
The hype squad gets tired. The music cuts out. Everybody forgets the dance.

Suddenly the whole system is like:

“Wait… what were we doing? Why did we walk into the kitchen? Where are my keys? Why can’t I think of that one word? Why does everything feel… slow?”

It’s not subtle. It hits like a grocery cart to the ankles.

🧠 So What Does This Look Like in Real Life?

You may notice:

Forgetting basic words you’ve used for 40 years
Losing your train of thought mid-sentence
Walking into a room and immediately forgetting why
Misplacing everything — phone, keys, glasses, sanity
Feeling mentally “slower” or foggier than usual
Struggling to switch between tasks
Needing instructions repeated
Finding it harder to learn new things
Getting overwhelmed faster than you used to

And then there’s the emotional layer:
You start wondering if you’re declining, losing your edge, or secretly broken.
(You’re not. You’re literally chemically glitching.)

😫 Why It Feels So Big and So Personal

Because menopause doesn’t just change estrogen — it changes sleep, stress hormones, and mood systems too.

Sleep becomes trash.
Night sweats and hot flashes interrupt the hours you do manage to get.
And sleep loss alone slows memory consolidation and attention — for anyone, not just hormonal women.

Add in drops in serotonin and dopamine, and suddenly:

You can’t regulate stress as well
Motivation takes a hit
Focus becomes slippery
Everything feels “harder” than it used to

So the fog isn’t coming from one place — it’s coming from everywhere at once.

That’s why it feels overwhelming. That’s why you feel unlike yourself.
That’s why it feels like your brain betrayed you.

🧬 The Science Behind It (In Actual Plain English)

Two big findings from research you can quote, cite, tattoo, whatever you need:

1. Menopause measurably affects memory and cognitive performance.

Large studies show that during the menopause transition, women experience real, trackable dips in memory, attention, and verbal fluency — especially when hormones fluctuate the most.
(SWAN Study – Greendale et al., 2010)

2. Estrogen plays a major role in protecting attention and memory systems.

Estrogen directly affects acetylcholine and dopamine — the same systems involved in memory, focus, and mental clarity.
When estrogen falls, those systems weaken, and cognitive symptoms follow.
(Sherwin, 2012)

This isn’t a personality flaw.
It’s biology.

❤️ You’re Not Failing — Your Brain Is Rewriting Its Operating System

Seriously — if your computer said “installing major update… do not shut down,” you’d expect things to be weird for a while.

That’s menopause.

Your brain is recalibrating.
Your hormones are rebalancing.
Your neurotransmitters are trying to remember their choreography.

You’re not broken.
You’re not incompetent.
You’re not “losing it.”

You’re adapting to a massive physiological shift that affects everyone going through it — but nobody talks about enough. Til next time gang, take care of yourselves, and each other.

Greendale GA, et al. The menopause transition and cognitive performance: the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Menopause. 2010;17(4):910–917.

Sherwin BB. Estrogen and cognitive functioning in women: lessons we have learned. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2012;37(8):1287–1295.

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Brain Fog vs. Cognitive Fatigue: Understanding the Science Behind “I Can’t Think Today”

November 10, 2025 JoLeave a comment

Some days, my brain feels like it’s buffering. I’ll stand in the kitchen with zero clue why I’m there, reread the same sentence five times, or forget my own train of thought mid-sentence. And then there are the days when my brain feels tired. Not fuzzy—just done. Like someone unplugged the power source and said, “Nope. We’re closed.”

People often lump brain fog and cognitive fatigue together, but they’re not the same beast. Brain fog is that hazy, disconnected, “can’t access the file” feeling. It’s common in chronic illness, ADHD, and even post-viral recovery because it’s tied to inflammation and disrupted neurotransmitter signaling—especially in areas like the prefrontal cortex, which handles planning and focus. (See research: Defining brain fog across medical conditions.) ScienceDirect+1

Cognitive fatigue, on the other hand, is your brain’s version of muscle fatigue. It happens when your mental resources are overused or depleted—like when you’ve been masking all day, juggling a thousand tasks, or fighting through sensory overload. Studies show that prolonged cognitive load triggers measurable changes in brain activity consistent with fatigue. BioMed Central+1

The cruel joke? Many of us with chronic pain, ADHD, or trauma live in a state where both are happening at once. Inflammation clouds the signals (fog) while constant effort to function burns through what little energy reserves remain (fatigue). Add medication effects, sleep disruption, or stress hormones—and your poor nervous system is basically trying to run Windows 98 on low battery.

The next time you say “I can’t think today,” remember—it’s not laziness or lack of willpower. It’s biology doing its best under impossible conditions. Be kind to your brain. It’s been through a lot, and honestly, it deserves a nap and maybe a snack. Til next time gang, take care of yourselves, and each other.

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Fibro Fog…

May 11, 2024May 12, 2024 Jo1 Comment

Today I’m picking a symptom to discuss that I have found particularly difficult and vexing, Fibro Fog, where everything you were JUST thinking about disappears into a mist. I think all the evaporated thoughts are hanging together, in the air, and we just have to hope they blow by us again close enough for us to hold on to and actually implant in our brains. I’m not talking forgetfulness I’m talking if you don’t write it down its already water vapor lol. I can hear you now, ‘but can you give us any examples that are entertaining as well as informative?’

Of course, who do you think you’re talking to? No I’m really asking, because I forgot lol just kidding.

Imagine your brain decided to take a leisurely stroll through a dense fog, but instead of enjoying the tranquility, it got lost, took a wrong turn at Albuquerque, and ended up in a carnival funhouse where all the mirrors distort reality. That’s fibro fog for you, the mischievous gremlin that hijacks your thoughts and turns your thoughts and ideas into a wacky, unpredictable carnival ride.

Picture this: You wake up in the morning, ready to conquer the day like a boss/Queen/Goddess slaying everything in your path, only to realize your brain is still in snooze mode, mumbling something about needing more coffee before it can even consider joining the party. Its there, its just on a delay if you will, like they use on broadcast tv before anything live they have it on like a 10 second delay with someone on the button in case someone lets out curse words best kept to themselves? When fibro fog happens to me I feel like I’m hearing everything being said but it doesn’t make sense in my head, it takes me minutes to process the information I am given, so we will have had a full discussion but in truth I don’t even understand what you said until 10 minutes later. That means any clarifications I might need I’m already too late to ask, so I will convince myself I did it wrong. I’ll find myself standing in front of the fridge, wondering why on earth I opened it in the first place, while my keys I was searching for a few minutes ago mock me from the depths of my purse, hiding in plain sight.

Trying to hold a conversation becomes a high-stakes game of mental acrobatics, where you’re juggling words like a circus performer, desperately hoping they’ll land in the right order. Suddenly, your train of thought gets derailed faster than a toddler on a sugar rush, leaving you stranded at a mental station with no idea where you were headed.

In essence, fibro fog turns your brain into a whimsical, slightly dysfunctional amusement park, where every thought is a rollercoaster ride and every memory a slippery slide. So, next time you encounter someone battling this quirky phenomenon, just remember – they’re not lost, they’re just taking the scenic route through the carnival of their mind.

Til next times guys, stay kind to yourselves, and each other!