Re: Brain Fog in Child

[Guest guest]

Hi all - please respond to the group on this one. My daughter has spent years

not only forgetting things she's already learned but the scariest part is that

she doesn't remember ever having learned them! It took years for her to learn

how to read because she couldn't remember having learned what sounds the letters

make. Sometimes it breaks my heart - like when we visit relatives for

Thanksgiving and she looks forward to it all year, spending months asking when

we're going to go, then she has a great time and a week later she's back to

asking when we're going to go because she has no recollection of having done it,

even when I remind her of the things we did there. Then there's the usual about

leaving water running, forgetting to close the house door, etc. and the worst is

when she vehemently insists she's done something, like brushing her teeth or her

hair or putting her clothes in the hamper, that it's only too obvious she hasn't

done - she ends up yelling and then

crying when I show her that she really hasn't done it. I just don't know what

to do for her anymore.

a in MA

grownfaux wrote:

Does anyone know of anything that has helped with the brain fog? Our

daughter, age 13, is experiencing such a huge amount of it that at

times recently it is frightening. She is a very intelligent girl that

gets great grades normally but is recently experiencing such huge

amounts of brain fog that she can't answer questions that the night

before she knew the answers to. Makes her cry and me too actually.

Hard to watch her struggle. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

Hi a and all,

I had already responded privately to on this but as you asked for it

to go to the group I will now respond to the list.

My daughter (she is 17 now) had dreadful brain fog for many years and no one

could tell us why. Last October she had her filum cut (tethered cord

surgery) and it released the tension on her brain allowing it to move back

into its natural position. It has now been 10 months and the difference is

incredible, she is almost back to her old self. She is so happy that she is

no longer struggling for words or having to read things over and over again

to try to pull the meaning out of the fog. She also had resolution of some

other problems, but still has some leg pain. The surgery was the best

decision that we have ever made for her.

Jo

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Subject: Re: Brain Fog in Child

Hi all - please respond to the group on this one.

[Guest guest]

Hi and a

Sorry to hear about the brain fog issues, is this after surgery? Before

surgery? Was a neurologist able to help pinpoint where the difficulties are?

Maybe the school help plan what's best for their learning?

I've heard too that decompressions and filum section might improve those

areas depending on the case.

Best wishes

A

[Guest guest]

Is your daughter taking either Neurontin (generic name gabapentin) or

Lyrica? These are notorious for short term memory loss and brain fog.

They also help tremendously with neuropathic pain, which is why I am

willing to take the trade off.

If she is taking one of thses, you may want to see her Dr about

lowering her dose, or trying something different during the school year.

Let me know how it goes.

God Bless,

>^,,^<

katinboise

Chiari1/syrinx C-2 to T-12/10 surgeries since2002

Fabulously blessed in every other way!

[Guest guest]

I have three children with the trifecta ages 9, 7, and 5 so we deal

with this issue a lot at home. In addition we are currently going

through neuropsychiatric and cognitive testing to king of get an idea

what is going on with the children. Here are a few things we do and

that I have learned about recently.

There have been a couple small studies done on children with Chiari

and I have talked to several parents whose children have also been

tested. I have noticed a pattern. There seems to be a general

pattern with Chiari kids that they have issues with memory and

processing. Right now we are kind of redoing the way that the kids

are responsible for themselves. We have a big dry erase board that

the kids can refrence for just about everything they need to do. I

wrote everything in indellable marker and divied it into days of the

week. The kids then check off things as they have done them in dry

erase. At the end of the week they can wipe off their marks and

start over. That way they know if they have completed what they need

to do and if they cannot remember they have a reference. We are also

working with the docs here at home to come up with a plan on ways to

help memory function. We play a lot of memory games and they do help

some with day-to-day memory. I would really encourage any parent

whose child is having memory issues or " brain fog " to have them

tested with a neurosychologist. If you are in Oregon or southern

Washington email me offlist and I will give you the name of the doc

my children see he is great.

a,

What you are describing with the loss of memory with reading and

school work I call a " cognitive regression " a my seven year

old is learning to read from the begining for the third time. What I

have figured out with her is that this occurs when she has either a

high pressure spike or her pressure is up chronicly for an extened

period. Decompressing Micheala is not really and option for us due

to some anatomy anomolies in her mid-brain and shunting is not an

option either. I do know if we keep her pressure under control she

does not have the issue with the regressions. You might want to

explore the possibilty that your duaghter's ICP is up. With us the

best treatment has been diaretics like diamox, a combonation of neck

collars and immobolizers (she has CCI), and believe it or not keeping

her on a whole foods diet. For some reason artificial sweeteners,

preservatives, and dyes make her pressure issues worse.

Hope this helps some,

Charnel