Lupus Brain Fog

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Lupus " brain fog " .. cognitive dysfunction

Some people with lupus will experience difficulties remembering appointments,

names, events, or will say the wrong word in a conversation (such as saying " I

saw a flying girl. " instead of " I saw a flying squirrel. " ). Often times this is

referred to as a “lupus fog”.

Medical professionals refer to this as cognitive dysfunction or cognitive

impairment. “Lupus fog” is a reflection of a vascular spasm (when a blood vessel

has a spasm and squeezes shut for a few moments), which can reduce the amount of

oxygen getting to the brain. These symptoms may come and go.

You need to discuss treatment options with your doctor. Many patients are

referred to psychologists, speech therapists, and physical therapists who can

help you cope with this by initiating biofeedback and specific strategies to

improved concentration.

Keeping yourself as stress free as possible will help a great deal. Also,

limiting your caffeine products (tea, coffee, sodas, chocolate) will also help.

Some people have improved their brain functions by going on a cardiac diet (no

salt). The less salt you eat, the less problems you will have with edema

(swelling of the tissue). The swelling by edema is not limited to just fingers,

feet, and legs but the tissue in the brain as well.

Think of it this way:

The brain talks to the other parts of the brain by electrical pulses. These

pulses sometimes jump a gap between nerve endings. When the brain is fine, the

gap is easily jumped. But when there is even a little bit of swelling, the gap

is widened. Sometimes a pulse will jump to the " wrong " area. That is when you

say " girl " instead of " squirrel " . And no matter what someone says, you believe

you said squirrel because the part of your brain giving the directions to say

squirrel was correct (that is what you remember).