ADD Forums - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Support and Information Resources Community

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greyhound1 (Post 2023641)

Brain fog is basically a cognitive dysfunction.

I see it as more of an impairment of alertness

The real trouble is that the term is used very widely, by different groups, and that when we have it, we are by virtue of its presence, in no state to take notes.

One cause that is certainly relevant to ADHD is the question of uneven hemispheric activation.

One way of tackling that is through Infraorbital Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation
( a low power electrical stimulation)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...New+Hypothesis

Trigeminal, Visceral and Vestibular Inputs May Improve Cognitive Functions by Acting through the Locus Coeruleus and the Ascending Reticular Activating System: A New Hypothesis
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Quote:

ITS was also tested in adult patients affected by fibromyalgia, a pain syndrome associated with neurological deficits in intracortical modulation as well as in young people affected by attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, a condition characterized by abnormal levels of inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity. In the former case, TNS can improve pain and depressive symptoms ([COLOR=rgb(30.000000%, 30.000000%, 30.000000%)]Shiozawa et al., 2014[/color]), while in the second it ameliorates attention, mood and sleep quality

Really it is not a new hypothesis the key research has been building over more than a decade.

However- brain fog- a sense of dullness and lack of clarity, can certainly be induced by asymmetry of hemispheric activity.
One of the classic causes of such asymmetry is the postural asymmetries caused by unmanaged upper cervical subluxations.

Another common cause of brain fog is chronic neck and back pain.
This is believed to come about by excessive sympathetic activity in the painful area of the neck, spreading up the carotid artery and constricting the middle cerebral artery:
CEREBRAL PERFUSION IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC NECK AND UPPER BACK PAIN: PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...Y+OBSERVATIONS

<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm }</style>The full study correlates patient self reports of neck pain and disability and finds a very strong correlation with perfusion defects in the Middle Cerebral Artery territory demonstrated on SPECT scan.

This one interests me greatly as I have many foggy episodes that will not respond to stimulants, and I also had a high Neck Disability Index and in 2008 had a cerebral SPECT scan that was identical to the results these researchers were documenting.

Ive been able to find a way to turn off this cycle of pain/spasm/ sympathetic activity using a TENS over the right spot in the neck- and I am clear now that it turns off the brain fog very quickly- just as it relieves the pain and, it would seem, the poor blood flow problem.

However- the subjective effect is of fog, and it responds promptly to the treatment which is undermining the presumed mechanism.

The sort of brain fog which is just endless chatter probably represents a failure of inhibition- but it will come down to blood flow in the brain, or mismatch between the operating speeds of the 2 hemispheres (to put it crudely).