SCT/Brain fog for the past 6+ years. What do i do?
TLDR:
- The Symptom: 24/7/365 unvarying, severe brain fog localized as a "physical block" in the prefrontal cortex.
- The Impact: Sluggish information processing, severely impaired working and long/short-term memory, emotional numbing, and an inability to follow even a TV show. No physical fatigue, secondary symptoms or "wired" feelings.
- The Clue: A single, spontaneous 1-hour remission 4 years ago after a night of short sleep (5–6 hours), waking up feeling genuinely refreshed.
- Ruled Out: ADHD, SIBO/gut issues, structural brain lesions (normal MRI), thyroid issues, MCAS/PEM, systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, and major vitamin deficiencies.
- Failed Treatments: Anti-inflammatories, antihistamines, carnivore and SIBO diet, water fasting, Low Dose Naltrexone (2.5mg), Nicotine gum, Antibiotics, nasal corticosteroids, Memantine and other supplements.
As the title says, for the past 6 years I've had 24/7 unchanging brain fog/SCT. I've tried many interventions and it stays the exact same intensity no matter what I do. I don't have any other symptoms other than the brain fog.
The way my fog is different than most is that I don't have a "tired but wired" feeling, the main problem is strictly cognition. It is very comparable to sluggish cognitive tempo meaning it takes me a long time to process information, my long and short term memory are really bad, thoughts feel like they have weight to them and I can't think easily. When I try to think of something often times I forget what I was thinking about. The best way to describe it is as a wall that is in my prefrontal area, or like there is something blocking my brain in the prefrontal cortex. My working memory feels very narrow. I can't even watch TV because I don't understand what is being said.
SUPER IMPORTANT: I've had only one situation where the fog completely relieved itself overnight basically and I was clean for 1 hour, after that it returned and I didn't even notice. It was 4 years ago but if I recall correctly, I did nothing out of the ordinary except sleeping less (~5-6hrs), I tried it again but I couldn't recreate it.
This sent me down a rabbit hole trying to figure out if there was anything that I could fix that was causing the fog. I finally realised it wasn't permanent and could somehow be fixed! I tried antihstamines for 2 weeks, antibiotics, ibuprofen, sleeping more, meditating, cutting out devices and I had no response.
After that I did a series of blood tests which I'll post down below. The only results that were ever off were my vitamin D always - I supplemented but no change, my AST and ALT but I did a workout the day before the blood test and I repeated the test but again nothing came up, after my 9 day carnivore diet my aldosterone and serotonin were a bit high but nothing too alarming or something that can explain the fog, my cholesterol can be a bit lower but also just on the edge of the range, and most recently my homocysteine was 22 but retested it yesterday and it was within range. Everything else (iron, candida swab on face and throat, bilirubin, epstein barr, thyroid, b12 etc. - I will post in the comments) were completely fine.
I scanned my neck with an echo since I felt my lymph nodes and my thyroid was fine and the doctor said the lymph node was unreactive and was probably there because of a previous infection.
I decided to try out a 3 day water fast and I felt no change.
Went to see a neurologist and did the standard tests like checking my eyes, blood tests, MRI and everything was good.
Did the carnivore for around 9 days followed by low sibo diet for 8 days and went to a GI doctor in case I was missing something but blood tests showed I had no problem in the gut and nothing changed during the diets.
I tried nicotine gum, magnesium, omega 3, b complex vitamins, alphalipoic acid and similar supplements to no effect. I've tried taping my mouth since I thought maybe the episode I had no fog was because I slept well, I had also felt refreshed after sleeping after years, but it gave me no change to how I felt. Nowadays I feel neutral when I wake up, but in general my emotions have numbed down and feel neutral all the time.
I then tried LDN at 2.5mg for 2 months and I didn't feel any change in the fog.
Most recently my doctor gave me memantine as a trial and have been taking that for the past 12 days but again I haven't noticed any difference.
What am I supposed to do? I have no other bodily symptoms except the fog and I haven't seen anyone with my kind of problem since the fog is the exact same 24/7/365 and never ever changes.
I've been to a psychologist and adhd has been eliminated, it's just that my cognitive abillities have fallen down drastically. It's not stress since I've had periods where I've done absolutely nothing but again, I can't use my brain at all.
Outside of that I do have anhedonia/emotional blunting and in general have lost the feel for the vibe/atmosphere of the world. I don't feel like I am fully engaged with the world and everything is very neutral.
I don't believe I have SCT in the traditional sense, where it's been there since birth, but it is most like to what my fog feels like.
Is there anything I can do? I haven't done an eeg or other scans since I can't really pinpoint any exact problems, I haven't been able to remove the fog once outside of that spontaneous episode.
Are there any medication trials or treatments I can try out to at least have an idea what might improve or worsen the fog?
So far I've eliminated this list alongside some which I haven't listed since I can't remember:
| ELIMINATED BY EVIDENCE |
|---|
| SIBO / gut dysbiosis |
| Celiac disease |
| Thyroid dysfunction |
| Insulin resistance |
| Active infection / EBV / candida |
| Systemic inflammation |
| POTS / dysautonomia |
| Structural brain lesion |
| SCT / neurodevelopmental |
| MCAS/PEM |
If there is anything you can suggest please do! I would be very thankful!