u/_Dani_4

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.

Tested and eliminated:

Significant inflammation (systemic, mucosal, neuro) - Normal CRP/ESR multiple times, no response to diets, antibiotics, LDN, memantine, nasal steroids, 2+ days 20mg prednisone

Major hormonal - Full recent panel normal

Gut / food sensitivity / SIBO - Carnivore 9 days, 3 day water fasting, 8 day low-SIBO diet, normal stool tests, metronidazol

Allergies - Negative panel, no response to nasal treatments

Classic sleep apnea with desats - Stable symptoms, no major sleepiness, no sleep test yet

Gross structural - Clean MRI, normal sinus CT

Nutrient deficiencies - Corrected B12/D/iron etc. with no change

Pure venous pooling / major positional CSF pressure - Handstand causes different pressure compared to prefrontal pressure from fog

Strong dural mechanical sensitivity - No pain from pressing/tapping prefrontal area

Classic central sensitization with sensory amplification - No light/sound/smell sensitivity, no scalp tenderness

Breathing / CO2 regulation - Hyperventilation / box breathing no change

Simple cold-induced vascular response - Cold face wash no change

Sugar / metabolic swings - Carnivore + no-sugar periods no change

Stress/thinking too much about fog - didn't even know I had fog until 2 years in, took months off to recover no change

PEM/CFS - No crashes after working out, no tiredness

Vasomotor rhinitis - no change based on nasal stuffiness

What do I even do next? Keep in mind any lifestyle fix or any type of light test I do has no result, and I have no leads to follow. Literally nothing that sticks out or causes health problems.

The way most people fix the fog is they do something - it works, follow along until you find the source. I have absolutely nothing to follow or that changes the fog EVER.

Anyone with something similar or advice?

6.5 years, no change in the fog, tested and eliminated:

Significant inflammation (systemic, mucosal, neuro) - Normal CRP/ESR multiple times, no response to diets, antibiotics, LDN, memantine, nasal steroids, 2+ days 20mg prednisone

Major hormonal - Full recent panel normal

Gut / food sensitivity / SIBO - Carnivore 9 days, 3 day water fasting, 8 day low-SIBO diet, normal stool tests, metronidazol

Allergies - Negative panel, no response to nasal treatments

Classic sleep apnea with desats - Stable symptoms, no major sleepiness, will do sleep test

Gross structural - Clean MRI, normal sinus CT

Nutrient deficiencies - Corrected B12/D/iron etc. with no change

Pure venous pooling / major positional CSF pressure - Handstand causes different pressure compared to prefrontal pressure from fog

Strong dural mechanical sensitivity - No pain from pressing/tapping prefrontal area

Classic central sensitization with sensory amplification - No light/sound/smell sensitivity, no scalp tenderness

Breathing / CO2 regulation - Hyperventilation / box breathing no change

Simple cold-induced vascular response - Cold showers no change

Sugar / metabolic swings - Carnivore + no-sugar periods no change

Stress/thinking too much about fog - didn't even know I had fog until 2 years in, took months off to recover no change

PEM/CFS - No crashes after working out, no tiredness

Vasomotor rhinitis - no change based on nasal stuffiness, nasal spray cleared nose but didnt change fog.

No fog caused by posture changes

I'm starting to believe that the cause of my fog is gone and that my brain is permanently stuck this way. I had one spontaneous time the fog dissapeared. I'm thinking of doing rTMS as a way to treat the fog if it is a primary brain issue. Any thoughts?

When someone has brain fog 24/7/365, what exactly is the cause inside the brain? Is it microglia, glymphatic clearance, neurotransmitters?

I know it's context dependent, but is there a list of ALL brain mechanisms that can be underperforming and then test each mechanism individually and then from that deduce the causes?

6.5 years, no change in the fog, tested and eliminated:

Significant inflammation (systemic, mucosal, neuro) - Normal CRP/ESR multiple times, no response to diets, antibiotics, LDN, memantine, nasal steroids, 2+ days 20mg prednisone

Major hormonal - Full recent panel normal

Gut / food sensitivity / SIBO - Carnivore 9 days, 3 day water fasting, 8 day low-SIBO diet, normal stool tests, metronidazol

Allergies - Negative panel, no response to nasal treatments

Classic sleep apnea with desats - Stable symptoms, no major sleepiness

Gross structural - Clean MRI, normal sinus CT

Nutrient deficiencies - Corrected B12/D/iron etc. with no change

Pure venous pooling / major positional CSF pressure - Handstand causes different pressure compared to prefrontal pressure from fog

Strong dural mechanical sensitivity - No pain from pressing/tapping prefrontal area

Classic central sensitization with sensory amplification - No light/sound/smell sensitivity, no scalp tenderness

Breathing / CO2 regulation - Hyperventilation / box breathing no change

Simple cold-induced vascular response - Cold face wash no change

Sugar / metabolic swings - Carnivore + no-sugar periods no change

Stress/thinking too much about fog - didn't even know I had fog until 2 years in, took months off to recover no change

PEM/CFS - No crashes after working out, no tiredness

Vasomotor rhinitis - no change based on nasal stuffiness

Other than the fog I have no other significant issue in my life or physically either. Had only one morning it was gone for 2 hours and then it came back, did nothing differently it just dissapeared.

What do I even do next? Keep in mind any lifestyle fix or any type of light test I do has no result, and I have no leads to follow. Literally nothing that sticks out or causes health problems.

The way most people fix the fog is they do something - it works, follow along until you find the source. I have absolutely nothing to follow or that changes the fog EVER.

Many of you probably already know my situation by no, I've had constant unchanging brain for for the past 6 years now and still haven't found the cause.

I've read multiple times that brain fog is a symptom but not a disease. I've tested my blood, did a diet, LDN, memantine, did a brain MRI, fixed my posture, meditated, took months away from everything, did a nasal CT, supplemented, nicotine patches, antibiotics, moved house, antihistamines nothing has come back positive.

My case is very specific as it doesn't change at all based on anything I do. If you have fog you have some other obvious symptoms to tackle but I have zero.

The obvious ones you might suggest are:

sleep study - will be doing one soon,

stress - I didn't even realise I had fog for the first year because everything was online and no need for focus so I chilled out and the fog didn't dissapear,

ME/CFS - no low energy, crashes, fatigue etc.

Lifestyle - already live a healthy lifestyle

The ONLY thing I have that is potentially connected is Vasomotor rhinits that I have but it causes absolutely no inflammation to me. I really don't see a root cause since there really is no correlation with anything that I do or take that changes the fog. This is why standard advice falls short.

I'm really looking for anything non obvious that can give you 24/7 brain fog that NEVER changes, not by an inch.

Thank you!

Hello everyone! I'll cut to the chase, for the past 6+ years I've had unchanging 24/7 brain fog. I've done extensive blood tests, checked my thyroid, did a brain MRI, changed diets, used antihistamines, antibiotics, low dose naltrexone, memantine, nicotine patches and many more things and they changed my cognitive performance by an inch.

I don't have any health conditions outside of my fog and my nasal issue. I've done a nasal CT and it came back clean, I've tried nasal corticosteroids and other sprays and they help me for 30 mins maybe after that my nosal congestion comes back.

Right now I have no idea if my fog is caused by my nose but it's the only thing I can try and follow. I've been to a doctor who said I had NAR but he wasn't too sure.

My symptoms are waking up with a congested nose, alternating clogged sinuses, sometimes being able to blow the mucus out and sometimes the nose is congested and I can't blow out anything. If I go outside my nose uncloggs for the most part but I still feel like it isn't completely clear and the fog doesn't change either. I don't have any irritants that cause my nose to act up, maybe dust if I am cleaning otherwise the congestion doesn't get triggered by anything. It is constantly there. Outside of this around my prefrontal cortex/forehead area I have a stuffy feeling like there's wool stuck in there. I don't have eye pain or sinus pain proven by the clean ct scan.

I tried jumping jacks and I can feel some improvement in my nasal congestion after doing them so maybe that points to VMR?

I also don't understand what even causes VMR and NAR but I saw some people being able to solve it, honestly if I am never able to solve the nasal issues I'm completely fine as long as I can solve my brain fog as it's destroying my life.

Any help is appreciated!

I've had brain fog for 6 years now and suffer the frontal pressure daily, but still haven't been able to change it at all. What causes this? Does it point to inflammation and can it narrow the search down?

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!

As the title says, for the past 6 years I've had 24/7 unchanging brain fog. 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.

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 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.

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 these:

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!

Hey everyone,I've had severe, constant brain fog since around 2020 (age ~15). It has been completely stable for over 6 years - no good days, no bad days, no flares, no PEM. Just the same locked level every single day. Core symptoms (24/7, unchanging):

• Constant "shield / blockage / stuffy" feeling in the prefrontal area with narrow mental space
• Word-finding difficulty, slow processing, multitasking impossible
• Type 2 / effortful thinking hits a hard wall instantly; Type 1 / automatic thinking fully preserved
• Effort headache + temperature rise in prefrontal area when doing mental work (debating, long talking, complex tasks)
• Anhedonia / emotional flatness — no joy or motivation from my own thoughts, need external stimulation
• Constant vasomotor rhinitis every single day for 6+ years (never one day without it). Tried nasal corticosteroids but no help

Key anomaly: One single ~2-hour episode of complete clarity after sleeping only 4–5 hours:

• Felt rested and calm
• Full effortless Type 2 thinking restored
• No fog, no anhedonia, no pressure
• Colors brighter/vibrant, real-time speech processing
• Gradual return over ~2 hours

Tests done & results:

• Brain MRI: normal (only incidental 7mm pineal cyst + mild PICA narrowing)
• Nasal CT: mild vasomotor rhinitis (slight soft tissue enlargement, minor low-end septal deviation) - "nothing important" per ENT, no inflammation
• Blood work: normal CRP/ESR (repeated), thyroid, B12, allergy panel, DAO, etc.
• Mild abnormalities: homocysteine 22 µmol/L - will try methylated b vitamin treatment, low vitamin D supplemented for months but no change
• Neuropsych testing: deficits in verbal fluency, executive function, working memory (prefrontal/temporal) but overall "average" (I was above average before onset)
• Other: took pills for gastro problems just in case - no change, no response to antihistamines, etc.

What I've eliminated & why:

• ME/CFS: No PEM, no crashes, normal exercise tolerance
• Systemic inflammation: Normal CRP/ESR, no flares
• Primary sinus cause: Nasal steroids/saline only affect pressure temporarily, never cognition
• Histamine/MCAS: Normal DAO, no response to antihistamines
• Classic dysautonomia: Fog is constant, not positional
• Major nutritional: Mild homocysteine/Vit D addressed with no change
• Structural: Normal MRI, no progression over 6 years

Current updated status since last post:

• 9 day memantine trial (up to 10mg) → only very minor possible reduction in stuffiness, no real change in core cognitition
• Planing to take methylated B vitamins + TMG for homocysteine
• Planning PSG sleep study
• Thinking of hyperbaric chamber

I'm looking for any ideas, similar cases, or things to try next. Especially interested in people who had extremely stable, non-fluctuating fog. I am just at a loss for what to do since every test I do comes back normal and literally NOTHING changes my fog. It is exactly the same 24/7 for the past 6 years! I am looking for a direction to take this since I am not even sure What helped you? What tests or treatments should I push for?

I've been all over the place. Carnivore, 3 day water fast, low sibo diet, blood tests, supplements, sleeping long hours, a lot of water, moved houses, worked out, changed my posture, no change at all.

I just need something I can test rapidly so I can eliminate things that are not the culprit. Right now, nothing is showing up.

Thanks in advance