Once you have had a brain injury, it can become incredibly difficult to organise your thoughts or actions in a logical way (though luckily, I’ve always been a bit of a control freak anyway). I definitely struggle with “brain fog” now.
Brain fog isn’t a medical condition itself, but rather a symptom of other medical conditions. It’s a type of cognitive dysfunction involving:
- memory problems
- lack of mental clarity
- poor concentration
- inability to focus
https://www.healthline.com/health/brain-fog
If I were to describe or explain what brain fog is like for me, I would say this: imagine you’re trying to sing a song, but there is another completely different song blaring noisily in the background. The correct melody, tempo and lyrics will all become jumbled and confused. Everything will end up mixing together into some sort of white noise, so you are unable to focus on anything properly.
The brain injury research study I have been a part of has been particularly helpful when it comes to ways of handling brain fog. I have realised that breaking even the smaller things down into manageable chunks will inevitably lead to greater clarity, and more ordered thoughts, in your life as a whole.
If you imagine a singular event or action as a little square in the patchwork of your life, then you can see that each square alone needs a clear, specific theme and details. As each of these separate squares then fit together as one, your life becomes a whole ‘patchwork quilt’ of events to make it complete. In the simplest terms, paying attention to the detail in the smaller things thus leads to a whole and full life.
The study also focused on the ABCs of behaviour, and how we could turn this around.
Antecedent (trigger) – Behaviour – Consequence
Think you’ll annoy someone – Don’t speak to them – Feel lonely
The above example shows if you believe you will annoy someone, you won’t speak to them. This then leads to feelings of isolation or loneliness. Therefore, only active engagement (rather than being passive) can improve mood, get things done and allow you to break free from this cycle.
©Andrea Kusec, Mood, Activity Participation, and Leisure Engagement Satisfaction (MAPLES): A Pilot Feasibility Study
Incorporating the above tips into my everyday life, even in a relatively short space in time, has helped to ease my brain fog. My concentration and focus have already improved, and I feel I have now developed a greater precision in my thoughts and memory. Situations where I experience brain fog have been alleviated, and I now have new ways of actively trying to work my way around any potentially difficult areas.
I know now that only actively approaching life (so all its events or problems) will change the way it goes. Passivity will achieve nothing. I have realised that wanting to participate in this study was in itself an active behaviour. It is therefore only by actively participating that I have now further improved the way I think and behave.
I am very glad I took part in the study; I hope my input into the research has helped further the depth of knowledge surrounding brain injury rehabilitation.
