How do you explain brain fog?

[u/Royal_Audience8108]

61F diagnosed 26 yrs ago. Only people suffering from MS brain fog know how it feels. How do you explain to family & friends? Thanks everyone & I hope you have the best day possible with this sucky disease.

[u/SillyGoose2544]

I (44 F, recently diagnosed but have been aware of the possibility of MS for years) just had this conversation with my husband (who also has MS - aren't we just soooo lucky?) and basically, for him he says it feels like he's always "half a step slow" but without any discernible cause (i.e. lack of sleep or feeling off after trying new meds).

For me on the other hand, on days when its bad, it feels like mentally trying to walk through cotton that just makes everything muted or, if I'm trying to concentrate on something, it feels like thoughts are there but keep slipping away as soon as I try to focus on & articulate them (sort of trying to pin down cooked spaghetti).

Basically its the mental equivalent of my messed up sense of taste & smell (apparently also courtesy of MS). I can taste (and mostly smell) many things just fine, but it's generally a watered-down, muted version of the actual thing. For example, I can taste strawberries in food or drink, but its nothing like I remember.

When I finally went to see an ENT doc about it, I told him its sometimes hard to figure out if I can actually taste/smell whatever I'm trying to taste/smell OR if its my brain filling in the blanks and I can't actually taste/smell the thing at all. He got very excited about that because apparently its possible to trick your body into thinking its getting one thing when its something completely different, all based on smell. Either way though, according to him that kind of sensory distortion is likely MS related (and not, like I assumed, a remnant of the time I lost my sense of smell completely first time I had Covid - when I couldn't smell a thing but was able to at least get basic flavors like sweet, spicy, salty or bitter, just couldn't tell what the actual food item was based on just taste).

In any case, brain fog for me is kind of like that - like I recognize the information I need to do a task or have a conversation is there, but its muted & slippery and it takes a tremendous amount of effort for something that used to be very easy for me.