The Fibro Fog Dragon

When the Fibro Fog Dragon comes to visit, it is not unusual for me to struggle to remember a name, the next word in a sentence that I am saying, where places are, or specific details like phone numbers.  I combat this by writing everything down, establishing routines, and trying my best to not beat myself up about it.  I am careful to not drive or take on something that could be dangerous when my fog is at its worse, but sometimes it rears its ugly head when I least expect it.

Last night, the Fibro Fog Dragon slipped in and struck with a breath of fire that scorched my memory and thought processes.  Well, actually it was more like the dragon belched some smoke, making it difficult to find all the details I needed to complete a simple task.   I have had moments when the fog has been fairly serious and when that occurs I stay home.  It is too dangerous to drive if I can’t focus enough to do a basic task.  Fortunately, this is pretty rare.  When it happens, I consider it an outright attack by the dragon!

However, last night, was a fairly small visit from the Fibro Fog Dragon. Perhaps, he was a little bored and thought it would be fun to blow some puffs of smoke into my brain.  The simple task I needed to complete was to pick up my daughter up from a friend’s house that is less than two blocks away from my house.  It was hailing and raining and miserable, so I didn’t want her to walk home.  I headed to the house on the correct street, reached the top of the hill, and couldn’t find the house.  I couldn’t remember anything about the location other than it was on this street, over the hill somewhere, white, and a few blocks from our house. See I actually remembered quite a bit, but the last detail of either what the house looked like, the exact location, or the house number all evaded me.

I drove past the house 3 times, my oldest daughter was getting irritated with me and I couldn’t for the life of me dig my way past the dark puffs of smoke that darn dragon released in my brain.  I went home and asked my husband to help me.  He has never been to the house before, so this was definitely a case of the blind leading the blind.  He drove past a few times, saw one of the kids peeking out the window, and the problem was solved, sort of.

The Fibro Fog Dragon had struck again and I don’t like it.  I know that it is not uncommon for us Fibromites to experience a loss of mental clarity or have memory problems.  Most people call it the “Fibro Fog” and it is simply a fire-breathing blight on the life of a Fibromite.    Usually, it’s just a matter of forgetting what I was saying, transposing a phone number, getting lost going to the grocery store (this only happened once!), and having difficulty focusing.  I am fortunate that the fog isn’t constant for me and I recognize it and tend to stay home if I really can’t seem to concentrate on anything.

I have found some things that help me.  For me, it is mostly a matter of accepting it, forcing myself to relax and start over again.  I also try to avoid being overly stimulated with caffeine (I quit drinking Mountain Dew!) and avoid places with a lot of background noise.

I also found a section in The Good Living with Fibromyalgia Workbook from the Arthritis Foundation that addresses 4 steps to beat Fibro Fog.  Well, I’m reading to slay the Fibro Fog Dragon, so …..

Please join me here, to learn the 4 Steps to Beating FibroFog, according to the Arthritis Foundation or buy the book from Amazon.  If you don't already have it, I suggest you get it, it has a lot of great advice for those of us with Fibromyalgia.