Do any other dopers get brain fog throughout the day if they eat terrible food the day before? Or for any other reason, for that matter?
Yes, I’m going to consult with my doc. However, I’ve noticed as I get toward my mid-40s that if I eat junk food - particularly lots of sugar - it tends to accumulate and I feel like I’m walking through cotton wool the whole day until I’ve cleaned up my diet for at least 24 hours, then I feel totally present and focused, just like always. But start eating crap again, and suddenly I’m zoney and unmotivated and somewhat detached from everything.
This is something I’ve only really noticed the last 2 years and it’s driving me bonkers. When the hell did this body start needing maintenance? I thought I could put garbage in it forever and it’d still work, dammit!
I have a friend who read somewhere that sugar clouds the brain and spontaneously went on an insane diet excluding all processed grains and sugars. He claims that he noticed an improvement in cognitive functioning.
For myself I haven’t noticed anything, regardless of what I eat, but then again I haven’t gone on any insane diets so it may be more a matter of not realizing you’re drunk because you’ve never been sober.
I had some brain fog repeatedly. But I waited until I had a few restless nights cycling through severe thirst, excessive drinking of water, and frequent urination before finally going to the doctor. Hello diabetes!
I now know that the brain fog I get is an indication that I ate too many carbs and my blood glucose is a little high. YMMV
Thanks for the comments! I’m definitely going to have some blood work, and even though it feels like some form of defeat will ask about hormonal changes related to aging. I’m not sure whether the possibility of menopause makes me relieved or pissed. But that’s something to think about too.
So…got 'em checked yesterday and they’re pretty normal at 73. She didn’t bother with an A1C given that a standard fingerstick yielded levels that checked out as on the healthy side, though she did have me come back in for a non-fasting test (another fingerstick) that showed blood sugar levels at 110, also normal.
When I asked her about the difference in the way I feel eating sugar vs. not, she just said, “Well, some people tend to be more sensitive about blood sugar spikes, so keep doing what you’re doing because it’s what you should be doing anyway. If you’re still feeling odd or it comes back regardless of what you eat, we’ll try an A1C, but I don’t want to order unnecessary blood tests if we’ve identified the culprit, addressed it and everything else is normal.”
So her diagnosis is basically, “Huh, weird. Stop eating sugar,” which seems reasonable for the most part. On the bright side, I feel amazing now, so that’s good.