I replied to someone’s PM who asked about this, and realized it might be useful if I post this.
Yeah brain fog sucks… I’d look into gingko and ubiquinol too maybe… i heard good things but dont have personal experience. There are a few things that helped brain fog for me :
First was truly regulating my sleep cycle and even taking naps. I was in a fog so long i sort of came to accept it as normal. i have ups and downs thru the day (or week) so i try to time my “cognitive tasks” like writing and reading with the peaks…and then i watch tv during the bad times. I noticed TV seems to make things worse…and I can get in a very vicious cycle with TV and bad food - not sure if you’ve felt this way. But I have to stay away from TV if I have to think for myself. Sounds like someone from the 1950s talking but it’s true! (for me at least)
Also with brain fog, have you tried to cut out simple carbs? And cut out MSG! I forgot that one… that one is the worst and it is snuck into everything (even pizza that gets delivered) You can also try cutting out gluten. I went thru like a dozen things for brain fog and my theory is that it’s caused by a GABA/Glutamate imbalance in the brain (hence, no MSG) and also immune reactions to foods that we’re not biologically evolved to digest (causing inflammation and excessive blood to go to the digestive tract from the brain - but medrol calms this down, so it solves the symptom but not the underlying process). Corticosteroids do help brain fog - and it’s important to understand the difference between physiological doses and pharmacologic doses… there’s a book called “the safe uses of cortisol” that explains all this. The horrible side effects of steroids don’t really happen with tiny doses - but people can really benefit.
I noticed that when I had to write important things, I’d wake up - eat NOTHING for as long as possible - and just work… and then when I finally had to eat, I’d have a protein shake only – no carbs…and slowly i’d bring carbs in to my diet but then the fog would come in. I don’t have gluten intolerance as far as I know digestively (no GI symptoms) but I might have cognitive symptoms. This was during a very cognitively intense period which is over now, but I may return to this eating pattern soon.
T3 works on the brain as well - it takes a few months to get going - even up to 6 months - and is not well used by the body w/o proper adrenal function. I take T4 too but T3 is the active hormone and there’s controversy among patients about people who have issues with conversion (though enodcrinologists do not believe such a problem exists). I don’t take armour bc I had a bad reaction to it…i take cytomel and levoxyl - synthetic.
So those are some ideas… I am doing ok lately… but it’s hard to predict 100% from day to day. Like, I think working out might help too sometimes - and other times it makes me more tired. So, some stuff just feels like a crapshoot.