JuniperTheory
@JuniperTheory

I've had intense brain fog and pressure headache issues for the past 6 months-year and I don't know what to do about it anymore. Gonna write more about it below a readme so you don't have to read of you don't want


I am struggling to function on any given day for any amount of functioning. I feel like I get... Maybe 2 hours of real Time per day and the rest is a haze of staring at my phone or listening to nonsense as time just ticks away, none of it mattering. I'm depressed, but more then that, my head hurts constantly. Almost every day there's a pressure in my sinuses that spreads to a pounding headache at times and remains as a brain fog inducing intense pressure the rest of the time.

I have no idea why. I got diagnosed with celiac last year and cut that out of my diet as best I could. I went to an allergist and found out I'm allergic to my cat, but that's been true for years and I don't know if that would be a problem now. I went to a sinus guy and spent 500 dollars I don't have finding out that my sinuses are totally normal. I'm supposed to go to a neurologist but to do so requires me to set the appointment up and...

The problem with spending most of your days in a haze that hollows you out and keeps you from functioning is that it's hard to remember to do things like call your doctor or actively schedule an appointment or anything like that. I spend so much time trying to accomplish basic tasks, and aside from that I'm so tired all the time. I'm exhausted literally all the time at this point it feels like. I don't know what's wrong with me.

I just want to know what's wrong with me. I don't even need a cure I just need to know why my body has given up and my brain can't function and I can barely think a lot of the time. I feel sick and tired and sinus pressured every single day and it won't stop it just won't stop and I don't know what to do anymore.

I'm really lost. I don't know where to go. I need help and I don't know where to get it. If anyone has any advice I'll gladly take it as I feel like I'm not a person anymore.


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in reply to @JuniperTheory's post:

idk if this is ur situation, but these are all the symptoms i get when im depressed and am not eating enough of what my body needs to function. ive got adhd but even with medication if im not eating well, i can't think or focus for more than a few hours on anything unless i get really lucky with something that activates my brain. the dehydration+malnourishment combo often gives me dull pain in/around my head, and when im depressed it becomes a real vicious cycle that i can stay barely stay afloat, but i would have a significantly harder time eventually breaking out of it if i wasn't medicated. probably not the same case as you cause the whole "have u tried eating more and making sure ur hydrated and taking ur meds" is like the most basic conclusion that's a lot easier to arrive at than it is to book a doctors appointment, but just sharing cause it took a lotta people telling me this was the case for me before it sunk in.

Don't want to sound like I'm making light of your situation, but I've also had the brain-foggy sinus-pressurey kind of headaches (more pressure than pain) and I've found non-drowsy Sudefed or the CVS generic equivalent decongestant helpful. I started feeling foggy like that earlier in the pandemic and nobody found anything wrong with me, and that's the only thing that really helped, at least a little

Hey, old friend. If these symptoms are pretty bad, a couple possibilites to consider, pulled from my own journey helping with my wife's chronic illness:

  1. Specifically, the same illness my wife has: chronic migraines. You mention pressure headaches coinciding with your symptoms, and migraines can pretty easily be mistaken for other types of headaches. And migraines can, alongside them, create a whole ride range of freaky neurological symptomology, including, notably, brain fog, but also digestive distress, physical weakness, sleep disturbances, visual disturbances, etc. Migraines are typically recognized as having a set cycle, coming on, leaving, then remitting. But if you're having a lot of them--say, one every day or two, as is the definition of "chronic" migraines as opposed to "episodic," they might run together so much you can't tell when one's forming or breaking.

  2. It could also be, as you may have already considered, long covid, if you've had a covid infection. Symptoms can sometimes appear meaningfully after an infection, or after an asymptomatic infection. And brain fog, unexplained pain, those are pretty typical ones, unfortunately.

With that said, I do think a neurologist is probably a good move here, if for no other reason than to rule out things that can be tested for, and to get guidance on how to reat weird shit like brain fog. This could be something like severe depression, but considering the severity and crippling all-encompassingness of your symptoms, I'd guess it's probably not. Or, at least, not just that if that is a factor. My wife and I see one in Austin, if you're still here, who is great, though I don't know if she takes insurance. She specializes in migraines, and is a good listener and knowledgeable. Let me know if you want the rec. And as for making an appointment.. My honest advice is to ask for help. Ask a partner, or someone you can be with while they're on the phone, to pretend to be you and make the appointment and help you fill out the paperwork.

Only thing I can think is get your so/friend/someone you know who cares to help. Might be hard to ask, but someone cares enough. Get them to help you make phone calls, on speaker if you have to. Get them to put your appointments on their calendar too and get you there.

Good luck, please get better, ur cool

This sounds like it might be something psychosomatic- that's not to say "all in your head", but something in the interaction between your nervous system (including but not limited to your brain) and other organs.

Put another way, it seems like it might be a multi-factor thing, where you've got to possibly tackle emotional stuff, physical body problems, and more routine stuff like proper rest and diet- it doesn't sound like there's going to be one single factor involved, considering you've ruled out a bunch of single-factor possibilities already.

It could be related to your immune system (chronic inflammation is known to cause depression and you already check that box for sure), and it could be untreated trauma (known to cause all sorts of body weirdness), and it could be dehydration (a lack of water and potentially electrolytes to retain it can lead to those headaches and brain fog) and it could be migraines. It could be all of those at once, too. Or maybe only a couple.