Funny, Foggy Moments With Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Brain fog logic:
1. My asthma is really bad
2. The weeds in my back garden are making it worse

Therefore…

3. I should go outside and do weeding!

As the teenagers say… EPIC FAIL! I lasted five minutes before I had to come inside, barely able to breathe from the coughing and spluttering and wheezing.

I don’t have a good time recollecting such things (and if I’m taking fish oil (if I can deal with the dehydration) and liquid B12 regularly, I don’t have memory problems), but a good one I heard from a non-CFS-affected friend which sounded like something I would do was that he had the idea that if we walked up and then down the steps of the catwalk in front of us (on the same side of the street), that we would get there faster than if we just walked straight under it!

I had an epic fibro fog moment on the weekend. I decided to make a pie and send a piece to my mother-in-law who is recovering from surgery in hospital. I proceeded to make a beautiful, golden-brown looking apple pie – it smelled delicious as it bubbled away in the oven. I was very impressed with myself as I packaged up a large slice for my sister-in-law to deliver to the hospital.

About an hour later I received a phone call from her – apparently there was a problem with the pie. My mother-in-law had indulged in a big bite only to have the shock of her life. I tasted like pure salt! I had put a cup of salt instead of sugar! I was mortified! Luckily, she did not suffer any ill affects, the lovely looking pie was tossed into the garbage and we all had a good laugh.

I was able to live with my fibro fog and pretty much cover it up all these years until I started on Lyrica. How ironic that the medicine that treats my pain the best is what has worsened my fibro fog the most. So, I have a lot of those foggy moments these days. Don’t you love how perfectly functional those ladies on the Lyrica commercials look? Ha Ha! Well, at least I can still type. I’ve always been better at non-verbal communication anyway! It must be something in my XMRV-d, scrambled up brain. Have a good day, fibro friends!

I hate fibro fog. I grew up always being “the smart one” at school, in the family, etc. And now some days I feel so dumb.

I’m sure my mom’s got it. As well as the other symptoms of FMS and CFS, she’s had bad fibro fog for years — so bad that she keeps saying that she’s getting dementia. Her mom did have dementia, so it’s something I don’t dismiss right away, but really it seems more like fibro fog to me and it doesn’t seem much if any worse over the years.

i often take the subway and half way through the ride…i forget where im going.
it takes me a few seconds to realize the number of the train im on THEN i remember where im going. but it happens more often than i’d like.

i also forget to take my meds. which is a giant fail on my part since half way through the day im tired and pain-filled.
and yet my pill box is at home!

where i would like to be.
but cant

I have had fibro. for over 20 years now. I have times when the fog it gets so bad I can hardly finish a whole sentence. I forget what I am doing and where I am going. That started years ago. I try to laugh at it. My husband helps me finish what I am trying to say when is gets bad. I am trying to figure out what makes the fog bad. I believe for me it is being tired and or nervous around people. What do you think?

i have recently tried to fry eggshells after cracking the actual egg into the bin…and i threw my daughters socks down the toilet instead of the dirty washing bin – i have atleast one episode like this a day but the worst one was when i felt that sick feeling in my stomach when i looked around and realised my daughter was missing from the playground. i frantically searched for her around the school for what seemed like an eternity….until my friend stopped me and asked me what on earth the matter was….i explained and burst out crying….but she laughed!!!! i was holding my daughters hand all the time!!! i’d dragged her everywhere and she never said a word!!!! KIDS!!!!
Trying to find the right words is very frustrating though. All you can do is laugh…..

I experience “the fog” daily. It’s very embarassing since I’m a manager. I have to write everything down or receive in an email to remember. I think the funniest time so far was when I was ordering a smoothie, but forgot the word and had to describe to them what it was (it’s frozen, and pink, and…)

I have many foggy moments. But the one that has happened more than once, is leaving water running in the bathroom or kitchen sink. Also putting things in the refrigerator instead of the cabinet. I have those moment of calling out the wrong things to the kids as well…I always know when it happens by their funny expressions.

I didn’t think there was anything funny about fibrofog until I read this blog and your blog on jokes.

Laughter truly is the best medicine (and a great survival tool)

Thanks to you and your readers for sharing . . .

I find phosphatidyl serine and DHEA help my fibrofog

One of the first moments of fibrofog I remember was when I was talking to myself just before leaving for work. I had a box of matches in my jacket, which had been in the closet all summer long. Since I don’t smoke, this was unusual. I called them “watches”, then heard myself echoing the word in my head, THEN realized that what I said was wrong. Watches?!

After that, I notice I frequently have problems deciding between two ways to say something similar (like gobbledygook and gibberish) or try to express two thoughts at once, and out comes “gobberish” or more likely two unrelated words melt together and I sound like a fool before I have to quickly correct myself.

Lastly, I am noticing that I just take way too long to start talking or finding any appropriate language to describe my thoughts. This happens most frequently at work, unfortunately. I fight through the silence and false starts until something gets recognized by my poor listener.

I have the most trouble remembering the name of my cellphone. It’s always a “clock” for some reason. I also can’t tell the difference between the cordless phone and the remote channel changer without really thinking about it.

I’ve sprayed my hair with Lysol instead of hair spray and have gotten lost going to the dentist. It’s always something new and weird. It’s nice to know that there are others out there with the same interesting days. I think being tired and talking on the phone to someone I don’t know makes it worse.

my family is always laughing at me… i’m always saying things like:

“go get a washcloth for me out of the dishwasher”
“hurry up and answer the door, someone’s on the phone”
“go put your pajamas on so you can take a shower”

and so many more… if only i didn’t have this dang foggy brain i could remember!

i experience everything that is written on here!!! i don’t feel so lonely or nutty anymore!!!!

LOL I’m so happy to see I’m not alone in this crazy fibro world. I hate forgetting!

I also do silly things like search all over the house for my keys only to realize they are in my hand.
Put my clothes on backwards – hey, it’s backwards day!

I don’t have much different than anyone else, I suppose that’s good, means I’m normal. LOLOL

Ok, this was sad–I picked up our car from the shop and used their restroom. I flushed the toilet and proceeded to drop our car key into it at the same time. It swirled down so quickly. Had to call my husband and tell him to bring the extra key since I flushed mine. His response, “You did WHAT?”

The other day someone said “hi” to me and I responded by saying “bye”! I was so tired and that’s just what came out. I agree with Renee, who posted that when she is nervous the fibro fog is even worse. I notice that at work. If I’m nervous about something, it spirals because the fog worsens and then I’m nervous people will notice I’m not producing much work! That only makes it worse.

During a particularly bad period of fog, I was trying to change the TV channel with the remote but it wouldn’t work. I checked the batteries, the power light was on, so I keep trying to change the channel and I am beginning to curse and my husband is about to pee himself laughing. I was trying to change the TV channel with the cordless phone. – Not one of my shinier moments.

I frequently mix up my phone number, social security number, and student ID number as they all start with the same number. This only happens when I am trying to remember things through verbal communication though, and not when I try to write it down!
I also told someone my email address wrong, adamantly insisting it three times in a row even though I knew it sounded funny.
When I DO write, my slight dyslexia worsens with brain fog as p, b, g, d all get mangled up in my brain! SO SILLY!

(BTW I just tried to submit this and my email was wrong again, so there you go!!)

This is such a great reminder to take a step back and laugh!

I relate to everyone’s comments, mixing up words, getting lost, forgetting where I’m going.

Lately I’ve taken to pausing (but only with my partner) when I know I have a word wrong while I try to recollect it … it can take a good 20 seconds to finish a sentence, and sometimes I’ll just trail off … “sorry, was I saying something?” (he’s used to it now;).

The other thing I find is that I can’t multitask for &*#@. If you say something to me while I’m doing something else, it’s like the conversation never happened!

This is a great site. Thanks. Now that I’ve stopped laughing I have a couple to share as well.

I arrived at the hospital for my lab apointment and they asked what I was there for. After a number of min. of drawing a blank it came out and the nurse and I just laughed. I could clearly see the word Mammogram in my minds eye but for the life of me it wouldn’t come out. Finally I just said “boob squeeze”.

I had the air conditioner in the window well into winter one year when a friend asked why I hadn’t taken it out yet. In all sincerity I said “because I can’t figure out what to put in the hole”. My friend kindly chuckled and said “just close the window”. What?! I said and he completed the task for me and we both still laugh about it today.

Another time I was moving the tredmill down the hallway to go into the back room. It went down the hall fine but wouldn’t fit through the doorway. After several attempts and frustration I left it there. for several days I looked at it trying to solve the situation. That same friend was over again and questioned why it was in the hallway. I told him I couldn’t get it in yet. He asked if he could try and I said sure. He took one look and backed the tredmill down the hall and turned it sideways and slid it right through the doorway.

Where would I be without friends who can laugh with me and not at me.

Oh, I can certainly relate to these. Forgetting words, loading the washer and forgetting to turn it on, never remembering when who is going to be where…we’ve learned to write everything on the calendar.

I guess my family’s favorite is when I was trying to put on my spare glasses after not being able to find my regular pair. Care to guess where they were? Right there on my nose where they belonged!

Well i really thought i was handleing my fog pretty good..Until one day i awas busy an my cat was crying to go out an i asked my granddaughter to let him out an know one moved Again I asked still nothing.So i went in an said does any one hear me An they looked at me funny an replied NaNa you keep yelling at some one to take out the dog what do you want us to do..Now i want you to know i don’t have a dog an never have So now i just let the cat out myself ..LOL an my grand daughter’s just think i am crazy..Hope everyone has a good day.
DELLA

Thank you to all who are willing to share your frustrating and funny moments. It’s so helpful to know we’re not alone in this world of “fog.” I as well have had numerous embarrassing (I can’t seem to spell this word right now) and funny moments–the worst: standing in line at K-Mart , seeing an old friend’s mother (realized by her appearance that she had been ill and was indeed older than I remember), realized she didn’t recognize me (like her, I had gotten older, too). In my brain I was saying, “Hi, I’m Cindy your old neighbor, how are you?” Instead what came out of my mouth was, “Hi, I’m Cindy, how OLD Are You?” I didn’t know what to do and the other people in line looked at me like, “How are you going to get out of this one?” Instead of apologizing, I started back peddling, trying to cover up what I had said–I wish I would’ve just apologized, but I just kept talking as tho it hadn’t happened. This woman, God bless her, was so gracious she invited me for a cup of coffee and we sat and had a lovely conversation–by then my brain was working again. Thank God for lovely people that don’t judge others harshly. Peace.

yay! I’m not losing my mind! I have way too many fog moments to pick one. My teenagers call my Lyrica & Cymbalta my “crazy pills”. Lol My sleeping pills are called my “coma pills” I was having bad fog until recently my doctor told me to take part of my Lyrica at dinner & the rest at bedtime, my fog isn’t as bad but I still have it! Ha!

One time at 7am I made a call to the cable company to make a payment & I guess as I did that I also proceeded to tell them my internet was not working so a trouble ticket was created. With no recollection the next morning the cable guy shows up & says I’m here to fix your internet problem, I said we don’t have an internet problem & mind you my kids were at the door too & he said well I have a ticket here saying you called at 7:15 am yesterday. I was like um um I think there was a mistake because our internet was fine, the guy looked at me funny & he said he would just cancel the ticket. How embarrassing!!! We still laugh about it today! Lol

I have experienced many of these funny moments since developing fibromyalgia in 1997. One of the best that still makes my friends chuckle is when a close friend of mine was getting married, and we met with the dressmaker to review the progress on my friend’s wedding dress. After covering all the information about the dress itself, I said, “So how is the hood ornament coming?” The dressmaker didn’t miss a beat. She responding, “Well, I was considering a Rolls Royce, but I thought that a BMW would better express the bride’s personality. Everyone cracked up!! Another time I was in a friend’s car, and it was pouring outside. My friend said, “I need to replace these windshield wipers; they’re not doing a good job.” I said she was right. A couple of weeks later I was riding with the same friend in the same car, and I asked, “So did you get your eyelashes fixed?” The problem seems to be mostly with nouns, and I substitute a noun with a similar meaning for the correct word. I also make up words while I’m speaking, combining words together, or creating constructs that make no sense. It’s so good to know that I’m not the only one!!! Thanks for writing this article!!

When my daughter was in elementary school I drove her to school one day and proceded to walk home after dropping here off. I noticed no car in my drive way and thuoght someone had stole it…a few minutes later I realized what I had done and walked back to get it. Lyrica has also made my fibro fog worse plus horrid weight gain(but that is another story)

I was at the convenience store and got into the wrong car to drive home. After I got in, the alarm was going off. A man came running out and I was complaining to him about how the alarm wouldn’t turn off when he said “That’s not your car.” I said it looked just like mine, which was an insult since his was a luxury car–the only real similarity was that both cars were white!

I can relate to your funny stories because I’ve done all of them and more. I can’t count the times I’ve ordered a meal in a restaurant and when it arrives I look at it in bewilderment. “That’s not what I ordered!” The server and my companions all assure me that’s exactly what I ordered. Sometimes it’s something I don’t even like. I’ve learned to tell my friends or family what I want ahead of time to make sure I say it right when it comes time to order.

I also make blended nonsense words all the time. I hadn’t seen a good friend during a cold spell and I tried to call her a hibernating groundhog but all I could think of was gopher, so I called her a “hofer”. The name stuck and everybody calls her Hofer now.

Once I told my students to turn their completed work in to the “boat”. When they laughed, I said, “bowl”. Finally I got to “box”,then slowly enunciated “wire-mesh basket”. At the time, it was very scary, but now that I’ve been on B12 for awhile – it’s funny.

My teaching colleagues correct me daily, but I don’t take it personally anymore, now that I’ve been diagnosed with fibro. We’re all just happy there isn’t a sub in my classroom.

I’ve only had fibro for 3 years (diagnosed anyway) and have so much fog that it’s hard to remember some of my best “mishaps”. I lose things, put things in odd places, but fortunately have never forgotten the kids…yet.

My husband actually reminded me of 2 incidents. I wear cushy tan memory foam house shoes all year round because my feet always get cold and nails turn blue/gray and numb. So to keep that from happening i wear these house shoes while i’m at home. So I have now tried to leave the house twice while wearing them.

The first time I didn’t notice until my husband pointed it out and the last time I was alone and didn’t realize it until I was actually in the car, ready to back out of the driveway. The slippers are comfy but definitely not stylish enough to wear out.

Gotta love fibro fog!

Okay, here are my two latest haywire thinking episodes. In a heavy rain,I was driving to the barn where I board my horse, gritting teeth a bit in anticipation of the gate factor–get out open the gate, drive through, get out again, close gate. This time I guess I planned to beat the system because as I was waiting to turn in I “thought” ahead and reached up and pressed on my home garage door remote. Gate refused to open…. The morning before I also “thought” ahead to stop and get gas for my empty tank,a proud moment that went quickly. I paid my $1.58 owed and eventually, took until that afternoon, dredged up the memory of filling up the night before. Oops. It seems most people have these moments, but I have them on a regular and frequent basis. However people seem to love these stories, like I enjoyed each one in this blog and at least we remember them. Thanks everyone for the laughs!

What a comfort to read your article and read the comments…I suffer from brain fog too with my Fibro. Some days are better than others and my family is getting use to me using the wrong words (even if the link between the right and wrong word is tenuous) They have also gotten use to me describing things and making arm gestures…like an impromptu game of charades!! )

Now I remember what I do often!! I get half way to where I am going and realize I forgot my teeth!! How can I do that? LOL

Lord – the number of times fibro fog has got me in bother at work! I’m a veterinary nurse. One sad day we had to put an unfortunate cat to sleep after a road accident. As the owners didn’t want to be there for the deed, I phoned them (me, myself spoke to them!) to explain it was done and would they like her in a box but they prefered a black bag please and they’d be down to collect her in an hour or so. So the poor cat, in his bag, was put into a room away from the other animals so I could discreetly bring him out to the owners.
In the meantime, the Animal Collections / knacker came (for those who don’t know what that is, it’s a man who comes to collect dead animals that people can’t bury in their own grounds!!!) to collect any unfortunates that couldn’t be buried at home. So I proceeded to give him the 2 or 3 black body bags and went about my business. About 10 mins later, who walks through the door. Yes the people who’s cat had been put to sleep only half an hour before. I went to get poor “Tom”. Walking to the room, the alarm bells starting going in my head! I’d sent him with the knacker!
A phonecall to the knacker was made and I’ve never driven so fast before in my life! Thankfully we retrieved the poor cat from the lorry and brought him back to the surgery. Took him out of that bag, cleaned him up and put him in clean bag. The owners never knew a thing. I’m so sorry to this day.

I don’t have too much trouble remembering the names of things, but I do have a lot of trouble remembering the names of people – especially if I haven’t seen them in a while. Does anyone else have this trouble, or am I just heading for Alzheimer’s? I also have trouble remember-ing what happens in movies that I know I’ve seen before, sometimes just a couple of weeks before. Is this fibro fog, or am I just not paying attention when I watch these movies for the first time?

Guide Response: These things are all part of fibro fog! I have the exact same problems as you, and strangely enough they appear to come from the brain’s math center. I actually have a blog focusing on those problems coming soon (11-24-09). You’ll be able to find it here: Problems With Time & Math in Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ~Adrienne

Oh, no Edward, it’s all fibromyalgia! I have a PhD in English Lit, but often take books out of the library and then realise, halfway through, that I’ve already read them. And I do the same thing with Law and Order episodes, often insisting to my husband that I haven’t seen them, only to realise 20 minutes later that I have!

Here’s my funniest recent story–and I did laugh! This beats the time I tried to wash my face with my glasses on AND the time I put the lettuce in the freezer! I had a terrible time sleeping one night last week, tried everything (I thought), was up until long after it got light. I thought, oh no the ambien isn’t working anymore. Then when I went to refill my pill box, I realised I had never taken my ambien that night! I don’t know how I missed it, but I did.

I borrow a word from people in the army and call these my FUBAR incidents!

just one of the gang
Donna

I loved all your stories, which made me laugh but also made me sad.
I’m a writer, and one of the ways the brain fog shows up is when I type a common word like door, and it looks very odd, so I retype it, then I run it through the spell checker, and it still looks wrong to me, so I have to change the whole sentence to avoid the word!
I’m also like the person who muddled match with watch because I tend to say or write words that rhyme like I’d say to my daughter, let’s put the blocks away instead of the socks!
I’ve had episodes of severe brain fog, when I’d drive past my house, stop there and stare at it, and think, in a very puzzled way, that’s not my house, why did I stop here?
Finally, I agree that when I’m nervous, I forget essential things like my phone number. I hope I never get arrested, because I’d look very suspicious if I can’t remember my address or my phone number!!

By reading all of your stories, I feel comforted to see that all my “episodes” are due to fibro-brain and not early dementia! I, too, often interchange nouns for others that are similar with frustrating but funny consequences. Asking my children to “tidy their garden” or “practice their telephone”!!

I have also lost my shopping trolley in the supermarket MANY times. And I had to change to a supermarket which had a raised exit with a ramp so that I could see where I had parked my car.

The funniest was years ago when I was getting ready to take my children to nursery school one morning and started looking frantically around the house for my 8 month old son only to be told by my startled 5 year old daughter: “But he’s there, Mummy.” as she pointed at my hip!!!

I now pace myself, stick to a routine, write EVERYTHING down and supplement with good quality fish oil. I haven’t lost my trolley since!!

I don’t know why it’s such a relief to discover that “I’m not the only one!” but it truly is! I am forever mixing up words, forgetting what I’m saying in mid-sentence, forgetting what I”m doing as I’m doing it. It’s frustrating, sometimes quite embarassing, and also quite funny. For some strange reason, tho we haven’t had a live fish in our home in over 15 yrs, I will still ask my kids if anyone has “fed the fish?” instead of the cat.

I forget the words for simple, everyday objects and spend 5 minutes trying to remember or come up with a long, drawn-out description until somebody finally understands what I’m saying. “Go get the bag off the…you know…in our room…with blankets…we SLEEP on the d*mn thing!” Sometimes, it’s absolutely hilarious. Other times, so frustrating that I want to cry.

I work at a financial institution which requires the use of a 10 key calculator. I use that calculator millions of times for years. Just last week as I was assisting a customer and needed to calculate something I stared at the calculator for a good minute as if I had never seen it before. I could not remember how to subtract!

As the day wears on I get worse.
My latest one almost wasn’t funny.
I was telling my sister about a recently divorced friend of mine and who she was dating. The name I gave her was the mayor of the town and married. Luckily, my adult daughter was with me. She started laughing and corrected me before a nasty rumor could get started.

These things happen to me all the time. The most recent was today. My husband took me to Wendy’s to eat after my doctor appt. and I stepped up to the counter to order, I got out the salad for my husband, and then couldn’t remember how to finish ordering our food. The poor kid at the counter just kept looking at me. I finally had to laugh and tell him, I just can’t remember how to finish ordering – of course my husband laughed cause he knows what’s going on, but the kid just looked at me like I was off my rocker. After several minutes my husband picked up where I left off and we got our order. We just had to laugh!!!!!!

Ellen, you crack me up! Hood ornament and eyelashes! But I know what u mean.
I too, have noticed many of these things. I started forgetting words about 10 years ago. I figured it was just stress (maybe it was? I don’t know how long I’ve this! 5-15 yrs?). Last year I realized I had FM, but I didn’t realize I also had CFS. I way overdid it @ dec08, and have never recovered from the fatigue part. About feb09, I started noticing I was choosing wrong words. One night we had tomatos (for hamburgers) to be sliced, as well as strawberries (for dessert). I asked my husband to come slice the tomatos. He said, “Baby, I already did that.” I had meant strawberries! I tell the story all the time, and one time when I told it, the strawberries had become watermelon. A few months later, I was at the store, looking for the frozen strawberries. I said to myself, “Now where are those cherries?” What’s next, pomegranetes? I am very careful around red produce these days!!!
When writing up my problems for the dr, I noted: 1) it’s mostly nouns I can’t remember – because 2)for adj and adverbs, I usually find a kinda-synonym, and usually starting with the same letter, if possible. (go figure!) Primordial/primitive…oh yeah, primeval!
3) If I cant do any of that, I’ve noticed I find SOMETHING similar. Like the red produce. Or, oXygen=eXercize, and meSSage=leSSon.
I combine words (like hofer, above), and play charades. I only wear socks in the house, and keep my shoes by the door. I have to double-check which groceries ended up in the fridge/freezer, and which ones in the pantry. I get lost going to the dr, and coming home from the grocery store. I have also noticed the not-remembering how thing, and I’ve heard it is/related to? jamis vu/jamals vu? (as opposed to dejas vu where something is suddenly familiar, it’s something that’s suddenly UNfamiliar). Although I haven’t had a problem ordering food yet, I will keep watch for that! I also have noticed it’s worse with stress.

I did read an article online recently that said we have trouble differentiating between similar-sounding words. I wish I remembered where! But it makes perfect sense to me. It does alleviate some of my (??), as does everything u guys have written. I too, was always the smart one. I am everyone’s dictionary, but I can’t just rattle off answers w/o paying attention anymore. I have to actively picture the word in my mind, and “read” it, not think it.
For the most part, my family is pretty supportive (luckily, my kids are grown and can help take care of ME now!), but sometimes it’s just too much for them. This time last year I was running up stairs! Now I’m on SS Disability and use an electric cart at the store! Today I went to the store. I had my list all written up, in columns for cold, food, and non-food, and grouped together. Produce in 1 part of the column, salt and pepper elsewhere. I must’ve went down most aisle twice, and some 3-4 because that list just wasn’t good enough! How much more organized can I get?
(oops, sorry, I can never comment w/o writing a book!)

Seriously, I cry 1/2 the time I read these. I just so relate to them. It just feels so much like TRUTH for me as well, that I can’t stop. Like it’s safe, because someone understands! Thank u, everyone for sharing!

I loved reading everyone’s comments. I cried, and also laughed so hard I cried – it’s just all so familiar!
I can’t think of a specific event at the moment, but I find when I’m foggy, I also physically stumble, trip, fumble, drop things, make messes, bump into things…… which is always good in stores, etc. I try to laugh, and say “Oops, I guess it’s just one those days!” Little does the salesperson know that EVERY day is one of those days.
Thank you to everyone for sharing, and to Adrienne for your posts. It helps.

This is one of the funniest articles I have read related to Fibro and CFS. I was sitting in my office at work, and as I was reading I just kept laughing and laughing until I was crying. Yes, I did get many folks stop by my office wondering if I was okay. Thanks so much for all your stories. It has made me realize that I am not crazy, and there are a whole bunch of others out there that ‘get’ it when these things happen. Finding humour in the situation is one of my favourite coping mechanisms. Thanks again for the great laugh.

My friends and I used to share these foggy moments like punching a phone number into a microwave, using a can of bathroom cleaner for hairspray, starting to back up out of a garage before putting up the garage door………..handy husband came to rescue.

There were so many. We all used to use the About.com forum a lot and started a special section just for those foggy moments.

I relate to almost every one of these–and moreso every day. The only good thing is that all my menapausal and post menapausal friends are almost as bad, so they don’t notice too much.

Has anyone else tried to change the traffic light when driving to an intersection–with the garage door remote??? Not only did I try it but so did my menapausal non FM friend. Makes on feel a bit better.

I’ve laughed till I cried and almost cried too because it reminds me how stupid I feel in front of people when, I come out with all the wrong words, fall over regularly, answer the remote control, attempt to change channels with the hands free phone, but my friends it seems that I am not alone… My 3 year old granddaughter has started to say, ‘Nana, have you got your silly head on today?’ Then we just howl laughing. Once I put my handbag on top of my car and got in. I was driving round a corner and my bag flew off almost hitting a passer by. Fortunately it was someone I knew (small town) and we had a good giggle.

Having both CFS grade III-IV, and Fibromyalgia, I would be in another town to visit another doctor, and get lost in the parking deck panic, have an nervous attack, call home and ask for help. Crying I would say “honey I am lost I can´t find my car” it would take me about 30 minutes to find my car swearing I would never go by myself again.
Now it is bad enough that I only drive down the road, but many times I would be so fatigued that I would miss my exit, forgetting where I was going.
You feel so stupid when you are trying to say something and wait for someone to finish their sentence, by that time you start talking and forget what you were going to say.
I call my dog, and instead say my daughters, name all the time. My husband laughs at that, until I am talking to him and say the other dogs name, at least I named him Romeo.

OMG I have not laughed so hard in so long reading everyones post!! I spit my coffee out AND READY TO PEE MY PAnTS (INCONTINENCE)……I have fibro and chronic fatigue and so much of these stories I can relate to. Thanks all for the laughs!!….WE have to laugh at ourselves once in a while throughtout all the suffering we experience day in and day out….The sad thing for me is my BFF also has fibro and we say stupid things all the time BUT understand each other!!…lol

Being out with my husband is relaxing; he knows when I have “lost it.” He can help and cover for me. When I go somewhere with a friend who also has fibro, we tend to remember the same things-and to forget the same things. I can’t count on her to supplement my lacking brain. I was always “smart” too and had a detailed job. I can’t type without dyslexia now. Math–forget it. I have put oatmeal in my coffee cup and coffee in the oatmeal bowl. I have broken eggs, instead of in a cup or bowl, right on the counter. I have lived in the same town all my life, but got off the interstate once to realize I felt I had never seen this place before. I got lost in a furniture store last week. It is large, but I wandered for about 30 panicky minutes, even considering calling my husband to come get me. I have lost my way numerous times to places I go all the time. Of course, I confuse my children, calling them by each others’ names or ever the dog’s. And my husband loves this: I get so angry when I see that Lyrica woman (she does another commercial for Pfizer about incontinence) who “is not the type of person to just quit.” Like we have a choice if we only took the meds. I take Lyrica and still have major symptoms! I have dubbed her the Lyrica b*tch. If she has fibro, I have super powers! It’s hard to process a question, and like most, it happens when I am tired and with someone who doesn’t know about my fibro or understand it. So then I feel really stupid. I used to be a pro speller–now I have trouble with simple words and it takes a while and lots of proofing to get something right. I have stumbled into a wall like a drunk. I am so grateful for my husband who laughs with me! Thanks for sharing all your stories. Here’s to a pain-free day for all!

hi im another one with fibro, i was on lyrica before, but got off. i didnt know it caused fobro-fog. i have done a few crazy things myself. if i want my husband to get something for me around the house, i’ll say will u bring me that what u call it, and he will say what is a what u call it. so now he understands me, so i have to try and remember what i mean. i was going to get on the computer one night and could’nt rember my password to get on, so again my husband came to the rescue. he has to remind me to take my pills.
i work with another lady who has fibro. so we understand each other, but the other women there does’nt and its hard cause they think were crazy at times. i got to where i laugh it off, i’ve also done alot of things that i have read here. and it feels good to know that im not alone.
good luck to all.

If we don’t laugh at our silly moments we will never make it through all this thanks for friends and family who try to understand and don’t laught at us but with us! We al have to hang in there. Elaine

This might be too personal and if you choose not to post it, I’m fine with that. But.

My funniest fibrofog moment was when, after a few minutes of feeling odd, I realized I’d put on my pantyliner upside down where the adhesive side was very uncomfortable!!

I’ve got problems with nouns AND verbs. Told my mother not to call my aunt because my aunt was busy vacuuming the lawn.

I’ve got fibrofog AND a hearing problem. Boy, does that make things interesting. I had to stop and ask my aunt why she wanted “cats” for the lawnmower. (I think my aunt is always out vacuuming). Anyhow, she kept saying “GAS… GAAAAAS. G-A-S!” And I finally got it.

Before I got a diagnosis, I used to come to work and have to adjust my clothing. Backwards was common. I knew something was really wrong when I somehow managed to get my pull-on pants BOTH inside-out AND backwards.

I think one of the more memorable fog moments happened when a co-worker had dropped me off at my apartment. I hear her outside, yelling, “HAWK!!!” I am a bird-watcher and amateur photographer. I grab my camera and run outside, shutting the door behind me. Then, I had this feeling of foreboding…

I guess the look must have crossed my face, because she asked me, “You aren’t locked out… are you?” I said, “Uh, no.” Then, she said good-bye and drove off. The moment she pulled out, I’m patting my pockets and running in to see if the door really did shut… Oh, yeah. Well, somehow I had my cell phone. So, I call my landlord. He’s not calling back for quite awhile. Then, the answering service calls back to say that I *DON’T* have lock-out service, that I needed to call a locksmith!!! I was so mad because the paperwork I had said I had Lock-out service at a fee!!!!

I got so mad, I kicked the metal “For Rent” sign that was in the yard. I hurt my toe… and now I have arthritis in that toe and was told last month that I should get the joint fused!

I limped up the street to talk to someone I knew from church. He was sick as a dog with the flu! I was desperate, and wanted his ladder but he insisted on coming to help me with the ladder (I was gonna climb up a 14-ft ladder without anyone holding it!).

So, here’s this pale-as-a-ghost guy holding the ladder and saying, “What if the police come?!?” I told him, “John… I can explain. I *LIVE HERE*!!!”

Thankfully, the back window wasn’t latched and I rolled in and unlocked the door.

I now have keys attached to my purse, my camera bag, my backpack, my wallet and a spare key in my storage area behind a combination lock.

It is great to hear that I am not alone in all the daft things that I do and say now. I beat myself up regularly over it as I have always been pretty intelligent and smart but now I do the most stupid things and feel pretty thick somedays. I try to laugh it off most of the time but somedays the pain of appearing so stupid to other people who don’t know the person that I use to be hurts more than my physical aches and pains.

Still it is nice to come here and have a giggle at what others get up – at least I know now that I am not alone.

Oh yes – me too

My kids have grown up with me saying where is the – and then I click my fingers. They got so they could just bring me whatever it was they guessed I wanted!

I’d either have a complete blank or I’d just describe the item – you know, the round red thing with a lid on top, a spout onew side and a handle the other side.

These days I find I often can pick up a pen and write the word I want without being concious of what the actual word is until I see it in front of me.

Keep on laughing. It makes it easier to bear.

I have terrible trouble recalling words, the wrong ones sound perfectly acceptable and fitting until I see a blank look on someones face or get a giggle and I think what I actually said. The worst moment this year was at Easter, I was on the phone to my elderly father law and he said something about chocolate, I jumped in and exclaimed enthusiastically, ‘ I loooooove sex!’ there was a moment of deadly silence on the phone, just enough to make me realise what I had come out with, ermm chocolate, I mean I love chocolate whilst wanting the ground to swallow me up and my father in law to have gone deaf.

I didn’t quite make it through all the comments yet, but I certainly have had a few good laughs already.

Unless I’m in a flare my fibrofog isn’t bad, but it can be REALLY bad if I’m in a flare. The scariest time was when I was so muddled that I was afraid to leave my apartment for fear of getting lost like the proverbial demented elderly person straying from the nursing home. That was pretty scary.

One time, a year and a half ago, when the weather was cold and wet, which is a flare trigger for me, and I was in a flare, I was trying to get to a new doctor in a new city. I had meticulously written down the address from the Internet and used MapQuest to get to the office… only to find that it was an old address and they hadn’t been there in over a year.

At that point I admit that I went into a bit of a panic as all my good preparedness went down the drain. A very kind lady at the wrong building helped me and I was able to get directions from her to the new place. But I was on and off the phone for the next hour or so with the office staff at the correct location. I was in tears and didn’t know how I’d ever make it there. This was in Albany, NY and I had to go on this multiple-lane road that circles around the state capital and I couldn’t for the life of me make sense of how to maneuver around that road. I am not sure what the doctor thought of me at that point, but he let me keep the appointment, even though I was way late. It was like I didn’t have the thinking capacity to do any problem solving and everything had to be spelled out to me with MapQuest clarity and detail, using verbal and visual aids.

It was about that time that my brother asked me if “they let [me] drive when I’m like that.”

For years I have used the shampoo/conditioner combo because I can’t keep my arms up long enough to do both. One day I was feeling chipper while showering and decided to use conditioner for an extra pampering. Put it in my hair and promptly forgot about it. When I went to towel my hair dry, you can imagine my surprize! The missing words problem comes and goes, but the frustration is permanent. I have two dogs and since so often I can’t remember their names, they both now come when I say DOG!

I once said..can you move that tree…looking at the wooden leg of a chair…

I laughed till I cried and thought I was going to get hysterical.

Here’s my list:
Started car to go to work and sat there for 10 minutes before I “remembered” I was going to work.

Start driving and forget where I am going and then when I remember where I am going, I can’t remember how to get there.

Can’t remember how to start the washer or use the can opener, etc.

Dumped a plate of leftovers in the library return box and only realized it because the books were still on the car seat and no leftovers. Put the ice cream in the cabinet…yuck!

Can’t multi-task or single task for that matter. Can’t remember words and have to describe. #1 speller in spelling bees and now can’t remember how to spell simple words at times. No longer know the difference between there-their or break-brake, etc. Can’t remember which hand is left or right. Forget even simple math. Can’t follow conversations and sometimes simply can’t speak as my mind goes blank. What I write is not what I am thinking.

And scariest? I stop at a lot of traffic lights because I can’t process the difference between red and green sometimes fast enough.

I really needed a laugh this morning.

Lowering the tone, but I have great difficulty with mixing the words tampon and condom. Only saving grace is I don’t get much opportunity to need the latter since I got ill…

One of my brain fogs inspired the following.

Windowcheese

My sister queried,
“How have you been feeling?”
I, somewhat wearied, replied,
“Let me describe it this way….

last night Bob asked me,
“What is the cheese doing on
the windowsill?”

I’ve had fibro for more than 30 yrs, along with arthritis. Since rdg this blog I’m again convinced that the forgetfullness I experience while teaching elementary school was not due to incompetence as my colleagues seemed to think. Should I have confided my condition to my principal?, I don’t know, he may have used it against me.
My family accepts, with rye smiles, when I stumble through several names before I get to the right one for the child. I call my granddaughter by her aunt’s name, my dtr by her aunt’s name and so forth.

Forgetfullness is my middle name!

I too experience all of the above. Trying to dial the remote, changing the TV with the cordless phone….too many buttons! Putting perishable food in cupboards, peanut butter in the oven and then going crazy trying to find it. Trouble with nouns, yes! It happens all the time, give me that thing a ma jig. Waiting for a person to finish what they are saying, holding my response only to forget what I was going to say when it is my turn. Then feeling very dumb. I was an avid reader now the words don’t look right on the page, first grade words like look and book, have to read pages over, forgetting who the characters are. I call my dog my Son’s name and my Son my dog’s name. The worse is losing the car in parking lots I have thought of tying balloons to my car, forgetting how to get home from everyday places, have learned to quickly pull over and breath till things look familiar again and trying to find new places is a nightmare of anxiety. Now I have groovy menopause to contend with yipee, sweating and crying for no reason at all! God give us all strength to keep laughing, keep living, not being defined by all this, keeping our humanity. Never, Never, Never giving up!

I was worried that I was getting dimentia! I can’t finish half of my sentences. I’ll be talking to my sister, & if there’s too long of a pause she’ll say “come on, spit it out”. I have trouble spelling simple words. I don’t know if it’s fiibrofog or a side effect to one of my meds.

My favorite foggy moment and is for my co-workers as well, is when I was first diagnosed and put on muscle relaxors for sleep. Not only did I have fibro fog brain the next morning but I was still in a drug haze from the muscle relaxors, I went into the Ladies room @ 10:00am and quickly realized that I had forgotten to put on my under clothing that morning…. I learned a very important coping skill that morning of laying out ALL of my clothing the night before in a neat pile…. How embarrassing…. got to love the fog… We laughed for a long time at work Thank Goodness I work in office of wonderful Woman….

My brain fog moment:

I have two bottles of green solution side by side under the kitchen sink.

I filled the dishwasher hard water rinse with the taller green bottle, and then put the taller green bottle back under the sink. I knew something was not right… looked at both the bottles and realized I had put the green dish soap in the rinse and not the jet rinse. It took me about a hour of using the basting tube to get all of the soap out of the rinse holder.

Thank goodness I realized a problem before using the dishwasher.

Many thanks for an interesting and informative blog. You have been bookmarked for future reference