> [!waypoints] [[IRL Blog Home]] | [[Common Symptoms of Long COVID]] # Emerging from the (Brain) Fog Published: 24 August 2025 Tags: #brainfog, #symptoms, #IRL > [!summary]- TLDR (click to read) > Brain fog is a symptom with many potential causes, not just COVID. > > Having brain fog creates difficulty thinking and remembering things. This means it can impact any and every aspect of life that requires using your memory, creativity or problem solving. > >It can also mess up your perception of what you're sensing, whether it's coming from the outside (such as someone talking to you) or inside (such as your perception of time). 🎶 *I can see clearly now the rain has gone...* 🎶 Not really, but my mind is starting to get clearer again after a couple of months of brain fog. I said "again" because I've experienced brain fog on and off for years now. Way before COVID was a thing. This time around, it felt like the type of fog where you could see the wind swirling the fog around. Some parts of the day seemed clearer than others. I've had other periods of brain fog where I lose my clarity and capacity for weeks. I don't know if this episode of brain fog is another symptom of Long COVID or not. But it's part of my life right now, so I thought I'd share what I'm going through in case it helps someone understand it. In my experience and from the internet, it's caused by a list of other conditions and circumstances that aren't Long COVID. According to [healthdirect](https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/brain-fog), brain fog can be caused by: - not getting enough sleep or exercise - eating a diet that does not include all the vitamins and minerals you need - stress - menopause - taking certain medicines, such as for arthritis or cancer - chronic pain - muscle and joint problems - depression and anxiety - diabetes - anaemia - multiple sclerosis (MS) - cancer Brain fog isn't a condition that's medically defined on its own, but it's accurate for describing a group of symptoms that relate to thinking and memory. Common symptoms of brain fog include difficulty with: - concentrating or focussing on something for even a short time - remembering new things - recalling things you know you should know - making decisions - thinking logically - finishing thoughts or sentences - feeling like your head is filled with fog or cotton wool - understanding speech and other auditory information It took me almost 3 weeks to recognise it and do something about it. I'd lost my sense of time. In May, I was already living in July. That's what clued me in that something was not quite right. Now August feels jumbled up with September and I don't know what happened to June. What felt like a couple of days of brain inflammation from eating out too much turned out to be a few months that I somehow lived through but can't fully remember. I feel stuck in the present because I can't use what I'd learnt in the past and can't plan for the future when I don't trust myself to show up. The systems I had created to keep me focussed and productive don't work when I don't remember to use the apps on my phone and don't log into my computer when I normally would. My calendar and its reminders still work: but only when I remember to keep it up-to-date. I started being late to meetings and appointments unless I had multiple reminders. It's hard to trust myself when I couldn't remember conversations and promises or commitments I made. I stopped believing that I could successfully return to work when I kept getting overwhelmed just deciding what to put on my to-do list, let alone remembering to look at it throughout the day. I felt like I had ADHD, the way I was so easily distracted and lose my concentration. Or I would effectively hyper focus, making myself keep going because I might forget to come back to it if I stopped. I started writing this post in the second week of July when I realised there was something going on with my brain. I wrote a bit more a month later, when I started a taking a course on writing, then forgot about it when the course moved onto the next exercise. At the time of publishing, it's already the end of August. I still experience brain fog to a degree but there are times now when I can look ahead and feel some hope. [[IRL - Clearing the Fog|This is where I share what helps me clear the fog]]. --- #### References [Brain fog \| healthdirect](https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/brain-fog) --- >[!note] Before you click off this page, a couple of notes: >The article above describes one of my personal experiences recovering from Long COVID. It's not intended to imply or prescribe a treatment for it. > >My intention in sharing my experience is let readers with similar symptoms know that recovery is possible and maybe inspire them to look at what they can personally do to reduce their own symptoms. > >--- > >If you'd like to share your personal experiences of Long COVID, either with me or with other readers on this site, click on the link to <a data-tooltip-position="top" aria-label="mailto:[email protected] subject=My Long COVID experience" rel="noopener nofollow" class="external-link" href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=My%20Long%20COVID%20Experience" target="_blank">email me</a>. I'll keep the conversation [[Privacy Policy|confidential]] unless you let me know that I can share it publicly. --- ## Read next [[IRL - Clearing the Fog]] See [[IRL Blog Home]] for more stories of living with Long COVID.