Lupus fog, or cognitive dysfunction, is a common lupus symptom causing "cloudy" thinking, including memory loss, confusion, difficulty concentrating, trouble finding words, and mental fatigue, often described as feeling mentally fuzzy or slow. It's caused by lupus-related inflammation in the brain and can make daily tasks frustrating, but it often comes and goes, and coping strategies like making lists, managing stress, and getting enough rest can help manage it, says the Lupus Foundation of America and Healthgrades Health Library.
Lupus fog refers to the fuzzy-headed feeling paired with forgetfulness that those with lupus experience more often than they'd like. Approximately 20 to 50 percent of lupus sufferers deal with this unique feeling of mental haze. More than just a bout of forgetfulness, the lupus fog impacts many aspects of daily life.
5 Tips for Managing Brain Fog Caused by Lupus
This is also called “brain fog” or “lupus fog,” and it often comes and goes over time. In some people, lupus fog can be present for many years.
You may experience the following with brain fog: Difficulty concentrating or focusing. Confusion. Fatigue.
The most common manifestation of neuro-lupus is cognitive dysfunction, which is characterized by clouded thinking, confusion, and impaired memory. Eighty percent of lupus patients who have had lupus for ten years or more will experience this condition.
What are current treatments for lupus fog? Current treatments involve the use of corticosteroids. Another approach is using the medications that largely come from modern psychiatry, such as those used for sleep disorders, and other drugs such as stimulants to improve cognitive processing efficiency.
Lupus can attack many different parts of the body. Some call it the cruel mystery. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can strike any part of the body, but the wide range of symptoms can be easily mistaken for something else.
Long-COVID patients with neuropsychiatric symptoms such as brain fog showed abnormal brain activity on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while completing memory tests, with a shift from activity in brain areas normally used for memory to other brain regions, shows a study published yesterday in Neurology.
Inflammation: Any time your body is experiencing excess inflammation, such as during a lupus flare, you will feel more tired. Anemia: Anemia occurs when your red blood cell count gets low. This means that the amount of oxygen going to your organs will decrease, which can increase your level of fatigue.
Vitamin B2 and vitamin B7 help the nervous system, vitamin B3 and vitamin B6 are required to support neurotransmitters and cellular communication, and vitamin B9 eases mental fatigue. Taking a regular B complex supplement that includes all the necessary B vitamins can help to reduce symptoms of brain fog.
Having lupus can make everyday life challenging. When your lupus is active, symptoms like joint stiffness, pain, fatigue, confusion, or depression can make simple tasks difficult — and sometimes impossible.
Symptoms of brain fog include:
How Can I Cope with Lupus Fog?
Some lupus complications can include:
Careers That May Trigger Lupus Symptoms
In general, some types of jobs may be harder for people with lupus to manage, including: Physically demanding jobs like construction, waiting tables, or nursing. Outdoor jobs like landscaping or lifeguarding.
Two nationwide population-based cohort studies found that SLE was associated with a higher risk of dementia (42, 43). Another large data analysis that included more than four thousand SLE patients and twenty-four thousand age and gender matched non-SLE controls found an increased risk of dementia in SLE patients (44).
Brain fog is associated with both central nervous system-related autoimmune disorders, such as multiple sclerosis and autoimmune encephalitis (5), and non-central nervous system-associated disorders, including (3): Rheumatoid arthritis. Systemic lupus erythematosus. Type 1 diabetes.
Cognitive deficits may include poor memory, slower speed of thinking, difficulty with word retrieval, and impaired fine motor control. "Brain fog" is a common term to describe the patient's experience.
Because symptoms present similarly to other ailments, your doctor may not test you for lupus. Many go through a process of elimination through testing for other causes of the symptoms first.
According to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) nomenclature published in 1999,1 there are 19 peripheral and CNS syndromes that are associated with lupus (Table 1). Five of the CNS symptoms are psychiatric symptoms: acute confusional state, anxiety disorder, cognitive dysfunction, mood disorder, and psychosis.
The medicines used most often to manage lupus include:
Our doctors often recommend that people with lupus sleep 8 to 10 hours each night, maintain a healthy diet that's low in fat and sugar, and get 90 minutes of light to moderate exercise per week.
B Vitamins: The Foundation Of Mental Clarity
If you're experiencing brain fog symptoms like forgetfulness or slow recall, low B-vitamin status is often a top reason. Your body burns through B vitamins to make energy in brain cells and to form neurotransmitters that control mood and focus.
The most common side effects are nausea and diarrhea, which often improve with time. Other side effects include rash, hair changes, and muscle weakness. Rarely, hydroxychloroquine can lead to anemia, typically in individuals with G6PD deficiency or porphyria.