Apologies for repeating what others have already said - started writing this yesterday then 'fogged out' - 'fraid I can't parse what I wrote to fit preceding posts:
The particulars of Brain Fog:
With the term ‘brain fog’ becoming a commonly used phrase in other medical context and in general usage with increasingly non specific and/or contrary meanings, PwME and ME/CFS advocacy and research need to find alternatives so that in ME/CFS it can be ‘retired’ having lost useful specificity.
There doesn’t seem any readily available one, two or three word alternative that covers the totality of ‘brain fog’ but that is perhaps no bad thing. Being able to describe all the elements of brain fog is useful for research but also valuable for individuals when dealing with clinicians and vitally when claiming sickness benefits for which ‘brain fog’ was always lacking as a convincing description of disability.
As a general description, words such as fuzziness, haziness and miasma might serve as way of introducing the concept of ‘brain fog’ but specific disabling symptoms that make up the fuzz, haze or miasma are the important things to have recorded. The exact mix will be different for every PwME, and probably vary over time but having a full list is the key thing, and will perhaps include:
1. Visual impairment:
a) depth perception
b) movement perception
c) spots, stars, gaps, in the field of vision
2. Cognitive impairment:
a) memory for spoken words
b) dyslexia
c) dyscalculia
3. Proprioception impairment:
a) peripheral fuzziness
b) clumsiness