PEM induced only by sensory/cognitive exertion - what does it indicate about the pathophysiology of ME?

Mij said:
I'm actually quite amazed how members here can write long articulate posts. I can not write more than 2 small paragraphs.

Question for those with cognitive PEM or cognitive impairment. Do you have a sore head/forehead when you are mentally drained? I can recover much quicker from cognitive fatigue than I can from physical exhaustion.
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Brain fog is the reason most of my posts are as long as they are. Being succinct and brief is extremely difficult.

I have an awful lot of headaches.

I think I am nearly always in cognitive PEM or hovering on the edge at least.

Physically there's a slight buzzing in the forehead, a feeling of pressure that's quite different to sinus pain.

I get a strong feeling of pressure across the top of my head from above ear level - regardless of whether I'm lying down or not. This increases as cognitive PEM gets worse.

From there I get a very odd feeling as though the brain or contents of my head are congealing and hardening - I know there are no nerves in the brain so I don't know what that might be. It is unpleasant and becomes painful if I persist.

In terms of how thinking feels - it's a bit like being very drunk but without the relaxed feeling. This will continue to get worse until I can't really think at all. I hate this bit more than anything, even more than the pain.
 
Snow Leopard said:
I have a headache in the upper front of my head 100% of the time, but it is deeper, I wouldn't describe it as a sore forehead (front of head above eyes) at all.

This pain gets much worse when mentally drained. It is quite likely this is related to some sort of blood flow or cerebral perfusion issue.
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I have a similar thing, feels more like pressure rather than a headache and is located in the middle of my face. The strange thing is when I have overdone things the previous day this headache gets worse too.
 
Just throwing a thought out and wondering . . . I wonder about the possibility that the pain may be originating from the jaw area as muscles there tighten while trying to focus. And that pain radiates and is felt elsewhere with various neurological symptoms (buzzing numbness etc)

Any thoughts?
 
rvallee said:
as if anesthetized.
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Yes! thats exactly what i mean, anesthetized

Invisible Woman said:
In terms of how thinking feels - it's a bit like being very drunk but without the relaxed feeling. This will continue to get worse until I can't really think at all. I hate this bit more than anything, even more than the pain.
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yeah, me too.


It's interesting that so many of us seem to have this peculiar sensation at the front/top/face.
 
Snowdrop said:
Just throwing a thought out and wondering . . . I wonder about the possibility that the pain may be originating from the jaw area as muscles there tighten while trying to focus. And that pain radiates and is felt elsewhere with various neurological symptoms (buzzing numbness etc)

Any thoughts?
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I dont think so. I do get jaw pain sometimes due to the fact that i clench/grind my teeth when i am angry. This is very different from that. It doesnt feel in any way skeletal. I get tension headaches in my forehead/behind the eyes too & its not like them either, it's just different from anything i'd experienced pre ME - except as i said, being stoned.
 
Snowdrop said:
the possibility that the pain may be originating from the jaw area as muscles there tighten while trying to focus.
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I can see that might be a confounding factor for some - I used to clench my jaw when concentrating and grind my teeth when angry or asleep. It can cause pain and headaches but they don't feel the same.

I spent a lot of time with a great physio at one point & looked at posture,.supported rest & so forth and included head, neck and jaw problems. I broke the habit of clenching my jaw but still grind my teeth when asleep so use a guard that prevents that.

This isn't a factor for me at this stage.
 
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