Can You Reduce Brain Fog by Playing Brain Age?

Do you experience brain fog?  According to the Arthritis Foundation, brain fog or fibro (fibromyalgia) fog is “commonly used for the cognitive difficulties that can occur with fibromyalgia.  These include confusion, lapses in memory, word mix-ups and difficulty concentrating.”  It is terribly frustrating when this occurs because it is difficult to pull yourself out of it.  Sometimes it seems like your brain is just numb to anything.

I recently starting playing the Nintendo DS Brain Age 2 game, in hopes of stimulating my brain.  After years of having juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in multiple joints, increasingly potent medications and the onset of fibromyalgia, my brain does not function as I would like.  At times it feels as though I am in a perpetual fog that will not lift.

First, I can tell you that the game is just fun.  It takes you through three different tests in order to determine your brain age.  The overall process takes about 5-10 minutes.  When you are finished, the game computes your brain age score (however good or bad).  The game also keeps a record of your brain age scores and displays them graphically so you can gauge your improvement (decrease in brain age) or downhill performance (increase in age).

Second, your brain definitely receives a workout with this game.  You will sometimes be asked to provide a losing answer which is not an inherent way of playing a game.  All of the tests, really make you think in a way that you may not be used to or have not done in a while.

Now will it help your brain fog?  I hope so.  The game is designed to stimulate your brain.  It is essentially mental exercise.  In order to attain a better brain age, you must be able to concentrate more and effectively use your memory.  Those are the areas we struggle with when we are dealing with brain fog. 

I play the game for about 5-10 minutes every day and my brain age has been improving!  I feel like it gets easier every day for my mind to accomodate what I want it to do.  So why not try it out?  You really have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Recommendation:  If you have arthritis in your hands or fingers, I would recommend a larger and thicker stylus in order to prevent any hand pain while playing the game.

Good luck!

Let’s hear it.  Have you tried Brain Age?  Do you feel or see an improvement in your cognitive abilities?  Has your brain (fibro) fog lifted?

Is Arthritis Destroying Your Relationship?

While arthritis slowly destroys your joints, it also may be a significant factor in your deteriorating relationship with your spouse or significant other.  When you have arthritis, you are used to the effects of the disease, but others are not.  Since we have a tendency to forget that arthritis does not just affect the person that has the disease, we must make an effort to understand how it affects our loved ones.

The best way to understand the effect arthritis has on your relationship is to have an open and honest discussion with your loved one.  While this may not be easy, it is the best way to clear the air and show your loved one that you care about how your arthritis affects them.

If you are not sure how to get started or if you try to have the discussion and it fails miserably, then try reading Beyond Chaos: One Man’s Journey Alongside His Chronically Ill Wife, by Gregg Piburn.  It is written from the perspective of the spouse of someone that has fibromyalgia.  Mr. Piburn discusses the relationship with his wife, how fibromyalgia affects them both and how they get through it.  His wife does contribute somewhat to the book as well.

 

This is a great way to open communication in your own relationship.  Take turns reading the book and then talk about what you found interesting.  You’re bound to find some parallels to your life in this book.  I know I did!

Good luck!

What Do You Do When You’re Diagnosed with Something New?

originally published 6/18/08

I was faced with this same situation last week.  What I thought was another rheumatoid arthritis (RA) flare was not.  The pain and stiffness in my hands has been increasingly getting worse, not to mention my hip bothering me like there is no tomorrow.  I have even resorted to keeping a cane in the car just in case I need it when I’m out and about. 

So when I went to the rheumatologist last week to determine if my RA medication needed to be changed, etc., I found out that the problem is not my RA at all.  “Really?  How could that be?  I’m in so much pain.”  Instead, I’m told that fibromyalgia is most likely the cause of the majority of my pain.  I was in shock.  To top it off, the pain in my hands is most likely from osteoarthritis.  Double whammy!

I have had RA since I was a child.  I have never questioned it.  I know how to deal with it.  It has been my life.  I guess I never thought I would get any other forms of rheumatism.  I don’t know why really.  I just never thought about it.

For the rest of the day, I could not function.  I was just in a daze really.  If you know me, that is shocking.  I’m always very busy throughout the day, but I just could not cope with one more thing that day.  It’s not like I was sitting around wondering “why me?”.  I just kept thinking that I not only have RA, I now have fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis to deal with.  How am I going to continue doing the things I want to do?  Will I need to scale back my daily duties?  Will I need to stop working soon?  Will I be able to keep up with my young daughter?  All of these things were just swirling around in my head.

So what do you do when you’re told something you did not expect?  Or when you’re diagnosed with something else on top of what you already have?

I don’t think there is one right answer for that.  I think you need to do whatever you feel comfortable with.  For me, it was taking one day of thinking how it would affect my life.  I put everything else on hold for that day and actually the next.  The second day was one of action.  I educated myself about the two diseases…well, actually one disease (osteoarthritis) and one syndrome (fibromyalgia)…but that is another post entirely.  I checked to see if there were any local education classes about fibromyalgia and checked into local arthritis water classes (aqua-aerobics).

So, in all, you just do whatever it is that gets you through it.  Ultimately, we need to accept it, understand it, and move on in a way that does not compromise our health.  I hope this helps you get through it too.