Signs You're Experiencing Brain Fog

1. You put a stick of gum in your mouth, then light it.
2. Your neighbor drops your car keys off which she found stuck in your mailbox.
3. You mail Sprint a letter to your mom.
4. Your mom calls and asks why you sent her your Sprint bill.
5. You just boiled off another pot of tea and the bags are on fire.
6. There's a stale set of clothes in the washing machine.
7. You wash 'em again, for the 3rd time.
8. You have no clue what the balance of your checking account is.
9. You start the shower, then sit down and watch the entire OU/Texas game.
10. You attempt to pay for gas with your library card.
11. You notice that one of your shoes says 'Nike' and other says 'Reebok'.
12. You drove to the store to buy some milk, but came back with 8 candy bars, three lottery tickets, a coke and some salted nuts.
13. You're counting your ribavirin and counting days on your fingers because ...well you know why.
14. Your spouse says, 'Where are the kids ?'
15. You're genuinely surprised when the pizza delivery guy shows up.
16. Your utility bills are always printed on red paper with *notice* at the top. ( I thought I paid that ...)
17. You've been watering your lawn for three days straight.
18. Your car is sitting in the driveway, out of gas.
19. You're driving down the interstate, not really sure of where you're going but think you'll 'know it when you see it'.
20. Every TV in the house is on.

[copyman]

LOL, very good. i'm sure others will add to the list

[l-horn]

There's gotta be tons of microwave stories. I've left burritos in there for days. Still ate 'em though.....

[strator]

Well I was glad that the riba rage had gone, or dwindled, since stopping meds 3 mos ago. Have'nt thrown a steak knife across a room into the wall since then. The problem seems to be getting me across the room undistracted,post tx. Now granted, I was Post Toast Pastry prior to even beginning treatment, but...now I get distracted so frikkin easily. Started the sit down mower up last week, left it runnin while I went to get sumthin??, only remembered it a while later while I was in the 'middle' of painting the front door to the house. Went back and shut it off and somehow managed to get the chainsaw runnin to cut down some growth out back before gettin the door done. I'd say that's just life on the 'Ponderosa' these days, except just keep in mind our whole 'spread' is only 100ft x 185ft, a good portion takin up by the house and the infamous pool.
What's scary though is drivin down the street in a not so large town that I've lived in over a 1/2 century...and suddenly wondering 'okay' where the H am I, and where was I goin?'.
Now I also am not sure how much of this is tx related, just age, or tx enhanced aging...or genetic. My 3years and one day older than me brother, who sports an IQ that goes off the charts, engineering degrees and a masters in computer science, called me on his birthday last week to ask me how old he was. As I sat there laughing at him, phone cradled against my shoulder, I suddenly realized with horror that I was scratching the math out on a piece of paper to figure it out.
While I'm thinking of it I should probably go take the steak knife out of the wall...

[l-horn]

I don't have trouble speaking per say but I do occasionally lose my line of thought when talking to people. I sometimes have to search for words. Depends where I am in the sx roller coaster. If I'm in the obsessive-rage portion of the cycle, I can be quite expressive. Like NOW for example. This is why I lock myself in my house and avoid all contact with society on those days. If I'm out and about, I make it a point to concentrate on staying grounded. About a month ago, I almost got into an accident, not my fault, car load of kids driving too fast almost hit me. I turned around and started chasing 'em down to get their plate #. After a a couple of miles of that I pulled over just freaked out thinking 'What in the HELL is THIS all about' ? Really scared me.  After that, I started taking my sx a little more seriously. To me, that obsessive riba-rage is the worst sx of all. Since I tend to have a somewhat anti-sociol aggressive personality anyway, it's something I have to watch.

[Lady E]

LMAO..thanks for sharing your list.  It was the first thing I read this morning, and I'm still giggling.
I too sometimes have trouble speaking (tripping over my tongue)
How about this one....While describing the sounds that Rice Crispies make, I described Crack, Snapple & Pop. HAHAHHAAHA!

Also, a note to other cigarette smokers.
Be REALLY careful about leaving a burning cigarette in an ashtray while tromping away to another part of the house to do or go get something. I know that many times I forget what I went to the other room to do (and like you, I tell myself, I'll know what I came in here to do when I see it) But I've caught myself leaving a burning cigarette in an ashtray.  If you DO leave a cigarette burning, try to leave it INSIDE the ashtray instead of leaving it burning ON the ashtry. Who knows how long we'll be at the other end of the house with our endless (Brian fog) ideas.
I haven't started a fire (yet), but know I've done that a few times..Yikes! We're dangerous!!!
Have a happy weekend everybody.
Luv, E

[amirtracy]

Thanks for the laughs. so true, so true...

21. My neighbor brought my dog home...(their house looks just like ours and I walked her and put her in their house)

22. again, same model house...I've parked in their garage several times...

23. my son has stopped asking for help w/ his homework. apparently i'm getting bad grades.

24. i've quit cooking. i leave out essential ingredients.
the family smiles politely...

[SJL]

Ihorn-You pretty much covered everything, but I have a couple of questions. Do you or has anyone had trouble speaking? It's almost like your brain is rapidly firing and your mouth cannot catch up-resulting in mumbling & having to attempt to recall what you were trying to say? This was happening during therapy, but much more apparent post? I hope you don't mind me answering a couple of comments. The posts are so far down that I am afraid that they wouldn't see them. I promise not to do it again, but of course, I won't remember the promise, as I have no short term memory. Thanks Ihorn, Sandy

Susan400-
Amazingly, our last visits to Dr. J were identical. I, too, had just loss a family member and was very depressed & reflective, with a horrible attitude. Sue has been my guiding light at Dr. J's office, a remarkable woman, along with Mrs. J. Dr. J knows that I will not attempt treatment again as long as it is so invasive. To me, it's not worth the quality of life. I don't remember your stats, but I do recall the no.10? Is that 10 attempts at SVR? I cannot begin to imagine this! You are right, we are still here and will continue to fight in our way against this horrible disease. Thanks so much for your concern.

Cuteus-You are absolutely correct about the cryo being Hep C related. Unfortunately, I am finding out personally way to much about Hep C related affects.Ultimately, these sides cannot be treated and the only way is to kill the disease. The human body is so intricate, that it is a wonder that we are all walking around. I appreciate so much your comments and if I remember correctly. haha!!, you also have had a hard time? As for memory, short term is just not there. Thanks again,
Sandy

[Kalio1]

hey I thik yur a gud speler!

[Mister beagle bailey]

LOL LOL

Thanks for the laughs, I needed that.

Beagle

[Rastiss]

Thanks for the reminder.  I got down to #6 and realized I was about 3 hours late on putting the laundry in the dryer.

[Moniker]

Here's a good example posted by somebody long ago:

I had "But first" syndrome alllllll day!

I decide to water my garden. I turned on the hose in the driveway and looked over at my car and decide my car needs washing.
As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first. But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first. I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking. I'm
going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over.

I realize the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need to be watered. I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers. I set
the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers. I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills
on the floor. So I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill. Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:
the driveway is flooded
the car isn't washed,
the bills aren't paid,
there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter
there is still only one check in my check book
I can't find the remote,
I can't find my glasses,
I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired.

[Lady E]

Isn't that normal? LOL

[ejoli]

How about ....I have forgotten how to type,  or spell. It takes me forever to write something and I have to call someone to check my spelling of simple words.(they just don't look right) The really bad thing is I do this for my JOB! I don't think anyone has really noticed yet.  They don't know about my treatment. Probably just think I'm getting old.(or older)
                         whatever-  Libby

[Algernon]

**made a lemon tart and left out the sugar.

**woke the kids up for school--ON A SATURDAY

**Came to the split in the highways on my way to my HEP appointment and couldn't remember which way to go (had only been there about 50 times before).  Chose the wrong one.

**Like AmerTracy, I had to give up helping my daughter with homework.  That's FOURTH grade homework.  

**And, my most famous Fog moment:  Ran a red light and smashed up 3 cars.  But I only did that once--a fellow hep patient in my doc's office totaled TWO cars while on TX.

[aiuta]

What a laugh I so desperately needed.  Thank you, I-Horn, for starting the threat, and thank you all for contributiing.  

As for me, I've left the keys in the front door of the house twice overnight since starting treating.  It was brought to my attention both times by my friend where I live, the following morning.  I also left the burner on one night, and her husband (much worse case scenario) caught it.  

My most salient display of brain fog has to do with driving.  I have had a good-driver insurance discount for years, but since starting treatment, I've had several setbacks.  The 1st week of treatment, I hit an ambulance, while backing out of a 7-11. Luckily the paramedics wiped off the mark I left on their car, didn't want to involve the Fire Chief and came to my aid when I burst into so many tears they started wondering if even they could help me.  The 5th week of treatment, I was parking and ripped my passenger side mirror right off causing a dazzling display of shattered glass.  The 9th week of treatment, I was parking and suddenly realized my car was intricately locked with the brand new Jeep Cherokee next to me, the one that still had the dealer papers on the windows.  Luckily, damage in all cases was able to be repaired or overlooked, but it was all as embarrassing as hell.  By the time I ended in the lip-lock with the Cherokee, I wasn't even suprised anymore.  It was more of an acceptance, and a, "Oh yeah, here we go again."  Luckily, I passed the 13-week of treatment, which, according to the pre-established schedule, should have been my next car "incident" week, with no additions to the list.  

Thank you so much, I-Horn and everyone who has contributed to this thread, for reminding me that laughter can be, as important as our other medicines.  You guys are the best.

Aiuta

[nitramog]

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