But other effects may be more subtle, such as the persistent impairment in sustained attention noted by Chinese researchers. As I described in a previous blog post, some can be devastating, such as encephalitis, strokes, and lack of oxygen to the brain. There are many ways that COVID-19 can damage the brain. Like this man, many people who have recovered from the acute, life-threatening effects of COVID-19, but still don’t feel that their thinking and memory are back to normal. Everything was normal, yet his cognitive challenges remain. His doctor ran him through a checkup and a battery of tests. Recently I received an email from a man who described how he is still struggling with “cognitive challenges” since recovering from the virus in the spring of 2020.

In each case you probably just waited to get back to normal, whether that meant recovering from your illness, adjusting to the new time zone, or waiting for the side effects of the medication to wear off.īut what if your thinking didn’t return to normal? What is COVID-19 brain fog? Or perhaps you took an antihistamine or another medication that made your thinking fuzzy for a few hours. Maybe you were jet-lagged and your thinking was sluggish because it felt like it was 2 AM. Perhaps you couldn’t think clearly when you were sick with the flu or another illness. We all experience this feeling from time to time. Brain fog is not a medical or scientific term it is used by individuals to describe how they feel when their thinking is sluggish, fuzzy, and not sharp. Let’s start by trying to understand brain fog. So I thought it was worth discussing exactly what COVID-19 brain fog is, and some things to do that might help clear it.

As a cognitive behavioral neurologist, I’ve been hearing from many individuals who are complaining of “brain fog” after infection with COVID-19.

Covid brain fog and anxiety