Fatigue After Brain Injury: I’m So Tired My Brain Hurts

Fatigue after brain injury: Cognitive fatigue, Brain fog, Mental fatigue, Brain fatigue, Brain exhaustion, Mental tiredness, Foggy brain. I love the last one! All terms that can mean "I'm so tired my brain hurts". Please Remember This: To begin here is the key message I want to make – We can all get foggy brain. Most of us recover quickly and it doesn’t happen too often. After brain injury - foggy brain is not cute, and it is often not a temporary thing. After brain injury 'foggy brain', is more professionally called cognitive fatigue. It does not go away without paying it attention and it can come back over and over again. Introducing Cognitive Fatigue After Brain Injury A few years ago (I just realised  - 3 years ago almost to the day!)  I wrote a post “I’m So Tired My Brain Hurts.” This has been the source of many letters, and one of the most read articles. Recently it was suggested…

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“I’m So Tired My Brain Hurts” Cognitive Fatigue

Have you heard this or similar comments? It’s real. It is termed Cognitive Fatigue. And the good news is there are strategies to help minimize it. Before I get to the strategies, here are a couple of real life descriptions to help explain what it is like: In an article in The Guardian newspaper Tim Lusher  described his experiences following an abscess on the cerebellum, (the part of the brain that controls movement, balance and coordination).He vividly describes cognitive fatigue: [quote]Ah, the tiredness. That's another thing everyone talks about. It's not a tough-week-at-the-office tiredness that you can rally through with a couple of drinks and the prospect of a weekend lie-in. It's a leaden blanket of exhaustion that sweeps over you – utterly undeniable, non-negotiable and unshakeable.[/quote] And this description in an article entitled "Learning to Pace Yourself" from Synapse [quote]Those who haven’t had their brain banged around won’t understand the feeling – they’ll picture how they feel after a bad night’s…

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