I have the same issues with driving. I use my gps every time I get in the car so I can tell where I was headed in case I get a bit confused.
Reading isn't a problem, but comprehension is. I tried to join a book club, that was not a good experience...
I like solitaire, but luminosity gives me a headache.
I use my grandkids "memory" game, with the cards you match up in pairs.
I also lost some IQ points, I don' t honestly think I'd pass the Mensa test anymore so I let my 15 yr membership lapse. I cried that day...

I try hard to learn something new each day and to do something out of my usual pattern. Like going around the grocery store starting at the other end, or finding new ways to do something to make myself be creative. I even move my laptop to the other side of the table so the view is different.

There are tests for Alheimers. Have you had a brain mri? the earlier you catch it the better the meds work.....
I have had 2 brain MRIs in the past 3 yrs, the last one showed a bit of my brain shrinking away on the lower back side.

the most important thing for me is to keep my blood sugar level and my protein high, and to avoid grains... I get grain brain for days after I eat any kind of grain at all...

I hear you on TV. I'm home all day and it used to be it would be on all the time to keep me company. Now I like it quiet so I can think. I'm up at 4:30 am and it doesn't go on until 2 pm for my soap....then off again at 3. I might watch some recorded things at 7 pm in bed but really I could do without cable at all....

Hello. I am really glad that the driving issue came up in this thread. It is a huge problem for me. I don't have a phone with GPS and I get lost going places I have been many times. It is very frustrating. My husband usually goes over the directions with me the night before, but sometimes I still get lost. In that case, I pull off and breathe for a while and it usually comes to me eventually.

I play solitaire as well. I'm not sure if it keeps me sharp, but I enjoy it. I like Mahjong too.

I used to love to read non-fiction. You know, heavy stuff that most people weren't even interested in, but now, I've been relegated to fluff fiction because anything else requires too much concentration. My eyes get fuzzy if I read too long as well.

So, gee, it's been a long, rambling narrative and I have not come up with any advice on what to do about cognitive issues. I'm about as lost as last year's Easter egg when it comes to that. I'll keep checking back to see what others have said. I guess my only advice is to rest because if you are tired, it will be worse.

Many blessings. Thanks for bringing up this topic.

I drink cocoa twice a day...it helps increase blood flow in the brain and has made me mentally much better. It needs to be just pure cocoa powder not hot chocolate. A bar of dark chocolate would probably work too.

There's a CNS stimulant in the cocoa plant, I forget what it is. It's not as potent as what's in the coca plant, but it's similar. I know some ME/CFS people who drink weak tea to shake off the brain fog. That would be caffeine.

I've found that a little morning exercise gets my brain working. But like all these things, it wears off and I go back into that place where my head feels like there's tar in it.

I used to be a whiz academically...on my way to a professorship somewhere, no doubt of it...that or a high-paying research position. Then I got sick and that was the end of that.

I wrote in my journal yesterday...can't feel sorry for myself, can't cry...got to keep moving ahead...working with whatever I have left.

No doubt my IQ took a huge hit. I dread filling out forms, voting, anything like that. I get all confused. It's not dementia, it's just ME/CFS. It's part of what it does...turns us into confused, lost souls.

I hate this disease.

Lupin, I'm up for any excuse to eat chocolate :-)
I like Green & Black's 85%. A couple squares a day....

this morning I found a great article on cognitive dysfinction, by Dr Lapp, a specialist in CFS
http://drlapp.com/news/me-letter-september-2013/
And it is a wonderful site: a whole treatment center, with multiple staff who all specialize in CFS! Too bad they are so far away from me: AZ to North Carolina. But LOTS of good information online.

I've learned to Breath -- deep. This has really helped to eradicate all of the Brain Fog symptoms. The brain fog symptoms occasionally return when I forget to breathe in class or when I get too caught up in studies. I, especially remind myself to Breathe when I have down time in case I've forgotten to breathe earlier. It's really great having my mind return and having control. IN the past, I thought I was never going to have any control of my mind. This breathing exercise has helped me to move forward in my life. I am Paying It Forward by sharing with everyone here what I have learned and what has helped ME. This breathing has eradicated a lot of symptoms that worsened right before I discovered the Deep Breathing.

I saw a cognitive therapist while undergoing chemotherapy. She was a proponent of certain compute games, BUT she was adamant that doing crossword puzzles with a pencil is much, much better. Then, just a couple weeks ago I attended part of my daughter's college orientation program. A professor there quoted a recent study showing that students who take handwritten notes retain a great deal more information than those who use a computer or other electronic device. The reasoning behind it has something to do with synopses, but I didn't take notes at all, so I don't remember. LOL.

I've come across research that shows that even people who doodle rather than taking notes retain more information than those who don't take notes. It makes me wonder what it is about the brain's function we don't know.

I'm afraid that I've tried different breathing and meditation techniques, but it just wears me out. Still, some things work for one person but not another.