I don't know the answrr, but I'm having similar issues. Hopefully someone will respond with some ideas.

I've been researching and reading other posts. A lot of people speak of brain fog.

It's almost like that, but a little more extensive.

I forgot places I've lived, people I've met numerous times, high schools I went to etc...

It could be causes by brain inflammation. You might want to tell your Dr.
Mary Ann

Brain fog is a complicated topic! Here's the nutshell version, as I understand it:

One of the aspects of MCTD-- and lupus, for that matter-- that's poorly understood is the part that has to do with capillaries and blood vessels. They are usually involved in some way, but where, and to what extent, and whether it impacts functioning varies greatly.

There are (at least) two kinds of cognitive dysfunction associated with MCTD. Here are the ones that are referred to most commonly in the literature:

1) Kinda sorta like cerebrovascular hyperperfusion-- in other words, a lot of tiny strokes. This is that worse type that may cause more permanent damage... or might not. Most people know someone who has had complete recovery from a small stroke.

2) Vasculitis, or vasocsontriction. This is more like inflammation of the blood vessels in your brain -- and that can be bad, too, if it leads to inflammation of the lining of your brain. But a lot of the time, it's completely reversible and transitory.

So: Check with your doctor for sure, as MT suggests, to rule out the first type of cognitive issue.

The second type has some interesting characteristics that I have identified:

a) It often feels worse than it is. Your subjective sense of impairment may NOT be reliable. There's a distinct sense to think you are completely losing your sh*t when in reality, you've just forgotten one or two things and your head feels incredibly strange. I will never forget giving a presentation in grad school on a day when I felt like I'd been hit on the head with a baseball bat-- I felt like my head was wrapped in coarse burlap, my eyes were on fire, and I wasn't even sure I was making sense. I was utterly shocked when my classmates and professor cheered and clapped at the end! So if you are having a meeting with a client or something, and the brain fog hits? Just power through and see what happens. You may not be as impaired as you feel.

2) Do NOT stress if you are having memory problems. I cannot prove it, but I am convinced that freaking out and getting worked up when you can't find your phone or keys is, over time, destructive. If it's really bad, and you can't find the stuff you need for work, just say "to hell with it," cancel a few appointments, and call a friend or go for a walk or something. (This happened to me once or twice in 2014.)

3) Brain fog is one symptom that improved dramatically after I stopped drinking and smoking weed. It then improved even more after I started taking CBD oil. In 2012, I could never have passed my clinical exam. In 2015, I passed, but there were still days when it took me 25 or 30 minutes to find my phone or my keys. Now, it never takes more than 4 minutes.

Just so we're clear: I still forget things just as often. I might even be in my car a block away from my house-- (not a quarter mile, sometimes it happens before I even start the car) and realize I don't have my phone.

And I do sometimes walk into rooms and don't know why I'm there. But now, an image will pop into my head of my phone on the edge of the bathroom sink, or I will remember that I'm getting my credit card reader or business card case or whatever. And the image comes in less 10 seconds... in a rare situation, it might be a few minutes, never more than five minutes.

In Los Angeles, this works-- I leave myself 10 extra minutes to get where I'm going. So if I burn five of those minutes hunting for my keys = no problem.

In New York, this screwed me up. I left a friends house and jumped into a cab before I realized I'd left my phone on his kitchen counter. Couldn't afford to ask the cab to turn around, and it was 1:00 AM already!

So I am in the odd position of being 59, but my memory is better than it has been since I was in my 40s.

@ Teeh: Not remembering high schools or people you know is a bit different from short term memory deficits. Be sure to mention that to your doctor. One of my friends is kind of "face blind" in that he has trouble recognizing faces of people he knows, more so as he's gotten older. But he's a history teacher, and he's recall of facts and politics is brilliant for a guy his age. So don't freak out, but do mention it to your doctor, probably sooner rather than later.

I absolutely love this group!

Thank you for all the information and taking the time to advise me.

I'll be sure to mention it to a doctor the next time I get in front of one.

Yes! I assume its brain inflammation...my memory issues also happen during flares. It's very frustrating. My last day of work is July 11th -

I've always been sharp minded and organized, which has given away to unorganized and foggy. When I mentioned it to my rheumatologist, she said that I was distracted and I was just stressing. Fast forward a little: I started having other symptoms and one of my docs said that with all my inflammation that it wouldn't be beyond reason that I was having absorption problems with vitamins. Some testing later, and I have multiple B vitamin deficiencies. I'm hoping that once I get into a normal level range that my brain will snap back in to shape. But at least I know it's not simply because I'm distracted. ;)

Peachy, let us know how that works... I didn't have much luck with B, but maybe I wasn't doing it right. But yeah, my GI symptoms are definitely worse, food absorption is torqued, e.g., not right somehow, and the brain fog is worse when the headaches are worse, and that's often after lunch. And I have to eat big meals, because if I don't I lose weight incredibly fast. So I often sleep at least an hour in my office in the late afternoon.

I think there is a clear connection between brain fog, memory problems and headache-- in fact, I think brain fog IS a kind of headache. The pain wears you down... it wears down your thinking. Also, yeah, maybe some inflammation in the hippocampus. I recently cut back my opioid dose by about 20%, basically five times a week instead of every day, and holy CRAP my headaches are worse-- bad enough so they bring a little nausea-- and I'm making a LOT more billing errors (forget to write down schedule changes) and appointment setting errors and feeling about as sharp as a bowling ball. I could not recognize an intersection I drive once a week, which hadn't happened to me in four or five years, and I'm like, "Wow, the painkillers really do help me think, because they get rid of the damn headache."

CBD (cannabis oil) definitely helps with brain fog in the morning, no question. I start writing notes and my fingers are just FLYING over the keyboard. But it doesn't work well in the afternoon, just seems to slow me down more. So if it's legal in your state, get THAT going on for sure.