Brain Fog
/So, what is brain fog? If you have to ask, you probably do not have it! Brain fog can feel like your brain is dark and full of cobwebs keeping you from being able to think clearly and grasp at thought patterns. You may have a diffucult time finding words or stringing sentences together, you may feel zoned out or irritable or like the “blood isn’t reaching my brain.”
Technically, blood is too thick to reach the brain so we know that isn’t the problem! But it could indeed be lack of circulation causing your brain fog. The choroid plexus acts like a sieve which strains the blood leaving red blood cells behind and becoming cerebral spinal fluid. (CSF) Sometimes even before the blood reaches the sieve - the arteries, veins and capillaries can become congested. Other ways the circulation to the brain can become trapped is by poor posture, neck alignment and injury resulting in reduced CSF. Both circulatory pauses can cause brain fog. Other roots of concern are stress and adrenal fatigue.
Inadequate circulation and adrenal fatigue can present with similar if not the same symptoms. Brain fog is one that fits both but others are dizziness, lack of concentration, exhaustion. Specific to CSF issues is lack of range of motion, visual weakness, confusion and inability to find a word or follow thought patterns.
Adrenals are part of our sympathetic nervous system. Adrenal exhaustion is often obvious- it’s accompanied by blue black circles under the eyes, inflammatory conditions (high cortisol), weepiness, unsure of life’s path. High levels of cortisol over long periods of time have been shown to cause brain cells to shrink and even die. A good question to ask if your adrenals may be part of your brain fog issues is “What do I or don’t I have control over?” If this causes a near mental breakdown, you probably have adrenal fatigue.
This blog is written to address brain fog “in general” without attempting to diagnose or prescribe for adrenal concerns. Adrenal fatigue is mentioned here simply as an option for the root of your brain fog symptoms.
Let’s take look at some herbal options for brain fog. And at the end of this blog, you will find a 5 minute video on brain fog and how to use simple isometric stretches to increase your cerebral spinal fluid flow to your brain.
Rosemary for Remembrance
Shakespeare himself wrote Rosemary is for Remembrance and rosemary is one of our best and safest remedies for brain fog. One of the many symptoms of brain fog is forgetfulness. Where are my keys? What day is it? Who are You and more disturbing…Who am I? I will get to how rosemary assists in a minute but I have to say that 90 percent of the people I have given a rosemary remedy to have “remembered” their path and remembered a Calling to their purpose or who they are meant to be on this Earth. But I digress….
Rosemary is a circulatory tonic with an ascending nature. That means that rosemary is a remedy for making sure that the CSF actually reaches the brain and allows for cognitive acuity, keeping our thoughts on track. Rosemary can be taken as a tea or tincture and even worn as a crown if you are into that kind of thing. (I am and I have had apprentices who have created rosemary crowns to address chronic headache with some success, I might add)
Rosemary can also be used as essential oil or fresh as a steam to utilise it’s aromatics. The actions of aromatics on brain fog can be profound and immediate as they clear away blockages and open pathways to perception. Aromatics have both a stimulating and sedating action on the nervous and limbic systems relaxing tensions and stimulating clarity- removing cloudy and elusive thoughts which are essentially brain fog.
Find your words with Calamus Root, Acorus calamus, Sweet Flag
Calamus opens the throat chakra and is a bad ass remedy for stimulating the mind. Be careful with calamus - it has a reputation for causing odd side effects and is rumoured as psychoactive. Start slow with a milder remedy like rosemary and if after a few weeks you are still brain fogged, maybe calamus is your helper.
I look to calamus for those days that I feel like staring out the window or on a bad day at the wall from mental overload. When my brain just cannot hold another ounce of the world or the information in it. If the brain could have a cold that needed an expectorant to resolve the phlegm, calamus would be my brain expectorant. Calamus clears the brain phlegm and I’m able to think more clearly.
Calamus is known as rejuvenative to the brain and nervous system promoting cerebral circulation, sharpening memory and enhances awareness. It also has a history of use in PTSD, panic attacks and giving your nervous system a bit of a shake back to reality when in flight or fight. I have not had any experience with this last piece so do your own research on the plant before using it for panic.
I grow fresh calamus so I have access to it’s roots fresh which can be placed in the mouth and sucked on for a slow release application. Calamus can also be taken as tincture. Decocting the root is ok but wow, its very bitter and not too tasty. And as mentioned, it is best to start slow with calamus.
In formula, Calamus combines well with Eleuthero, 3-10 drops twice daily to start. Soften the formula with rose if needed. I have also found good results with added echinacea when there is a vision component, ie. dull vision or sudden visual changes.
A good or maybe bad side effect is that calamus gives you voice to your thoughts. So, if your thoughts are scary, speak in a safe place.
Energize with Gotu kola, Centella asiatica
Gotu kola is a cerebral stimulant and a good choice for symptoms of mental fatigue, head trauma injuries, poor memory and irritability. It’s naturalised in Hawaii and not uncommon to just walk into a small gotu kola patch. It’s easy to ID with it’s brain shaped leaf and it’s character plant veins that look like neurological patterns. Gotu kola is great fresh and can be juiced to enhance concentration. It is also effective as a tincture.
Gotu kola has the added benefit of preventing increases in cortisol (yay, gotu kola!) which brings us back to adrenal fatigue solutions. Gotu kola nourishes nerve and brain cells helping with alertness, mental clarity. Combine with tulsi basil for enhanced alertness and quick opening of the sensory perception that the basils are so good at.
Gotu kola has been found helpful for people weaning off anti-depressants and is helpful for seasonal affective disorder and postpartum depression, both of which may bring about symptoms of brain fog.
Hold your head up with Black Cohosh (Actea racemosa)
I work with black cohosh frequently in clinic. Not only is it supreme in enhancement of CSF flow but it also is a remedy for connective tissue and fascia tension. Reducing tension especially in the neck and shoulders also helps with the mental acuity and reduction of brain fog by increasing circulation. Black Cohosh has peripheral vasodilating effects and is a smooth muscle anti-spasmodic. As a herbalist and bodyworker, I find black cohosh effective when there is brain fog resulting from whiplash, neck tension, fibromyalgia, head trauma or tension in the neck and shoulders.
Black Cohosh keeps the cerebral spinal fluids moving without encumbrance. This is the plant to keep your trapezius muscles loose, neck range of motion active and allows you to hold your head up both literally and figuratively. If you have seen black cohosh in the wild or in the garden, the plant emerges in the spring and unfurls from a rounded position, much like we do when we stop allowing our shoulders to curl forward and our heads and spirit to sink.
Choose black cohosh when life with brain fog also includes a sense of brooding with dark, brooding thoughts. When there is a dimming of your life - black cohosh helps to lighten the load.
Living with brain fog makes it difficult to hold our heads up. There is the feeling of fear that we have lost our minds and that we will be living amidst the cobwebs of our brain forever. Black Cohosh lifts from its aromatic roots through the dark of the Earth to ultimately bring forth a truly magnificent fairy wand shaped white flower that lights up the forest.
Black Cohosh says Hold your head up, love. And we comply.
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References
Western Botanical Medicine/Christa Sinadinos
Herbal Repertory/Matt Woods
Practicing Herbalist /Margi Flint
Jim McDonald, herb craft.org
Personal history, practice notes from Trillium Medicine
Integrated Therapies Clinic
Video From the Plant based Remedies Online Course