My head feels foggy and I can't concentrate… Could it be 'brain fog'? | Post-COVID Symptoms
Table of Contents
- 1. “I thought I was just tired...”
- 2. Was the term Brain Fog always around?
- 3. Patterns of Symptoms — Different from Simple Fatigue
- 4. Why has it become so common after COVID?
- 5. How is this viewed from a Korean Medicine perspective?
- 6. How should treatment be handled?
- 7. A disease where despair comes before the illness
1. “I thought I was just tired...”
Hello, this is Baekrokdam Korean Medicine Clinic.
Have you had any of these experiences lately?
- Forgetting what I was about to say during a meeting
- Missing important tasks while sitting blankly
- Tasks that used to be easily organized suddenly feel overwhelming
- Unable to recall a name suddenly, getting stuck while speaking even though I know the person
And then you end up saying this:
“Lately, it feels like there is a fog in my brain; I feel blank and things aren't working well.”
The topic we will discuss today is exactly this, ‘Brain Fog.’
This is different from simple fatigue or distractibility. This strange state where the body is fine, but only the brain feels exhausted. In the post-COVID era, this is a phenomenon that more and more people are experiencing.
2. Was the term Brain Fog always around?
The expression ‘Brain Fog’ is not actually a recently coined term. While it is not an official medical disease name, this term has been used in some fields for decades.
The fields where it was first used were functional medicine and communities of patients with chronic diseases. For example, patients suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia, and autoimmune diseases frequently used this expression to describe their condition.
Doctors also used the expression brain fog unofficially when it was difficult to describe it as “a concentration problem” or “cognitive decline.” In other words, it was a clinical slang that explained the phenomenon well, even if it was not medically defined.
Then, after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, this expression emerged as an ‘official topic in the medical community.’ Numerous patients who had COVID spoke consistently:
- “My sense of smell has returned, but my head feels blank.”
- “I can't remember things well.”
- “I try to work, but I can't concentrate.”
Now, the WHO also mentions brain fog as part of ‘long COVID’ symptoms, and papers with the term ‘Brain Fog’ directly in the title are appearing in medical journals. In a sense, the whole world has witnessed the process of an unofficial term becoming official.
3. Patterns of Symptoms — Different from Simple Fatigue
Brain fog cannot be explained by the word ‘tired.’ It is much more complex, subtle, and subjectively distressing.
Representative symptoms are listed as follows:
- Inability to concentrate
- Blurred memory
- Getting stuck while speaking
- Feeling blank in the head
- Significantly slower work processing speed
- Increase in mistakes and decrease in confidence
The important thing is that these symptoms are not simply due to a drop in physical strength. Patients commonly say:
“I don't feel refreshed even after sleeping.”
“Even after taking a vacation, my head still feels heavy.”
If this state persists, it leads to the collapse of self-efficacy. Confidence disappears, work stress intensifies, and sometimes depression and anxiety accompany it. Eventually, it is a state of living as if ill, even if it is not a disease. That is exactly what brain fog is.
4. Why has it become so common after COVID?
To understand this question, one must know how the coronavirus works. COVID-19 penetrates cells through the ‘ACE2 receptor.’ This receptor exists in the lungs, heart, organs, kidneys, blood vessels, and also in the endothelial cells of cerebral blood vessels.
In other words, COVID is not a simple respiratory infection, but an infection of blood vessels, the autonomic nervous system, and metabolism
It is like a virus that disrupts the entire system.
Even if you seem to have recovered after infection, minute inflammatory responses often remain, blood circulation and oxygen supply are not smooth, and the regulatory ability of the autonomic nervous system is often diminished.
As a result,
- you do not recover even after sleeping,
- you feel foggy during the day,
- concentration breaks down,
- and a state occurs where performing daily tasks becomes burdensome.
Because even people who were young and healthy complain of these symptoms, it is difficult to view this as a simple 'decline in physical strength.'
5. How is this viewed from a Korean Medicine perspective?
In Korean Medicine, this state has long been called 'Yeobyeong (餘病).' A state where one thought the illness was completely cured, but the energy of the disease remains, delaying recovery. Or the concept of 'Yeoyeol-micheong (餘熱未清),' meaning that inflammation or turbid energy has not been fully cleared.
There is also the expression 'Damtak-jonae (痰濁阻腦).' This is the concept that turbid energy within the body blocks the clear functions of the brain.
→ This reflects the Korean Medicine perception that the brain can become functionally blurred even if there are no structural lesions in the brain itself.
From a modern perspective, this can be linked to concepts such as autonomic nervous system imbalance, decreased mitochondrial energy metabolism, and decreased function of the gut-brain axis.
In other words, brain fog is viewed not simply as a problem of the head, but as a problem where the entire body fails to deliver clear energy to the brain.
6. How should treatment be handled?
Korean Medicine treatment proceeds along three main axes.
- Acupuncture treatment – To awaken the brain and stabilize the autonomic nervous system
- Baekhoe, Sasinchong, Indang → Opening the brain's communication channels
- Naegwan, Taechung → Emotional stability and mind-body connection
- Pungryung, Joksamri → Removal of turbid phlegm and recovery of digestion
- Sinsu, Myeongmun, Gihae → Supplementing organ strength and energy recovery
- Herbal medicine treatment – Opening the orifices and awakening the spirit, nourishing the heart, spleen, and kidneys, and resolving phlegm and turbidity
- Strongly scented herbs (such as Acorus gramineus, Polygala tenuifolia, Poria cocos, etc.) → Stimulating the brain and recovering senses
- Long-term customized prescriptions based on Heart-Spleen Qi Deficiency or Kidney Essence Deficiency
- Traditional medicines that help post-illness recovery, such as 'Jukyeo,' are also used
- Designing life routines
- Morning sunlight exposure → Recovery of melatonin-serotonin rhythm
- Simple brain training → Repeating tasks such as 'making plans, setting order, and remembering'
- Management of sleep, digestive power, and emotional fluctuations → Key conditions for brain fog recovery
7. A disease where despair comes before the illness
Brain fog is not a 'breakdown of the brain.' It is a 'confusion of function' and a 'delay in recovery.' Therefore, it can be reversed.
However, the emotional pain caused by these symptoms is very great. It feels like dementia, it is difficult to explain to others, and nothing shows up on tests, which makes a person even more exhausted.
What is needed at such times is
"Your symptoms are real"
—a single phrase like this. Korean Medicine is a medical science that looks at the flow of the entire body and regulates it even when the cause is unknown. And in times like this, it can be the most powerful weapon.
Brain fog, do not just endure and push through it alone. It is time for proper interpretation and approach.
#BrainFog #CoronaAftereffects
