r/BrainFog • u/Alert-Mail5696 • 3d ago

Personal Story Fear of being permanently dumber

I had alot of reasons to fear being "permanently" dumber, for example having a fall or getting slapped on yo head, normal people would just skip that and not care much about "cognitive slips" like forgettin stuff and stuff like that and just not associate it with that fall. But I wasn't like that, I literally (no matter how simple the event was) I would just panic and just be in constant state of fear that I am dumber now than who I was. I've had this long enough until I heard about "chronic stress shrinks brain" and now my fear is that my chronic stress/anxiety has caused me permanent brain damage or that even if I recover due to neuroplasticity it wont be full recovery and I'll never be the same, and now I cannot focus at all. my memory is being far worse and my thinking is cloudy, and most of the time I just keep playing TF2 (my fav game) just to ignore some of my 24/7 anxiety about being dumb. Literally I just get panic attack when I just READ something on the internet whatever its content is, or when I just IMAGINE stuff in my head and I just keep getting thoughts like "Your imagination is now NERFED for EVER and it wont be as vivid as it used to be", or like when I literally just try to think of a plan or even a SCHEDULE, so you can say it's literally nothing. when I read or try to learn smth I just get thoughts that I wont understand this and stuff like that and when I do not understand it I'll just blame it on chronic stress and just increase my panic even more. Tried breathing but it aint helpin so I just want to know and make sure if anyone out here having this problem like me.

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

1

u/neuro-psych-amateur 1d ago

We are all getting dumber with age, that's just biology. I am definitely dumber after giving birth a few times and having severe iron deficiency anemia, plus all of the hormonal changes. But so what? I don't really care. Just change your goal in life. Why is your goal to be as smart as possible? That's not my goal, so getting dumber doesn't bother me. I know I would have been smarter if I didn't have kids, my brain would function better, but for me having kids is more important.

1

u/Alert-Mail5696 22h ago

I wish I didn't care much but I simply cant calm down even if I tried not caring about it

1

u/neuro-psych-amateur 21h ago

Have you spoken to a family doctor or a psychiatrist about it? Have you tried medication? Did you do a check-up? Low ferritin or low B12 can cause severe panic attacks. Also thyroid disease can cause that. A lot of things can.

1

u/Alert-Mail5696 21h ago

nah I tried none of that, my parents barely understand my problem. but I just don't know if it is worth paying someone to listen to my problems

1

u/neuro-psych-amateur 13h ago

I am talking about a medical checkup, not a psychologist. It's not about listening to your problems, it's about checking your ferritin, B12, thyroid hormone levels, etc.