Oh Fog Me

There is a common term in the Sickosphere at the moment which really irritates me.  Brain Fog.
"Why does it irritate you, oh noble Senator?" I hear my one timid reader asking...
Well because of a number of things.  For a start it is twee, and i really do not do twee.  I would go through Brigadoon with a machete and flame thrower.  But worse from my point of view is that it is totally non specific, referring to a wide range of symptoms.  One persons Brain Fog is not like another.  OK whichever idiot twat first coined the phrase may have thought they were being specific but the problem of false friendship is always there.  If you have a phrase that sounds like something accessible people get it wrong.
In science we get this when the jargon we use is too easy.  Look at the spin on subatomic particles, which isn't spin at all.  Or indeed the relaxation time inherent in many non-dimensionalisations which isn't either a time or anything to do with relaxation.
If you look up many of the chronic incurable illnesses (remorseless fecking arse plagues (RFAPs) as I like to call them) online you will see Brain Fog increasingly listed as a symptom.  Even for the imaginary ones like Adrenal Fatigue or Self Diagnosed Gluten Intolerance (which used to be known as attention seeking in the old days).  It is meaningless twaddle.
So how do we cope with this handwavy bollocks?  I mean even for psychologists this is a tad vague and general.  For myself I tend to break it down into a number of headings and then try to use them.  I also, and I cannot encourage this too firmly, advocate tapping your Dr lightly on the forehead with a plastic spoon every time he or she uses a phrase like this.  Either that or start using phrases like "magic wagon without horses"for car or "pockety bum cover" for trousers until they stop it too.

Brain Fog 1)

Fatigue

You know, being knackered, but knackered in the head.  Mental fatigue is a common consequence of chronic pain or illness

Brain Fog 2)

Cognitive Impairment

Many of the drugs we take, such as opiates, pregabalin, gabapentin, hypnotics etc. etc. affect how we think.  How fast, with how much memory,

Brain Fog 3)

Autonomic problems

I have mentioned my dysautonomia before.  It is one of the key challenges to me getting up in the mornings.  My heart beats at 30 bpm when I am asleep which is not really enough to let my brain get fully going.  Consequently my head has a longer bootup sequence than a 286 running Windows 3.2.

Brain Fog 4)

Dysthymia

I think this is an important one.  I find, at the moment, it very hard to sit and concentrate on anything.  Hard to make it matter enough to focus.  I used to be able to sit down and just do one thing for 8 hrs at a time, no breaks.  Given my ASD-type leanings this is pretty typical.  But now I cant make myslf care enough.  I think this is basically a symptom of the low level depression known as dysthymia.

Brain Fog 4)

Depression

Those who think depression is being sad may not realise inabiit to do or care, everything being behind a wall of grey is classic depression

Brain Fog 5)

Substance Abuse

Well many of us are junkies.

No doubt, gentle reader, you will be able to think of more.  But I ask you is lumping them all together helpful in any way?  Particularly as it is under a baby talk label which makes us sound like we have a reading age of 2.