Does “Brain Fog” Ever Go Away?

July 18, 2012 / Charles W. Lapp, MD / Ask The Doctor

Q: Adam W asked about cognitive problems: “Does the ‘brain fog’ or ‘spaced out’ symptom of CFS ever resolve?”

A: As with most CFS symptoms, cognitive dysfunction waxes and wanes. One report suggests that IQ falls during a flare of cognitive dysfunction, and our personal experience is that memory, attention, processing speed, and other parameters also decline during a flare or relapse. The good news is that cognition improves as one recovers from CFS, and I am not aware of any permanent cognitive deficits resulting from CFS.

The two “never-ending symptoms of CFS” are fatigue and non-restorative sleep. Those two symptoms seem to resolve last when people recover from CFS.

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Dr. Hillman was born and reared in Utica, New York. He attended college at Clarkson University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering, and then spent two years toward a master’s degree in biochemistry/oncology at the University of Buffalo’s Roswell Park Division, where he did research in leukemia. Dr. Hillman attended St. George’s University School of Medicine, and completed his clinical years at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, graduating in 1996. During the Summer of 1994 he also did research at the University of Buffalo Dental School using PCR technology on RNA subtyping of gram negative oral bacteria. Following medical school, Hillman went on to a Family Practice Residency at North Shore / Long Island Jewish Hospital in Bay Shore, NY.

After his residency, Dr. Hillman worked for the US Army at the West Point Military Academy (Keller Army Hospital family practice unit), worked in the Emergency Room and hospital admitting areas, and ran a private practice as well. From 2005-2006 he also worked at the Winn Army Hospital at Fort Stewart, GA, before setting up a private Family Practice in Huntersville, NC in 2007. In addition to his private practice Dr. Hillman also has an interest in helping clients with disabilities. He has worked for ProMed Urgent Care in Occupational Medicine and performed over 13,000 examinations for Social Security Disability.

Dr. Hillman has a family member with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, so he has a long standing interest and empathy with the disorder! He is married and has two sons and a daughter. The family lives in Huntersville.

Hunter-Hopkins Center, PLLC

Does “Brain Fog” Ever Go Away?

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