A modern epidemic
Brain fog or cognitive dysfunction, to use its conventional medical name, is a modern epidemic. Countless numbers of people suffer from forgetfulness, feeling spacey, having trouble concentrating, getting easily distracted, becoming confused, or are unable to find the word they’re searching for - and it’s usually caused by the way we live our lives today. It is also a very common symptom of Hashimoto’s.
Slow down
Choosing to live a simpler, less busy life, at a slower pace; a life that focuses on being in the moment, excludes toxicity wherever possible, minimises stress and prioritises sleep, can reduce brain fog – alongside well-chosen homeopathic remedies. Making lifestyle changes in combination with homeopathy is transformative for Hashimoto’s patients suffering from brain fog.
Book a FREE 15 minute call with me here to discover how homeopathy can heal your Hashimoto’s.
Causes of brain fog
In my ‘Brain Fog - Blog 1’ I discussed two common causes of mental confusion – a lack of sleep and stress. However, there are others, which are also often seen in patients with Hashimoto’s. Addressing these homeopathically will help you begin to clear the fog. (More on causes and how we can address them with homeopathy in ‘Brain Fog – Blog 3’.)
Heavy metal toxicity
Mercury, aluminium, copper, cadmium, nickel, arsenic, and lead are all present in things we come into contact with every day, such as metal cookware and the foods we eat in the form of pesticides and herbicides. Toxic heavy metals oxidise over time, causing inflammation that can damage virtually every system and organ, including our brain and other parts of our nervous system.
Not only are heavy metals damaging in their own right, they are also a neurotoxin (a poison that disrupts nerve function and confuses your immune system), inflaming and irritating our central nervous system, causing brain fog.
The good news is that homeopathy can detox heavy metals. A professional homeopath will prescribe appropriate remedies to remove this damaging toxicity.
Candida
The functional medicine expert Dr Amy Myers’s says that nine out of 10 patients she sees have an overgrowth of the yeast Candida and she estimates that nearly half of women have a Candida imbalance – that is when the body produces too much yeast and overwhelms our good bacteria. Although we usually think of a vaginal yeast infection when we think of Candida, the signs of a Candida overgrowth can be much subtler, such as a brain fog and poor memory.
Many Hashi’s patients suffer from Candida and it is likely one of the causes of an imbalanced immune system. When the body overproduces Candida, it breaks down the wall of the intestine, causing ‘leaky gut’ and releases toxic by-products into your body. Leaky gut disrupts your body’s ability to digest and absorb nutrients (causing nutrition deficiencies), and can lead to health issues beyond digestive issues, including autoimmunity.
In addition to leaky gut, the other problem with Candida is the effect it has on our immune system. About 60 to 80 per cent of our immune system lives in our gut. With yeast overgrowth, the production of IgA - the antibody immunoglobulin A - which is vital to our immunity, is suppressed. So many patients with Candida overgrowth go on to suffer immunity issues.
There are a number of great remedies for Candida that your homeopath can prescribe according to your particular symptoms.
Threats to brain health
So you can see how our modern lifestyle puts us at greater risk of developing brain fog as we ingest substances that are a threat to our brain health. (Check out my ‘Brain Fog Blog 3’ where I discuss more threats to our brain health – and importantly - the best brain protectors.)
Superfoods and supplements for brain health
Here are my top three superfoods and tonics for mental confusion, to use alongside homeopathic remedies. Remember, these tonics are best taken alongside homeopathy for deep acting, truly restorative results.
Gingko Biloba has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. More recently, scientists have shown that this plant extract can protect your brain from the toxicity associated with aluminium chloride, which has been linked to Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive impairments.
It is believed to positively affect your brain by increasing blood supply, reducing blood viscosity, boosting neurotransmitters and, due to its antioxidant properties, helps protect your cells by reducing harmful free radicals in your circulatory and nervous systems, including your brain.
Activated charcoal is powerful enough to detox poisons, drugs, and alcohol overdoses. The charcoal’s millions of tiny pores keeps toxins such as pollution, fertiliser and pesticides from being absorbed into your body. As previously discussed, when you don’t keep those toxins out, you can experience their negative mental effects in the form of brain fog.
Bacopa Monnieri is an Ayuverdic adapatagenic herb, which has been used for thousands of years, this time in Indian rather than Chinese medicine. Its primary benefit is its positive effect on cognition, due to its ability to reduce neural inflammation. Studies have found that it improves memory, our ability to learn more quickly, and interestingly most improves delayed word recall – a problem many Hashimoto’s patients experience. Note that to see improvement with Bacopa it’s advised you take it for at least 12 weeks to experience improvements.
How homeopathy helps clear the fog
More importantly than these superfood and supplement hacks, we have a number of homeopathic remedies for brain fog. Below are three of our top remedies. See which one describes your symptoms most closely, and take just one remedy, daily, in 30c potency for a couple of weeks.
In a chronic condition like Hashimoto’s this is more of a sticking plaster approach. It isn’t a substitute for working with a professional homeopath who will have a more thorough knowledge of all the potential remedies that might fit your symptom picture. They can address your symptoms across your mental, emotional and physical levels to stimulate your body to return to balance. Working in this way can reverse your Hashimoto’s, rather than just clear one of your symptoms.
Book a FREE 15 minute call with me HERE to discover how homeopathy can heal your Hashimoto’s and clear the fog.
Gelsemium
Best for: brain fog caused by anticipatory anxiety. Useful for anyone whose brain fog is worse when speaking in public, maybe presenting at work or in meetings. If your brain fog just makes you want to retreat and actually not want to speak at all, you just want to be left alone.
Carcinosin
Best for: brain fog caused by insomnia and chronic fatigue, or from lack of sleep from nursing a loved one. Brain fog with restlessness, if you get bored easily and can’t concentrate or focus on one thing.
Cocculus
Best for: brain fog caused by lack of sleep or jet lag, or is worse during your period or pregnancy. Also, if you feel that time passes too quickly or have dizziness with your brain fog.
Book a FREE 15 minute call with me here to discover how homeopathy can heal your brain fog and your Hashimoto’s.
Instagram @thehashimotoshomeopath
Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/naturalhashimotoshelp
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/carolynhowgegohomeopathy
Website www.carolynhowgegohomeopathy.co.uk
Brain fog or cognitive dysfunction, to use its conventional medical name, is a modern epidemic. Countless numbers of people suffer from forgetfulness, feeling spacey, having trouble concentrating, getting easily distracted, becoming confused, or are unable to find the word they’re searching for - and it’s usually caused by the way we live our lives today. It is also a very common symptom of Hashimoto’s.
Slow down
Choosing to live a simpler, less busy life, at a slower pace; a life that focuses on being in the moment, excludes toxicity wherever possible, minimises stress and prioritises sleep, can reduce brain fog – alongside well-chosen homeopathic remedies. Making lifestyle changes in combination with homeopathy is transformative for Hashimoto’s patients suffering from brain fog.
Book a FREE 15 minute call with me here to discover how homeopathy can heal your Hashimoto’s.
Causes of brain fog
In my ‘Brain Fog - Blog 1’ I discussed two common causes of mental confusion – a lack of sleep and stress. However, there are others, which are also often seen in patients with Hashimoto’s. Addressing these homeopathically will help you begin to clear the fog. (More on causes and how we can address them with homeopathy in ‘Brain Fog – Blog 3’.)
Heavy metal toxicity
Mercury, aluminium, copper, cadmium, nickel, arsenic, and lead are all present in things we come into contact with every day, such as metal cookware and the foods we eat in the form of pesticides and herbicides. Toxic heavy metals oxidise over time, causing inflammation that can damage virtually every system and organ, including our brain and other parts of our nervous system.
Not only are heavy metals damaging in their own right, they are also a neurotoxin (a poison that disrupts nerve function and confuses your immune system), inflaming and irritating our central nervous system, causing brain fog.
The good news is that homeopathy can detox heavy metals. A professional homeopath will prescribe appropriate remedies to remove this damaging toxicity.
Candida
The functional medicine expert Dr Amy Myers’s says that nine out of 10 patients she sees have an overgrowth of the yeast Candida and she estimates that nearly half of women have a Candida imbalance – that is when the body produces too much yeast and overwhelms our good bacteria. Although we usually think of a vaginal yeast infection when we think of Candida, the signs of a Candida overgrowth can be much subtler, such as a brain fog and poor memory.
Many Hashi’s patients suffer from Candida and it is likely one of the causes of an imbalanced immune system. When the body overproduces Candida, it breaks down the wall of the intestine, causing ‘leaky gut’ and releases toxic by-products into your body. Leaky gut disrupts your body’s ability to digest and absorb nutrients (causing nutrition deficiencies), and can lead to health issues beyond digestive issues, including autoimmunity.
In addition to leaky gut, the other problem with Candida is the effect it has on our immune system. About 60 to 80 per cent of our immune system lives in our gut. With yeast overgrowth, the production of IgA - the antibody immunoglobulin A - which is vital to our immunity, is suppressed. So many patients with Candida overgrowth go on to suffer immunity issues.
There are a number of great remedies for Candida that your homeopath can prescribe according to your particular symptoms.
Threats to brain health
So you can see how our modern lifestyle puts us at greater risk of developing brain fog as we ingest substances that are a threat to our brain health. (Check out my ‘Brain Fog Blog 3’ where I discuss more threats to our brain health – and importantly - the best brain protectors.)
Superfoods and supplements for brain health
Here are my top three superfoods and tonics for mental confusion, to use alongside homeopathic remedies. Remember, these tonics are best taken alongside homeopathy for deep acting, truly restorative results.
Gingko Biloba has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. More recently, scientists have shown that this plant extract can protect your brain from the toxicity associated with aluminium chloride, which has been linked to Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive impairments.
It is believed to positively affect your brain by increasing blood supply, reducing blood viscosity, boosting neurotransmitters and, due to its antioxidant properties, helps protect your cells by reducing harmful free radicals in your circulatory and nervous systems, including your brain.
Activated charcoal is powerful enough to detox poisons, drugs, and alcohol overdoses. The charcoal’s millions of tiny pores keeps toxins such as pollution, fertiliser and pesticides from being absorbed into your body. As previously discussed, when you don’t keep those toxins out, you can experience their negative mental effects in the form of brain fog.
Bacopa Monnieri is an Ayuverdic adapatagenic herb, which has been used for thousands of years, this time in Indian rather than Chinese medicine. Its primary benefit is its positive effect on cognition, due to its ability to reduce neural inflammation. Studies have found that it improves memory, our ability to learn more quickly, and interestingly most improves delayed word recall – a problem many Hashimoto’s patients experience. Note that to see improvement with Bacopa it’s advised you take it for at least 12 weeks to experience improvements.
How homeopathy helps clear the fog
More importantly than these superfood and supplement hacks, we have a number of homeopathic remedies for brain fog. Below are three of our top remedies. See which one describes your symptoms most closely, and take just one remedy, daily, in 30c potency for a couple of weeks.
In a chronic condition like Hashimoto’s this is more of a sticking plaster approach. It isn’t a substitute for working with a professional homeopath who will have a more thorough knowledge of all the potential remedies that might fit your symptom picture. They can address your symptoms across your mental, emotional and physical levels to stimulate your body to return to balance. Working in this way can reverse your Hashimoto’s, rather than just clear one of your symptoms.
Book a FREE 15 minute call with me HERE to discover how homeopathy can heal your Hashimoto’s and clear the fog.
Gelsemium
Best for: brain fog caused by anticipatory anxiety. Useful for anyone whose brain fog is worse when speaking in public, maybe presenting at work or in meetings. If your brain fog just makes you want to retreat and actually not want to speak at all, you just want to be left alone.
Carcinosin
Best for: brain fog caused by insomnia and chronic fatigue, or from lack of sleep from nursing a loved one. Brain fog with restlessness, if you get bored easily and can’t concentrate or focus on one thing.
Cocculus
Best for: brain fog caused by lack of sleep or jet lag, or is worse during your period or pregnancy. Also, if you feel that time passes too quickly or have dizziness with your brain fog.
Book a FREE 15 minute call with me here to discover how homeopathy can heal your brain fog and your Hashimoto’s.
Instagram @thehashimotoshomeopath
Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/naturalhashimotoshelp
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/carolynhowgegohomeopathy
Website www.carolynhowgegohomeopathy.co.uk
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