Good afternoon my Fibro friends,

I found this information... a portion of a larger article... and wanted to share it with you. I've found it difficult to explain fibro fog to people. Last week I had a talk with my boss and couldn't quite get my point across to him. I passed this on to him so he would understand me better and why there are times I mess things up without knowing why! He was very grateful to get the information - he's very supportive of me. I will put quotes around the article because it's not in my own words, but the author is Lynne Matallana.

I hope this is useful to you all....

"Cognitive Impairments: Fibro Fog
Cognitive problems such as impaired memory, concentration, and thought processing are common in people with fibromyalgia. It can be a difficult symptom to deal with, especially because the symptoms can interfere with your ability to remain employed.
Jennifer Glass, Ph.D., says “Cognitive function can be thought of as the ability to carry out intellectual activities or processes, such as thinking, reasoning, remembering, imagining, or learning words. When the ‘thinking’ or ‘remembering’ actions seem faulty, completing simple daily tasks or job-related activities can become challenging and frustrating, no matter how familiar the activity.”
In research studies at the University of Michigan, Denise Park, Ph.D., and Jennifer Glass, Ph.D., found that the cognitive performance of fibromyalgia patients was equivalent to that of adults who were 20 years older than them. However, on tests that evaluated speed of cognition, the people in the fibromyalgia group performed the same as those in their same age range. This seems to show that the cognitive problems experienced by a person with fibromyalgia are not the same as cognition problems that develop with age.
There are several types of systems that are involved in the process of memory. They include the following:
--Working memory: Combines short term memory with other mental processes to enable us to “work things out in our heads.” We use working memory when we do mental arithmetic.
--Episodic memory: Refers to the memory for particular episodes. An example is remembering what we were doing when we heard about the September 11 terrorist attacks.
--Semantic memory: Refers to our stored knowledge of facts, separate from any particular episodes associated with those facts.
The working and episodic memory systems of people with fibromyalgia, which combine short term memory with other mental processes, were found to be less efficient than those without fibromyalgia who were the same age and had the same amount of education.
Park also found that the cognition problems are not associated with depression, because the fibromyalgia study participants were still able to perform at a relatively fast rate and those with depression were not. Although the exact reason why people with fibromyalgia have fibro fog is not know, it is thought to have something to do with our neuroendocrine abnormalities, sleep problems, mental fatigue, and chronic pain. By treating these problems, you might also find relief from cognitive symptoms. "

God bless, Jen
Moderators... if this isn't okay to post, please delete! Thanks, :) If it is, then I have other information from the same article that I'd like to post parts of....