Foggy Mind

[kyshiag]

My husband is has ESRD and has had his fistula placed for about a year.  According to the doctor, dialysis is inevitable.  For years he had the best memory.  He could remember minute facts about anything to the point of being irritating.  However, his memory appears to be slowly disappearing.  I believe that it started years ago--even before we were told he had diabetic kidney disease in 2008.  Because his memory had been so good, I would often accept the blame when I thought I'd told him something and he'd say I never said it or if the door was left unlock, etc.  The final straw came today when he called me to tell me Walgreens had erased his prescription records online.  Come to find out he could not remember the username he'd created and had been using for years.  My question is:  Will his memory return to normal or something near normal when he starts dialysis or gets a transplant?

[Joe Paul]

I know for myself that short term memory did seem to fade while on dialysis. Now that I have a transplant, it is better, but I cant say age doesn't play a part in not remembering some things now days.

[KICKSTART]

Sorry it goes with kidney failure and doesnt improve with dialysis !

[gothiclovemonkey]

I agree, I have had a terrible memory since this all started.
Its very frustratinig.

[okarol]

This article may be helpful.
I have posted the Abstract but you can view the full article by following the link below.

Cognitive functioning pre- to post-kidney transplantation—a prospective study
   1.
      1Centre for Behavioural and Social Sciences in Medicine, University College London, UK, 2Department of Nephrology, Middlesex Hospital, London, UK and 3Department of Nephrology, Royal Free Hospital, London, UK

   1. Correspondence and offprint requests to: Prof. Stanton P. Newman, Centre for Behavioural and Social Sciences in Medicine, Division of Medicine, University College London, Wolfson Building, 48 Riding House Street, London W1N 8AA, UK. Email: s.newman@ucl.ac.uk

    * Received February 2, 2006.
    * Accepted June 8, 2006.

Abstract

Background. Kidney transplantation (TX) may ameliorate the neuropsychological (NP) impairments in end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Previous studies have suffered from small sample sizes, lack of standardization of dialysis adequacy, and insufficiently sensitive NP tests.

Methods. Twenty-eight medically stable patients aged 44.04 (12.01) years with ESRD were investigated before and at 6 months after successful kidney TX using an NP test battery, which assessed attention–concentration, psychomotor ability and memory. Formal kinetic modelling of dialysis delivery ensured adequate renal replacement therapy. Transplant function was good on stable doses of immunosuppressive medication, without evidence of rejection at the time of testing.

Results. Within-subject comparisons showed statistically significant improvement in memory performance after kidney TX. Other NP measures (attention–concentration and psychomotor abilities) showed non-significant improvements. Normative comparisons showed NP impairments on dialysis, which were not apparent after TX.

Conclusion. These data demonstrate improvements in cognition following kidney TX and emphasize the reversibility of the memory problems evidenced in dialysis.

http://ndt.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/11/3275.full

[kristina]

I would like to make a contribution here, but please note
I can only speak for myself & I do have other medical diseases
other than the fact my kidneys are only functioning 10-12%,
though I am not on dialysis yet.

For me, there are two elements to the foggyness:
The first, is a physical symptom; the second is more a state of mind one can easily get into.

The only way I can make some improvement to the physical symptom of foggyness
is to carefully regulate the nourishments & liquids my body needs.
Never to have too much - or not enough,
because when the kidneys aren’t functioning effectively
I feel the result could be making me feel foggy and under-par.

It is very difficult to come to terms with such failing health and the stress
of dealing with it & the prospect of the future can be so overwhelming & daunting,
so that the mind gets easily a bit fuzzy, overcrowded and overloaded.

These two reactions sometimes come together
and that’s when the mind-foggyness is at its worst.

When I feel overcrowded & overloaded with my package of medical difficulties
I have to immediately take a distance to it and relax in some way,
diverting my mind to other things & slowly I can get some balance back to my situation.

The side-effects of medication does not help much either...

There does not seem to be a perfect answer, so I just try my best.

Good luck from Kristina.

[Riki]

I've had some problems with short term memory (my mom gave up on me remembering to give her phone messages or tell her when someone had called a long time ago), but him forgetting things that he's known for a long time concerns me a little bit.  You might want to mention it to his doctor, just in case there's something else going on.

[RightSide]

There are several mental symptoms associated with ESRD, such as dizziness, forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating.

My dizziness and difficulty concentrating definitely improved with dialysis.  My forgetfulness, not so much. 

[Bruno]

My experience is that my foggy mind disappeared and my memory came back after dialysis...I am feeling great and am writing a book on my experiences...it has certainly given me a new start in life. I'm 75.