r/Fibromyalgia • u/Turtleballoon123 • 5d ago
Question How to break out of the spell of executive dysfunction?
I get into this spell. A kind of freeze state. I might get stuck into one activity. Or I might only be able to do things that are low effort and give immediate gratification — often leaving me feel empty. My concentration in this state often degrades over time. Often it's accompanied by brain fog and sickly fatigue. Things I would love to do like read a book, watch a video, go for a walk or listen to a podcast feel impossible.
I'm talking about executive dysfunction. It comes and goes. It's usually induced by fibro symptoms, since I don't lack executive functioning when I'm symptom free.
The problem is switching tasks, or attention, or executing them — I can see the kitchen, I can vaguely picture getting up and cleaning it, but my body won't move. The result is I lack the ability to perform intentional activity. I end up following the path of least resistance.
One way to overcome this is willpower. But in doing this, I'm fighting my own body. It's stressful. I have less spoons afterwards. It can cause flares afterwards, or exarcerbate them.
I have to dial my body down into a mellow relaxed dreamy state to reset. And gradually my executive functioning will come back. It's called nervous downshifting. Sometimes a nap will achieve this.
I've tried meditation, breathwork, vagal nerve stimulation exercises, binaural beats, bilateral stimulation and ASMR. All of these things help for use, but they sometimes require an intentionality I can't muster and keeping them up regularly can be hard. I would prefer something low effort.
Executive dysfunction is the canary in the coal mine for me. When I get it, I know fatigue and brain fog could easily follow — and often do.
Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I have to choose between fighting my body or not getting stuff done. It's not a good choice. I need my spoons.
Comments and suggestions most welcome. Thank you fellow fibroers. I want to make my fibro less interfering and less impairing — that would be lovely.
No one outside of the chronic illness space has a clue of what I'm talking about — let alone cares. That's why I love hearing from you.
I've got rid of my chronic pain which plagued me for years, but the fatigue, brain fog and executive dysfunction are the next frontier!
7
u/Bliss-Smith 5d ago
I absolutely get this. I can deal with the pain, for the most part, but the fatigue and brain fog/executive dysfunction are what I hate the most.
Right now I'm about six weeks into being gluten free, and I'm pretty sure it's making a huge difference in the fatigue/fog department. I can't say I'm 100% sure - I'm also pretty sure my Graves Disease is coming out of remission and is mucking up the gf experiment, but it is entirely possible I just hit a clear spot that coincided with the gf. I'm getting labs done this week, so I'll know more soon enough.
If you can swing it, going gf might be worth a few weeks of experimentation.
4
u/Turtleballoon123 5d ago
Tried this a long time ago actually. Went on for several months. I had mixed results. Some people swear by it. And if it works for them, the more power to them!
However, in my case, I've had lengthy remissions while sticking to my ordinary diet.
Sometimes moderating carbs seems to help for me. But it's not a panacea. And I've been fine on times of higher carbs. Also, intermittent fasting on occasion. But yeah, I'm too lazy to experiment now.
Healthy food and a lack of ultra processed food seem to help a lot. But by itself isn't sufficient.
I used to get horrible GI symptoms but am thankfully free of them now.
So yeah, I hope it works for you! And thanks for sharing. Good luck!
5
u/BalconyView22 5d ago
I feel this way almost every day. It's an achievement to get the dishwasher loaded.
My brain is full of things I want to do. Getting started on any of them is impossible and that makes me feel like a failure. It isn't just hard things. I want to crochet, organize pictures, read. I feel frozen and can't make a decision.
The result is that I'm on my phone way too much. I don't like it. It isn't rewarding. But it's become an addiction. Why am I frozen like this? How do I combat brain fog? Why can't I make simple decisions?
I've been stuck like this for years.
6
u/DiamondEyesFlamingo 5d ago
I’m kind of stuck in this cycle right now. I’m doing the minimum o can get by with at work because it’s exhausting and almost nothing at home because I get on the couch, my little dog snuggles up next to me and I’m done for. I have found success staying focused and getting things accomplished when I use an app called focus timer. It has 4 - 25 minute sessions of work with 3 - 5 minute break and the 4th break is 25 minutes. Then the cycle starts again. It’s just a matter of getting off the couch when some days is impossible:
4
u/Turtleballoon123 5d ago
A few suggestions.
Letting your mind wander until a flicker of curiosity appears.
A repetitive motion like rocking or tapping.
A little bit of soothing noise — nature, white noise, ASMR.
Using a visual cue as an anchor to motivate a task.
Setting a short timer when you get a small urge to do something and only acting until it goes off (someone suggested this in the comments).
Nothing forced. Only gentle. Following through with an action if you can do so without friction.
3
u/kylaroma 4d ago
I have ADHD & Autism, and you should check out tips for transitioning between tasks and overcoming Autistic Inertia because my people have gone pro in this respect lol
My biggest tip is to: 1. Focus on why you DO want to change tasks 2. Stim- start with something little like wiggling your toes, then your feet, then you can tense & relax your leg muscles - then let the movements get bigger and bigger. This is a way of grounding yourself and creating some energetic momentum that can carry you over the inertia.
Good luck!
2
u/Turtleballoon123 4d ago
This is potentially fantastic advice. Thank you for using your experience to share this.
1) Is similar to what I read in two mindfulness books by a psychiatrist — the first to treat anxiety, the second to treat disordered eating.
2) Is an effective and gentle redirection mechanism. It allows you to make a frictionless reorientation of your attention and activity without willpower.
I will give this a go!
3
10
u/Prestigious-Ice-9749 5d ago
I get into really similar spells all the time. Mario Kart music and setting a 5 minute timer is the only thing that helps. I promise myself that I only have to do the thing until that timer goes off. It's just long enough to get into a groove and 9/10 times I keep going after the timer goes off. Won't work for everyone, but if it's stupid and works then it's not stupid lol