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by timr 1791 days ago
> If the person lacks dysphoria or anhedonia, would that satisfy the question?

No. That is certainly more specific than ~all of what you hear in the media surrounding "brain fog", but you can't define something by what it isn't.

Example: I have the wiggles. I'm not itchy though, and my muscles don't hurt.

OK, great. What are the wiggles?

> the last time I had a serious flu I found that even after I felt better, it was extremely difficult to focus at work. For about 3 days, gradually improving each. I suspect that is what people refer to as "brain fog"

Could be! The problem is, until there's a definition (and ideally some kind of objective measure), all of these self-reports are blind people describing different parts of an elephant.

> I guess a more constructive question would be -- assuming a long term cognitive impact, what (practical) research should these researchers be doing instead? Or what if when they asked about brain fog they _also_ asked about depressive symptoms?

We could start by simply using established terminology and testing. What percentage of patients reporting "brain fog" show up as depressed using a standard screen?

It's literally the easiest thing in the world to do...why isn't it done?