Dealing with my brain frog (not a typo)

Nuisance or buddy?

Author

Neha Maity
June 20, 2025

Over a year ago, I was infected with COVID-19 for the second time. I was out for 2 weeks with head congestion, cough, and sore throat among other symptoms. After the acute symptoms lifted, I noticed I was not my 100% pre-COVID infection self. I had constant headaches, waxing and waning as the days and months went on. I still have headaches and fogginess in my head as I’m writing this. I also do not have the same fitness levels that I did before infection. I used to be able to rock climb for 2 hours at a time multiple days a week. Now I can only do 20 minutes if at all and I go once a month or less to the climbing gym now.

When reading about brain fog online, it was tempting to pronounce it as brain frog. Even one of my medical specialists accidentally said brain frog once. The constant symptoms have been no fun for me, and I thought to myself, what if I thought of all the symptoms in my head as a frog causing trouble?

Sometime, my brain frog likes to jump a lot towards the back of my head. Other times, he’s closer to the front of my head. Sometimes he blurs all my thoughts from causing lots of ruckus. There are times when no matter how hard I try, I can’t do a task in the moment, especially if it requires exertion. I’ve gone through bouts of trial and error, figuring out ways to work with my brain frog.

  • Pace myself with tasks. It’s tempting to want to get a task 100% done in one go but I can’t operate that way anymore. I break a large task down into several smaller steps and aim to get a smaller step done.

  • Make sure I prioritize sleep. I’ve dealt with insomnia several times throughout my life. Ensuring I’m well rested helps me help my brain frog be rested too.

  • Take time away from my screens. When I realize I’m just staring not making any progress towards a task, I go knit, crochet, or play piano. When returning to complete the task, I feel refreshed and like I’ve hit reset.

Have you dealt with headaches and fog in the brain? Is there something that worked for you? Reply and let me know!