It sounds like the symptoms you describe are very similar to what I have experienced. I have worked tirelessly for 10+ years to relieve them, making substantial progress and still working on it. I'm 27 now, and went from a mental clarity, energy, and life quality of ~4/10 , to now about ~8/10 on average.
There are a large number of different things that have helped me and that continue to be a critical part of my daily regimen. Ultimately I just had to read everything I could get my hands on (forums like this included).. then patiently try each promising thing and evaluate the outcome. You will eventually succeed if you are patient, persistent, and careful.
Without time to post all of the things that are critical to my successful reduction in 'brain fog' and dullness.. i'll provide a few links and a few ideas to start with here..
Whats your sleep schedule like? What time range do you go to bed and wake?
What do you feel like after a night of full or partial sleep deprivation? Here is one of my threads on Wake therapy + Light Therapy, which is one of the most powerful means i've ever come across for relief of my dullness, fatigue, dysthymia:
http://www.addforums...ad.php?t=117934Like any remedy/drug/supplement you might try, not everyone is a "responder" to it. For those who are responders, it still may require some tweaking as to how to make it work for them.
From a broad perspective, much of my relief has come from exploring and trying things related to:
- CFS/CFIDS
- Including thyroid and testosterone issues, not originally detected by blood tests
- ADHD (inattentive type) . AKA "slow cognitive tempo" or SCT.. see the adhd forums
- Depression & Seasonal Affective Disorder
- Gluten Intolerance and many other food allergies & sensitivities/intolerance. And importantly, restricting fats and carbs, even "healthy ones".
After a base of a good quality multivitamin, some of the more powerful among cognitive enhancing nootropics, drugs, etc for me have been:
- High dose b12 -methylcobalimin (sublingual or injectable). Sublingual is a good starting point. B12 is perhaps one of the few things that is nearly universally well tolerated that can be started right away with nearly zero risk and a very good upside potential with the symptoms you describe. A previous poster said to take folic acid, which I agree with - but for me there is a thresshold where taking more than 50% to 100% of the daily value ends up making me too spacy and does not allow my brain to engage. Any form of folate and many of the methyl donors in general require a tricky balance for me.
- ALC in micro-doses
- Ribose
- Omega 3
Here is some more from an older post of mine but still relevant:
http://www.addforums...05&postcount=60- Deprenyl
- Adderall & Ritalin
- Diflucan & Nystatin (antifungal- which produce initial 'die off' type reaction and then huge improvement in clarity for me)
You also mentioned anxiety, for which there are probably hundreds of viable options. The most profound in my case has been integrating the ideas from Eckhart Tolle's Books "The Power of Now", and "A New Earth". That, plus a lot of different supplements and some meds.
Edited by ryan474, 12 October 2012 - 11:42 AM.