r/workingmoms • u/OscarGlorious • 10h ago

Vent 2.5 years PP and brain fog has never lifted...

My youngest is now 2.5. With my first, I remember starting to feel like myself more around this age, and starting to (slowly) take on challenging projects at work again. This time around, my mom brain is still in full effect, and I just don't have the intellectual capacity that I used to. I keep thinking to myself "I used to be smart and now I feel dumb all the time." There are some differences this time around, sure; my youngest had colic and was a terrible sleeper for the first year, and I'm still recovering from the brutal sleep deprivation. I had thyroid cancer in February and surgery to remove my thyroid, and I'm still adjusting my levels and dealing with chronic fatigue, and life is just that much busier now with 3 kids (also have a 5 yo stepson who we have half the time.) But still, the level of decline in my cognitive abilities is staggering. There's no way I could ace law school now like I did 15 years ago....I'm grieving the loss of who I used to be.
Anyone dealing with the same? Is there any hope of having a functional brain again?!

11 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

18

u/MoonstoneHeel 10h ago

Between raising three kids, surviving years of disrupted sleep, and recovering from thyroid cancer plus a thyroidectomy, I'm not sure I'd blame this on mom brain alone. That's a lot for one body and brain to be carrying.

2

u/Dragonfruit_60 9h ago

Yup. I am dealing with the same thing (10 months pp). How is this the same brain that did complex math and published in scientific journals? I don't know what to do. I thought it would get better once my baby started sleeping, but she sleeps 7 hrs straight now and I'm still dumb. I'm trying the gym, maybe that will help. If anyone came out the other side of this, please advise!

2

u/Dodie85 9h ago

Yes, my youngest is now almost 3, and while I’ve improved from when he was smaller, my brain is not what it was pre kids. I worry about this a lot. I’m a software developer and I don’t think I’m good enough to survive the combo of offshore devs using AI (which is how our company is backfilling all roles).