I've been struggling with cognitive stuff a lot since my dx. It's a major issue with me. Sure some of my memory issues could be depression (I've suffered for 30 years) or the antidepressants (currently on high dosage), or perimenopause (year 9). But since these things have been ongoing for some time, I am able to differentiate what memory issues are related to them from what is MS. My problems with spelling is definately NEW and I blame the MS. I never had a problem with spelling before. In fact, I only developed this problem within the past three months or so.

The cog-fog, is also MS, as I never had this problem before either, not even during my worst days of depression (which included a couple suicide attempts, but I was always able to work). On my foggy days I can barely get through the work day.

The forgetting names has been with me a long time and may be a few things, but it has certainly gotten much worse with the onset of MS. And forgetting words was an occasional problem that has also gotten much worse.

I suppose it all varies person to person, but I have noticed a significant increase in how often I forget things, how spaced out I am, and my inability to concentrate (sometimes I can't even read a book without getting lost) just in the few months since the testing began in August 2007 and my dx in Nov 2007. And none of it has improved with time, I'm sad to say. My daytimer has become my security blanket.