I had a brain freeze this morning. Really scary. I was completing an online form that asked for my home phone number and I totally could not remember what it was. I knew what my cell phone number was.....and my address and all the other info. But for the life of me I couldn't remember what my home number was.

Granted, I don't write it, type it or even think about it very often. Plus I never call it! And when I tried to look it up in my own cell phone directory it was listed as "Home" and I had to search for the number. The cell finally displayed it. As soon as I saw it I recognized and remembered it.

But it was so scary not being able to remember my own phone number. Kind of made me mad.

Yeah, that is very scary...and makes you feel vulnerable, too, I bet. When that happens, I think of my poor MIL and all of the difficulties she has trying to function now with Alz...makes my heart melt even more.

I have to FORCE myself to remember that not all of the cognitive stuff is MS. Everybody occasionally walks into a room and can't remember why, or suddenly can't remember a name or number you've known forever.

I have the brain freeze sometimes, but especially under stress. Someone would come into the Post Office and say, "Can I send this can of Spam via insured mail to Botswana?" and suddenly I couldn't even think where or how to find the answer. The person might have well have been speaking Martian.

What really upsets me is drawing a blank on an entire scenario...back to the Post Office again: someone would walk in and say, "We got the results back!" and I'd be totally blank, no idea what she was talking about. A biopsy? Pregnancy test? Application for a mortgage? And it wouldn't be some minor thing; it would be a major life event, and the person would have been SHOCKED to think I "forgot".

I got pretty good at faking my way through the freezes and blanks, but sometimes I was trapped. Boooo.

Once at work the GM asked me a question during a meeting and I just sat there with that "deer in the headlights" look. I did not know what he was talking about. And it was something I dealt with everyday. He may as well have asked me to do a calculus problem. At that point in time the only other person at work who knew I had MS was my boss. I knew at that moment I needed to make plans for the future. A year later I was on SSDI and not working anymore.

I like old sci fi movies from the 50`s and 60`s, but at times the names of them and the actors in them escapes me.

As long as I can find my way home if I decide to go some where I am good!

There are three circumstances under which my brain just locks up:

1. When I'm caught by surprise. If someone suddenly walked up to me and said, "Quick! How much is 8 times 7?" or "What is your middle name?" I'd say, "uh...uh...uh..."

2. When there is a lot of peripheral noise/motion, such as after church with everybody milling around chatting, kids playing, etc. Someone will be asking me a question, and I know I'm supposed to respond, but I just lock up.

3. When I least expect it.

Oh, names are the worst for me. I'll be watching something and know I should know the name of the actor or actress....it's on the tip of my tongue.....but I can't think of it. Thank goodness for Google! I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the computer to find a name. Once I see it I remember it!

i know what you mean.
i have a lot of cognitive issues, especially with names. it's embarrassing.
and last nite i was going between 2 channels with the remote. every time i was on 1 channel i couldn't remember what the other was i was just watching. duh...

in other ways my thinking is still sharp and i bet yours is too.
try not to stress about it. that just makes it worse.

Sometimes I wonder, is it age or MS? But @!#$ it, I look good for an old bat

[QUOTE=Blessings2You;844641]

I have the brain freeze sometimes, but especially under stress. Someone would come into the Post Office and say, "Can I send this can of Spam via insured mail to Botswana?"

I may get brain freeze but I know I don't like Spam.