Howdy everyone this is bobcat,

Well MS may affect us all differently but the one thing that I know most of us CAN relate to and have in common is the infamous, or maybe it is just famous, COG FOG!

You know the attack of the "killer ummmmmmmmmm's" that is what i call it.

I haven't been fully dx with MS, not had a recent MRI either or a LP. But like so many other things on this forum this is a point where i can truely relate to ya'll!

It helps to laugh about it b/c otherwise it just makes u want to cry!

My experience with Cog Fog is that when I'm typing or speaking all of a sudden the little goober words suddenly skip from my throat to the tip of my tongue and stay just out of reach.

It takes olympic style acrobatics (mentally) to catch up with the goobers and alais sometimes it is just impossible and i have to either get frustrated or just laugh about it.

I used to be able to "compensate" for it by talking around in circles for HOURS or just repeat myself over and over and over and over... you get the point anyway, when I'm off the medicine that I was taking for MG the cog fog is horrible. I'm a sputtering Ummmmmm-a-holic!

Anyway i have noticed that when it is 3 am and the spasms in my muscles wake me up (which always happens when I'm not on the MG meds or during a flare up).

i get up out of bed and come over to the computer and i can write some of the most eloquent stuff that you ever saw! See: my thread on living the high life in limbo land. http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread40688.html


then when I wake up in the morning, all is forgotten like a weird dream, but it was a good dream b/c for a moment i had relief from the cog fog.

Each morning like the swan princess the cog fog (which is about as thick as the London Fog and as reliable too) comes rollin' back in!


Anyway, I am interested to know if anyone else has had similar (or different) experiences with Cog Fog!

Wack! the ball and chain are in your court!

have a foggy oggy day! (hopefully not but i know most of us do!

Have you seen the "Claritin" commercials? You know, the one where every one looks a little dull, and they ask, "Are you Claritin Clear?"

Then they strip away the dull film and every one is nice and brite???

Well, I feel like I live in a Claritin commercial. Except I can't strip away that layer.

I can deal with it well enough, I suppose. Until I have a flare. Then, instead of looking through saran-wrap- it's like mentally looking through aluminum foil.

I can *see* the objects, but I can't recognize what I'm looking for. If I open the silverware drawer to get a fork. I see all the utensils, but for the life of me...there won't be any forks in there! Of course, my 8 year old will walk right over and pick up the fork for me...and I feel pretty silly. DOH! how could I have missed it? It was there all along!

I now opt for steriods sooner during a flare than I used to, because I now realize that my *reality* during a flare isn't really *real*...which could be potentially dangerous.

Ah the dreaded cog fog. Totally understand that one. Have quite a few stories about that. I have to laugh at myself, otherwise I'd scare my kitties by screaming.

I found a book in the freezer once, not quite sure how it got there. Don't have kids, and can't really blame it on the cats. I've tried to put the coffee pot in the fridge with the creamer and the pop in the cupboard with the glasses.

The word mixup is fun. I've said things like "we have cake to drink" and "Glad we're flying the car for our trip, that way we don't need to drive on a plane." Of course it takes the stares and chuckles to realize I said anything strange.

When I lose my train of thought, I call it "my train derailment". My hubby, the computer guy, says I'm "blue screening".