Cognitive Dysfunction
 

"Cognitive dysfunction as a symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS) may be the one that makes me the saddest. I can get angry at the “MS hug” and frustrated with trembling hands, but being mad at how my own brain and though patterns are misfiring is a little too complicated. It is also the symptom that is the hardest to talk about with people without MS, as it often comes across as a lame-sounding apology for being “ditzy” or is met with people mentioning how forgetful they have also become since they had children or turned 70."


http://ms.about.com/od/signssymptoms..._over.htm?nl=1

I agree...it's not something that is "seen" by others. It is something that was affecting my life for quite a while before I knew what the reason was. It's not easily understood by me, much less others who I've tried to explain it to.

I remember when still working how hard it was to come up with descriptive words that I was looking for. It was so frustrating. I have one good friend who would help me say the word I was looking for. Bless her heart. She was a good friend. We neither one knew the reason for it. She is the one friend I think who is closest to understanding it all.

Bless your heart Kitty... :hug:... This rotten label we've been given!:(

That nefarious "cog fog" is what sent me to the doctor in the first place. I said to him, "Am I too young to be this tired and this stupid?" He responded, "How tired and stupid are you?"

When described my cognitive dysfunction, he agreed that I was "stupider" than I should be unless something was going on, and the testing began.

When I'm in a resentful mood, I resent that symptom the most. The reason is that the way I walk isn't the essence of who I am. The way I THINK is. And in that sense, I'm not me anymore.

I have been soooo lucky, so far, not to be plagued by Cognative problems, but then I'm getting close to 70..:)

I haven't checked my MRIs to see what kind of lesions I have, but I guess, by what I read, that the ones that cause CogFog are different.

I'm thinking that the LDN may be helping me with this???

My heart goes out to you suffering from this SX of MS. :hug:

The cog fog was my chief symptom at diagnosis, along with ON.

It's terrifying when you start losing your ability to think clearly.

It's even more terrifying when the people you love the most don't understand that the person they purport to love and support is losing their mind suddenly with no warning and they start with the "oh, I have that too"

I just gave up and listened to their stories and thought to myself...

No. You don't.

This symptom is not nice, but it IS 'nice' to be able to talk with those of you who understand!:o

Before dx, I was getting to where I would have to pull 'all nighters' to meet dead lines that normally would have just taken me a very few hours. Then when I finally finished I could look at what was done and look at the clock and literally be so confused and dumbfounded as to HOW and WHY this took me so long!!!

...just thinking out loud! I think!!!:p

This is my biggest problem with MS and it is awful. I do have to share with you one good thing that has come out of it though. Always got to find the silver lining. My mother is having major cognitive problems, many of them similar to mine, because of her deteriorating health. I can honestly tell her that I do understand her frustration and anger because I too suffer from the same things and I'm pretty sure it helps her knowing someone understands. Unfortunately she won't remember any of it five minutes later but I still got to help her for a short time.

Silver Linings are Good!
 

There are a lot of things I have to be thankful for. I think I have been able to touch the lives of some others that I wouldn't have had the opportunity to without the MS experience.

That is a definite silver lining that you are able to understand what your mom goes through. Every 5 minutes count and is special for your mom and you.
Hang in there! :hug:

I have one good friend who would help me say the word I was looking for. Bless her heart. She was a good friend. We neither one knew the reason for it. She is the one friend I think who is closest to understanding it all.

Funny thing is I have 3 kids and I stumble for what I am trying to say. They see that and they help me find the words I am looking for. Sometimes I say stuff totally backwards and they think it is hilarious. Sometimes I laugh at myself because if you have ever said some stuff all wrong it can make for some interesting conversation lol.

So true!! You have to find the humor in it....otherwise it'll drive you batty! :D

Like RW when I was diagnosed it was O.N. and cognitive stuff. I found it got worse during the heat. Don't you live in a hot climate, Kitty? Yes, it is so frustrating to have the word recall problem!! And every once in awhile I say something backward or use a word that makes no sense at all in the sentence and everyone around you kind of laughs! I did find that when I went on Tysabri most of this went away.

I always know when I've said the completely wrong word when my DH and DD start to snicker. Then I laugh and say ok, tell me what I just said. It took a while for them to learn that they can snicker and laugh when I do this but I'd rather have them laugh so I can laugh right along with them.

When I'm in a resentful mood, I resent that symptom the most. The reason is that the way I walk isn't the essence of who I am. The way I THINK is. And in that sense, I'm not me anymore.
_____________
You got it exactly. And much of the time I really don't LIKE the person I am now. I feel like I've lost most of my better qualities. I'm not talking about forgetting words, but a whole new twisted way of processing thoughts and emotions.

What help is there!
 

This is my most frightening sx! It terrifies me and will ultimately cause me to retire early. I am a legal secretary, and like nurses, etc., I can't really afford to be forgetful. Sure no one's going to get sick or die if I make a mistake or forget to do something, but bad things will happen, I will catch crap for it, I will feel awful, stupid, forgetful, and possibly lose my job.

This is scary and depressing, and when the fog kicks in, like lately (after being quiet for a year), my depression gets worse, which increases the fog, which stresses me more, which increases the forgetfulness, which makes me more depressed, and I just want to go home right now and cry.

My partner and I have separate calendars and I put everything he needs on his. He has no idea what day it is, what month and what date. He's a night worker and forgets everything. He can hire a dvd with no idea he rented it maybe a month earlier. Takes him about 30 minutes to work it out...

Well I used to mock him something terrible for his memory.

Now he helps me out... :(
I haven't a bloomin' clue what's happening most of the time !! How liberating it is too !!!

I vividly recall setting up a syringe driver for the last night of a patients life and not being able to hold things properly. I commented I had gotten clumsy recently.. and that was the beginning for me. I hate lying to colleagues too and hiding my clumsyness and dropsies.

It really gets me. I feel horribly guilty for taking my paycheck (Dr. Laura would have a fit ;)). Fact is I can't really do my job anymore and they're so nice in letting me hang around. I'm not completely useless but I'm nothing like the go getter I used to be either. If it weren't for insurance I'd be doing something else to be sure. It really is the worst part of the whole deal IMO.

I don't have MS , but I sure know the feeling!

I had horrible "foggy brain" in 03 & part of 04 from a combination of my repetitive work injury {RSI/TOS} and Lipitor:(

I really began to feel like I was getting Alzheimers and Attention deficit disorder!

luckily most of it resolved when I quit the Lipitor & got good PT & chiropractic to resolve the upper body muscles spasms & tightness.


I still can't multi task like I used to - one project at a time now LOL

I go at noon for the first half and I'm looking forward to this like I did finals in college. Stomach is twisted in knots. Why is it when we have to be tortured like this we always have to pay for it? :wink: I hope I don't wind up finding out I'm too impacted (how's that for a pc word) I might just regret doing this in the first place.

Well, I guess there is a problem Houston. I had the day wrong <dooh!> It's tomorrow. :D

It was pretty rough, I'd had a hard morning at work to boot, but I think I did better than I expected to. The thing I really had issues with was memory from verbal communication. I couldn't remember much of the story after an hour at all. I did better at math than I would have ever imagined. I guess many of my issues are in my head not in my head. Hehehe.

Boy did I sleep like a baby that night though.

With my MS, my DS fibromyalgia and my Moms old age and two strokes we joke that between us we have 1 brain. My DS and her husband and me and my DH have all been married enough years that we all finish sentences for each other and pretty much know what the other is thinking. But we do charades and it's fun.

I, too hate this one the most.
It makes me feel insignificant and useless to anyone else. I used to be able to speak in front of people clear and concise. I used to be able to train people easily, I was a good teacher. I understood things, I was a quick learner and good student.
Now I am just a big dope. It takes me seconds to process things that should be instant and hours to process things that should take minutes. I look at my 5th grade son's homework and my eyes start swimming and my brain starts doing the hokey pokey.

I hate feeling stupid and I really hate trying to cover that and keep people thinking I'm still smart. I say way too often, "**incoherent string of syllables, deep breath**I'm sorry. I'm not stupid, I swear..."
I think the worst part, which just happened to me this moring, is the people watching you, waitig for you to figure out what you are saying so they can figure it out. In front of my husband and a property manager this moring I was only trying to ask how long the waiting list was. It didn't come out that way, I tripped over my words, I'm pretty sure I made up a few words and threw in a "you know, the...thingies?" at the end. My hsband and the woman just sat there patiently watching me in silence as I got more flustered. How many times do you end these conversations with "Oh, just forget it..."

:hug: Ruthie :hug:

I hate cog fog with a passion. Just the other night at supper (we were out for youngest DS birthday) I was trying to say something and it kept coming out all wrong. It wasn't even coming out as a word! I was almost stuttering! My boys are great about defusing the situation and started acting like we were all playing charades. :p They'd say "okay...first word, two syllables" and we were all laughing before long. But they know how much it bothers me. I think that's why they try to make me laugh about it.

It's not that we're dumb. We know what we're trying to say. But our mouth just won't cooperate. I've stopped apologizing for myself and just keep on trying till I get it right....or till somebody makes me laugh. Usually the latter............:)

at the end of a long day at work, i stammer and stutter and every patient becomes 'thingy with the leg' or 'missie needs her whatever'. My colleagues just find it funny and i laugh it off as dementia. Being careful to turn my head away when i laugh in case they see my wonky smile and thing i've had a stroke.
there's one nurse i bump into some days and i know that she knows there's something up. i'm Darth Vadar when it comes to deflecting questions now... :)

There was this time when I could not for the life of me remember how to spell the word *shoe*. For days, no matter what I did with it, it looked off.

Dh says, well that's what spell check is for.

:mad:

I'm not 4! I could spell shoe when I was 4. Here I was, 40, could not spell shoe.

I was ranting "I hate cog fog! I hate it!"

And he quips..."Cog fog? You probably have those Cogwell cogs. You should have gone with Spacely Sprockets."


He's lucky I didn't kill him.

I came across this article and thought I would not only share the link to the article with you all but the web site in general. mscare.org has some great info and I do refer to it often when I and searching for something.



Neuropsychologist
Kathleen L. Fuchs, PhD, ABPP-CN
It has been estimated that at least half of individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience some
degree of cognitive dysfunction, which can negatively affect employment status and quality of life.
Many MS patients are referred for neuropsychological evaluation to assess their cognitive abilities.
This article describes the evaluation process and the role of the neuropsychologist on a multidiscipli-
nary MS health-care team. A neuropsychologist is trained in relationships between brain functioning
and behavior and can administer cognitive tests and provide feedback on the individual’s cognitive
strengths and weaknesses. The findings can be used to recommend specific types of compensation
strategies or other interventions that may help the patient maintain employment and independent
functioning.Int J MS Care.2009;11:32–37.

http://www.mscare.org/cmsc/images/jo...final_team.pdf