Why do I feel brain dead?
 

Hi everyone

I am sorry if this comes across as a major whinge, but at the moment I am trying to complete a graduate certificate in management communications and I am just so damned tired I can hardly take in any info at all.

It is so frustrating - I used to be so on the ball, and so quick, now it seems like I am fighting for everything I want to do.

I am just so annoyed with my brain - that it is letting me down when I have something to prove to myself - that I am not brain dead, I have not suddenly become stupid.

People who know just don't understand (except my wonderful husband). I don't want to be thought of as lazy but I can't seem to shake the damn fatigue that seems to dog my every step.

Mostly I don't disclose - why bother? People just assume that if I am not in a wheelchair I am fine, but my brain just doesn't seem to hold information anymore. If I do, I feel like I am asking for something I am not entitled to.

Outside, I look fine - inside, although the doc has told me that I will be fine I feel like a mess.

I wish people would understand that when we do something special, it is even more special than it is for others.

OK, enough whining for now. Sorry this is such a miserable post.

Lyn

Hi Lynn..sorry to hear you feel like that. I haven't been diagnosed with MS but there were some lesions in my brain when I had a MRI scan to check for Acoustic Neuroma (I have Meniere's disease)...but I have terrible brain fog at the moment and have had to postpone my degree for a year. I have had to cancel a few things in my life because I tend to make myself too busy and I can't cope. (I also have a baby and depression!)

Sorry i don't want to go on about me but just thought you mignt want to know that you are not alone and maybe you could re-access your life as I have and try to reduce stress factors. Don't know if it works yet as I have an exam in a week and cannot take anything in at all so I'm thinking I wont pass. After my exam I am going to try and work on helping myself and de-stress.

xxx

I've had various points where I have been quite slowed down on my dissertation from fatigue concentration and memory problems. Really, you have to explain about the invisible symptoms to people if you want them to understand.

It does totally bite being slowed down like this.

Yes, it stinks.

Have you considered some of the fatigue meds such as Provigil, Ritalin, Amantadine, to name a few?

Also, make sure you do not have a hidden urinary tract infection, which is common in MS and can make you feel very run down but not experience the usual pain upon pee-ing.

And, have you had your B12 level checked lately? MS people have a higher than usual incidence of B12 problems which causes severe fatigue.

i.e. don't assume its your MS: Go see your PCP. Could also be thyroid.

Yep. I've been taking B12 for a number of months and I feel a lot better. None of my doctors think that it is a likely cause of most of my symptoms, since it used to be higher and at it's lowest it was still in the normal range. But, fatigue and concentration problems can start when you are still in the low range of normal. It's good to investigate any more treatable etiologies for your symptoms.

Mental exhaustion is common in graduate [gradual students, we used to say] work. I know of which I speak, as I have 3 degrees [fool that I am], though I didn't know I had MS at the time. My dx came much later, but the damage had been around for at least 30 years [since my teens] when I was dxd in my 40s.

I'm so glad I didn't know back then===maybe I would have thrown in the towel and left grad school!

I did survive, as you will====take the weekends to totally rest, work like hell the rest of the time! I survived on lots of coffee and was much slimmer then;) - And best of luck!

Hi Lynn,

I give you a TON of credit for persevering with your education . . . way to go! That is a very ambitious goal, and one that I know I could not personally achieve any longer. (Remembering even a phone number can be a challenge these days. :rolleyes: )

We definitely have to pace ourselves differently, and understanding why was very helpful for me. The following is a very good article, that put the fatigue factor into perspective for me:

http://www.jsumption.com/imssf/modul...tid=196&page=1

All the best,

Cherie

Thank you everyone

I really appreciate your support. Cherie, that was the best article about fatigue that I have ever read - it put things into perspective like never before.

I know I have bitten off quite a lot at the moment - working, studying, parenting etc. I never even started to study until I was diagnosed. Then I decided I was too young to put out to pasture, since then I have lost both parents and had open brain surgery to clip an aneurysm.

I know I should go easy on myself, but as someone else on the forum said, we MSers tend to be control freaks - and I feel like I have to rise above all this crap.

Hearing from others, and reading that article has validated my fatigue and frustration. So I might just give myself a break and listen to my body a little more.

Thanks again

Lyn