Good review of cognitive issues

[Lazarus]

Common Cognitive Symptoms in MS

MS can affect different parts of people’s brains and cause different cognitive symptoms. Some people with MS refer to their cognitive symptoms as “brain fog.” Some of the most common types of cognitive symptoms include:

ATTENTION & CONCENTRATION
Examples of trouble with attention and concentration include:

Your mind wanders or you lose your train of thought
You are easily distracted and have problems concentrating on tasks

INFORMATION & PROCESSING
Examples of problems with information processing are:

Having trouble learning new things
Feeling like your brain works slowly
Feeling as though it is hard to follow conversations when more than one person is talking at once
Feeling easily overwhelmed in loud places such as a restaurant or while watching a movie in a theater
Having trouble following directions

SHORT-TERM MEMORY
Examples of difficulty with short-term memory are:

Forgetting people’s names
Putting things back in the wrong place, for instance, the milk in the cupboard instead of the refrigerator
Losing track of sentences or conversations in the middle
Getting lost in places that you have been to many times
Having trouble remembering how to do tasks, for instance how to use a debit card

VERBAL FLUENCY
Examples of trouble with verbal fluency are:

You can’t find the words you want to say
You mix up the order of words, such as “cat black” instead of “black cat”
You don’t say the words you intend, and can confuse words when speaking
EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING
Examples of problems with executive functioning are:

Having trouble multitasking, or doing more than one thing at the same time
Difficulty organizing or planning

VISUAL-SPATIAL RELATIONS
Examples of trouble with visual-spatial relations include:

Having trouble judging dimensions of areas - for instance, parking spots
Confusion with sense of direction

[agate]

I was wondering about "confusion with sense of direction." Does that mean confusing left and right? Or north/south, east/west? I've always had problems with these, long before MS.

I wonder too if some of the problems that look like cognitive problems are really due to hearing loss. I suspect that many people with MS don't give much thought to getting their hearing checked, much less getting (pricey) hearing aids.

[Lazarus]

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I was wondering about "confusion with sense of direction." Does that mean confusing left and right? Or north/south, east/west? I've always had problems with these, long before MS.

I wonder too if some of the problems that look like cognitive problems are really due to hearing loss. I suspect that many people with MS don't give much thought to getting their hearing checked, much less getting (pricey) hearing aids.

I have always had a problem with direction. I do think it is MS related...spatial understanding has a real disconnect with my brain. That is one of the reasons why I only drive to places where I know the route or I practice going to important meetings by driving there many times before the actual appointment. Hard to explain but lack of spatial awareness is a very big problem in my life. So I have narrowed my pathways and am like an old horse...I trudge the same paths over and over.

[Jen's Solitude]

Decades ago, I discovered I could no longer do more than one thing at a time. Two times I was running my bath water and called myself doing a quick chore in my kitchen. I totally forgot the water was running and the bath tub overflowed with water pouring out the heating vent. The first time it happened I was shocked that I didn't remember the water was running, but thought it was just a freak occurrence. The second time, I realized this was a MS thing, so I changed my behavior and waited for my bath water to finish running before I did anything else. It never occurred again, once I made that adjustment. It was a real smack in the face though, that my concentration was so short and my memory so poor.

[Howie]

DAR, what's that old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me". Good for you for learning how to avoid another accident.

It is hard to accept that there are things you can't do anymore. But reaching "old age" comes with it's own limits of what you can still do, especially when you add MS into the mix. The hard part is admitting you can't do a thing, and accepting it. Asking for help is a hard thing to do, but it becomes necessary at times.

[agate]

MS deals out smacks in the face all too often. The trick is to pay attention to them, the way you did, Dar.

I'm dancing to MS's tune, or at least that's the way I think of it. There might be a good day when I feel up to tackling the repotting of a plant. I do that and then think about moving on to repot another plant while I have the materials out and in front of me.

Usually I realize that I'm not up to that much effort. It will have to wait until another day. The MS wouldn't let me.

[Lazarus]

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Decades ago, I discovered I could no longer do more than one thing at a time. Two times I was running my bath water and called myself doing a quick chore in my kitchen. I totally forgot the water was running and the bath tub overflowed with water pouring out the heating vent. The first time it happened I was shocked that I didn't remember the water was running, but thought it was just a freak occurrence. The second time, I realized this was a MS thing, so I changed my behavior and waited for my bath water to finish running before I did anything else. It never occurred again, once I made that adjustment. It was a real smack in the face though, that my concentration was so short and my memory so poor.

Dar,
I have problems like this too and, like you, I changed my behavior to make sure I did not do something that resulted in some horrible situation.
The world needs more thinkers like us.

[Virginia]

I have started in the last few months trying to check behind myself for many things such as turning the gas logs all the way off, turning the stove off, checking for any appointments I might have over and over to make sure I get it right. The list goes on and on. Trying to check any water faucets I might have used is another thing I try to do.

[Jen's Solitude]

Thanks Howie. I am 60 years old, but I feel I move and act as though I am 10-20 years older than my age. I try to learn from those on this board who are actually older than myself and I find all their examples very encouraging.

Virginia, I was shocked that I have accidentally forgot to turn off the stove. My husband kindly reassured me that he had done the same thing. I guess it doesn't have to be MS related all the time. Still, I try to double check the stove every time I use it.

agate, I am amused by the sense of satisfaction I feel from accomplishing the littlest things. I am so happy to do one part of a two part project. Washing and folding ONE load of laundry brings me so much joy even if I wanted to wash two loads. LOL

[agate]

agate, I am amused by the sense of satisfaction I feel from accomplishing the littlest things. I am so happy to do one part of a two part project. Washing and folding ONE load of laundry brings me so much joy even if I wanted to wash two loads. LOL

Exactly! A while back I realized I could easily change my lifelong habit of doing two loads of laundry at a time by just doing one load one day and another load another day.

I had clung to that habit mainly because of the joy of getting all of the laundry "out of the way." Also, the two washer loads could usually fit in one dryer, and so I saved a dollar.

But those advantages were easily dispensed with because life has been ever so much easier now that I'm limiting myself to one load at a time. I'm much less tired. It doesn't take me all day to sort and fold the laundry.

I'm constantly on the lookout for ways of making life easier around here. Having too much clutter is a biggie. When I'm getting more tired because I'm having to move things just to get at other things, I know it's time to pare down.

I'm working on giving away a coffeemaker, some cookie sheets and an afghan. I've lived 11 years here and some things I never use have been just sitting around here. A little bit here and a little bit there, and suddenly I have some more space.