From the article: Cognitive Dysfunction as a Symptom of Multiple Sclerosis
Most of us with multiple sclerosis (MS) have had frustrating experiences caused by MS-related cognitive dysfunction – we forget to take the dog to the vet, we leave out the best details of a story that we are telling or we can’t remember how to spell certain words. However, sometimes things happen because of cognitive slips that are embarrassing or downright dangerous. This is a place for you to share those “my-face-is-still-red” or “that-was-a-close-one” moments with people who truly understand. It is also a chance to hear from others and remember that you are not alone. And that it is not your fault.
Share Your Story
memory lapse
- Before I was diagnosed I went to my parents' house while they were away. They had reminded me that their house alarm would be on. I entered the wrong code and set off the alarm. When I called the alarm company the person on the line just agreed with me when I gave her the incorrect code. Twenty minutes later, I finally got in touch with my father, (it felt and sounded like 2 hours)!
- —sharongigi
cognitive problems
- One experience is of driving home and starting to feel sick - was looking for a place to pull over. Then I "woke up" at a filling station, pumping gas! Dr. said it was probably epilepsy and I couldn't drive again for a year. Biggest problem now is that I have problems recognizing faces. Even my husbands face looks strange to me, especially when I'm ill.
- —Guest MoreDebris
old age creeping up on me
- I used to laugh at my Mom who is in her 80's. She leaves post-it notes all over her apartment and writes notes that actually say "Note to self". I find myself doing that now. Isn't that a hoot?
- —Guest bon-bon
remember what
- was fixing breakfast - grandson would be up shortly...well had it ready -past time 4 him to be up.so went to see what was keeping him he wasnt there!! franticly i thought now he was in there- then it hit me he went somewhere.. could not remember where VERY frustrating- but it finnally came to me where he was. no its not funny at all but i use to say i was having a sometimers episode!! not no more!!!
- —Guest trredden
Im sadden by it
- Sometimes Im sadden by the fact that when my family need me im not there 100% for the simplest things. Making a lunch for instance let say a ham and cheese sandwhich and i forget the ham or the cheese,,, I forget to put the water in the coffee maker. Those are small task that make me more sad then embarresed.
- —Guest yetza
Life Scares Me
- All of the stories hit home. I am 60 years old, dx 2 1/2 years ago. Hot flashes, cannot remember anything, taking this week off from work to try and get what mind I have left "screwed" back on in the right direction. You HAVE to learn to laugh at yourself and just keep going forward. Hey life's too short to get bogged down with these things. When you get bogged down it just becomes worse - so Laugh and the world laughs with you - cry and you cry alone. We are all in this together - Let's keep fighting. Have a wonderful and blessed day.
- —COCORAE
mcmsgroup - Continued
- Well, I'm too long-winded and I was cut off in mid-sentence! ....thank you for sharing...because your story was so well told, it made me laugh out loud for several minutes (with you - not at you). That's a good one for Reader's Digest!
- —Guest Penny
Frustration at a glance
- I was diagnosed with MS at age 30-2007. I did not pay much attention to it until I noticed the cognitive loss. I was evaluated by a neuro-psychologist and he felt I was deliberately missing answers. He categorized my peformance as that of a disabled CHILD; not correspondent to my/family educational level.I was even unable to spell some of my daughter's first grade words. It has been a new journey; I am still learning how to walk through it. I have learned to walk with an agenda, to ask and re-ask more questions, and not be afraid to state I did not understand (smile). Life is a journey; we must make the best of it.
- —Guest Melissa
Home Address
- I was filling in forms for my twins dentist and wrote down my correct address for one child and a jumble of my old address (moved 6years ago) and my current addresse for the other, my 10 year old daughter pointed it out to me. Life goes on!
- —Guest Helga
It's better to laugh about this!
- My husband is a consultant and he sometimes works from home and other times, he sees clients. Every day, I ask him between 5 and 10 times where he will be the next day because, of course, I don't remember. He tells me over and over again. He's so patient. But here is my latest "masterpiece". We had planned to go on vacation in October. I checked my agenda (because I can't live without one anymore) and he checked his. We agreed on dates. Well, turns out that I had forgotten that I was working during the weekend of our planned vacation because I forgot to update my agenda. Living with me now requires a very good sense of humour. Kudos to my very patient husband! :)
- —ScillaC
Lost Keys
- I was just DX a year ago but so many things make sense now that didn't before. I have horrible fatigue and always thought I was just lazy, I have problems finding the right words, or at work after I've been given instructions immediately I have no idea what I was just told. Well about two weeks ago I was grocery shopping and when I was done I realized I lost my keys. I searched the whole store but no luck, finally I called my parents because my husband was out of town. They gave me a spare set but I forgot to ask them for a house key too. So then I have to track them down at dinner to get their copy of my house key. I got home hours after I was suppose to, unloaded my groceries and started to balance the checkbook. I went to get the receipt out of my purse and low and behold there are my keys....right on top. I felt so dumb I didn't tell anyone what really happened. To my credit it was a new purse so I like to think I hadn't learned to navigate it very well at that point...lol
- —Guest SarahB
Theresa
- Was diagnosed with ms may 2000 as a 25 year old, just read few blogs that made me smile as I have experience similar cognitive dysfunctional `moments ( probably too many to even remember) sorry cant not bring any to the surface) haha....
- —Guest Theresa
mcmsgroup - Thanks!
- I, too, have always been more afraid of a severe cognitive decline than the wheelchair. I have the irritating “lost” adjective or “name” thing often (it sort of exists in broken syllables, or maybe just an idea of what letter it starts with hovers around in the either, refusing to land), but every once in a while, it manifest as something more sinister. It’s when you summon information and something arrives in conscious thought - and you don’t recognize it right away. This happened to me not long ago with my address. The right address – all five numbers and the street name arrived correctly – but they might as well have been a perfect strangers because I didn’t recognize it as mine, just as a strange collection of random numbers and a bizarre word (my street name is weird). Within 1 or 2 minutes the “familiarity” of my own address returned. But it’s a curious experience, to say the least. But the real reason I wanted to write in was to particularly thank mcmsgroup for sharing
- —Guest Penny
picture taking with a chair
- This is the funnies that has happened to me. Who wants to write about the sad, already depressed enough, huh? My husband and I had just gotten into the car to go to town. I carry my camera everywhere - when I remember. I jumped out of the car and told my sweet guy that I had to run in and get my chair. When I got back in the car I told him that while I was gone I remembered it was a camera i really wanted and so we didn't have to make room for a chair. We always chuckle but so much anymore I get ticked off. I try really really hard to be upbeat. So many people just don't realize. They think they are so bad off because they are in their 60's but in two years I will be where they are at AND HAVE MS. They just don't understand what a double/triple whammy it is. I just try to live by the creed: "you are right where God intended for you to be."
- —Guest krznana
Doh!
- The worst episode I had lasted around a year.. just horrible memory problems. I would drive home from work and realize as I was driving that nothing looked familiar, the names of streets didn't look familiar and I couldn't remember how to get home. I'd have to call home for directions. I made a notebook for my car with detailed directions to and from everywhere.
- —chrystalheart
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