Hi everyone; hope you are all keeping cool out there.
A couple who were my teachers many years ago and became friends through local politics are having a dreadful time as the wife has developed Altzheimer’s and there have been many letters of support in the local newspaper, The husband has ‘come out’ about some very personal details of his wife’s behaviour to highten awareness of this truly devestating disease.
At the end of the article it listed things to look out for and I realised that it sounds like me.
I was going to write to the local paper about this but I don’t want to take away some of the publicity from my friends, (things aren’t always about MS)!
Ok I am in my late 50s and am constantly being told ‘it’s your age’ and some of it probably is but have decided to mention this to my MS nurse when I see him next week as I’m tired of being fobbed off with ‘it could be your age’. I am also aware that with the amount of people being dx with this disease I could be developing it myself.
I find using the telephone and speaking to people very difficult these days, then I have done for a very long time. Thank God for this computer; which gives me time to think about what I want to say.
Sorry Wendy, but my grandad had Alzheimers, and I’m really not seeing a lot of similarities, myself.
It wasn’t just minor absent-mindedness we all get from time-to-time, or even the kind some people get with MS.
It was really profound, and accompanied by personality changes as well. For example, he’d always been placid and easygoing. After he got ill, he became aggressive, and even violent. He tried to hit my Nanna, but luckily, he was quite doddery, and couldn’t aim very well, so all she had to do was step out of his reach.
I don’t think occasional typos and things like that are even necessarily signs of MS, let alone Alzheimer’s.
I know for a fact I signed my name twice in a post the other day. I was irritated, but never even thought about it being MS - or any other form of impairment. I know it was because I’d edited my post after finishing it, and my name, which I’d already signed, was simply off the bottom of the screen. So when I’d finished my changes, I signed-off again, as my first go wasn’t visible.
This piddly little editing window and lack of a preview doesn’t help. I actually hate this board. I thought the last one was rubbish, but in retrospect, it looks good.
Yes I agree about the board Tina; much preferrred the other one.
As for the memory, what I mean was they mentioned a set of early signs; such as forgetting a word in the middle of a sentance, not recognising someone, short term memory problems. I mentioned the double Wendy to show how I can do something and 5 minutes, or seconds later, I’ve forgotten that I’ve done it.
My friend said in the article in the newspaper that it was his awareness of these things that helped to get the diagnosis early but his wife now shows the same symptoms that you explained and has had to go into hospital for her own and her husband’s safety.
Personnaly I use lots techniques to help me with my problems; some were advised by my speech therapist.
I am not comparing MS to Alzheimer’s but in its early stages there seem to be similarities.
There definitely are similarities between MS and Alzheimer’s. I really truly wish there weren’t: the statement from a specialist when I was diagnosed that “MS doesn’t affect intelligence” was about the only thing that kept me from falling apart. However, we know better now that MS does cause cognitive problems. I think, for most, these will be mild-moderate, but for a small proportion, these are profound and pretty indistinguishable from Alzheimer’s, as far as symptoms go anyway.
MS used to be thought of as a disease of white matter. We now know that it also affects the gray matter and that’s where we store all the information we use in things like language, memory, maths, object recognition, navigation, etc.
It scares the hell out of me
For what it’s worth, I completely agree with you about the computer Wendy: I am about a million times more articulate on here than I am in person!!!
(You wouldn’t have noticed much of a difference a few years ago though )
I’ve always had a hope that ‘something good’ for us may come out of research into Dementia ,Parkinsons and other afflictions which affect large numbers of the population. MS drugs are worth over £6 Billion a year globally and this figure is set to ‘rocket’ over the next few years. I struggle to see the motivation for Fat Pharma to find a cure, or something simple and cheap to slow progression when our pain and suffering helps bolster myriad economies with tax revenue
I remember the times when there would be a huge debate/row/passionate exchange of views/Civil War, over a post like this involving hundreds of Bored Members…Cannot happen now,and that is criminal.
Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
Wb
ps I expect to be told to stop whinning and get on with what we’ve got. I am, but there are dozens+dozens of peeps missing, and consequently not getting involved,being distracted from their pain and using the neurons
Thank you for that Karen, I do have one friend in my local branch who has it much worse than me. She is the same age as me but finds it very difficult to function. She also has very bad pain. I suppose it shows that it’s all about where the lesions are to how it affects people. I use my Nintendo brain trainer and do find that helps. (One of the best gifts my husband has bought me in the last few years)!
