Brain Fog

Everyday living
621

Florence didn’t wear socks. she was a child of nature, a free spirit, a rebel.

Florence wasn’t constrained by conventions, she was a radical, the original flower child. Our hearts were intertwined in a cat’s cradle of bohemian complexity. We were born for each other.

That is why I shall spend tomorrow in mourning for a truest love torn apart by the shear centrifugal force of our whirlwind romance.

Florence. Oh Florence, why did you have to leave? Was something I said? Or something I left undone? Or was the lure of Mr McHenry’s “herb” garden just to strong for you to resist anymore?

622

The Magic Roundabout - so it was really magic. We were all drawn into its power.

Were there magic mushrooms?

A couple - in this village-were known to be on the magic mushrooms. He, sadly, topped himself -[ l believe the very high moments are followed by very low] She -is still on a high - even in her 80’s.

For her 80th birthday - she hired a circus marquee - and fire eaters and stilt walkers etc. The whole village dressed as clowns etc. And SHE - was in fish-net tights - long black boots and ringmaster outfit - top hat - tails- whip!! And she looked amazing.

No, her name is not Florence. But she does grow her own ‘herbs’.

623

You may be heart broken about Florence AD, but I`m terribly upset by the fact the didnt believe in wearing socks…she was hardly a kindred soul afterall!

Frances, the circus addict lady in your village has got it exactly right! never grow old gracefully…and of course, wear purple!

pollsx

624

this thread is a haven for my poor 70’s soul.

i’m going to be the one in purple, fishnet tights and ringmasters outfit too!

22 years to go until i’m 80 which is old enough to get away with it.

so thank you AD, Frances and Poll for being so right on!

xxxxx

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Changing the subject slightly (sorry AD, I know you’re preparing your annual mourning fest for the long lost Flo), can anyone please tell me why we remember such arcana as the names of characters from The Magic Roundabout, song lyrics (it’s incredible how many truly awful lyrics I know! Which of course is why those bloody ear worms are so f’ing annoying!), odds and sods of general knowledge, bits of history, etc, and yet be so utterly unreliable for the useful things of daily life? (I am actually excluding benefit rules here, which I have the knack of being able to remember purely because my previous job was connected.)

For example, this morning I scored reasonably well on round one of Popmaster on the radio (about 27 points, woohoo!) and the completed today’s crossword. But did I remember to take pills after lunch? No I did not. I’ve just taken them as I was thinking about the things I regularly forget. Do I remember the correct word to use when speaking? Or writing? Often the answer is no. So frequently I use a stand in word that doesn’t exactly mean what I want it to mean, but nearly does. Or I worry about it, use a stand-in, then read it back and remember the correct word. And yet my job was primarily about writing and speaking!

And can I remember the plot of a book I read (and liked) last year? Almost certainly not. Even the plot of the book I’m reading now. It’s a damn good job I read flipping quickly, if I didn’t, I’d never be able to follow the story. As it is, I can’t remember the plot of a TV series from week to week. Even if we save them up and watch one episode per night, if we start on a Monday, by Thursday I’ve forgotten what happened in episode one. Nor do I remember the plot of films.

I also don’t remember half of the posts I’ve answered on here. Sometimes I come across something I wrote a few weeks or months ago and it’s like I’m reading something written by someone else.

And yet I remembered the name of the poxy girl (sorry again AD, I know your heart is/was broken) from The Magic bloody Roundabout.

Why? What is the point? Is my memory so full of crap (and some excellent) song lyrics and the plots of books I read in childhood that it can’t fit any more in? Have I done my poor tired brain a disservice by reading so many books over my lifetime? And listening to too much music? Is there anyway to ‘dump’ some memory (maybe on a ‘cloud’? Or in a ‘fog’?)?

Is there any point to reading any more? If that’s the case what should I do instead? I considered jigsaws, but then thought about useless hands trying to fit little pieces into other little pieces, realised it was a) impossible and b) I hate jigsaws. So if I can’t read, watch TV or films or do anything with my stupid hands, what is left? (Plus, I don’t really like people much so I’m not going to any clubs or daycare for the old, disabled or befuddled!)

If anyone can help, I’d be most grateful for a while, then I’d probably forget!!!

Sue

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Thanks for the post about forgetting things. It reminded me that I hadn’t done my second eye drop of the day.

I think many MS sufferers have memory issues. It comes under the heading of cognitive problems. I don’t know exactly how or why it happens. Psychologists don’t know how memories are formed and recalled, so even the experts can’t help.

As for an over full brain, I know that Sherlock Holmes believed that the brain’s capacity was finite. He refused to clutter it with information that wasn’t of use in solving crimes. Hence his lack of interest in the fact that the world goes round the Sun. Unfortunately, there’s no harmless way of removing memories to make room for new ones.

As for what you can do if books and TV aren’t options, why not take up painting? The images don’t have to look like anything, just tell people that you’re doing abstract art or creating an impression of how MS is making you feel at the time. Useless hands aren’t a problem, slap the colours on wherever you think they look good. And it doesn’t matter if you forget what you were doing. Your paintings could be “of the moment”.

This morning’s brain fog was memory related, in a way. When I got up I took my Gilenya and grabbed my housecoat. It was only when I reached the bathroom that I realised that I’d forgotten something important. I wasn’t wearing my glasses!

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Mastermind was devised for people like you.

You are so busy remembering the the definition for photosynthesis that you forget to turn the hot water off in the wetroom.

Result? 24 points and no passes. Unfortunately, no hot water left either.

Does that help?

628

Sounds like my type of girl! What’s her email ?

629

Sound like my type of girl! What’s your email ?

630

Hi Ssssue,

I don’t know if this would interest you BUT my GP has a colleague that she was talking about to me the other day.

Apparently he is doing a neurological study and they are studying the effects on the central nervous system when people learn new skills…apparently our brains and nerves keep healthier by continually learning new skills…

E.G. She has suggested to me to learn to play a musical instrument for my physical fine motor control and learning also maybe learning a new language to test the grey matter…frankly might be worth a blinking try!!!

I too can remember all sorts of sh*te but not what food I need when I get to the shops and have a particular issue with turning the gas hob rings off…bloody amazing!

Roo xx

631

Hmmm that’s a good solution. Or maybe it’s not, it’s just a random attack on those of us who know what photosynthesis is (sort of). I know about people like you. Enjoy poking people with pointy sharp sticks do you? Burning the odd witch or two?

For your information, I am crap at Mastermind. Mostly because I never watch it. All those specialist subjects about obscure things, like different types of submarine, or the works of some long dead author or artist of some kind. I’m sure there’s been one or two whose specialist subjects were the life and work of some old German bloke called Albrecht Durer! See what I mean? Obscure.

However, you may be a tad right about the hot water.

Sue

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right i’ll try to reply to you all, if i miss anyone off please complain to Brian Fog in writing.

  1. A. D. my email is catwomanCarole58@madmail. com

  2. sssue read your books, if you didn’t like them give them away. if you loved them keep them because in 2 weeks time you’l have forgotten them and can enjoy them again. same with old cds. it’s the benefit of getting older/foggier that you can enjoy things many times over.

  3. cheerful dragon - thank you for sharing that. i have loads of paints (watercolours, oils, acrylics) and lack the dexterity to paint anything so mad ms abstracts will be brilliant. if i make a killing i’ll mention you when i get an award. also when you realised you’d forgotten something when you reached the bathroom, at least it wasn’t the location of the loo. i’d hate to think of you hovering above the washbasin.

4.roo - musical instruments, i recommend maraccas or the triangle, not as complicated as guitars or pianos.

good night my lovely mental ms friends

carole x

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Roo - how about playing the wash-board or the spoons. You would be able to join in with any musical ‘‘soiree’’.

634

I think it’s supposed to be an instrument that is dexterously taxing…???

Spoons can be a problem to feed oneself depending on how much wine has been consumed…

As for playing the damn things might give them ago, was thinking more of piano or guitar as my neighbours kids play.

Soiree with a washboard would have to be heard to be believed!

I am musically talentless anyway just want a laugh and maybe a few new nerve endings to rely on…

Roo xx

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Hi Carole (I assume you’ve given AD a fake email address, otherwise you’ll probably soon find yourself inundated with spam about socks and bathroom furniture!)

I don’t read real books anymore, I’m strictly a kindle woman. Which is why I have been giving away my books to all and sundry. I tell everyone who crosses the threshold to treat my book shelves as a public library, except that they can keep the books. I’d already gone through all the books I didn’t want and gave them to charity shops. I’m not quite clear as to what will happen when there are no books left. I have two big built in bookcases, one in each alcove of my living room. Which I had made at some expense. Eventually they will have to be reduced to one slightly smaller bookcase.

And I am already finding that I can reread books I bought only a year or two ago!!

So there are benefits.

Personally there is something in me that responds negatively to anything that smacks of creativity. Or I’m just lazy. One or the other.

Sue

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Here’s a suggestion if you have trouble remembering the plot of a book: read short stories. If you enjoy humour, most Jeeves books are collections of short stories. If you like crime, Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers did short stories involving their detectives, or there are the Father Brown stories by G K Chesterton. In fact, a browse on the Amazon Kindle pages should give you a selection of short stories in any genre you care to name.

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Don’t worry about the bookcases. They’ll be used for storage. It’s a fact that clutter/junk/stuff expands to fill the space available for it. Perhaps you could use them to store lots of socks.

I was going to post this yesterday but brain fog made me hit the back button on my tablet instead of hitting Post. At that point I decided that I ought to go to bed.

638

got my thickest thermal socks on, man i really love them!

sorry A. D. but you can’t have them

carole x

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You have no idea of the size of one of my bookcases, it’s huge. And full of books. About 7 feet by 7 feet. With 6 shelves. I would have to be one of those people who collect trinkets from everywhere I go (with ‘a present from Torquay’ or equivalent) in order to even slightly fill the damn thing. And then they’d have to be dusted. My OH is truly lovely, but he doesn’t believe in dust or dusting.

The other bookcase is shorter and narrower. I can just about manage to fill that one with some things which I want to keep. But on our shelves besides the nooks are also a load of things that we can’t use any more as well. DVDs (we have no DVD player), CDs (we have no CD player, or even a CD drive); everything in the world is digital. I used to put photos in albums. But now that photos are all digital, there seems no point. I have a shelf full of recipe books. And apart from any that have a photo of James Martin on them, they are all pretty much redundant. Anything we want a recipe for is available on line.

Why has life changed so much? I was comfortable in my non digital world. With books and CDs and films on DVD. I didn’t want to change, but once I got used to the technology, I grew to love it.

Then again, if we didn’t live in the digital age, I probably wouldn’t have all of you. And life would be poorer.

Sue x

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Carole, don’t wait so long till you can show yourself and your oh up! Do it now…I do and I’m only 64!

Life’s too short to hang around , socks or no socks!

Pollx