I often find myself saying I have cognitive dysfunction due to my neurological condition when I forget something or get mixed up, I say it in a joking way and people generally laugh/smile with me. This problem was brought home to me yesterday when I had a visitor I haven’t seen since before Christmas.
Since I took my Christmas decorations down I have had a vague feeling of something being missing but haven’t dwelt on it and the thought left my head as quick as it entered. When my friend came yesterday one of the first thing she said was “where are your ornaments” as I was responding “what ornaments” I remembered my small collection of Willow Tree figures, I knew instantly where I had put them for safe keeping. It is almost three weeks since I took my decs down I’m wondering how long it would have taken me to remember what was missing from my fires mantelpiece.
In my defence I have only had these ornament around two years, perhaps if I’d had them for twenty years I wouldnt have forgotten them at all.
I’m not on my own but can you remember why
Im off to check my diary to see what I have planned for today.
I’m liking that phrase ‘cognitive dysfunction due to my neurological condition’ I think I may just have to use that!!! If it makes you feel better I have been looking for a gift that I brought for my niece’s new baby for the last 3 weeks I know that I’ve put it somewhere safe during the xmas mayhem but where mm??? At least you remember where your somewhere safe was!!! I am still looking, think I need to buy another present so I can go visit
i am still looking for the xmas cards i put in a ‘safe’ place, i bought them online in october, i looked all over the place,and gve up in the end as it was stressing me too much, i decided to buy more and just forget about them lol,i suppose they will just turn up one day.lol.
I think it’s a bit harsh on yourself to label every instance of simple absent-mindedness as “cognitive disfunction”.
Perfectly healthy people have these blips, too.
When my “new” (now not so new) neuro first introduced himself, I realised by the end of the session I’d already forgotten his name. So I apologised, and said: “See what I mean?”
He said: “That’s not abnormal, it happens to lots of people!”
He doesn’t have a particularly difficult name, but it’s not that common either.
And apparently, I now can’t spell “dysfunction”! I’m sure that happens to a lot of people, too. I’m not going to let it set me worrying about how bad my MS must be getting.
Please do use it. Years ago my Neuro (when I had one) suggested I tell people who were rude enough to comment on my tremor that it was due to my neurological condition, I have since amended It for cognition problems.
Your gift is sure to turn up when you have bought another one, it’s called Sod’s law in my neck of the woods
Tina don’t worry I’m not being hard on myself humour is my way of dealing with most things MS. Although I have to say brain fog was one of the main reasons I had to retire early, at the time I put the fog down to fatigue now I have the time to manage my fatigue the cognition problems remain.
I have used that phrase before as my memory has definitely got worse over last few years. Particularly noticeable when I was at work. More than a bit annoying as I used to have an excellent memory. I know these wee ‘blips’ happen to everyone but I have to put mine down to MS as it as more than fine before! It is somewhat frustrating for both me and my partner
Worse, worse, worse!! I moved from a short term rental property where my husband was temporarily working. I’d bought some expensive wedge heeled sandals I’d lusted over in Hotter, never worn because in I’d still have needed tights and just too good to wear in my everyday life, but i was dreaming about shoes last night and woke up with a realisation I haven’t seen them! Nearly £100!!
Of course they are decorative only (I use a power-chair) and my legs and feet so ugly because of all the broken veins caused by lack of circulation from not walking, which is why I hadn’t worn them yet, but oh, how frustrating it is! I can’t do any of the moving our stuff and my husband probably left them in the flat. Now it’s too late and they wil, be lost for ever…
if only I could remember the bigger stuff, never mind being able to covey a sentence I’ve just read in my paper in a way that makes sense - whilst I face the look of irritation on my husbands face, as yet again, I talk as if I have no idea what I’m talking about!
Damage to cognitive processing is one of my greatest regrets. It’s one few people not in our exclusive MS group can differentiate from their own ordinary forgetfulness. And they really irritate ME, with their.‘oh, I’m like that too’!
It’s so frustrating and in this case made much worse by losing track of your beloved shoes.
I’m not the most talkative person among my group or non MS friends (can’t get a word in edge ways) I’m getting quieter because I’m worried I say the wrong thing or repeat myself which is silly as they know what I’m like and laugh with me not about me. I try to keep an up to date diary which helps but I do wonder if this makes it worse because I don’t have to remember certain things.
I often lose track of what I’m saying, I get halfway through a sentence and realise I don’t know what I wanted to say. It can be very embarrassing. At least since I stopped working non of my memory lapses have been very important. Frustrating, annoying and inconvenient they are but usually they only affect me.
I’m beginning to realise that I’m getting much worse with cognitive stuff. I have been helping out at annual 2 day seminars for a number of years, aimed at cat breeders, and do the talk on genetics and advanced genetics, as well as a couple on pedigrees and animal husbandry. About 3.5hrs of talks over 2 days, so not too bad. For the last 2 years, I will be part way through, and my brain will just stop. I don’t have a clue where I am, what I’m saying, what I should say next… All I can say is thank goodness for my powerpoint presentation. When it happens I just read off of that and can find my place again. It is embarrassing, and I now hate giving the talks. It’s also affected the ‘quality’ of the talk. People used to walk away after the genetics talks understanding exactly what I’d been explaining. Now only half of them do. I’ve asked if someone else can do my talks, but there isn’t anyone else with the experience who can do it.
I’m always telling my hubby to get something out of the… erm… erm… (wave hands frantically) erm… Fridge! Cupboard! Oven! No, no, drawer! So frustrating. The words just won’t come out sometimes.
I started this thread in a lighthearted way whilst knowing the underlying seriousness of it. I hope I haven’t unsettled anyone too much and made them worry more about the odd little things or indeed series things that happen to them. I should have thought more about the topic and looked into things that could help, I do apologise if I have caused anyone to worry more than they already do.
Loretta I’m sure if you are still in demand to give the talks it can’t be as bad as you think, PowerPoint presentation has got a million people over the odd brain freeze.
I had friends over for a meal earlier with the tv on in the background. The One Show came on and I remarked that the lady presenter got married at new year “yeah you told us last week and the week before!”
It is a serious problem but I try to approach it with a bit of humour and don’t mind laughing at myself a little! Wasn’t laughing when I got an official warning at work a a couple of years back for forgetting something! I can laugh now but wasn’t at the time.ni find a sense of humour about things helps me because otherwise I would think far too much about my problems and what they could be in the future which terrifies me although I won’t admit to anyone outside of here.
I couldn’t agree more Marty. I wish I could forget or laugh about the errors I made at work, I don’t dwell on them but i can’t forget them. Where’s memory failure when you need it
I don’t see the point of getting stressed or upset about it all. Now I tend to laugh about it with people I know… My boss will ask me questions about a project we’re doing, and I will say ‘I dunno - you know what my memory is like…’. I write everything down in the project files as a prompt for me, so I can remember.
Forgetting words is now an amusing game. Hubby is getting used to charades. We were discussing MRI’s last night, and he was asking how the consultant will know if I have any new lesions (as I have so many, so not a case of saying there were 3 and now there are 5…). I said ‘they’ll give me an…’ waves hand aroundmimics giving an injection "… of contrast and it shows up the newer lesions’. It’s like Christmas every day in our house! lol!
This is interesting, because I always end up feeling like people are being dismissive of my issues when they use the, “that happens to a lot of people” type lines. I know that’s probably (hopefully!) not what they’re doing, and a lot of the time they’re quite likely feeling awkward and/or trying to make me feel better, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling belittled.
The way I look at it is yes, it happens to a lot of people, but it happens to me, now, WAY more than it ever used to. Multiple times a day, every single day, often the exact same thing over and over again, and that’s what makes it abnormal. I just struggle to get that point across to people, because I have such difficulty in spoken conversations that need immediate responses now, my brain can’t provide the words that I need at short notice.
My boss used to tut, look skyward and even look at someone else with a OMG she’s useless kind of face. Having said that they were wonderful when I went through ill health retirement, couldn’t wait to get rid of me
'scuse me for gatecrashing, but I have a big question about memory problems in MS- I’ve had MS for 14 years (RRMS) and am thankfully symptom free, aside from mild balance issues and the odd relapse. But I do have a terrible memory. I was DXD at 16, so my problem, both myself and when talking to neuros is to know how much I can blame MS for my awful memory?
Is it feasible that I can be largely symptom free but still have cognitive problems due to MS?
When I told my neuro about these issues she didn’t seem to be too concerned, or maybe it was more that there’s nothing she can offer to help with this issue?
Basically, I just want to ask if you can get mainly cognitive problems without may physical issues?
