Hi everyone,
Just curious if any of you diagnosed with MS are plagued with short term memory loss? I have been experiencing these issues for some time now as well as difficulty or slowness using numbers, seem to have lost some spelling and vocabulary too and organising my chain of thought, it drives me crazy from time to time! Does anyone else have similar experiences they can share or is it just me?
Karen xx
Karen, I’m not yet dx’d but on the long process to find out what’s wrong with me. I too suffer from memory problems and have great difficulty remembering conversations I’ve had with someone. I also find it hard to get some words right and am often coming out with random gibberish. Thankfully I’ve got a good partner who just laughs when I talk rubbish at her. It’s frustrating as hell though!!
yeah it certainly is frustrating!
everytime i think things have improved somewhat i make another rather large cock up again. Often when im typing or writing i suddenly realise i no longer know how to spell something, and no matter how hard i try to think it just doesnt come!! My son goes to college and after the summer there he got a lttle part job and it took me 3 months to ‘learn’ which days he worked! Even the weekly shop has become a task that i find incredibly difficult, i have no idea what im doing at times as my thought pattern is so disorganised!
I’m beginning to doubt my own reliability at times…
Hey Karen,
Yeah its common, also starting a sentence and unable to complete like you forgot what you was about to say. Brain fog: like you have suddenly gone retarded if asked a question in a conversation, its slower or hard to respond.
I use to get all of the above alot but for me it does not last its not a permanent thing, I get the odd hickup but not as bad as it use to be.
I got assessed at Charing cross and they do a cognative and short term memory test and I failed big time.
Funny thing is I can still learn new things like code when building odd website etc or learning to sail not sure how all that works to stay in long term memory etc. whats the difference and what makes the brain store in short term or long term.
thanks for your comment Hobs, it helps puts me at ease a little.
My son has said that I often start a sentence but never finish it instead i move on to something new but I have no recollection of doing so most of the time! Apparently this really bugs him, hes 16! lol
Yes my responses are definitely slower but I fear its a little worse than just brain fog, I have been like this for just over a year now and i think its improved slightly but not alot and during that time I have made some whoppers that you wouldn’t believe, in respect of not remembering vital info.
Numbers are just awful, I was signing documents the other day, lots of them, and had to be reminded of the date for every single one! I have not been assessed as yet, did your memory just improve over time without any help?
Erm I was on Tysabri for 5 months and I noticed lots of things improving then I had to come off it but the memory problems did not get any worse.
I’m on Rebif now and I think everything is fine still, I do notice if I’m in a pub with lots of convosations going on its hard to focus on one its like everything blends together.
My spelling and grammer went out the window ages ago, I give up now. innit
yeah background noise I have found really irritates me, think it interferes with my concentration big time.
There has been some really dense but funny incidents too…I came home the other day and dialled 1471 to check for missed calls, the number ended in 531 which was familiar but I couldnt place it, so i proceeded to look through all my contacts etc and after a while it really started to annoy me cause i was certain i knew the number but couldnt find any trace of who it belonged to. Wasnt until after I had frantically exhausted my search options it dawned on me that it was my mobile number, the same one i have had for 3 years, I had forgotten I had called the house just prior to returning home!
Wonder how i get through the day in one piece sometimes!
I feel your pain kareng and it is one of the reasons I am unable to work at she moment. I’m a nurse in a busy ED and found myself getting very frustrated and at times even concerned I was dangerous. I would have too check every drug calculation several times, even those with a colleague and when handing over my patients felt inept as I scrambled through notes to find info that I should have already known! My husband has leant to be patient and now waits for me to finish my own sentances as this is what works for me. I am currently waiting on a 3 day admission for LP and a steroid challenge to help my symptoms. Do you have any other symptoms besides the memory issues?
Xx
Hi Jarv’smum,
thankyou for your reply Im so glad Im not alone on this issue!! its a horrid place to be 
Do you have MS diagnosis?
I have had lots of other stuff/symptoms happen to me over the last 18 months or so, my main complaint being my right leg and arm which has been weak heavy and basically just not worked properly since last December '12 following a virus I had (at least I assume it was a virus). My GP has been insistant it was my thyroid but I have felt it was way more than that. Had a physio assessment done recently and my reflexes are down on that side as well as muscle weakness which physio reckons coincides with where I get muscle spasms, my balance is off a little too. Having said that over the last few days I have started to feel similar sensations down my left arm now too, at times my hands get so stiff and tight they are difficult to use without being a clumsy mess and I could pull my hair out with the burning in my legs at night and pain down my shins! The optician said she felt my eyes were not adjusting to light properly and sounds as though I may have been having retinal migraines and asked if I had been been tested for MS?
But still waiting on neuro appt…
Karen x
Hi Karen,
Not yet diagnosed no but I am going into hospital at the end of the month for lumbar puncture and trial on steroids. Should have a diagnosis at the end of that (hopefully). Wow that is quite an extensive list of symptoms, many of which I get too. Have you been refered to a neuro yet? Had any blood tests from your GP to rule out organic causes such as limes or lupus? Starting to get some relief from pain on Gabapentin but feel my my future and career are on hold till the diagnosis is given! Hope younger some answers soon.
Xx
Hello again,
I never started off with as many issues, left it a bit late before going to GP then they discoverd i had hypothyroidism and coeliac disease and since then its been a battle to get them to listen as those 2 conditions have been blamed for everything even although levels are normal now and things have gotten worse instead of better.
Both Optician and Physio doesnt agree they think theres def neuro probs and dietician linked with coeliac doesnt agree either. Had to insist GP referred me to neuro but he said would take 12 weeks which is around mid April, GP said i was too old to have MS! I’m 40 lol.
Yes i hope i get answers soon too before I end up getting really cross with them all!
Karen xx
Too old!!! Not everyone is diagnosed in their 20’s and 30’s, I’m 42! Its only when you think back you realise the small symptoms you brushed off and got on with it add up! It can take a long time to get an appointment, I have learnt nothing happens quickly in neuro land! My neuro even went as far as to say that as an ED nurse I am used to seeing instant tests and results and its just not like that! Good luck with it all, I have a month of tests and trials coming up but hopefully one of answers too, hope its not too long till you get some too. Xx
Yeah i knew i was being fobbed off with the too old thing!! My son spent nearly 19 years in neuro land and waiting was never an issue.
Good luck to you too hope everything works out xx