| Boy, do I feel stupid today! I submitted an article | | | | doesn't come out! Most people are OK with that but |
| yesterday to an ezine and I forgot to put my | | | | some people seem to be upset that I don't |
| website in the resource box. How will anyone buy my | | | | remember their name. I'm also always losing things. I |
| products or signup for my newsletter without my | | | | can be reading a piece of paper, set it down and |
| website address? How stupid could I be but that | | | | when I come back 5 minutes later I can't find the |
| leads me into today's article, cognitive problems with | | | | piece of paper. My office looks like an atomic bomb |
| multiple sclerosis. | | | | hit it. I tell myself to pick things up but it never |
| First of all, I'm not mentally handicapped although at | | | | seems to get done. I have about 75 post-it notes on |
| times I can be mentally slower. It's just my MS | | | | two separate desks in my office and I just keep |
| reminding me that I have some cognitive problems. I | | | | piling them on. |
| have two college degrees and I've owned several | | | | I've had this problem since I don't know when. I've |
| small businesses in the past 23 years which have | | | | never been good at directions. If I'm being told |
| done very well. What I am is a man with multiple | | | | directions I write them down. If someone say north |
| sclerosis which affects my cognitive thinking at times. | | | | and south or east and west I always say. Is that a |
| In the case yesterday I was unfamiliar with the term | | | | right or left? I've lived in my little town for 4 years |
| resource box and didn't bother to look it up. I could | | | | now and I still couldn't tell you if I'm on the north side |
| have looked at other submitted articles to see what | | | | of the tracks. When I had my carpet cleaning |
| it was but I didn't. That's my loss and why I'm writing | | | | business from '88 to '93 I would be driving down the |
| this article so close to the first one! | | | | highway looking for an exit. When the exit came up I |
| In 2001 I was working in Minneapolis at a company | | | | would have a flash of panic because I couldn't |
| that sold cell phones. I started in April of 2001 and | | | | remember which direction to go. I knew where I |
| quit in October of 2002. Part of the reason why I | | | | wanted to go but I couldn't remember how to get |
| quit was because the cell phones were becoming too | | | | there. Figure eight exits would drive me bonkers. I'm |
| complicated for me. We sold all the major brands of | | | | like that with a lot of things these days. I get the big |
| phones. I remember going to meetings that the cell | | | | picture of what I want to accomplish but I can't |
| phone companies would have once in a while. I would | | | | seem to figure out how to get from point A to point |
| sit in the meetings and after about 20 minutes my | | | | B. It can be frustrating to say the least! |
| mind would start wandering. Dick was a friend of | | | | There's an old saying that I say every once in a |
| mine at the company. I'd think to myself, I wonder | | | | while. I'll use a substitute word for the profanity. |
| where Dick wants to eat lunch today or I'd wonder if | | | | People of my generation say, throw that crap against |
| Doug wants to come with us. On real important | | | | the wall and see what sticks. That's exactly how my |
| points that I missed I would say to myself, I'll ask | | | | brain seems to work nowadays. Nothing seems to |
| Doug about that later knowing full well I probably | | | | stick. If I'm with 3 or 4 people and everyone is |
| wouldn't remember what I'd missed. | | | | talking I will hear everything being said but nothing |
| Another cognitive problem I have is short term | | | | stays in my head. You might as well be talking to a |
| memory loss. This is doctor documented and is a | | | | chair or wall because I won't retain anything the next |
| common symptom for people with MS. My | | | | day unless it was earth shattering news. That can |
| neurologist sent me to a psychologist one day who | | | | get very frustrating not only for me but also the |
| was to test my memory. I used to be very good at | | | | people I'm talking to. I've learned to never leave |
| remembering the names of people. Now, unless I | | | | home without a piece of paper and a pen so I can |
| repeat their name a few times while I'm talking to | | | | make notes. These are just a few of the cognitive |
| them I just don't remember their names. I'll | | | | problems that I have but there are more. |
| remember their faces but sometimes the name just | | | | |