Hi Lynne,

Im so sorry you are going through this.

I dont know about this from personal experience, but I do deal with someone daily that has dementia. My mom (who Ive been taking care of for the past 7-8 years) was just diagnosed with it last month. She had an MRI of her brain to see if there was any abnormal degeneration based on her age. She will soon be 73 but the changes her MRI showed were more like an 80 year olds. But, the factor her doctor held the strongest was her family history, age her mother (my grandmother) was diagnosed and the type of cognitive problems she was having.

She does have some serious memory issues and confusion, but the main thing that tipped the scale as far as her symptoms go and this diagnosis was her inability to tell reality from what she dreamed about, read about etc. She is always reading something in a magazine or online or dreaming about something and then being positive it really happened to HER in real life.

I hope this information has helped you a little.

(((hugs))))
Lisa

Lynne,
You could ask your doctor about the Cognitive Assessment of Minnesota test. It is one helpful way to assess a person's cognitive abilities.

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jar/2011/853624/
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Lisa,
good luck with your mom and what ever you do ban everyone coming into your home from bringing any book authored by Stephen King into your home.

Best wishes to you both,
EP

EP thanks... no way I would allow any books like that and I've already blocked certain channels from her tv. It's been an interesting enough ride with just normal news/articles and reality shows.

I'm sorry to hear that a person who should be your primary support is telling you things like that. Is he your MS doc or primary care physician?
I've had family tell me things but in my 'dementia', I just ignore it...

Best of luck and don't let negative people get you down.

Lynne...my husband & 2 (grown) sons have been telling me how bad my memory has been getting, for several years now. It's actually starting to worry me...as I will just swear up & down that I "did/didn't" say/do something...& they will all 3 argue that I'm wrong...or "dreamed it up" one. I became so concerned, that I had made me an appointment with a Neuro-Psych in Denver, CO for some in-depth cognitive testing. However, I ended leaving my husband & going back to Oklahoma...before I even got to see him (apt. was a month away). You might try & search one out in your area. ??

Donny, yes, it is my husband who keep telling me that I'm suffering from dementia and not MS Brain Fog. The symptoms are too severe for MS Fog. I don't know much about MS Brain Fog and am now doing some googling on the subject.

tj, yes, I too suffer from those symptoms. It is constant, about everything. Someone can tell me something and I don't immediately comprehend what they are telling me. If you tell me something, most of the time I cannot repeat it back for lack of memory.

I'm only 54, soon to be 55 next month. I feel I'm too young to be experiencing dementia. I take pain pills (40 mg. oxycotin 2x day) and wonder if my "dementia" symptoms would go away if I stopped, or reduced my pain medication?

I still don't know how to tell the difference between MS brain fog and dementia, anyone?

Gawd, I hope it's MS fog and not dementia - we have enough to deal with!

I am lately having several cognitive isues.
1. If the TV is on, or more than one person is talking, I can't follow either conversation, which of course produces some anxiety.

2. I'm having a word-finding difficulty - can't think of the word, or use the wrong word (ostrich instead of octopus, flowers instead of candles), and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to say that a dress was strapless - I kept coming up with sleeveless, knowing it wasn't right but couldn't come up with strapless. And just in this paragraph, I originally used the word "disability" instead of "difficulty," knowing it wasn't quite right but finally the correct word came to me.

3. I can be in the middle of a conversation with someone and completely forget what we were talking about. I can also be in the middle of a sentence and lose my train of thought, so that I have no idea what I was saying or where I wanted to go with the conversation.

Scary stuff.

Hi Lynne from another Lynne I am just like Humming bird , costant cant cope cross talking or such also find ms fog worse when tired or stressed

It is possible to develop toxicity from medication. This could be the reason you're a bit forgetful.

There is a big difference in forgetfulness and dementia.

Forgetful is when you smell the cake burning in the oven and realise you forgot to check it.

Dementia is when you don't even know you baked a cake.

Jill, your explanation of dementia vs. simply being forgetful was wonderful! I baked brownies yesterday and remember that I baked them, and had the timer set to help me remember when they were done. I feel better, but not best.

I really think it is M.S, fog. A few years ago I could tell you the names of the members of just about any band, past members included. Now I struggle to even remember band names. This is just one of the many things I've seemed to lose.
My grandfather had dementia and I was the first to figure it out. He started by confusing me with my father who had died 10 years before, then one day I found this very proud, strong willed man setting on the floor playing with his money and reenacting what I think was a scene from his childhood. He actually had the sound and the movements of a child,. He came and went from these episodes until he got to the point where he stayed in the distant past.
So no I don't think your even close to dementia, M.S. does very strange things and from what I've studied on it(from one of the links that you suggested i look up), this is one of the typical things that it does.
Don't give into the fear that this crap likes to cause.
Todd

http://www.m.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/tc/dementia-symptoms

I found this , I hope helps. I believe if people tell us something not being nasty, we should look into it. But don't stress over it. My aunt has parkinson and dementia. She went to a happy place and have the funniest requests, like call the FBI ,I need to confess. Very catholic lady, saying she has made a pact with the devil.,,etc. When she started, I noticed it wasn't she Remembered, she just didn't know, like it was the first time listening about X subject.

Alma

oooh, ocycontin scares the hell out of me, I watched my mom go on a downward spiral taking that. Mind you she was also taking other over the counter pain meds on top of it. She would take a bunch of the other pain killers...can't remember what they were, but then 5 minutes would down another handfull of them because she didn't remember taking the first (or 2nd or 3rd lot) ...not saying that oxy was the cause but the memory problems started about when she started taking it. She was hospitalized once and the er doc was apalled at the amount of pain meds she was taking and "dried her out". Her memory improved a lot after that ...until her dumbass doctor put her on some other high powered pain med. Sorry, long story and I'm not saying that you are taking too many meds, just wanted you to know what I think I've seen that stuff do. I'm probably going to get into trouble for writing this.
take care
Anne

Anne, I have the same concerns that I am taking way too many medications. I recently decreased my oxy dose, and I want to decrease it again. My husband doesn't recommend that because of my high pain level. I will talk to my pms about reducing the pain meds as much as I can stand. I was on Opana for about 2 years prior to transferring over to oxy. My pms said that the side affects are less with oxy than with opana.

You won't get in "trouble" ever for writing what your opinion is. I appreciate the honesty and straightforwardness in your reply.

Todd, thanks for your reply. When I get replies about people's experience with dementia, the more I think it is just MS fog like you suggested. I will try not to give in to the fear that this crap likes to cause, but it is difficult when everyday I'm reminded that I have MS to a debilitating point.

Alma, thanks for the link. I haven't looked at it yet, will do so when I finish this reply. Again, when I hear of the story of your aunt, I really don't think I have dementia, just a bad case of MS brain fog. It totally destroys my days, never remembering a thing anybody says, and saying weird things to my family. When I say weird things, I mean I never say the right words of what I'm trying to get my point across about. I'm also not very diplomatic with my family, which doesn't help. I don't mean to be hard on anybody, but it comes out rude most of the time.

Lynne,
I have the same 3 issues as hmmmingbird, and I ughhh...ughhhh... now what was I talking about.lol I have a hard time comprehending if someone is trying to read something out loud to me, I have to read it for myself to understand it. I think the scariest thing for me was a few days ago, I was on the phone with my sister and she was giving me a phone # and I forget how to make a 7. Really, who forgets how to make a 7. I had to ask her to repeat 7 a few times before I could figure out what the heck she was saying. All I can do is laugh at myself for some of the weird stuff that my brain decides to do. I'm only 26, so I can't wait to see what I'm like at 56. It should be interesting.