I asked my nuro same question. he said you could tell difference by MRI. My memory is what I Iike to call "In The Moment". It is in the moment I am doing something and I completely shut down. I have slep n my close, I never do this. I backed out of my garage to pick meds up, realized I still had gown and robe on. I sat here the other night aftre being dressed all day, I closed eyes to see ifI could remember what I was wearing, I could not. I could notremember what I ate for dinner, or if I even ate. IT IS HORRID, I KNOW. Hoefully I wil find out something Thursday. Goodluck.

Hummingbird this is the exact symptoms that I am having. I don't think it is dementia it has to brain fog...good subject though sometimes I feel like I am going nuts.

Your not alone hummingbird. That is what had me scared to death when I didn't know what was wrong with me.
people would talk and I could not put the words together in my brain. I lose words, thoughts and whole conversations.
Even had a nurse say that it looked a lot like a seizure because i lost a word in the middle of a conversation and then zoned out trying think of it. She said my eye's were darting all over but i didn't even notice that part I was just frustrated.

Hi Everyone! Today I saw my therapist for the first time in months. We had a discussion about this and she recommended cognitive testing with another psychologist in her practice. I'm so happy and hopefully will get some answers to my dilemma. It is a real shame that I didn't have these types of tests done early in my disease so that I could see objectively the deficits that have occurred. I would recommend anyone early in their treatment of MS to have this testing done to measure their earmark. With MS, it typically changes.

I would say its brain fog but I would take action & find yourself a councellor or neuro psche (typos) & you will find ones near you not to dear. Its surprising how much I have found them to be helpful. I have always had females & they are easier to talk to for me.
You only need a few times depending on how good they are or maybe 6.
I know when I sort out all my stuff I will need one to deal with everything I have been through.
Take care & just ask him to help you not have goes at you. Maybe you can use your phone or other things to prompt memory.

Since this post is about the possible health problem of dementia I am going to add the below research as a number of you have posted you are on Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) which in most cases is synthetic hormones (different molecules than what your body makes). If you are on synthetic hormone replacement and having dementia issues you make want to print off the research and discuss other options such as bio-identical hormone replacement therapy BHRT...or not. Either way I hope you can get proper dx and tx.

Women and Synthetic Sex Hormone Studies
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/may2003/nia-27.htm

Rates of Dementia Increase Among Older Women on Combination Hormone Therapy
"The risk for dementia among women taking estrogen and progestin was TWICE that of women taking placebo pills." They are speaking of the approx 4,500 women in the study that used synthetic hormones..here Prempro

Hopefully MS fog .. forgetfulness like everyone else is saying.
Just write down when you take your meds and keep a log of what time and when you take ANYTHING pill wise .
you will not over dose .. keep writing! like a journal , with dates , times and pills.
God luck to you Lynne.
This is what I have to do everyday or I will forget what I took and could over dose as well. I have TONS of meds I take everyday , night. .
Best of luck being sent your way!
Silky ~
Hope this idea will help you ! It has me!
xoxox

Thought I entered a post about this earlier, looks like I did not.
What I wrote is that brain fog, aka cognitive disfunction is often
caused when CCSVI is the problem. Many with MS have blocked veins,
resulting in poor drainage from the brain as well as deposits of iron.
Check out sites on CCSVI, good news is that this can be corrected via angioplasty.
Many are currently leaving Canada, as medical refugees to have this done. If I have to, one day I will.

I do not have the patience to read all the replies -- that is my issue--so this answer may have already been given. Anyway, I went to see a neuro - psychologist and she did tests on me for 7 hours. In fact, that is how I got my disability from Social Security because of those results.

But a neuro-psychologist should be able to dx you. It is probably MS. Try not to worry. I got my referral from my neuro doc. Good luck, Lynne. This should settle the matter with your husband.

My understanding is dementia presents different on an MRI.Is your husband a doctor?