Cognitive losses with MS

Bemtevi · Newbie Joined: Apr 06, 2005 Posts: 2

Hello,

I am the mother of a twenty year old young man, who has had a very hard five months. He had a bad exhacerbation back in november/december, and even though he has improved about 70% his cognitive skills, mainly memory and visual attention, have been badly affected and he is finding it very difficult to learn. He had to drop out of college in January and is currently taking a Spanish course at the local college. He could already understand and speak Spanish because of his knowledge of Portuguese, our native tongue and courses he took in high school, but even so, it is still hard for him. He gets pretty discouraged sometimes. I wonder if any of the young people in this forum have experienced the same and what they have to offer in the way of advice.
Barbara

batpere · Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 8:41 am Post subject: ask about Aricept

You might ask his neuro about Aricept. It worked wonders for my cognitive problems.

CCmom · Family Elder Joined: Apr 26, 2004 Posts: 118

Hi, Barbara. I have a 17 year old son who was diagnosed with MS at age 13. Cognitive issues have been huge for him. Prior to his diagnosis, he was a straight A student, on the debate team and always on the honor roll. The first two years were the worse for him. Looking back, I'm not sure if it was the disease or the treatment, but just wanted to let you know that things are better now than they were.

Memory was a huge problem for him. Of course, at this age, we never know how much to contribute to being a teen ager and how much to contribute to the disease itself! Most of the time now, though, when I see that his head is in the clouds, it usually has to do with whatever young girl was walking by at the time!

Hopefully, things will improve for your son. Colby was back on the honor roll for the majority of this school year. And we aren't repeating ourselves as much as we once were. I know how discouraging it was for my son, and how frustrated he was all the time. I can imagine that it would be more difficult for a college student to deal with. Is he using any of the MS meds? Am I understanding you correctly that this was just diagnosed?

If there is anything I can do to help you, don't hesitate to ask, or write me anytime. This is a tough road we're on, and we all need all the support we can get!

Take care!

Kim
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Kim R.

bluesky · Newbie Joined: Apr 08, 2005 Posts: 2

[quote="Bemtevi"]Hello,

I am the mother of a twenty year old young man, who has had a very hard five months. He had a bad exhacerbation back in november/december, and even though he has improved about 70% his cognitive skills, mainly memory and visual attention, have been badly affected and he is finding it very difficult to learn.

My son has had memory problems off/on for the last 1.5 years. Has your son had neuropsychological testing done? It can help pinpoint areas that are problematic, and the neuropsychologist can recommend ways to address those areas. Sometimes cognitive therapy can help, other times there are ways to accomodate for different issues, or work around them.

Lynne