I have a family member who has MS and is experiencing some confusion, memory loss, directional problems, but he doesn't seem to realize it (or he is in denial). Anyone have any insights?
2006-06-17 02:58:35 · 7 answers · asked by Mary H 2 in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Other - Diseases
Catsclaw, when did you become a neurologist? Gee, you sound so much more informed about MS than my neurologist does. MS IS NOT caused by what a person eats, or doesnt eat, and the changes made in that persons diet did NOT cure his exacerbation. Having the problem go away after a few weeks or months IS THE NATURE OF THE DISEASE! This is why it is called RELAPSING REMITTING MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS.
It is no wonder those of us with MS have so much anxiety about our disease with all the misinformation out there, especially the misinformation that is spread by people WITHOUT MS who have little to no real knowledge about the disease.
Mary, I have MS and I have some cognitive changes from it. The best advice I can give you is to try to help him to keep his brain active, by playing card games, computer games, word search puzzles, and other things that take some brain power. Try to help him remain as mentally active as possible. He truely might not realize he has these problems.
I will sometimes ask the same question 10 times in 10 mintues. Or I will get in the car and forget where I am going, when I am half way to the next town over. When someone points out to me that I do these things it makes me very self concious and embarrassed, ashamed, or afraid to leave my house sometimes. I think he is lucky for not realizing he has this problem if that is the case.
If it were me, I would prefer to not have my family tell me that I am having those problems. MS is a TERRIFYING disease to live with and telling him he is having those cognitive difficulties will probably be very scary for him. It might cause him alot of anxiety, which he probably has a lot of already just because he knows he has MS. So my advice, as a person with MS, is not to straight out tell him. Ignorance is bliss. Just help him excercise his brain power as much as you can. Share memories with him often to remind of things that have happened before. Memories are all we really have, and when a person looses those, its a very helpless feeling. Look at family pictures with him and talk about things that happened in the past.
I hope this helps. :)
2006-06-17 07:18:59 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
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2016-05-14 13:26:13 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I had a friend with multiple sclerosis. One of the major causes of MS is eating to much sea food, it's the mercury in the ocean. I tought my friend how to eat a healthy vegetarian diet with in a few months he was able to walk a whole mile only fell once. This was after being bound to a wheelchair for 9 years.He had a very terrible diet before I met him ate alot of unclean sea foods such as shell fish and catfish. He also ate alot of sugar drank a lot of coffee. Coffe can cause a person to live in denial, it had the same effects as cocain and can cause memory loss. All health issues are linked to diet and exersice. One thing I've noticed about people who have MS or other diseases is they eat a very bad diet. You might want to go to this website to learn more about the harmful effects of certain foods. http://www.notmilk.com
2006-06-17 04:09:35 · answer #3 · answered by catsclaw 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Multiple sclerosis is the formation of plaques in different parts of central nervous system, and behavioral and cognitive changes are common in advance stage of disease. In this the area of brain which is responsible for thinking, reasoning and memory may get affected directly or the the fiberes which interconnect one part of brain to other part of brain can get affected, and the patient shows this type of symptoms. Dont baby the person but talk to him politely.
2006-06-17 03:16:50 · answer #4 · answered by VVK 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've heard this is very normal for progressive MS. The lesions on his brain can disrupt the areas in charge of memory and cognitive skills.
This is a serious degenerative disease, and a very frightening place for him to be in. If he hasn't gotten medical help for these new symptoms, it might be time for someone to do it for him. They have newer procedures and injections that can help slow its progress, although nothing can repair the damage.
I wouldn't push him to admit he has a problem, if it were you, you wouldn't want to face the fact that you had a disease like this, you'd want to keep living your life as normally as possible.
2006-06-17 03:04:29 · answer #5 · answered by amosunknown 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My Mother had ms but it didn't get that bad b4 she died of lung cancer but I deal with this everyday at work. Your family member might not realize what is going on and if they do they are embarrassed. Don't push the subject, it is not only difficult for you but also difficult for them more so. Bring things up when completely necessary and for future reference put yourself in their place, if you wouldn't like to know don't tell them unless there is something that will help them fix the problem or they ask.
2006-06-17 03:05:50 · answer #6 · answered by Abs 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He probably DOES realise it to some extent.
MS is a disease of the Central Nervous System.
The messages from his spinal cord to his brain are getting all mixed up.
Just treat him as normally as possible, and don't baby him.
Unfortunately, this stage does not usually get better, but he will have some better days where he seems like his old self.
2006-06-17 03:03:46 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋