Question:

Can multiple sclerosis cause confusion?

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Can multiple sclerosis cause confusion?

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  1. Yes--Confusion or impaired thinking or memory. Illnesses in general can cause somewhat impaired thinking. Serious conditions of many kinds can also generate these symptoms. But again, some patients with MS do experience impairment of their thinking capacities on occasion.


  2. i think so, it targets mental functioning right?

  3. Yes, multiple sclerosis causes cognitive problems in approximately 50% of the people who have it. My IQ is over average but when I had my first attack (exacerbation, to use the correct lingo), my IQ actually dropped to the point where I had to be watched 24 hours a day. MS is not just  a physical disease. It impacts the emotions, short term memory and the ability to think. Of course once the exacerbation (for people with relapsing remitting MS) is over, cognition, memory and emotions start to repair and become more normal. For people with the progressive form of the disease their systems may not repair.

  4. Hi Kim,

    MS can cause cognitive problems. More often seen later in the disease, but it can be the only symptom. Frequently, it is mild and people can lose the ability to multitask or become slightly forgetful. They find becoming organized and developing reminder mechanisms, helpful. I use a Yahoo Calendar for all my appointments and important dates and have e-mail reminders sent. A friends uses a PDA.

    Aricept is sometimes prescribed and may have a prophylactic effect.

    Please visit my on line support group;

    http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/MSR...


  5. 50% patients experience mental changes such as: decreased concentration, attention deficits, some degree of memory loss, inability to perform sequential tasks, or impairment in judgment.

    Having decreased concentration is probably the thing my husband gets the least.

    I also have trouble articulating words. Probably the thing I can trace back the farthest. This is the thing I hate the most. I worry I don't sound smart, particularly hard on me if I am teaching at work or speaking to someone professionally who doesn't know MS is the problem and I can't think of the right words.

    I have any easier time adapting with my physical symptoms than these invisible ones.

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