When Your Brain Takes a Vacation: Cognitive Dysfunction in MS

It never fails. I'm in the middle of telling a story or attempting to explain a concept, when my brain suddenly decides to take a vacation. Without notice, the tail end of a well-turned phrase is left dangling by my failure to remember a simple word. There is generally an embarrassed silence as I grope for the word and struggle to finish the sentence. Typically, the listener anticipates my intention by jumping in to supply the forgotten word. Even though the gist of what I'm communicating hasn't been lost to the listener, I often feel somewhat self-conscious and ashamed of my mental lapses.

Researchers Identify Cognitive Fatigue In People With MS

Unfortunately, I'm not alone in this manifestation of cognitive difficulty. According to a study published in the October 2000 issue of Neurology, MS patients lose cognitive ability after repeated testing, while healthy people improved while taking the same tests. The study involved 45 individuals with MS and 14 control participants who were given tests which measured memory, conceptual planning, attention span and verbal communication.

According to neurologist Lauren Krupp, MD, of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, the study is significant because it could increase understanding of the disease. "These findings on the mental fatigue experienced by MS patients during the course of a day should be of interest to teachers, employers, family members and others who regularly interact with MS sufferers," she said.

In another study funded by the National Institutes of Health and Biogen, Inc., researchers noted that "cognitive impairment is observed in about half of all persons with MS and is likely to worsen over time." The most common problems noted were memory deficits (like my inability to remember a word) and slowed information processing.

The types of cognitive impairments were distributed into three categories:

1. Difficulties Most Frequently affected in MS: learning and recent memory (the ability to learn new information and recall it after a delay), and information processing speed (the ability to focus, maintain, and shift attention as needed in response to rapid incoming information);

2. Difficulties Somewhat Less Frequently affected in MS: visuospatial abilities (the ability to recognize objects, determine where they are in relation to each other, and to move objects, including ourselves, around in space) and executive functions (the ability to perform complex tasks, such as planning and carrying out a sequence of activities or problem-solving); and

3. Difficulties Not generally affected in MS: verbal abilities and attention span
   The copyright of the article When Your Brain Takes a Vacation: Cognitive Dysfunction in MS in Multiple Sclerosis/MS is owned by Pamela Martin. Permission to republish When Your Brain Takes a Vacation: Cognitive Dysfunction in MS in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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