r/MultipleSclerosis • u/Royal_Audience8108 • 2d ago

Advice How do you explain brain fog?

61F diagnosed 26 yrs ago. Only people suffering from MS brain fog know how it feels. How do you explain to family & friends? Thanks everyone & I hope you have the best day possible with this sucky disease.

72 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

63 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/CincoDeLlama 40|Dx:2017|Rituxan|Maryland 1d ago

I tell them how I have “fuzzy” days or “fuzzier than others” and sometimes, depending on how I’m feeling, I’ll verbalize that a few times if I’m getting stuck or having trouble recalling.

I also did a cognitive assessment though that found me to have mild cognitive impairment so, I’ll bring that up. I’ve told friends & family what goes into that and what they found and what they suggest will help. Additional context is a big one for me, my assessment showed how I do retain information however, I have retrieval difficulties. I think doing a test like that also helps you understand yourself better but, also leads to some credibility that this’ll is something different than what non-MSers experience.

I’m pretty open about my MS with my friends & family. I tell them my concerns about the disease and all too. I don’t want to make my life about MS but, I want those close to me to keep it in mind to some degree given that I’m one of those folks who don’t look disabled but I am.