MS Flutters

What is a "flutter" you ask?  This is a term I first heard about while reading a book called, "Women Living with Multiple Sclerosis" by Judith Lynn Nichols.  In this no holds barred collection of antidotes and stories from women who live with this disease, "flutters" are used as a way to explain those mental lapses where one can find themselves putting the phone in the fridge or trying to use the television remote to make the dog lie down.  Other terms have been used to describe this phenomenon such as "cognitive flatulence" or "brain farts."

What causes these Nutty Professor types of behaviors? 

Nichols says that these flutters are caused by "the slowing of brain waves in the temporal lobes."

Whatever the cause or name these neurological glitches, although sometimes humorous, can wreak havoc in your life. 

I have always prided myself in being well organized and mentally sharp.  But since my diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis I feel that I am not the sharpest tack anymore.  One of my friends who does not have MS once commented to me that she feels this particular symptom is common for everyone.  She told me matter of factly that the loss of mental acuity is just a sign of getting older.  In her efforts to make me feel better, she actually made me angry.  Perhaps my lessened abilities would be understandable if I was eighty but I am only in my forties!  No, this is different than just normal aging.  It isn't just forgetfulness here but more of an actual impediment to thinking.

I don't know about you but I can actually feel my thoughts becoming sluggish as though my mental wheels and cogs were grinding to a slow crawl.  There are times I simply feel too tired to think.  And this feeling of mine is confirmed in the research about MS and cognition.  In the fourth edition of "Multiple Sclerosis:  The questions you have the answers you need" Doctor Rosalind C. Kalb discusses studies which verify the existence of what is known as "cognitive fatigue."  Whereas people without MS tend to do better after doing the same mentally challenging tasks upon repeat performance, folk with MS tend to do worse over time because of this mental fatigue. 

One of the images I tend to think of when I think of Multiple Sclerosis is the slowing down of nerve impulses to make my muscles work.  But this slowness extends far beyond simple muscle movements but also to our thoughts and cognition. 

So when we talk about these "flutters" what parts of our cognitive functioning are we addressing?

The National MS Society defines six primary areas where cognition may be affected due to MS.

These areas include:

• Memory (usually more short term memory problems of retaining new information)
• Attention and concentration
• Making sense of and processing information coming in through our five senses
• The ability to plan and prioritize (Executive functions)
• Visuospatial functions (visual perception and constructional abilities)
• Verbal fluency (being able to find the right words when we speak

How do these neurological flutters manifest in everyday life?