If I have to apologize to one more person because I forgot their name, or something I was suppose to do for them.
My boss is losing his memory. My husband has loss his.....
I am the one that knows where everything is.
I am the one who knows where we purchased stuff and how much it cost.
I am the one who can fix anything.
I am every one turns to for answers....
I AM....not her any more and it pisses me OFF!
We left for a great weekend. I pack for my husband cause he doesn't or can't. Not sure..
I packed his medications, but left them. We had to come home. PS: He is an insulin dependent diabetic and on a hand full of other meds.
One of my employees needed a key...I could not think of where to get one. The next day 3 days after my MTX. I opened my desk took out the extra keys and handed them to him. geesh!
I understand! It’s the same for me. I’ve always been great with names, finding things others misplace and all that. Now, I have to truly think to get my words and thoughts straight, and even then it doesn’t always work. I feel like I’m walking through jello and everything is just foggy. somebody tell me it can get better…
Yes. Sounds familiar. It’s a horrible symptom, made worse by the fact that there’s no good way if describing it outside this group. Mtx, sulfasalazine, hydroxyhloroquine and leflunomide made no diff. Enbrel cleared it in a about a week – that was how I knew that it was going to work.
Hang in there, justjo!
Yes I know what you mean. That brain fog along with about 6 more side effects caused me to have to go off of Mtx. I will never use it again. I had reached a point where I thought I might lose my job because of it. Did the same job for 10 years and all of the sudden I couldn't remember anything.
Funny....it took close to a month after I stopped mtx for me to feel ok again.
I've been on sulfasalazine, hydroxychloroquine ( still on it ) and mtx, and Leflunomide ( still on it ).
I've had it on and off for years, I never knew it was from my PsA until I read up on it. Mtx seems to make it worse, especially 12-36 hours after taking it. It also gets bad when I get really tired. I've read that it's the disease itself, although I beleive certian medications can exasperate or amplify it. Frustating to sat the least.
I didn't realize this. But it makes a LOT of sense. I have been having the hardest time remembering the names of very simple things. I just thought I was getting on!!
it does make sense some of it is the disease. I had periods of brain fog before I got so sick. But now it seems to be the first 3 days after I take my MTX injection.
Have you seen this website? http://doublecheckmd.com/EffectsDetail.do?sid=11996&eid=9276 I have the brain tremors also. I thought it was caused from discontinuing my anti depressant which did give me brain shocks, but I am still having them. Just little ones first thing in the morning. Caffeine makes them go away.
Love the site justjo. Since starting MTX I’ve not worked any Mondays (dose sat night, and now first thing Sunday morning) because I was warned by my Rheumatologist that my cognitive process may be impaired. I have to watch myself even on a Tues morning, and management are aware of the S/E and that’s why my shift pattern is as it is.
No one warned me Louise, but in my rheumy's defense he knows I run home from every visit and research on the internet. haha I ask him if it bothered him and he replied " Not at all. I love for my patients to be well informed and understand their disease." I don't believe half the stuff I read on the internet, but at least it gives me questions to ask doc.
I wonder how much of this brain fog is related to anemia, depression, and insomnia. Sadly, both MTX and NSAIDs are notorious for causing anemia (on the opposite side of the spectrum). My fog lifts when my disease gets better, but so does my anemia, depression, and insomnia.
I am still having slight problems getting words out of my mouth today, but the brain fog is better. Went for my labs this morning I can't wait to find out my number, but I am just a little scared to find them out also
I understand your frustration. I have the brain fog so bad sometimes that my family have consulted with neurologists about early on set Alzheimer's and I have been submitted to several cognitive functioning tests. My husband is convinced that this is what is wrong with me. However, I am not nor have I yet to receive MTX. I do get terrible migraines and my reummy said something about Ankelyting spondalolosis. I will talk to the neuro about the lumbar puncture to detect this particular nastiness next month. I have put it off for a year now . but i do not think I can afford to do that any longer now that my insurance will take care of it.
Apparently this is the thing that causes my brain fog------- My entire nerve bundle gets swelling at the base of my neck and then the neurons do not respond correctly. This was the spot where my PsA first showed up after the psoriasis part crept up my entire spinal column at my first serious skin flare three years ago.
I'm so sorry to hear you are having such a hard time of it. My hat is off to you for trying hard every single day! XXXXX
It's interested that you say that crazylady. I've had a hump between my shoulders my entire life and when I have stress it hurts and radiates down my shoulders. My PsA pain/swelling is at the base of my skull when it flares. My mother had a "hump" which my dad made fun of. I thought I inherited it from her. She was a tiny person, not a chubby like me. BUT she did have terrible deforming arthritis. I never thought our humps were related to our arthritis. Interesting
I know when I was first diagnosed with Guttate psoriasis three years ago, this was my original issue. In fact I had been scheduled for a biopsy to be preformed on the lump. After discussing the issue and really talking about my symptoms with my GP it was decided that it was a plaque deep under the skin as well as on top. It did not look like psoriasis at first and it scared the daylights out of me. t was actually all up the back of my head and my hair was nearly waist length at the time so I could not see it and neither could anyone else because the hair was so thick. This lump was in my hairline in the back on the base of my skull.
I still get terrible brain fog days and I also have many more joint/tendon issues, but I have to agree with you that the humiliation of the brain fog can make you very people shy and frustrated at the best of times. my thought are with you because when my pain is flaring there it sends me to the ER and since I am newly diagnosed and haven't seen my permanent reummy yet I have to go through a miriad of tests until they believe me. My former PAC did not do a lot of charting so my records are incomplete. I am just getting all of the data from all of the doctors integrated in the same office and my new GP is speeding things right along.
Did your mom have alot of pain that you can recall ? It may be she had the PsA as well... They didn't really diagnose it as such back then. Both my dad and Grams had it bad and no one ever called it PsA. I was their caregiver for the last years of both of their lives and dealt with all of their doctors and never once did I hear it given a name. Although they did get very nearly the same treatments that we are getting minus the biologics of course.
Will you keep me posted as to how you are feeling and coping ? This is the one thing that truly wipes me out of the park some days. XXXXX
Major brain fog here. It's better when i get enough sleep, remember (ha!) to take my B vitamins, and when my PsA is most under control.
I'm the person in this 7 person family who USED TO know where everything was, keep track of everyone's activities and appointments, keep track of everyone's assignments, make sure all food items were kept in stock, etc. etc. etc. Now I feel like a complete disaster. My kids know that I lose the ability to communicate sometime between 4 and 6pm, unless I get a nap - LOL! My word retrieval goes down the drain by dinnertime. That's when I say things like, "Ale... Ali....Cor....who are you??? You know who you are, so You - I need you to get the thing off of the thing. You know, the thing that you use to *makes hand motions* like this?" Taken from an actual conversation - tonight, as a matter of fact.
crazylady - I have ankylosing spondylitis and have been having MAJOR neck issues lately and the worst migraines of my life. Something I need to discuss with my rheumy at my next appointment. Ugh.