Now I'm Dyslexic????

[tiffany515]

okay, so another new symptom......it has been getting harder and harder for me to type and write.  First off, my fingers just do not work that well anymore, b/c they either are numb or they hurt, but I've been dealing with that for a long time now.  But starting yesterday, I am now typing/writing things backwards or just mixing up the letters.  I always notice it, and then correct it, but this has never happened before!  I am already very anal when it comes to grammar, punctuation, and spelling.....and I'm irritating myself, b/c I cannot seem to get it right!!!  LOL (at least i can laugh at myself).  It's just damned annoying, and a little scary, b/c I'm afraid that this may get worse, and that soon I won't even notice the mistakes to correct them.  My brain is doing some very strange things lately, but this is the newest thing, and I wanted to share and see if anyone else experiences this, or if anyone has any feedback for me.  Thanks for letting me rant!!

[Marcintampa]

Hi  there. About the dyslexia. Ive had MS since I was 13, 25 years. I have been experiencing dyslexia. I even talk backwards sometimes. I guess this ia just another complication of having MS. In this message to you alone, ive had to correct probably about 15% of my spelling and phrasing.  Its annoying as fk. I gotta call my neuro monday and see if this is treatable or is this just another mfing thing to add to my list of MS curses.

[cleo500]

Hi -

FUN FACT:

The act of using an incorrect word in place of one that is similar in pronunciation (but which has a completely different meaning) is known as a Malapropism. The word comes from a character named Mrs. Malaprop in the play "The Rivals" by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

Examples of Malapropism:

Mrs. Malaprop said, "Illiterate him quite from your memory" (obliterate) and "She's as headstrong as an allegory" (alligator)

I have a high I.Q. but have had that same symptom since childhood. I was dx as a young teen and cognitive issues with MS were not known about then. My family would laugh at me when I would say words sounding similar to the one I meant to use, but had a completely different meaning. Or when I would cross phrases/thoughts, such as , "Romeo, Romeo, Let Down your Hair." Most know the story of Rapunzel and I had memorized the Romeo speech in school. They just thought I was intelligent, but also a little air-headed. Sadly, I did too...for years. The dyslexia problem started for me a month or more ago and I work with number for a living. I thought it was because I looked at numbers all day, but I've been off a week and it happened again today. So I researched to see if their was a connection and found this forum. I'm happy to see that there is a connection and that I'm not imagining this (or crazy) and so I can trust my thoughts & feelings, but I am also now sad & frustrated to know this, too. Its yet another new symptom. By the way - can anyone recommend a good neuro psychologist (of it is a neuro psychiatrist?) to assess my cognitive functions in Los Angeles?

[jensequitur]

What's disturbing is that I don't even realize that I used the wrong word.  Or phrased something the wrong way.  

[lovemy6monkeys]

I was having this problem, then it seemed to get a bit better...but it is acting up again lately. At first my kids would giggle, or repeat what I said wrong, and I knew they didn't mean anything by it, but I would get so frustrated when I said something wrong, and the kids giggling kind of hurt my feelings. I finally told them that it did, and my older kids have stopped, unless I say something really wrong...and then usually I'm the first one to laugh at myself.

More often than not I mix up the kids names. Or, I start to say something and halfway through can't get the words out anymore. It's like I get stuck on a word, can't think of what I want to say, so my brain kind of freezes. I've been trying to unfreeze my brain by going at the word another way. Yeah, I've been known to ask the kids to get something from the "cold food keeper thingy" :-)

If I'm talking, to anyone but DH & the kids, I tend to slow myself down. I probably sound a bit too slow, but it helps if I think of every word I'm saying, otherwise I get them wrong. And, in writing, I use Chrome for my internet which has automatic spell-check. For school I proofread, proofread, proofread.

~Jess

[Lulu54]

Have you looked at something and confidently said the entirely wrong thing?  I looked at a student last year and said "nice shirt - where did you get those'  meaning to inquire about his shoes.

I am always typing the wrong things here - I rarely go back and proof read what I have written - I know what I mean and figure all of you can also figure it out.

I save my proper spelling, language, punctuation, etc for work, because I work in an English fdepartment at  a college.  I need to do letter perfect work there, or I have several folks who are happy to jest about it.  And heaven forbid if I write an email to the faculty that has a double entendre ... I always get a joke back.

IMHO - The best advice you have heard is try to relax and let the brain have a moment to regroup - the more we push for the right things the worse it seems to function.

We are all in this together, you know?  I lose words, thoughts and my footing quite often.  It comes with the MS terriroty.

be well, Lulu

[marymoto]

hi i also do this i have even said things backwards it is quite funny but most of my friends  and acquaintances are aware of my problems so they chuckle along with me.

[jensequitur]

Just wanted to throw in a 'me too!'  Sometimes this is better, sometimes worse.  I think the closer I am to a flare - either in or out - the worse my verbal skills become.

What really bothers me is the resistance of neuros to this symptom.  When I mentioned my problems to mine, he shrugged it off.  I think he hasn't had enough experience with MS patients to really understand how common this is.  Most of his patients are stroke victims or people with spine damage.

[figuerpa]

ha ha ha ha M you are funny!!!

Paula

[Eyesnlegs]

well I thought is was very funny M = BTW  pleased to meet you - Pat

[Mike_Shuswap]

yuo gyus aer all wierd?

I'me nevry had amy proplims whit speeling thins oot.

Daslyxai....hah

Done be ridicilus!


Sorry, not funny, I know...

M

[figuerpa]

I am right there with you, its like you know what you are suppose to type but something else comes out. I have had that going on over the last week/week and a half. When I respond to someone I have to keep going over it and it takes me forever to finally post because of nothing coming out right.

I am glad you posted this so that people like me can learn what is going on as well, sometimes I feel like I post to much so I just wait for someone else to ask the question.

I really hope yours gets better

Paula

[steph74]

I do the same thing.  I have been having problems with the transposed letters for a while (years?), and like you, I'm anal so I try to fix them.  Then (maybe a year ago, it's been gradually getting worse) I started having more weakness in my fingers so I don't always strike hard enough for the keyboard doesn't to register a letter.  Irritating.

Now, the latest thing (weeks now), I'm actually doing what feels like dyslexia).  I'm typing and the completely wrong letter will show up.  p's instead of d's or b's, k's instead of x's...  crazy.  I have a PhD and work full time, and this is frustrating.

The worst, though, for me is the word recall.  In grad school I hadn't figured out the best way to deal with it and I would get nervous so it just got worse.  

What I try to do to compensate is stay relaxed.  I give myself a moment to try to recall the word (these pauses are never as noticable to others as they are to us), if I can't recall it, I substitute or try to describe the word.  Most times this is sufficient.  

The other thing I try to do is notice when other people have this problem.  Not because I want others to suffer or anything!  But because it's much more common among EVERYONE than we realize.  I know it's worse for most people with MS, but for me at least, worry about it also makes it worse, and noticing that it happens to everyone makes it easier for me to work through it (realizing I'm not standing out as much as it feels like).

Part of me wonders if it isn't a secondary sx to my fatigue.  I know some people have lesions and damage to the language parts of their brains, but for me, this is a sx that always worsens/improves with my fatigue level.  The other times in my life I've noticed this problem really badly was when I was pregnant or had an infant (sleep depravation).  So that's probably why provigil and other meds like that help, at least to an extent.

Stephanie

[Eyesnlegs]

Try looking at the Stayingsmart.org website it is part of the UK MS Trust site and has loads of useful tips and videos, I have had many situations like Quix and I am a PhD doctorate but in computer science and work as a Principal lecturer at a UK University. It can play havoc when you are trying to explain a complex concept that you know inside out and can't remember the words from your subject area. I know when i have made a mistake as the students all grin at me.- duh

In fact it was one of the symptoms that led to my dx finally - I asked the neuro how he would feel if he walked into a consultation and could not remember the words to describe his own area of expertise and explained that that was happening to me in lectures and meetings. He chatted about what my field of expertise was and I explained how I was well published and well known in my own field and he finally sat up and listened  - that should never happen - he should have listened before!!!

It is a useful tip to describe things when you can't remember the words - like the thing that keeps things cold in the kitchen - although that doesn't help when you have put your notebook in the cold thing and can't remeber where it is.

The memory thing you have is probably attention too, it tends to flit for a second so my psych was explaining. Like you put your keys down - get distracted and then can't remember where they are. It's not memory just that you have not lingered long enough for it to register.

Thanks for the friend invite. Pat x

[tiffany515]

thanks for the responses......I knew that I was not alone here!  In addition to my mixing up letters and words, I have also found myself just "spacing out" sometimes while doing something, and then when I "come to", it takes me a moment to remember what I was doing!!!  My memory is getting worse, too.  My husband tells me things over and over, and I still act as if it's the first time I've ever heard it!  Poor thing....must irritate the crap out of him, but he takes it well...lol.  Quix--the "ride-em mobile" is just too friggin funny....sorry, but it is!  I can laugh, b/c I sooo feel you on that one!
eyes--thanks for adding in your journal entry......it really does help, to know that others are going through the same things as me, and seeing them go through it with such a sense of humor and grace, encourages me to do the same!

[Eyesnlegs]

Hi,

I don't think we have met yet but  I just posted a new journal update for friends in which I describe exactly that. I also have increasing issues with attention - I thought it was memory but the neuro-psych says it is attention - and also executive skills -mine were exemplar as that is the main part of my job!!!

Below is the bit from my journal to save me trying to write and messing up again.

Can't help solve this but at least you are not alone.

Pat x

At the last session with my neuro-psych she decided that it was probably time to refer me to someone who can help me deal with the cognitive issues which have increased over the last year. You would think that in my job having to use my brain constantly it would at least give it the exercise that it needs, but it would seem not. I am increasingly getting letters the wrong way round in words; I reverse words in sentences and often reverse whole sections of sentences so that it changes the meaning of them.

This means that everything I do takes me a lot longer than it used to, as I have to check and reread several times. However, the worst issue for me has been the problem I've had with numbers, which has meant that the taxi that takes me to work often arrives late and I have been late for appointments because of it. Not the drivers fault, I have e-mailed him the time to pick me up and it has not corresponded with the time that I needed to be at work. I have e-mailed students with the wrong appointment time and I've turned up at meetings when they were over or far too early.

In fact, it's got to the point, where I have to get my other half to check my diary, check my e-mails requesting my attendance, and also check my email before I send it to a taxi driver. Luckily over the last months I have got to know the taxi driver fairly well and he is aware of my issues but if I asked him to come at 9:30 instead of 9:00 and I have a meeting at 10:00 there is nothing he can do to get me there on time. So far I have been very lucky as the academic environment is relatively relaxed in comparison with private enterprise and the students just think I'm eccentric-LOL. However with increasing student numbers and decreasing numbers of staff and the economic climate it is highly likely that eventually I will get found out!

[Quixotic1]

Real common stuff in MS.  We have problems with words, word recall, spelling, attention, coordination (typos), language analysis,  the sum effect is what people call dyslexia.

I found that Provigil for the fatigue helped me clean up my newly scattered language skills some.

I also just lose words entirely.  I have always had a marvelous vocabulary, but a few weeks ago when I went to the store with my newly bummed out leg I want to ride - and I couldn't formulate the words for the electric shopping carts so I asked the manager for a Ride'Em Mobile.  It worked, but was hardly the request of a highly educated woman., lol.  the mamger laughed, too.

90% of my typos are transposed letters.  Becasue  Welocme  nureo  there are hundreds.

I get so tired of proof reading that sometimnes I just print it as is and let people figure it out,

Quix

[GOMER2]

dyslexia is a READING problem ONLY. What you describe, I have it also, is simple problem of L-R sync. I did it just typing this short bit