MS and Attention Issues (?)

Hello! I am especially delinquent in writing a new blog! Again! I guess I’ll stop asking for forgiveness and hope you just bear with me! I do have a decent excuse this time! Promise! If you’ve read my blog before, you know we have four children. My youngest son just graduated from high school, so we had family visiting, a graduation ceremony to attend and a Grad Party for my son and his best friend… at our house of course… so yep… just a bit busy! 🙂

Oh yes… the Charlotte Weather update… today is going to be a balmy 90 or so with SUPER HIGH humidity! Typical Charlotte weather for this time of year. Unfortunately, I went for a walk just a little while ago and then cleaned out the pool.. which in this heat has resulted in me being pretty dizzy. Just one of those things, but it DID bring me inside to air conditioning and freed up a bit of time to BLOG, so here I am. Have I mentioned that, when I’m dizzy, working with things close to my face (Phone, iPad, Book, Computer Screen) seems to make the dizzies more tolerable? And NO… I have no idea why. Perhaps I’ll ask the doctor … if I remember. 🙂

So, my topic of the day is Multiple Sclerosis and issues with Attention (Think Attention Deficit Disorder, etc.). “Steve!”, I hear you thinking! “Why this topic and why now when there are so many other things you could be telling us?”. What great questions! The simple answer? Because my wife thought it would be a good topic. 🙂

According to my wife… and maybe a kid …. and maybe a friend or two… I have trouble staying focused (Look… SQUIRREL!). See… it just happened again! 🙂 Honestly, the reason my wife mentioned me writing about this is because I do have a tendency to be all over the place when I should be focused on something important (Like her… when we’re chatting). 🙂 The issues she experiences is me constantly looking around for the aforementioned squirrel, or interrupting a conversation to complete someone else’s thought for them.. or to even change topics (That’s very rude.. I am aware). 🙁 I am probably not doing a stupendous job of explaining this, but rest assured… it’s annoying to many people I’m close to and I promise it’s not something I’m doing deliberately! Kinda stinks. 🙁

Performing a bit of online “research” into the relationship between MS and Attention Issues resulted in a mixed bag of opinions. Some articles say there is a “Definite” link between the two, while other opinions indicate nothing has really been proven. Unfortunately, this sounds a lot like many articles you’ll read about MS and daily living! There tend to be many opinions with little to no consensus between researchers. It’s frustrating. In my humble opinion, it seems pretty likely there would be some kind of link! After all, while I have never heard of a Lesion in the Brain (Remember… brain lesions occur when the immune system attacks Myelin Sheaths, which can interrupt the communication process of the Central Nervous System) referred to as brain damage, it’s still some sort of abnormality. Right? And the more abnormalities probably equate to a larger number of issues, which may include problems with concentration. Of course, those are just my thoughts! What do I really know anyway?

At the end of the day, issues with attention can definitely be frustrating.. for everyone involved. Fortunately, my wife and I joke about these types of things instead of getting super frustrated and upset. Of course, there are those moments when frustration rises up and makes things a bit difficult, but those times are few and far between (Whew!). It’s hard to get upset about things that are out of our control anyway… it’s a waste of time and energy for sure.

Here I go… getting ready to ramble on and on… so… I’ll keep it short and say that’s it for today! I hope everyone is off to a good start this Summer and has some fun activities planned! Our trip to Florida is scheduled for later this summer, so really looking forward to it! It’s easy to be active at the beach… with all the cool water around! Hopefully we’ll get to go fishing or spend some quality time snorkeling at one of our favorite beaches!

Talk you next week!