.
That’s amazing - my neurologist emphasized to me that my intellect was not affected or my memory.
I dont understand what controls personality but I can certainly accept that coordination problems would affect it.
Hi Pat
So what you are saying is that our short term visual memory is affected by the Ataxia, is that right? I find myself, I can’t seem to focus on what I’m looking at. It just becomes too much and I get sick to my stomach and light headed or dizzy. Reading has become almost impossible for me and shopping is just as bad. If I try reading I have to read it over and over several times before it computes. It"s not that I’m stupid( I have a college education). It’s that it’s too much for me to take in at once. Shopping is just as bad. There’s so many products on the shelves, I can’t see any of them or find what I’m looking for, even when it’s right in front of me, and that happens alot. I like to do needlepoint but it’s very difficult. I see the holes but I can’t find them and it’s very frustrating, so I don’t get much done…Linda ( aka bluenoser )
It may affect your personality/brain Pat but Ataxia affects different people in different ways. Personally it doesn’t affect my personality/brain. BILL
I have only noticed that my memory is terrible (short term). I’m experiencing symptoms of pre-Menopause too, so I’m not sure what’s whose fault there.
William Phillips said:
It may affect your personality/brain Pat but Ataxia affects different people in different ways. Personally it doesn’t affect my personality/brain. BILL
she said it affects everyone different. Or I guess maybe not at all. I was just surprised because all current data says it has no impact on your brain.
well, for me it didn’t affect my intellect or memory really. She said I had the intellecual abality to help improve what is wrong, but it is just not right now and she blamed some of i on ataxia. And yes, your doctor is right according to avaliable research I’ve seen. maybe this woman is ahead of the curve? She is top expert in the country on the frontal lobe.
Patsy said:
That’s amazing - my neurologist emphasized to me that my intellect was not affected or my memory.
I dont understand what controls personality but I can certainly accept that coordination problems would affect it.
I can’t see how Ataxia specifically would affect your actual personality, other than from frustration of not been able to do what you used to due to the loss of co-ordination skills, also if you are in general a personality that is more prone to depression than this could also be another factor.
Not been able to get the support or equipment you need to move on etc too but these issues could occur from any condition which caused a loss of skills including MS, Motor Neurone or a Spinal Cord Injury leaving permanent severe disabilities.
Pat, I find this really interesting. Since I’m skeptical about what the “experts” say about this disease (they are really just learning), your question makes me really think. I didn’t develop Ataxia until I was 50. From that time on it has definately affected my personality, and the way I use my brain to cope with the physical aspects of the condition. In this way it does affect the brain and personality. I realized I had to take life much less seriously, or spend most of it dizzy and falling down since stress brings on symptoms for me. Type A turned into Type B personality pretty readily. Some testing I had done showed that under stress my memory was definately affected. And, I noticed early on that I couldn’t remember as well since I was focusing on simply moving from point A to point B without trouble. Now I avoid reading if tired, and was an avid reader. Nstagmus makes reading difficult, so don’t use my eyes in that way so much any more. To the degree that what life dishes us affects our personality, and how we use our brain to cope with more than what most people are dealing with, I think it is true that it affects our brain. Not our IQ, or cognitive abilities, but how we organize things in our minds, and life.
It must of been upsetting getting your driving licence revoked. I have to renew mine every 3 years because of my nystamgus. My memory is poor too. Really bummer on times.
Yeah, he may be the top guy from yale, blar blar blar, but only you know truely what you are going through. And this is why we all join together here. We all suffer differently. I don’t know how those documents can be so specific wen our symptoms vary so much from one person to another. But it is good to have a guidline, just cross of what doesn’t apply to you.
Chin up, keep moving forward and not looking back. Jenny. x
Cognitive and Mood Problems - In addition to motor dysfunction, patients with cerebellar degeneration may have cognitive and emotional difficulties. The cerebellum plays a role in some forms of thinking. Patients with cerebellar atrophy may have impaired recall of newly learned information or difficulty with “executive functions” such as making plans and keeping thoughts in proper sequence. Personality and mood disorders, such as increased irritability, anxiety, and depression, are more common in persons with cerebellar degeneration than in control subjects. It is important to examine mood and cognitive function in patients with cerebellar problems. These disorders are likely to respond to treatment, such as cognitive exercises, psychotherapy, and pharmacological treatment
from Hopkinsmedicine
“The cerebellum plays a role in some forms of thinking. Patients with cerebellar atrophy may have impaired recall of newly learned information or difficulty with “executive functions” such as making plans and keeping thoughts in proper sequence. Personality and mood disorders, such as increased irritability, anxiety, and depression, are more common in persons with cerebellar degeneration than in control subjects.”
I must be a classic textbook case. At least now I’ve a reasonable excuse for my erratic behaviour!
Hi all
I dont post to the group, but do read articles as they catch my interest.
First of all some info on my interest to the group - My son has Joubert Syndrome (JS) a rare genetic disorder.
His cerebellum is affected in so much as it is misformed which basically causes poor co-ordination and balance - ataxia and low muscle tone.
I keep an interest in the group to try and understand better how he may be affected as he also has a learning difficulty and is non verbal. It is nice to read your experiences as it helps me to be more aware of how he may be feeling as it is difficult for him to tell me himself.
This post captured my interest and thought I would share with you some of my understanding of my son and how I believe he functions (sorry not a great word)
If he is learning a new skill every other skill can go out of the window it seems like the energy/thought proccess/concentration to learn that new skill leaves no room for the old ones to work alongside learning.
Once learned the old skills come back.
He also has trouble processing anything sensory and he is most definately touch sensitive to the extreme.
Sometimes he has trouble accepting noise and visual at the same time and can only accept one or the other.
So I was reading the post and thinking that perhaps that it is not so much that personality or intellect is affected but how your brain is deiciding on how to process everything that comes into it at once (because it is having difficulty co-ordinating) and decides perhaps to leave out a certain function of the brain in order to make as much as possible of the brain work together as it needs to at once.
Anyway I am not a medical expert just a mum wondering and I just feel that your brain is such a finely tuned work of art even down to water content, chemicals etc that to have some mis-wiring or slight inbalance in any way is no doubt going to effect something somewhere along the line we just dont know enough about the brain to be definate about exactly how it is being affected.
Anyways I am beginning to ramble now so will shut up and say perhaps they are reading the brain signs wrong here and not giving you tests in the correct format to allow the brain to function in the way it can with ataxia.
Thanks for listening guys
Faith
yea, i agree with u because i got mine revoked just because i have fa not because i cant drive. i am going to try in a year since thats the time they revoked it for. it is just in what u can do!
Jennifer Davies said:
It must of been upsetting getting your driving licence revoked. I have to renew mine every 3 years because of my nystamgus. My memory is poor too. Really bummer on times.
Yeah, he may be the top guy from yale, blar blar blar, but only you know truely what you are going through. And this is why we all join together here. We all suffer differently. I don’t know how those documents can be so specific wen our symptoms vary so much from one person to another. But it is good to have a guidline, just cross of what doesn’t apply to you.
Chin up, keep moving forward and not looking back. Jenny. x