Multiple Sclerosis Memory Issues Force Me to Use New Methods

Before multiple sclerosis (MS), I was pretty proud of my memory. For the most part, I still am, but like many others with this disease, I now have trouble recalling information. For me, it’s one of the most irritating, (sometimes even infuriating), cognitive issues associated with MS.

I have always had a very visual memory. That’s not unusual, as many people seem to more easily remember things they’ve seen rather than heard, for example. I don’t have anything close to a photographic memory (if that truly exists), just an efficient way to store and recall information.

I didn’t know there was a proper name for it until later in life, but it’s called the method of loci, memory palace, or journey. You visualize a familiar location in your mind and place the things to be remembered throughout. My “palace” is actually a wood and stone house with different images of information stored in various rooms. It sounds complicated, but you do it, too, perhaps just not as deliberately. When you retrace your steps in order to find a lost object, you are taking a memory journey, just not a planned one.

Recommended Reading

January 11, 2023 News by Hawken Miller

Writer Recalls MS Odyssey While Living on the ‘Last Frontier’

Adding to the collection

For me, items deliberately placed in the palace tend to stay there. In the past, I put only important things there, but I find myself having to place more trivial things there now — such as names, words I use every day, or images that were common enough that I never thought I’d have to use a method to remember them.

For example, I was recently trying to tell someone the name of the dealership where we’d purchased a car and I completely blanked. In my mind, I could see the car lot and office building. I could even see the sign where the name should have been, but it was like someone had erased the letters.

When I finally recalled the name, I put the key fob with their logo on it on a bench just inside the front door of my palace. It’s irritating because it doesn’t belong there. MS is making my memory palace cluttered with trivial things that I shouldn’t have to put in there in order to remember them. I’m not running out of space, it’s just that I never thought I’d have to organize my everyday memories. It’s not a bad thing per se, it’s just that I didn’t want to, and multiple sclerosis is making me.

Oh, by the way, today — Jan. 19 — is Good Memory Day. It’s a day set aside to recall positive, happy memories from the past, rather than dwelling on any negative things in your life. Experiences vary, but for me, MS is pretty negative — even downright depressing sometimes. It would probably do me (maybe you, too) good to stroll through the memory palace touching all the good memories in there.

Note: Multiple Sclerosis News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Multiple Sclerosis News Today or its parent company, BioNews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to multiple sclerosis.