Facing the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis

by Jeffrey Gingold

Overview

When attorney Jeffrey N. Gingold misplaced his wife on the living room couch and lost awareness of his children, little did he know that he was experiencing a hidden symptom of multiple sclerosis: cognitive difficulties. How do you handle getting lost, while driving just blocks from your home? Facing the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis is a courageous and compelling personal account of one man's anguishing struggle with this aspect of the disease. It is written for the silent majority of MS patients who are privately dealing with MS cognitive symptoms and potential disabilities.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society estimates that over 400,000 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and there are millions more worldwide. Conservatively speaking, half of them will encounter varying degrees of cognitive difficulties. Facing the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis brings this hidden disability into the open. It is an essential resource that will educate individuals coping with multiple sclerosis, and inform their families, caregivers, doctors and therapists.

This new edition has been revised with on-point cognitive strategies and updated MS resources. The book includes a new foreword written by Dr. Dawn Langdon of the UK MS Trust and four completely new chapters that follow Jeffrey's journey since 2006. He openly explores some MS physical symptoms, which may accompany the thinking impediments that strike at his cognitive awareness and functions. Jeffrey carves a path of finding physical and cognitive wellness, as well as weighing the need to accept beneficial MS medical therapies. Not only did he become more active in the movement to cure MS, the progression of his MS led to a more controversial MS treatment, in effort to make his disease manageable. Jeffrey also shares the benefits of introducing a Ïsafety personÓ into a life with MS and the strength gained from helping others, even while they may be assisting you.

Whether or not a person is dealing with the cognitive issues associated with multiple sclerosis this book deserves to be on the bookshelf of every individual who is dealing with multiple sclerosis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617050879
Publisher:	Springer Publishing Company
Publication date:	06/17/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	1276
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Jeffrey Gingold is the internationally acclaimed author of the Award-winning book, Facing the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis and an outspoken volunteer advocate on MS and cognitive disability.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Dawn Langdon, UK MS Trust
1. "Hollar" If You Need Me
2. The Knock at the Door
3. Music and Mirrors
4. Unanswered Questions
5. It's In the House
6. The Family Mask
7.Feeling the Edges
8. Don't Just Stand There
9. Taking the Middle Fork
10. Drifting and Dragging in a Mental Wheelchair
11.Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are
12.In the Game
13. A Team Effort
14. Gathering New Pieces
In Summation
Resources

Editorial Reviews

"This book (the first edition was published in 2006) details the cognitive challenges he faced--losing his train of thought while making a statement in court, getting lost a few blocks from home, forgetting whether he had dropped his daughters off at school, and not really recognizing his wife sitting next to him on their sofa--and the way he coped with them, from practical aides to courage, humor, and persistence in finding a neurologist who took his smallest mental lapses seriously. Gingold often speaks to groups afflicted with MS and their families and health-care providers, and this is another powerful testimony that interested readers will appreciate. Recommended."--"Library Journal"
"Facing the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis" is a scholarly and powerful read that presents the very face of the disease, how it can be fought, and ultimately finding something of a cure."-Midwest book Review
"As recently as the 1980's, people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis were assured that their thinking skills would be spared when looking at the possible range of symptoms. It was not true then or now. Cognitive issues are bad players because they can significantly affect the lives of those who have them and their families, while remaining largely invisible to most of us. Jeffrey asckowledged his struggles and then moved forward by looking for solutions for himself and than them with others. We can all learn from his journey." -- Patricia Kennedy, RN, CNP, MSCN Nurse Educator, Can Do Multiple Sclerosis and author of the forthcoming "Can Do Multiple Sclerosis Guide to Lifestyle Empowerment"
"Jeffrey Gingold, in this the second edition of his book, has not only provided an intimate look into the personal experiences with which he has had to contend with his MS, he has created a work which is informative, highly personal, incredibly supportive and realistic in its advice. It is a truly outstanding work that I can recommend without reservation to th


"As recently as the 1980's, people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis were assured that their thinking skills would be spared when looking at the possible range of symptoms. It was not true then or now. Cognitive issues are bad players because they can significantly affect the lives of those who have them and their families, while remaining largely invisible to most of us. Jeffrey asckowledged his struggles and then moved forward by looking for solutions for himself and than them with others. We can all learn from his journey." -- Patricia Kennedy, RN, CNP, MSCN Nurse Educator, Can Do Multiple Sclerosis and author of the forthcoming "Can Do Multiple Sclerosis Guide to Lifestyle Empowerment"
"Jeffrey Gingold, in this the second edition of his book, has not only provided an intimate look into the personal experiences with which he has had to contend with his MS, he has created a work which is informative, highly personal, incredibly supportive and realistic in its advice. It is

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