First: Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are pretty much the same things. Which diagnosis an individual gets depends on the doctor she sees and whether she complains more about the pain or the fatigue. I’ve been diagnosed with both, but consider it one DX.
I really annoy the family at times, because if someone tries to give me verbal directions to a place, give me a list of things, etc. I cannot make any sense of it or retain the information without writing it down.
That wasn’t always the case. I get really frustrated with myself over it.
I’m not the only person with this problem, though.
Objective Evidence of Cognitive Complaints in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Findings showed that individuals with CFS are able to process challenging auditory information as accurately as Controls but utilize more extensive regions of the network associated with the verbal WM system. Individuals with CFS appear to have to exert greater effort to process auditory information as effectively as demographically similar healthy adults
It’s still frustrating, but at least I know it’s a symptom of the disease rather than me getting dumber as I age.
