MS Brain Teasers for a Cognitive Challenge

By Alina Ahsan

1 min read

Multiple sclerosis affects a person’s central nervous system which is made up of the brain and the spinal cord. Damage to the cells that send messages between the brain and the rest of the body can cause a wide range of symptoms in people with MS, like numbness, muscle spasms, balance and coordination problems, and cognitive dysfunction.

Brain exercises

Cognitive issues are some of the most frustrating MS symptoms and can affect attention and concentration, memory and learning, and communicating with others. Health professionals recommend trying to keep the brain active by doing cognitive exercises like crosswords, puzzles, and other similar activities.

MS brain teasers!

The MultipleSclerosis.net team created some brain teasers for the MS community to decode. Each of the pictures below is a code for a word or phrase related to MS in some way. Can you solve them all? Comment below with your answers or guesses! We hope these exercises help you give your brain a workout. You can find the answers at the very end of this post!

LEGO and online brain games

Some of our contributors here at MultipleSclerosis.net have also written about ways that they exercise their brains which you can read about below.

Devin’s neurologist recommended that he build LEGO sets to improve his cognitive function as well as problems he was having with his hands that were frequently numb. Read about Devin’s experience with LEGO and how it helped him with his cog fog and stress.

Cathy uses a website, Cranium Crunches, that offers a ton of free brain games. She decided to interview the creator of the website to learn more about her inspiration and how the puzzles and games can improve cognitive skills.

We hope these ideas inspire you to try some new brain challenges this week!

Brain teaser answers

Here are the answers to the 5 brain teaser puzzles above.

Cog fog
Spinal tap
Foot drop
MRI
Relapse

Join the conversation

Please read our rules before commenting.

nancyw421 Member
Love M-ARRR- I
1. Janus Galante Moderator
 Ha,ha! They were all cute weren't they?
yoshitail9 Member
Fooled me. Didn't get one of them. I do Cryptoquote to stimulate my brain. If you never tried you substitute one letter for another to solve the quote. Find then in your App store...most all are free.
Therry Neilsen Moderator & Contributor
Somebody has to explain teaser #5 to me. Looks like one side of a weirdly shaped Rubik's Cube? Myy husband tells me it's a phone and the colored dots are APPS. Really, <a href='http://Multiplesclerosis.net?' target='_blank'>Multiplesclerosis.net?</a> That's the best you got? Hrmph!
sammi Member
This was so unsettling for me. I looked at each one of the pictures and could not come up with any kind of reasonable conclusion as to what they represented. Then I went down to the end of the post and looked at the list read through that list and then went back to the pictures. In attempt to connect the conclusions to the actual Impressions given. And in the time it took me to go down and read that list and go back up to the pictures I had already forgotten everything I read on that list. Had to look at it three times in order to go back and connect it with the pictures. Like I said this was so unsettling for me. Gave me a much clearer picture of just how much my brain does not function properly anymore.
1. sammi Member
 <inline-mention username="Erin Rush" user-id="3987334"/> I probably shouldn't admit this out loud but i'm going to. I actually do not have a neurologist. I had one, I no longer feel the need for that service and i'm okay with that. But I totally see what you're saying this has definitely got something to do with my massive cog fog. What's happening to me cognitive is just beyond mind boggling. And I think a lot of my issues come from the fact that I've had this for so long. And when they did the fist MRI there was, so much damage they were shocked, so it doesn't really surprise me. They actually told me that they felt that I had the brain equivalency of a 95 year old woman in the amount of damage that had occurred. And my spine was as seriously damaged as my brain. So I have absolutely no question about what is causing all of the issues that I have to deal with daily. But I will say this as difficult as my life is and as much as the weakness and the exhaustion have just completely overwhelmed me. With assistance I still can walk and I have a wheelchair I will not use. Because i'm stubborn and i'm h*** bent on not sitting down in that chair until I absolutely have to. Because I know if I do I will get comfortable in that chair and then I will never be getting out of that chair again. Thank you very much for your response. I appreciate your interest cause I rarely ever talk about this especially online. I don't think I've talked about it anywhere online. I have a couple friends and a couple family members that are very aware of my situation. Other than that. I just pretty much keep to myself and deal with it myself.
2. Erin Rush Community Admin
 <inline-mention username="sammi" user-id="4077794"/>, gotcha! It sounds like you know your body and have things well at hand, so I am not questioning your choices in healthcare and how you just to pursue it. You have every right to do what you feel is best for you and your health. And, hey, if this is a good space to talk about stuff you don't normally talk about, that's great! I know it's sometimes easier to just keep things to ourselves, but it's nice to have a place where you can vent a little or just be honest about symptoms without fear of worrying friends and family or getting tons of well meaning (but often unhelpful) advice. Best, Erin, <a href='http://MultipleSclerosis.net' target='_blank'>MultipleSclerosis.net</a> Team Member.

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