Teacher who is losing her mind… literally :(
Hi! I have recently been diagnosed with MS this past October, and the most difficult symptom has been the optic neuritis and the cognitive issues. I am a teacher, and I am finding it hard to remember student names, find the right words when teaching, and grading takes twice as long as I often have to read student work over multiple times before I ‘register’ it. I am still 10 years from retirement - I don’t know how I’m going to make it.
I'm sorry to hear that. I may not have the optic neuritis (i hate to say it but, yet) but the brain fog is horrible. First piece of advice, take a deep breath. It's hard coping with a new diagnosis and especially when it is directly affecting your ability to do what you "normally" could. The more you focus on that the harder it can be to cope with your new normal, which is trying new and interesting ways to make things work for you now. I don't know how to tell you how to make grading papers any easier, but there is a neurologist I have been following for a long time now that may have some tips to help (not certain to be honest, but he makes MS videos about a wide range of topics) his name is Dr Aaron Boster, and you can find him on YouTube. But try to stay positive- and if you ever need anyone to talk to don't be afraid to reach out
I was in the same boat as you are in now, my goal was to do 30-40 years at my former employment, but MS had other plans, I ended up retiring at 23 years from my job, I worked in patient authorizations for a hospital, my cognitive ability to process information was taking longer than it used to, when I caught Covid, that when I knew I wasn’t going back to work