Mental Sharpening Stones: Manage The Cognitive Challenges Of Multiple Sclerosis

by Jeffrey Gingold

Overview

With an estimated 400,000 multiple sclerosis patients in the United States alone, conservatively speaking, half of the MS population will encounter varying degrees of cognitive difficulties. Newer studies point to a percentage of 65%, affecting over 2.5 million world-wide MS patients.

Mental Sharpening Stones: Manage the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis provides real-life techniques garnered from MS patients and their medical providers, sharing their practical methods for pushing back against the disruptive and potentially disabling cognitive symptoms that affect MS patients. The book offers strategies that will assist those living with MS to retain their intellectual faculties through sharpening their mental discipline.

This book is a vital step beyond acknowledging cognitive symptoms and the revealing changes that can affect those living with MS. It will also inform those who know them physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The contributing writers of this book serve as exemplars and guides of how to live with and function - despite MS cognitive challenges.

This book includes:

• Tips and tricks for dealing with cognitive issues
• A conversation with Montel Williams
• A conversation with New York Times bestselling author Richard Cohen
• A conversation with Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court, Mary Mullarkey
• A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Montel Williams MS Foundation

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781935281160
Publisher:	Springer Publishing Company
Publication date:	07/30/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	210
File size:	764 KB

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

Preface
Introduction
Acknowledgements
Sharpening Conversations (Jeffrey N. Gingold
Coping Without Yielding: A Conversation with Richard Cohen
Leading by Open Example: A Conversation with Montel Williams
Sharpening with Grace: A Conversation with Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey
A Neurologist's Thoughts on Thinking in Multiple Sclerosis (Eric Maas, MD)
My Mental Limp (Christy Demory)
Popping the Clutch (Dan Waters)
Psychological Coping: Interchanging Puzzle Pieces to Form a Whole (Sharon S. Fedderly, PhD)
The Dance of Life: Transformation to Maintain Strength, Balance, and Focus (Carol Crawford Smith)
Recognizing Cognitive Problems that Occur in Multiple Sclerosis: Defining the Cause (Patricia Kennedy)
Time Out (Shelley Peterman Schwarz)
Mind Over Matter: Lessons in Problem Solving (Eynat Shevil, PhD)
Advocating for True Fortune (Jeffrey N. Gingold)
Epilogue
Resources

Editorial Reviews

"A number of people with MS are described, showing how each person's attitude to their MS plays a role in developing anxiety etc. The immune system is looked at, and its role in sleep and body temperature. The author confirms that these experiences do happen, they are not all in your head, and you are not the only person to have them. There are helpful suggestions made, such as having a good support network, a strong religious belief or spirituality and confidence." -MS Society Member Clive Whiteside

"Overall a well researched book which is an enjoyable read and very helpful, not for people with Ms but for their families and health profesionals." - MS Society Member Evelyn Wright

MSCONNECT

"A page turner written with ease and flare that keep you wanting to read and enjoying the ride...Jeffrey's postive and realistic attitude will make you think and the book will give you suggestions and options you either use already or might try in the future...It's good to know we are not alone. MSWorld

"This book offers concrete yet beautifully written advice on how to develop better cognitive skills through conversation, puzzle-solving and psychological strength." -- Book News

"Simply put, cognitive dysfunction is the stepchild of multiple sclerosis. In this well-researched, carefully crafted book, Jeffrey Gingold not only brings cognitive dysfunction out of the shadows but also offers concrete tools to help MS survivors and their loved ones cope with and even overcome its confounding symptoms."--Montel Williams

"Jeff Gingold, Us Mental Sharpening Stones offers valuable real-world advice both for people with MS-related cognitive difficulties and for those who love them. Richard Cohen, Montel Williams , Colorado Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey and others speak frankly about the steps they take every day to manage this common MS symptom. Their candid conversations and the tips offered asMental Sharpening Stones offer practical suggestions to people with MS as well as important insights and guidance for family members, friends, and employers. Congratulations, Jeff, on bringing together these leaders in the MS movement so that we can all learn from each other."--Joyce Nelson, President and CEO, National Multiple Sclerosis Society

"With the publication of his first book, Facing the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis, Jeffrey Gingold became the voice of an invisible and under-recognized symptom. By candidly sharing his experience from inside the mental twister of the disease, he brought cognitive impairment to the forefront of the MS world. In his second book, Mental Sharpening Stones: Manage the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis, Gingold offers real-life strategies from personal experience, other people with MS, and healthcare providers to successfully adapt and manage this disruptive symptom. Planning according to the body's rhythms, identifying and perpetuating activities that maximize cognitive strengths, and creating a safety net are just a few of the creative yet practical methods for offsetting cognitive symptoms. Indeed, Gingold has turned on a light in the closet of invisible MS symptoms." --MSFocus

"Many patients suffering from multiple sclerosis have derived guidance and solice from Jeffrey Gingold's personal account, Facing the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis. His second publication, Mental Sharpening Stones: Manage the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis, builds on the success of the prior volume by adding personal reflections of other patients and advice on management by experts. These highly readable and practical books will be of immense benefit to patients, their families, and health professionals."--John Fleming, MD, Professor, Department of Neurology, University of Wisconsin, National Clinical Advisory Board for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society

"Mr. Gingold draws on his own experience as an attorney with MS, as well as provides insightful and poignant illustrations by a host of other personalities, some of them illustrious, to derive practical approaches and solutions to the real-life difficulties facing MS patients with cognitive impairment. Every chapter is followed by a useful summary of cognitive remedial self-help suggestions. This thoughtful, articulate and timely volume will not only provide solace and counsel to many an MS patient, but is a must-read for any professional engaged in the management of this enigmatic condition, in which concealed disability often outweighs the revealed."--Dr. Joseph Herbert, Director of the MS Care Center at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases

"Written for MS survivors as well as their caregivers, this book offers concrete yet beautifully written advice on how to develop better cognitive skills through conversation, puzzle-solving and psychological strength."--SciTech BookNews"

"A number of people with MS are described, showing how each person's attitude to their MS plays a role in developing anxiety etc. The immune system is looked at, and its role in sleep and body temperature. The author confirms that these experiences do happen, they are not all in your head, and you are not the only person to have them. There are helpful suggestions made, such as having a good support network, a strong religious belief or spirituality and confidence."-MS (UK) Society Member Clive Whiteside

"Overall a well researched book which is an enjoyable read and very helpful, not for people with Ms but for their families and health profesionals."-MS (UK) Society Member Evelyn Wright

SciTech BookNews

"Simply put, cognitive dysfunction is the stepchild of multiple sclerosis. In this well-researched, carefully crafted book, Jeffrey Gingold not only brings cognitive dysfunction out of the shadows but also offers concrete tools to help MS survivors and their loved ones cope with and even overcome its confounding symptoms."
— Montel Williams