Cognitive Dysfunction and neuro-psych testing

[Patty]

I started up with a new neurologist and she wants me to have neuro-psch testing because of memory loss and cognitive dysfunction. She emailed me a summary of the appointment because I can never remember anything accurately. That was nice of her, but it is somewhat depressing to see "Cognitive dysfunction" as one of the dx. Anyone had this testing before? What is it like?

[iraisin]

No, but seeing it coming around the bend. Please post and tell us about it when you're done. Good luck to you - whatever the test says, I hope your doctor serves you well and you improve. It will give us all hope -so let us know.

My heart is with you. I can imagine how discomforted you are right now. I do forget to breathe sometimes it seems during such things like what you are going through...the anxiety of the test, and reading the words that are describing your issues with the disease. Remember to breathe...deeply.

Hug.

[anita]

Yes, I had it done early last year.  It takes several hours.  First to do a basic intellect assessment based upon age, then test short term and long term memory through many different means.  It's quite involved.  There is even some finger tapping skills, and vocabulary.  It's pretty mentally draining to be honest.

Mine was of course positive for impaired cognitive function due to Sjogren's...actually quite significant impairment for my age.

[Joe S.]

When I had it done, I was told that they wished they could do as well on the test when they were my age by the person administering it. Don't worry, you are just getting older. It happens to everyone. We will test again in a year or two to see if it is progressing.

The test was very draining. You can see from my response that they did not find anything. 

[Patty]

Thanks all. I feel both relieved and disturbed about this. I get really bad when I have a vasculitis flare - don't know my phone number, have trouble reading,  can't follow a recipe and might not even know what year it is. When I am better, I still have memory and concentration problems but I don't know if they are bad enough to show up. I often think someone has said the exact opposite of what they said and feel absolutely certain about it. Now that I know that is happening, I don't trust my memory at all and have lost all confidence in my ability to do anything. I know I need to deal with this.

Thanks for the heads-up about the length of it. I'm going to need a driver. I won't be up to a 2 hour drive in traffic after this.

[Dotty]

I had Neuro/Cognitive Testing done as part of my diagnostic work up several years ago. I had received 5 consecutive days of IV steroids a few weeks prior, so I was on top of my game mentally and did well.
It took several hours and was exhaustive though. Lots of remembering details of lists, stories, etc. Some math stuff which always frightens me! 
Bring a bottle of water and get plenty of sleep the night before.