Struggles with word recall is one of the frustrating “gifts” caused by the low level CO poisoning I endured for two years. While some of it might be due to actual brain damage (although not enough to show up on a typical MRI), it is also part of the chronic fatigue.
As anyone with ME/CFS can tell you, the vicious fatigue doesn’t just affect your body, but also your brain. When I was worse, if I was mid-sentence when the fatigue hit, not only would the energy level of my body drop like a bowling ball, I would instantly struggle to finish my sentence.
I had days where word recall would just nag at me during conversations. Many times, I would know the meaning of the word I wanted to say. I would know which letter it started with. I even knew approximately how many letters were in the word. But I could not think of the word. I would have to try to find a substitute word. Now, before your say “that happens to everyone”, true, but not 20+ times a day. In ME/CFS it can be problematic and incredibly frustrating.
I found easy crossword puzzles to work surprisingly well for me. Specifically the cheap & easy ones, like the kind they have at the Dollar Tree.
Crossword puzzles were not easy for me before the poisoning, so I was a bit intimidated at first. I developed a strategy. First I go through the entire list and fill in the ones I know. Sometimes, it might just be 2 or 3 in the whole lot. Then I revisit the ones around my answers. If I still had no luck. I would look at the answer key for a couple of the ones near my answered ones, and fill those in. Then repeat the process. Eventually, I was able to do more and more without looking them up.
I did the puzzles daily. Over time, as my speed got better, my word recall noticeably improved. It took time, it’s not an overnight process. And it could be very frustrating at times (but remember the answer key). Now I do them only occasionally, maybe a few times a month. I keep one in my purse for waiting rooms.
It’s taken a few years, but most days I am close to normal on this now. I do notice I can have mild issues during conversations at times. But it no longer feels like a battle. Unless I’m tired, then all bets are off.
I also took up the daily online Wordle puzzle with the New York Times. At first, I often had to fill in with words that clearly were not the answer (they had previously used letters that were not a part of the word). The first few months I wanted to throw my phone sometimes. But over time, I got better at it.
I don’t know if crosswords will benefit others, I am writing my own experience. I could not find any definitive scientific research in favor of word puzzles. Although I did find this interesting article in the Scientific American: This Is Your Brain on Crossword Puzzles. It appears it might help in a round about way with some aspect of short term memory.
Have you found anything that has helped you?
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