"I already told you that!" my wife and friends used to say to me. "Don't you remember asking me only yesterday? I didn't remember.

Every time I made an error; people told me about it over and over, but it didn't help my memory. Eventually I felt like punching anyone who said those words to me, ''Don't you remember?" As anger and resentment increased, I became more solitary even though I am a people person by nature and love to run my mouth. Their response to my memory loss was ruining my life.

I decided to tell my close friends and family how angry I was when they made me feel stupid. First I explained that MS causes short-term memory problems. Then I said, ''1f I forget sometimes, it doesn't help to remind me that I forgot. If it isn't important, let it pass." They were surprised to learn how much they had hurt me. Now my personal relationships are greatly improved because we talked about the prob1em.

So many things can be kept simple if communication remains open. Tell them how you feel! Then get to work to tell them your capacity even though you may have short-term memory loss.

Here are some tricks I have learned:

• Concentrate On one job. Don't try to do several things at once.
• Don't let people interrupt you. If I am trying to read something, I don't answer the phone. I have instructed employees to save interruptions for a special time each day.
• Stop concentrated reading every 5 to 20 minutes. I take a break to rest my mind. Then I read some more and rest again.
• Try to associate things with faces and names. I deal with the public in my job and people appreciate it if I know their name.
• Keep notes for each day's activities. If I have to remember something, I write it down in the proper place so that it will automatically come back to remind me.
• Take a nap in the middle of each day and periodically take a quiet rest to reduce fatigue. After a rest I can concentrate again on office work.
• Buy an inexpensive portable timer that goes in a pocket. They cost about 56. If I need to phone someone later that day, or if I put something on the stove, I set my timer to remind me. Before I had the timer, I accidentally set fire to the house several times because I didn't see the sign on the kitchen door; "Turn off the stove!"

Discover also whether memory problems are really caused by depression. A neuropsychologist can test you, but this is expensive and not all insurance plans cover the examination. Consider memory for important things in life.

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