Not remembering day?

[Freedomfighter]

I was just wondering if this is a regular symptom of PTSD: it happened just a while ago: I stared at the calendar and I did not know what day it was, for a good minute I stared at the days of the calendar and could not figure out whether this is the first, second, or third week of September. Then I go into panic, because then I may have forgotten to show up for work or I will forget important appointments.

Has that happened to you guys?

 

[honeycomb]

oh yeah Happens to me a lot. It's a type of disassociating and also not being able to concentrate on the present moment. It has caused me to miss appointments that are important. It's quite annoying! Thankfully I do not need to work.

 

[Friday]

I -quite seriously- just had to double check a year. I thought something happened last year, that actually happened the year before.

My days/weeks/months are near always jacked when I'm doing badly, but that's mostly a byproduct of insomnia & not working or having any other kind of constant schedule; when you have both 72 hour days, and 2 hour days, the normal calendar? Pfft. I've also lost that much time (months) dissociating. Just not recently. Much. I think the last time I lost months was 2-3 years ago? I've lost days and weeks, though, in the past few years. Vexing as hell. Lastly, I lose time, just because my new memories don't log well on top of old memories. If I'm spending a lot of time in flashbacks & old memories? I don't make new memories very well, but I do make them. I just need something to remind me of WTF I was doing during that time period. So I do a whole helluva lot of that. Because I hate losing time. I feel like I lost last spring/summer, but I didn't. I was just sick (hospital type, not head type) for about 4 months, and have spent the past few months doing the slow recovery. Which is just one more oar in this clusterf*ck >.<

So, cha. Time stopped being linear awhile back.

 

[Tonyjay]

It happens tome a great deal. Yesterday was my birthday and my kids puts some photos on Facebook of me with them they were children', like at birthday parties. What has really upset me is that I cannot remember them growing up. I had rapid eye desensitisation treatment for my PTSD and it seems to have wiped all the good things along with the bad

 

[Gs172003]

Before I started getting treatment I was really. Really. Bad. Not as much anymore.

 

[honeycomb]

I -quite seriously- just had to double check a year. I thought something happened last year, that actual...

I know what you mean. I haven't worked in over 15 years, I am an insomniac with really messed up sleeping and of there is the ever present PTSD syptoms. I think not having a regular schedule plays into the time loss thing a lot. I lose days and weeks all the time. Occasionally I lose months and sometimes I even forget what year it is. I used to let it get to me; now I just go with the flow and use a calendar or post it notes on my bathroom mirror to remember timed appointments. Since I don't work, I figure that time doesn't matter. What does matter, however, is to work on the quality of my days; I can only achieve quality days by setting a goal for myself. For instance: today I will take a shower, take out the trash, go to the dog park, and buy groceries. On a different day, I may write down: Call a friend, go to an al-a-non meeting, clean my bathroom, and take a walk in the woods at our local park, and go to my dr's appointment. So, I think that you get my drift about goal setting for the day. Also, I would suggest writing down what you do daily in a journal to keep track of your life's moments. You most likely will forget many of the things that you have done when you re-read the journal; don't worry about that. I think that even non-ptsd people forget much of what the have done when they re-read their journal. Our minds were never designed to hang on to every memory. Finally, I still don't like that I lose time; however, I have accepted that it happens and I just ease into it. If I had to work, it would be a problem that would require diligence and many post it notes lol. But then again, if I could work, I would most likely not be losing so much time/memory of it. I am 59 now. In my 30s, I thought for sure that I was going crazy or had developed Alzheimer's disease. My daily, weekly, monthly memory was totally shot. It was also an EXTREMLY stressful time in my life situationally. I learned that intense stress causes many people to lose track of time and to forget things. After I learned that, I felt a little more at ease and my memory even improved as my situation improved. I wish you the best of health. Hang in there man!

 

[Kailani]

What you described is a lifestyle for me: What day is it?! Yes it's Wednesday but which one? Haha. Mine might come from night shift work, irregular schedules, lack of sleep, head injury, distraction. It's a royal pain! Hope you find tools that help. I like my iPad calendar, awesome co-workers and bosses, regular schedules, watches that have the time, numbers and day of week.

 

[EmmaOwl]

Happens to me fairly often.

Whenever I write the date, I am careful to add the year, in the hopes that it will keep me more aware of time passing.

But I'm loyal to my digital watch, which shows not just the month and date, but the day of the week as well! Very helpful to catch a glance.

I think the problem is worse for me for a couple of reasons - because I do not work, and now my father has retired - he is out here and there doing his things, but I can't always tell if it is a weekday or a weekend.

When I went in to see a doctor in the process of obtaining disability, this was a major problem for me. I was horribly embarrassed and thought it was so extreme, I was afraid the doctor would think I was making it up! Apparently, this happens. Sorry though :( It is awfully disconcerting.

What does matter, however, is to work on the quality of my days; I can only achieve quality days by setting a goal for myself. For instance: today I will take a shower, take out the trash, go to the dog park, and buy groceries. On a different day, I may write down: Call a friend, go to an al-a-non meeting, clean my bathroom, and take a walk in the woods at our local park, and go to my dr's appointment. So, I think that you get my drift about goal setting for the day. Also, I would suggest writing down what you do daily in a journal to keep track of your life's moments. You most likely will forget many of the things that you have done when you re-read the journal; don't worry about that. I think that even non-ptsd people forget much of what the have done when they re-read their journal. Our minds were never designed to hang on to every Memory. Finally, I still don't like that I lose time;

Honeycomb I cannot tell you how meaningful this post is to me right now! I'm 36, cannot work, do not sleep, and live with my parents - I'm not able to function on my own. Living this way, it is too easy to just... not do stuff, and let time sort of pass me by in a blur of dissociation (or, sometimes worse, be painfully aware of moments that are in the past).

Right now I'm very focused on a goal of "quality of life". It turns out, I can't live as I've always planned, but I need to accept that life hasn't worked out that way for me.

I feel silly when I think - I just want to enjoy reading a book, or watch a movie or a sitcom without losing focus. It sounds like you have that down, to enjoy what you have.

I couldn't do all that, not now. Today I actually had to leave the house (the horror!!! ;) and I was in a panic. I'm not agoraphobic, technically, but I'm depressed, anxious, and very unmotivated. I've been working to overcome that. I'm going to take note of your example, seriously - call a friend, do this, that, and the next thing. Experiencing simple pleasures in life. I'm smiling at your description, because that's what I would like for myself.

 

[EmmaOwl]

watches that have the time, numbers and day of week.

This is KEY to me.
Whenever I've been checked out by a doctor or therapist, asking me what the date is, to see how "oriented" I am? I always glance at my watch before answering, out of habit... and, assuming it is someone familiar with PTSD symptoms, it's sort of a laughable moment.

 

[Gs172003]

So is problems with dates, days etc a PTSD thing? I always thought it was just me. Awesome.

 

[Freedomfighter]

What you described is a lifestyle for me: What day is it?! Yes it's Wednesday but which one? Haha. Mi...

Yeah, good thing we have all of those tech gadgets now. I have some really bad days where I might remember what day it is in the morning, but then I will have to literally check several times a day because I literally forget. I hate what PTSD does to my brain.Often such symptoms are accompanied by splitting headaches and then having to listen to mindless chatter makes me want to blow my stack.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Happens to me a lot. I rarely know the date and often think that i didnt go to work when i was suppose to and often have to check my phone for the day (sat or sun) several times that day...many times back to back as i'll be sitting there and then panic thinking i was a no call no show at work. I honestly dont know why i have to check it several times and back to back as just once will tell me its sun or whatever but i do.

I often wake up from naps panicked, jump up and start to get ready to work as i think its the next day.