Memory Loss / skills loss

[TTC18]

Is this PTSD or something else going on? It's totally new - never happened to me before, and really really freaked me out. I have a brake light out. No big deal - I've got a kind of old car, and do maintenance myself, and have worked on the wiring before, and changed bulbs, etc so I pop the trunk to take a look. And I might as well have been looking at the inside of an alien spaceship. All I saw was a bunch of wires. Nothing rung a bell at all. I fiddled with the bulb housing and figured out how to take it out to see if it was burned out (which I should already have known how to do) and looked at it, and then put it back in, and picked up a few wires and put them down.... and then just shut my trunk and went inside. I'll look again tomorrow, and by then I'd better be able to recognize something about the wiring or I'll be REALLY freaked out. WTH is going on here?

 

[Ronin]

Can you be just tired, heat exhausted, dehydrated, needing more sleep, something like that?

 

[ladee]

I do things like this too. Or have things like this happen. It is a freaky feeling. But like was suggested , could be a combo of things,or in my case, dissociation.. Sometimes it's just not being present at all, other times like I am watching me do something, or like you shared, looking at something, or trying to do something I have done a million times, and just be stumped where to start.

 

[Neverthesame]

Any of the things @Ronin mentioned can do that to me. Sometimes the simplest task becomes overwhelming and I get hopelessly disoriented.

What I've found works best for me, is to close my eyes, think about what I am doing and what the first step is, pushing everything else out. With only that one thing in mind I do it.
Then the next step, and so on. Focusing only on the one step I need to do.
For something like the wiring which is going to be a little more complicated no matter what, I will take it one wire at a time, follow it and see where it goes. Sooner or later I'll find the wire that connects to the correct bulb in the taillight assembly. If need be, I'll get something to mark each wire as I discover what it connects to, that way I don't end up following the same wire over and over again.

While it can be frustrating to have to be so careful and slow when I am doing something I should just be able to do quick snap. It's still progressing faster than when I was standing there confused.

I also make sure before I do anything, to make sure I take care of as many things that could be causing the confusion as I can in the moment.
Drink some water, self assess whether or not I'm too hot, eat something if it's low blood sugar. Breathe out the frustration.
Can't remedy sleep deprivation obviously, but I can help prevent things from compounding it.

If none of the above help? Well... Sometimes I just have to get to it later when I can. If PTSD didn't get in the way of normal life things, it wouldn't be a disorder. ;)

 

[EveHarrington]

Yes, memory loss, complete blanking can indeed come along with PTSD. :hug:

 

[TTC18]

Can you be just tired, heat exhausted, dehydrated, needing more sleep, something like that?

Yes, to all of those probably, as I'd been working outside for a while... But I've been all that before without drawing a blank.

What I've found works best for me, is to close my eyes, think about what I am doing and what the first step is, pushing everything else out. With only that one thing in mind I do it.

Well, that's a good idea. I plan to tackle it again today - gotta have working brake lights, after all, and I'll just go wire by wire and figure it out. Or maybe I'll pop the trunk and remember what I was doing, lol. Either way, it'll get done.

Yes, memory loss, complete blanking can indeed come along with PTSD. :hug:

Thanks - I hope this isn't going to be a common occurrence though because I don't like it a bit.

 

[Freida]

Yep -- happens so much I have learned to laugh at it. I lost my keys for 3 days just recently. Best part - I didn't stress about it. I had a spare and I knew they would show up eventually. And they did.

 

[blackemerald1]

I have this total confusion, loss of memory, what am I looking at...it's completely alien event happening at times. I've become acutely aware of it and embarrassed too. I thought it was 'just me'.

I thought I may have been getting some kind of early dementia but then I've suspected it is the ptsd. Well pretty certain. Then I have thought how the hell would I know the difference? Or maybe my brain has been fried by ptsd medication and did damage that cannot be undone. Or maybe my brain is just ageing and I need to be more accepting.

So many possibilities and I didn't google one single malady. They are all too difficult to accept btw! :sorry:

But it is occasionally quite confronting! I once did complex tasks... almost without thinking and did them well - now not so much every single time.

Sometimes I delay as you are doing, but I find I worry about whether or not I can do it at all when I do delay. Or, I completely ground myself in the moment and do it, but hell it takes some effort. More effort than it should have I think.

And I feel so relieved when I complete the task and then worry about why I feel so relieved :wtf:

Edited to add: About 6 years ago I did this test for memory & function. The result was that I was highly accurate but took far longer than normal. I was told the results = ptsd brain.

 

[TTC18]

blackemerald1 - That test sounds reassuring, I think. I know what you mean about how would you know the difference. On a recent mental health intake, the nurse asked if I have any delusions. I was like - how would I know if I did? ?

 

[blackemerald1]

@tryingtocope18 - Yes! :confused: How do you self-assess yourself? What a strange question...

Unless she was talking about fairy's in the garden peeking from behind the lemon tree :wtf: lol

 

[TTC18]

Unless she was talking about fairy's in the garden peeking from behind the lemon tree :wtf: lol

Wait - are you saying my fairies aren't real?? ?

 

[Deleted member 487]

Is this PTSD or something else going on?

Crap like that happens. Sometimes it just does, and sometimes it's because our brain is so busy with other stuff, stuff you and I have no idea of, that it escapes our brain/us for a few minutes. My suggestion is go wash off with ice cold water and relax. Go back and tackle it in an hour. That's what I try to do.