Poll Does PTSD Present You Noticable Memory Problems?

[cat]

My short term memory is rubbish, now that I'm back at work I have to write everything down, its incredibly frustrating, I've always been able to think on my feet now everything has to be planned.

At other times it can be amusing. The sun is shining here in the UK today so I decided to sit in the garden, went to the garage to get a chair & came out with the ironing board........

Anyone got a spare brain???????

 

[Mercy]

Cat, that is really funny. Thanks for the chuckle.

Just last week, I had taken a long drive to get to a friend's house. Dashed in and said I'll really need to go. So I did, came out of the bathroom with hugs all around. Then I went into the kitchen for a glass of water. By the time I got there (6sec.), I went straight through the small kitchen and kept on going into and sat in the ajoining bathroom. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't do anything??? Then I remembered I was supposed to be getting water not releasing it.

Oh, Well....

 

[Mercy]

oops. forgot I had hit the post button already. sorry

 

[bluejayway]

Memory is a terrible issue for me. Just yesterday I called G because I was going shopping to find out if he wanted anything - chips & cheese for nachos. Promptly forgot to write it down and didn't think anything of it until later when he got home and asked where they were. I've actually even written my grocery list and get down to the last 2 items, put the list in my purse while I get 1 thing, and then head straight to the checkout without getting the other item because I've forgotten it already. It's really frustrating and I was actually told I had ADHD because of it and concentration issues, which I am fairly certain was just because the PTSD was not recognized.

 

[dust]

I have both short term and long term memory issues... I dissociate and forgot most of the major events in my childhood (only to come back in the form of PTSD 30 years later). When my PTSD was bad I used to take a note book to meetings so I could follow and remember conversations. Now I am repairing, my memory has got better.... but I am now finding that I can't remember things that happened while the PTSD was really bad!

I still experience 'dropped' frames - where I remember something and then, suddenly there is a blank in the middle of a memory.

 

[tryintobreathe]

I forget, what was the question? Sorry....I couldn't resist that one! Yeah, most definately I have memory problems. I'm constantly forgetting!!

 

[Deleted member 1860]

YES!!!!

I recently lost a MONTH!!! The doctors still aren't exactly sure what happened. All I know is that I NEVER want anything like that to ever happen again.

 

[Estelle]

My short-term memory has gotten worse over the last few months as my anxiety has increased. This morning I couldn't remember the address of the house that I just surrendered to the mortgage company because I couldn't make the payments. I still legally own the house. I forget the times I'm supposed to be at work unless I check the calendar every single day. I can't remember names of people at all whom I meet -- yesterday I called a boss by a wrong name -- and was so embarrassed when being corrected.

Memory loss definitely is a result of PTSD, I am convinced. If I don't write it down, and remember where I put the piece of paper where I wrote it down, I do not remember it.

 

[Nicky31]

I thought I would post that I've found this has happened to me again in the past couple of hours. I'm currently trying to write an assignment for a course I'm doing at college. After 2 hours of writing notes I thought I'd revisit the 4 small pages of notes I had made. I actually scared myself when on reading the notes, I couldn't remember writing the first page...

I guess there could be other reasons, I've had to come home from work as I was too exhausted to be there anyhow, some of it was quotes from text books and I was making a cup of tea and checking on posts here, but to not recall it all bothers me.

Thanks for posting this poll though, as it helps me see it is not just me that thinks I'm losing it sometimes, that this is also part of the condition.

 

[CafeAulait]

My bf tells me that my memory is awful. He says I frequently ask the same questions. For the longest time I thought it was him exagerating, but I'm begining to think I have memory problems. I also have to keep notes in order to remember stuff. It seems there is always so much going on in my head that if I don't write things down, I can never forget. This is getting worse the older I get.

 

[CafeAulait]

In addition to the above I also wanted to mention that during times of emotional stress, my thoughts feel short circuted. If I try to talk it's as tho I can't get the words to come out. Can't think of the right words. I have always likened this to short circuiting because that's how it feels. Anyone else experience this?

 

[Butterlamb]

My bf frequently compares my memory to Dori the fish in Finding Nemo because i forget EVERYTHING that he says to me. Its a constant battle of me saying "you never told me that" and him saying ive told you atleast 5 times on 5 seperate occasions.....

I try to hard to block out the bad that i guess everything else gets lost too. But why is it that if i lose something i can never find it, but if a friend loses something i can find it in a second? does anyone else experience that?