Just Need Some Advice Re: Memory Loss

[becvan]

Anyway, I think that my memeory issues are due to my mind racing. I'm just curious, do any of you ever find your self way ahead of conversations. Like, someone will be talking to you, and you know where their going and get frustrated that they can't seem to get to the point fast enough?

John

Hi John. I so know that feeling! I get very frustrated and just want people to spit it out. I always thought it was just my lack of getting "small talk" but you make a good point! I am way ahead of the conversation most of the time. Guess it just takes mindful listening to slow that down!

bec

 

[Deleted member 541]

John,


I actually was talking to a friend of mine who is actually a shrink about my issues with driving, and not remembering HOW I got there....I always felt that I was disassociating.. Shari on the other hand believes it may be a sever case of inattentiveness instead. I would guess just another way of not having to deal with the stress.

I don't remember getting from point A------ to Point B many times. Very scary...

Wendy

 

[pandora]

Wow.....I have felt that too....when my mind is going so fast I can't seem to speak fast enough to catch up to my thoughts.

 

[Marlene]

when my mind is going so fast I can't seem to speak fast enough to catch up to my thoughts.

When this happens, I tend not to speak because my thoughts go so fast and in so many directions that I know I can't hold an intelligent (to anyone else) conversation.

Lisa

 

[pandora]

I actually do the same thing because sometimes what is coming out of my mouth just seems to make no sense?

 

[RNning]

It is part of the PTSD

Hey Pandora, rest assured you are not alone. I make a ton of lists/use a palm pilot and even then I can forget. Your memory will come back but be kind to yourself. Your brain has alot of things to process - think of it as a computer with only so much memory - one it is full - there is no more storage room - until you clean it out.

That is something that takes time and to some extent medications - remember PTSD is a neuro-biologic reaction to stress - your mind does not work like others. Much like a diabetic whose pancreas does not produce enough insulin.

 

[Jade-]

What about forgetting things once learned? For instance, I used to know how to play guitar, now I can't play at all. I used to know how to play chess, now I don't. There's alot of things I was once able to do but no longer remember how. Is that normal?

It makes me feel really embarrassed, especially when people point out that I DO know how to do certain things. Sometimes it's simple things, that I obviously should know how to do....but for some reason have forgotten how to. An example is babysitting. I have made bottles many times, yet on monday I had no idea how to do it and the babys mother acted shocked that I asked her to write it down. I still don't remember how to make one, yet I knew how to last week.

 

[Iam]

I think that it is a symptom of stress Jade. Not really that we have completely forgotten. You have been going thru so much lately on top of your therapy. It is no wonder that you would forget things. It's part of the process you are going thru but will get better as things even out.

 

[popeye]

You know something my wife and I discussed this recently. I don't remember when, for all i know it was yesterday or last year. But I was wondering, there is some kind of medication i saw on t.v. once that helps with Alzheimer and helps them focus better. Is that something that might help with someone with ptsd? I tried the notes for everything but I forget I have the notes. i don't have one of those palm pilot things. I had a calendar but it ended last year. Literally I have forgotten to buy a new calendar. I have realized recently that i just cannot for the life of me remember anything. Before my ptsd I was one of those people that if you told me a phone number on monday i would remember it on friday. I am so glad this post was brought up i don't even know what to say lol.

 

[Cthulhu]

I have the same problems with shorttime memory (well, longtime as well). I tried to live my life with huge amounts of sticky notes all around my places and it... Well, it worked OK but not really good.

A few years ago I got my Asperger's diagnosis and with it the doctors thought I might also have ADHD, because of my memory- and concentration- related problems. Today I rather think it's because of the cPTSD than an ADHD. But nevertheless, I tried Methylphenidate, which works against ADHD, and it really worked. It had its dark sides, totally flattened my little rest of emotionality and somehow slowed down my ability to think. But I could really concentrate on one thing and my memory worked much better. In time I got a bad side-effect, Migraine, so that I had to stop taking it.

It's sad that I could live a 'normal' life for some month and now can't do it any more, to have seen what could have been and so on... But well, maybe the memory-related problems get better when the cPTSD-wounds heal a little more?

I'm very glad to have my smartphone and its calendar, I use it really for EVERY single little appointment and thing to do. It works well.