Memory and attention problems

[Sweetleaf]

@acoa82, I'm in a trauma-sensitive yoga group. It's very relaxing, also very grounding. Helps to bring you into the here and now and very into your body. I'm not sure if it has improved my memory and focus, but being more relaxed and in the present does innately help with at least focus, I think.

 

[CelticHarp]

Oh how I can relate. My brain does not want to do anything simple or complex. I feel retarded and people do wonder about me. I even had a neuropsych evaluation and they said it is just anxiety, but I know it is more than that.

 

[shimmerz]

For me it was dissociation. The dissociation led me towards real survival issues. Now that both are way in the background, I have found my brain again. I didn't think I would ever get it back.... but I did. Eureka! Now THAT was a good day!

 

[Freida]

Now that both are way in the background, I have found my brain again. I didn't think I would ever get it back.... but I did.

That is so good to hear. I used to be smart. Now some days I'm dumb as a box of hair. I now know its the dissociation but its good to hear I may get it back!

 

[Abstract]

For me it was dissociation. Now THAT was a good day!

That is amazing and due I am sure to your hard work and tenacity. :tup:

It was dissociation for me too. I have memory issues but suspect the core issues I have suffered with most of my life (definitely post 7 years old) have fundamentally been dissociative first and PTSD second. At a guess. Not sure but think Ptsd symptoms were there but waxed and waned until they came on full force eventually. Dissociation has affected my life a lot and starting to deal with it felt like being born. Even though painfully in a lot of senses.

My life is transformed as a result. No doubt of that. Now I am just left with the lessor issue of what seems to be a seriously less effective brainpower. Not sure why. Maybe damage from the PTSD and a lifetime of bouts of clinical depression. And I know it as am not terribly dissociated. ;):D Doesn't help my identity stuff to find I cannot think like I used to.

 

[EveHarrington]

Thank you for all the answers. It's very helpful. It's really great to have you near at least this way....

They help some, and not others. The only way you’ll know is if you try it for yourself.

I do a type of meditation that is very centering and helps ground me.

Yoga? *laughs*. Five minutes of yoga and I want to run five miles. It’s THAT agitating to me.

 

[shimmerz]

core issues I have suffered with most of my life (definitely post 7 years old) have fundamentally been dissociative first and PTSD second.

Thanks @Abstract. This is something that I have been unsuccessfully attempting to express but could never find the words for. I can feel a 'shifting' that I will need to mull over but all in a good way. You have made a difference in someone's life today. You --> :cool:

 

[Abstract]

Thanks @Abstract. You have made a difference in someone's life today. You --> :cool:

... and you @shimmerz Thank you for telling me you relate.:)

 

[KerriJ]

I have both ADHD & PTSD. They’re very, very, very different things.

ADHD - I’m doing 40 other things at the same time (4 major things, with 10 parts; or 10 smaller things with 4 parts); thinking of 12 completely different things (only a few of them related to the 40things I’m doing). Of course I can’t find my pants. They could be in. my. hand. but with everything else going on I’d have to reach for something and not be able to grab it because I’m holding my pants to realize it. And even then? I might just set my pants on the top of the open door -not even aware I’m doing so- depending on how urgently I need my hand... and not “discover” my pants hanging on the door until an hour later and the damn thing won’t latch. The f*ck? How the hell did those get there? :O_o: Or? I could well be in the car, pants on, before I realize I not only found my pants, but put them on, & high tailed it out to get stuff done without it even registering.

.

THIS THIS THIS!!!!

For the OP, I went 21 years with undiagnosed ADHD. Yes, I also have PTSD, but ADHD is so vastly different from the way PTSD fog is. My ADHD is always there at a pretty severe level. My PTSD has bad days and good days. The cup analogy is great for deciding if you should look into ADHD - my cup always has 12,000 things in it and that's my ADHD. My PTSD fog is when that cup is TOO full of one or two things and I freak out.

I STRONGLY recommend you look into getting evaluated for ADHD. It never hurts to have a professional look at you. I didn't even think I had it. But I have all but 2 diagnostic criteria. The medications have been a life saver for me. They've even helped me be able to do more therapy work because my mind is AWOL all the time. Ask your T about getting evaluated. It might be worth it.

That's my 2 cents. But as someone with ADHD, PTSD and Fibromyalgia, fog and concentration issues are my middle name.

 

[shatter eyes]

I use the word scatterbrained a lot when describing my focus/memory problems lol.

I use GUMMYbrain or Dodo brain...but now i think thats not nice to dodo birds because we will never know if they were stupid or not.

I used to work and function well in executive roles and consultation involving community groups and politics.

I am dumb as overchewed bubble gum... anything i touch i mess up and pull away..then forget why i pulled away and how the mess happened.

In real physical life many stay away from me because they expect my old sharpness and speed consistency but i can no longer deliver myself at the same level.

Shattered Eyes have scattered brain too.

 

[Shayma]

I have both ADHD & PTSD. They’re very, very, very different things.

Even though some of the symptoms...

I dont know whether or not I’ve got ADHD. I’ve got ptsd, disassociation disorder and hyper vigilance disorder because of childhood trauma but I don’t know about ADHD.

I just had this situation where i was holding my phone and purse in my hand and just rummaging through my pocket and I’m thinking of random things. I look for my purse through my bag but then realise I have it in my hand. I do this while walking through a market. Next thing I know when I walk into a shop is that I don’t have my wallet in my hands and then I start looking through my bag really quickly and I still don’t find it. I try not to panic and I start talking to myself trying to think of everything I’ve done.

But the problem is I don’t remember what happened in that walk through the market.

During school I’d forget what lesson I’m in and what things I need almost always. I wouldn’t know how to count to eight on a GCSE mock exam when I’ve been able to do it since I was 4.


Other dangerous times is when I’m walking home from school and I suddenly end up in the middle of the road while a car is coming. The other day I walked into the road and the car was right next to my leg when it stopped and only then I realised what was happening.

I’ve had therapy for nearly three years but I can’t concentrate on the simplest of things.

 

[Swift]

Hey.
Dissociation wipes my mind totally blank, like skipping a disc.
Just as a point of compassion towards others, could we maybe try to not use the r word (say r*tarded?) I'm really glad people are able to be open and honest on here, but I'd love it if people with intellectual or learning disabilities felt welcome here too.