Memory Loss / skills loss

[TTC18]

Well, I'm pretty sure I fixed it today - I am getting brake lights on both sides again, even though one is a little dim - but I'm also pretty sure that at some point I (or the fairies) bolloxed it all up pretty badly. I had to do some fanciful cross-connecting to get anything to work, and I'm afraid I'll need to take it all apart and put it all back together at some point which doesn't make me happy at all. Either I've totally lost my mind and did some crazy shiznit the last time I was in my trunk, or I've got gremlins, or else who knows what.

 

[Friday]

It’s a pretty common thing for me. Simple tasks become incrediably difficult to outright impossible.

 

[shimmerz]

This has happened to me. 25 years of technical knowledge lost. Completely. Long term compartmentalization of information that has been tied into a trigger. So yes, long term this stuff can happen.

Short term it can too if the upper brain (executive functioning) is affected by trauma stuff. I literally can't see words in front of me (happened last week) because I completely shut down.

Any triggery stuff going on with brakes/car repairs/trunks of cars/light bulbs/wiring? I heard you mention wiring a few times.... just saying.

 

[TTC18]

Any triggery stuff going on with brakes/car repairs/trunks of cars/light bulbs/wiring? I heard you mention wiring a few times.... just saying.

I don't know - could be. Can't say for sure, since I only know my biggest most in-your-face triggers because I tend to forget things to cope. I've probably said 'I don't know' and 'I don't remember' a million times. But at least I know I don't remember, if that makes sense.
I have one summer when I was a kid that I didn't remember not remembering. I still don't remember forgetting, I only remember my friend's reactions. Not even knowing that there's something I don't remember is way scarier to me. Most times, it's like there's something there, and I just know not to look at it. That one summer is just disappeared.

 

[TTC18]

Any triggery stuff going on with brakes/car repairs/trunks of cars/light bulbs/wiring?

I think I actually know what it might be. Doing wiring and repairing things and being generally competent is like a thumb in the eye to all the people who have told me I'm stupid, useless, unable to do anything right, and so on and so forth. Being too smart was antagonistic to some people. You Think You're So Smart and You Think You're So Much Better than Everyone Else Just Because You Can xyz... ---- and ever since I figured out how to fix car wiring stuff a few years ago when mine started having trouble, I'm endlessly impressed with myself every time I fix something like that. But right now I don't think I can handle the stress of going against all those messages, if that makes any sense at all. It's like my brain says, "No way, you've got enough going on right now, you don't need to step out of line too! Just be weak and helpless and ignorant - that's what's safe. That's what works." Ugh.

 

[joeylittle]

Just adding another possibility into the mix...drawing a blank on a task you can normally do is one way humans demonstrate 'difficulty concentrating'. It's a common question on many psych assessments. Difficulty concentrating is one of those ubiquitous symptoms that goes with many, many diagnoses....you'd need to observe a pattern in yourself of when you forget data, vs blank out on known information, vs poor short-term or long term recall. All of these things can happen with PTSD. They also happen with many other disorders and non-psych diagnoses. And they happen to people who are generally fine.

What distinguishes a symptom is not only what happened - but also how often, to what degree, with what impact on daily functioning.

You might find it useful to start keeping a log. Different people need to track different things, you can make little notes on whatever you observe. If it's not the sort of thing that would cause negative thinking patterns (ruminating, obsessing) - it could become a helpful thing.

 

[TTC18]

Good idea. I have been forgetting a lot of things lately - not just the walk-into-the-room-and-say-why-am-I-here forgetting, which I also do, but 'did I do this? I don't remember doing this.' I've been thinking of writing it down - but I keep forgetting. *rolls eyes*

 

[Friday]

I don't remember doing this.' I've been thinking of writing it down - but I keep forgetting. *rolls eyes*

This is a big part of why I started a diary.

I’ve never been a diary, journal, or blog type person. I’ve tried to be. And failed. More times than I can count.

Coming on here, every day, changed that. (About as much as it can be changed! Not a lot. But better than nothing.) Because I desperately needed to be able to remember what was going on with me, and needed a scratch sheet for things I was thinking about / turning over in my mind.

It’s very much NOT what I consider to be a journal, or diary. It’s often snippets, half thoughts, bullet point lists, venting about this / that / or the other... but it has helped immensely in a number of areas. Memory being one of them.

 

[Changing4Best]

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. ;)

One of my life's quotes has been all along, "One thing at a time." That has gotten me this far and will continue to save me, I know! I coined that phrase for myself maybe 30-40 years ago now. It has been a life saver.