More Than Just Memory Related PTSD Issues?

[Deleted member 541]

Thanks everyone.... I feel a bit better knowing that I am not alone in this, but it still scares the crap out of me, when I can not remember HOW to do something that I have done a thousand times before.......

Names, places, lost things, and such, I know are just part and parcel with PTSD, but this just goes beyond the normal memory issues of PTSD!!!!! IMO!!!!!

I guess I will talk to my Dr on Monday, and yes Lisa, I will mention the stress that I have been under with everything going on......You can now put down your *Mom Finger* LOL!!!!!!!!

 

[Marlene]

You can now put down your *Mom Finger* LOL!!!!!!!!

It's down...but it can be brought out in a flash when necessary. :naughty:

 

[bluejayway]

If I don't leave things like keys, my glasses, books, etc, in exactly the same place every time, I lose them. If I don't park on the same row every time I go to the store, I forget where I've parked and actually get a little bit panicked if there are no open spots on my chosen row. I've tried to use the wrong remote for the TV and was getting extremely irritated that it wasn't working before I figured out what was wrong. I forget people's names and feel horribly embarrassed when I do. My work program uses keyboard shortcuts that if I need to pull something up and have even a split second of trying to remember how to do it, I can't. Yet there is some form of memory there because my fingers will perform the shortcut reflexively if just don't think about it. I don't know how much of this is normal for PTSD either because it is something I've dealt with for a very long time and even was diagnosed as adult ADHD because of it and concentration issues.

 

[Dylan]

Hey SheCat,

YES, I relate to this. Happened just this morning where I couldn't remember if I'd already turned right toward the highway or was still on the first street....I'd sort of zoned out and didn't know where I was. Hate that.

Having said that, I will say that I notice a big increase in these problems when I consume things that contain Nutrasweet. When I mentioned to a friend that my short-term memory was completely gone, he asked if I ate things with Nutrasweet. The only thing was sugarless gum, but when I cut it out, my memory improved. Just a thought...

-Dylan

 

[2quilt]

Aspertame breaks down to formaldihide in the brain.

I have sleep apnea and I really feel better when my brain has oxygen. And when I am not stressed.

I drive by my own house because i forget which house is mine, I pay for groceries with my drivers license, I never know what day of the week it is, etc.

 

[SunnyBrookFarm]

I am also glad you have mentioned this - but agree if it is troubling you than you should mention it to the doc (along with the information that you have been under an extreme amount of stress recently).

Things I forget? LOL - Here goes: How to get home from work or my counseling appt., where my purse is in the house (even though my husband puts in the same frigging place every night before he goes to bed), walking into a room and having no clue what I need, things my family members tell me (some of them quite important), if I ran an errand I was trying to remember to run (sometimes I have and sometimes I haven't - LOL).

This weekend was especially difficult for me - last night I had no idea that my son (who is 18 thank god) had left the house - even though my daughter said he told me - and I didn't know he had come back home (again, my daughter said he spoke to me) - that crap scares the heck out of me.

 

[godhelpusoneandall]

She-Cat,
The first batch of memory issues you listed can happen to regular people under stress. The second batch...forgeting how to do things can be caused by depression.

It happened to me once when I was in my early 30s. I had always lived in a small town. When I was twenty-eight I decided to go to college, which I did..drove 45 minutes to a nice community college. Then I decided to move to the big city and go to Ohio State. Oh, wow! What a shock! My mind has always been one of those that worked like a steel trap, as they say, but the stress of moving into a huge university, and the competition in the classes just got to me, I guess. One morning I went out and got in my car and couldn't remember how to back it up! Then when I figured that out, I couldn't remember which direction to go! I was tired all the time. Would sleep between classes. I got a paper back with a D as a grade. I was stunned! I always got A s on my papers. When I looked at it, I was even more stunned because there was too many spaces between some of the words, capital letters in weird places, words spelled incorrectly, etc. AND I had proof read the paper! When to the doc who referred me to a psychologist. He told me I was clinically depressed, which I didn't really buy into, because I had never head of symptoms like that being associated with depression. But sure enough, after being on anti-depressants for a few weeks, my cognitive skills returned.

Could be lots of things. Don't know how old you are, but memory issues like those you described can also be associated with menopause. That happened to me as well. Once I ask an elderly woman if, when she was going through the change, she lost her memory. She replied, "Well, yes I did. That happens. You lose it, and then it comes back for a while and then you lose it for good"!

I tried an Ayurvedic drink that helped me alot with the menopausal memory loss. I would give you the name, but am not sure I am allowed to in a post.

Kat

 

[Deleted member 541]

Update...

I have seen both my GP and my Nephrologist this past week. They both pretty much agree that most likely it's just stress from everything I have been though in the past several months. They both want me to see my Neurologist and discuss it with him. I already had an appointment with him for the end of Oct, so that works out well....

My GP wanted me to have another brain MRI ASAP, and to see the Neuro ASAP. I decided against this, because I just had a brain MRI in July, and I am smart enough to know that a tumor can not grow in 2 1/2 months....My Nephrologist agrees. I am scheduled to have another brain MRI in Jan. due to my recent diagnosis of Diabetes Insipidus, so this is soon enough for me. Plus the Nephrologist told me on Wednesday, that I will probably have to have more brain MRI's even after Jan, for a year or two just to make sure that there isn't a tumor and that the initial diagnosis of underdeveloped Pituitary Gland is the cause of the Diabetes Insipidus.

I just wish this crap would just end....I feel like I live at Dr's offices lately......Getting old is definitely not for sissies......

 

[2quilt]

I could not get the car to reverse yesterday. It was in neutral.

 

[clare]

Hi Shecat,

I'm sorry your Dr didn't seem too reassurring. I know how exhausting it can be maintaining health. My memory loss is complex due to a number of health factors. When I go blank on something I should know, I remind myself-it's only temporary. I'm not going to forget how to brush my teeth forever, I just can't access that file as fast as I used to. Judgement and decision can be impaired and that's not something that any Dr. should be passe about. I don't drive for this reason. However, my memory loss whether due to CPTSD, TIA strokes or too many grand-mal seizures is permanent in other ways. Eventhough my Neurologist and Neuro-psychiatrist have said it's brain damage and won't come back, I have started creating replacements of a sort. With help from my husband and sister, I made scrapbooks with flash card like photos and descriptions. Now when someone says "remember that time at D's house in Galway..", I think of the flash card, so I don't feel totally left out. I also find organization is crucial in cutting down on forgetfulness, and misplacing things. I know it sounds trivial but "a place for everything, and everything in its' place" really helps me function with much less stress. As for meds, only depakote caused me (and others in my family who take it) to contantly transpose letters when speaking. Anti-depressants helped my short term memory loss significantly.


I hope you find more answers at the end of the month. Don't let the Dr.s' attitude dissuade your efforts. Memory loss is frightening and frustrating and if they had comparable loss they would be in constant danger of malpractice.

Take care,

clare