Sufferer Short Term Memory Loss?

[jo74]

I swear I've lost over half my brain cells. I'm always writing myself notes. Sometimes, I can't remember what I did five minutes ago. Oh, the joys of PTSD.
I also loose time (dissociating). I'll find myself in another room and have no idea how I got there. Had a few times I've found myself miles away from home. More recently I thought I'd forgotten to go to the clinic for an appointment, so I called to apologize for forgetting it and wanted to reschedule and the appointment clerk said I was there. Boy did I feel like an ass. I'll be watching a program on TV, the next thing I know, it's a different program. I find myself watching the clocks alot. Not sure if it helps much. I've been dissociating all my life. It's gotten a lot worse the last few months because of what I'm dealing with now.
Sorry to keep rambling.
jo

 

[Real]

I've been very frustrated with my memory problems too. Does memory improve with time as the ptsd is treated? Does taking medication to help the ptsd help with those cortisol levels and therefore memory? I liked being able to remember things and would love to have some of that back.

Real

 

[kaddy1]

Hi Silver, welcome!!

I can absolutely relate!! I am the Post-it-note King at where I work. If I take a phone call or my boss gives me a task it goes on a Post-it and on my desk. I can usually recall the first part as well as the last of a conversation but the middle is fragmented so I take notes as I go. I can literally get up from my desk to go do something and forget what it was before I get there. So I tend to sort of chant what I need to do over and over in my head as I go. Some days are better than others but there is always something that slips my mind.

 

[Aine]

Hi Silver,

Welcome to the forum, fellow memory loss person :)

I also forget things. This is very frustrating because I used to have a near-photographic memory. Nowadays, however, I forget conversations that I had, forget birthdays (I don't think my sister has forgiven me yet), forget to do things that aren't on my to do list or remember them and then bypass completely over the things are that on the list. I forget what I'm doing, go on to do something else and then come across the abandoned project a few hours later sure that I had completed it already.

One thing that always helps though, for a reason I do not know, is looking in the fridge. Quite often, I end up in the kitchen with no idea why I'm there, so I open the fridge, look into it for a few seconds and then remember what I was doing. The weirdest thing? Nine times out of ten, what I was doing wasn't happening in the kitchen.

 

[anni]

I'm just replying to Real's question about memory perhaps improving. I'm sorry to say that mine hasn't. I miss mine, also because it used to be amazing. I still have a plethora of trivia/facts/math/history, etc. in there which hasn't been affected in the slightest but the whole why-did-I-open-the-fridge, I-said-what?, your-birthday-was-when?, is just silly at this point.

I saw a bumper sticker, 'Onward through the Fog', which must have originated from a PTSD web site somewhere.

On the positive side, I find that if I can clear my scedule to meditate for even 20 minutes in the morning I do find that I'm much more likely to function with a clearer head. It does make a difference in retaining MORE ( but not all ) of the short term memory items that drive us all crazy.

For the rest, there's red ribbons on antennas for the parking garage, post-its for the house, cell phone alarms for appointments, 3 sets of car keys, 5 hair brushes, and at least 6 open bottles of Advil. We adjust!

Take care,

Anni

 

[damaged goods]

Hi,

I experience that too all the time - but nobody can tell if the PTSD is the cause, it's more likely that the goose egg sized tumor in my frontal/temporal lobes is the cause.

I don't know if it really matters. I'm starting 6 weeks of radiation therapy, so that should just add the fun.

And there I go again, attention-whoring.

l8r peoples

 

[anni]

D.G.,

I think a tumour on the frontal lobe is worth mentioning, and hardly attention-whoring. :) It would certainly make it tough to differentiate the PTSD neurological damage from the damage done by the presence of a large foreign object.

I'd like to add that my step daughter is 10 years out from the successful treatment of a frontal lobe tumour. I don't know what the classification of your is, but thought I'd let you know that although her treatment left her fairly weak, she wasn't as ill as we thought she'd be. She is now 30, has some left-over headaches now and then and doesn't like bright lights but these are the only annoying symptoms left from what is still a pea-sized tumour. She continues another form of treatment but is a lovely, strong, healthy girl.

I hope you are able to let us know how you are, and take care?

Anni

 

[Aine]

D.G.

I hope you get better soon. Keep us posted, okay?

Love and Light,

Aine.

 

[michelle turner]

I also can relate to this fustrating problem. I have to live by reminder notes everywhere around the house . I even forget what day is at times . I also forget appointments . I will write the appointment out by somehow forget to write the time or date of that appointment. I have just lost my bag recently with everything and I cant replace where I have put it all . I use to have a good memory before I got this debilatating conditon of ptsd,

 

[Nemone]

Haha, everyone's posts made me laugh cause I kept thinking how I do all those things too. These are some of my personal bests -

-I often have conversations with my husband where he'll interrupt me while I'm talking to make a comment and when he's done saying whatever it was I want to finish the conversation but just end up asking him what the heck I was talking about five seconds ago.

-Sometimes when I'm coming back from dropping off the kids I forget that they aren't with me and end up talking to myself.

-Sometimes I space out while driving and suddenly snap back to attention wondering if I was paying attention to driving because I can't remember (happens less on meds thankfully).

-I've wanted to get a big huge calendar to stick on the table by my computer or on the wall but I keep forgetting it every time I go to the store.

Actually there's one thing that works really well for me to help me remember appointments for the kids. At the doctors office when they give the appointment cards, when I get back to the car I either stick them in the crack next to the radio so they stick out really obviously and I end up seeing them whenever I get in, or I have tape in the car and they can just be stuck to the dashboard. It's really effective since I have to take my kids to school in the morning and I never make them an appointment I can't get to after dropping off the other kid at school.

Another thing that helps with finding things is that I put all my important things that I have to take with me when going out - my wallet, keys and phone - either in my purse which I keep next to my desk, or on the desk next to the computer. I have a pink wallet and phone and a bunch of flashy stuff on my keys so I know right away if I put them there or not. I also check inside my purse every time before I go out because I've gone places and realized I don't have my wallet after getting in line to buy something... very uncomfortable. I now also check for my wallet before I get in line to avoid possible embarrassment. Can never be too sure if I actually remembered things.

 

[Megan]

i am having the same problem. i looked up how to lower cortisols (naturally...)

http://www.livestrong.com/article/28618-lower-high-cortisol-levels-naturally/

 

[Evoe Iacchos]

I use my phone to take a picture of where I have parked my car, works well for me. Also, I use my phone to take pictures of intersection signs if I am walking so that if I get lost, I can use GPS.