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Wait, sorry, what?

cereselle — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:58:18 -0800

Call it procrastination, call it forgetfulness, call it disorganization, call it laziness-- whatever it is, it's affecting my work life, and I want it to stop. I forget things. Lots of things. All the time. Sometimes it just completely slips my mind, sometimes I decide to do it later and it gets lost in the mists, sometimes just the thought of doing it makes me cranky and I want it to go away.

I have tried to write things down on a list, which helps for a while, but I invariably lose the list. I am unable to keep my office clean or organized, which contributes to list-losing, but the piles of stuff make me feel guilty, and I am disinclined (almost afraid) to go through them. When I try, I am seized with the urgent desire to do almost anything else.

How can I stop this? It's almost like I don't want to remember things. I try to change, then I forget the changes I've made, and the problem is as large as ever.

It's starting to come to a head, as I've failed to act on assignments from my boss due to completely forgetting about them. I'm not in danger of being fired (yet), but I want to do the best job I can, and this fuzzy-headedness is not making it easy.

Care no more to clothe and eat

paduasoy — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:37:46 -0800

I am considering going to live with my 83 year-old grandmother, whom we think has some kind of (not yet diagnosed) dementia, in a year or so. She lives 500 miles from my friends and family. I know caring for her will be hard; how can I prepare? This was my grandmother (step-grandmother, in fact), eighteen months ago. Since then her memory has got worse and her ability to care for herself has declined. She has lost weight ('fridge full of gone-off food) and is currently wearing the same clothes that she has been wearing for at least three or four weeks. Her rationality has also declined a bit.

She appears very anxious about her memory loss but in denial about it. I live 500 miles away. We visited two weeks ago and are going back in the next few weeks because of further concerns from other people in the neighbourhood. A friend of hers is going to the doctor with her next week. We have talked to her about power of attorney and the forms for this are ready to be signed by her doctor (who has to confirm that she currently has capacity to grant a power of attorney).

I am planning to use as much of my leave as possible to visit her, and am considering moving to live with her in about 12-18 months. I have commitments here until then (I do realise she may die before then, or have to go into residential care). My question is, what can I do now to prepare for the possibility of caring for her? I would plan to get a job for about three days a week whilst doing so. She lives in a rural area.

What should I do/know about her sudden memory loss?

sively — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 01:47:46 -0800

What might be the cause of sudden amnesia? Pregnant but healthy woman, two days suddenly completely erased from her memory. And she won't go to the doctor. Recently X, a family member, in her thirties and 7 months pregnant with her third child, woke up in the middle of the night extremely disoriented (e.g. not knowing if she was pregnant or had imagined it), with an intense sensation of deja vu, and all memories of the previous two days completely erased from her memory. She didn't feel any kind of physical pain. The deja vu and disorientation disappeared but the amnesia has now persisted for a couple of days. Otherwise she's feeling fine and acting perfectly normal. I don't know what to do.

Background: X has never been diagnosed with any kind of mental disorder or illness and doesn't drink or use drugs. She experiences deja vu's relatively frequently, for which she underwent a thorough neurological examination years ago. I was told the results indicated it has "something to do with her amygdala" - there was something unusual although not excatly abnormal about it. (She wasn't diagnosed with epilepsy or anything like that.) For the rest, she is very healthy and normal, if somewhat emotional and very sensitive to stress.

Nothing out of the ordinary or traumatizing has happened to her recently (or ever, really, as far as I know). The beginning of the black hole in her memory coincides with driving a couple of hours to get to her parents' farm - a trip she does several times a year. This time our whole family is gathered here, which I guess she might be experiencing as a bit stressful, although there haven't been any conflicts or anything unpleasant taking place at all. Her relationship with some of us is a little strained, although I'd describe it distant and avoidant rather than hostile in any way.

It's now been two days, and she has decided not to go to the doctor or even call one. The family consensus - we're all still gathered in the middle of nowhere - seems to prioritize keeping her from fretting, so everybody (including her spouse and parents) is treating the whole thing as a trivial matter, just one of those freaky things that happen sometimes. I'm worried (and have been told to keep quiet about it). I mean seriously, amnesia - wtf?

What could be causing this? Are there signs I should be watching out for? Anything I should know? Anything I could read about this online? (Yes, I'd desperately want her to go and see a doctor, but that really is out of my hands now.)

Dealing with memory loss in older people

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:54:11 -0800

How can I constructively discuss my grandmother's short-term memory loss with her? I'm currently staying with my grandmother for a couple of weeks - she's in her early 80s. She had a second pulmonary embolism just before Christmas and is still recovering from that (breathlessness). I, and others in the family, are worried about her short-term memory loss. I have noticed this for about the last three years. Other family members have noticed it but thinks it comes and goes.

A trivial example is her confusion about what day it is - this morning she asked six times in twelve minutes what day it was. A more important example is that she is not able to remember to take her drugs (she has three lots to take at different times each day). The most important, warfarin, is supopsed to be taken at 6pm. We have put up reminders in places where she is likely to be. The last couple of days I've said "it's six o'clock" at 6, and she's asked what the significance of the time is. We have been through what she has to take when at least four times in the last three days, and I know my cousin did so before that, and she has made notes on it, but still can't remember it. My grandmother is a very bright woman (was an academic) and is still able to have challenging intellectual conversations, though next day she may have the same conversation again. It's not lack of capacity or inability to reason, it's memory loss. Left alone she spends a lot of time obsessively looking through her diary to find out what's happening that day. She also tells stories about past events (from her childhood to a few years ago) which I don't think are true (conflict with other people's stories, or I was there and know they are not true). I'm not too bothered about this - it's her past and if she wants to rewrite it that's fine - but we are worried in particular about how to get her to take the drugs when no-one's around.

We have talked with her about the fact that she forgets them and she has accepted that she has short-term memory loss, but an hour later she will have forgotten that conversation. We want her to talk to the GP about it but this is very difficult as she constantly says there is not a problem. We have also discussed strategies like someone telephoning her or calling in at six each day to remind her, but because most of the time she doesn't remember that she forgets them she is unhappy about this - she has lived alone for 40 years and been very independent.

Has anyone any experience of talking to people about short-term memory loss and have suggestions about how we can get her to accept that, certainly at the moment, this is a serious problem?

Additionally, should memory problems be something that should stop her driving? She's not driving at the moment but is very keen to start again.

We are in the UK, if that makes any difference, and the rest of the family lives 300-600 miles away from her. Thanks to all.

Help me! I think I'm losing my mind (literally!)

Anonymous — Fri, 26 May 2006 07:01:49 -0800

My dreams and memory loss are starting to get out of control and I'm scared. Some background: I'm a 30 year old male, taking Effexor XR (225mg) for major unipolar depression for almost 2 years now. Prior to that, I had been on Celexa for almost 3 years, which I quit because it just turned into a sleeping zombie.

For almost 4-5 months now, I've been having problems with my sleep (dreams actually) and my memory.

Memory first: I used to pride my self on having an above average memory and normally never had a problem recalling facts, names, words etc. But now, I think my short term memory is just shot to hell. The right at the tip of your phenomenon? I'm experiencing it a little to often for comfort. I also notice that I lose my chain of thought completely in that I'll think of an idea while doing something and if I do not write it down immediately, I'll lose it within seconds and it's impossible to recall it, without going over the entire chain of events in my mind again (like replaying the tape in mind). I know depression does affect memory, but this is getting ridiculous!

Now the dreams: Maybe it's the Effexor or who knows what, but I have the most vivid, violent and eerily surreal dreams possible. Add to it the fact that of late, I've started talking loudly, so loud that I wake myself up and a few days back, managed to smash my hand into the headboard of the bed, so disturbing was the dream. I have a hard time now figuring out if my memory of an event is real or if it was something I had just dreamt about. Like I said, I feel I'm literally losing my mind.

So this is the predicament I am in. Has anyone experienced anything remotely similar? Is this something I should be really worried about? Are these signs of a deeper malaise? I did speak to my doctor about it and he gave me something for the night sweats but didn't have explanations or medication to help with the dreams.