topic Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself in Wellness

Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

rms1954 — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 18:50:48 GMT

Over this. Lately I've had things in my hands (today it was something I picked up off our printer) and set it down and totally forget what I did with it. I could not, after searching 30 minutes, find where I put my printed documents down. So i reprinted it again, and went it got it. An hour later I walked to the sink and there, sitting on top of the dish drainer, were my printed documents. I feel like I'm losing my mind recently. I've been doing this a lot. The other day I was driving to our local grocery store 20 minutes away and totally forgot where what the correct entrance was went into the wrong shopping center, had to turn around and go back to the correct entrance.

Hope it's not the dreaded "A" condition. My father had this and well it was plain awful.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

Kachina624 — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 19:06:50 GMT

I hope you're okay too @rms1954 . We all have memory lapses as we age, but if you're worried about your condition, you should discuss your concerns with your doctor. I can sit in one spot, never moving, and can lose something.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

SeaMaiden — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 19:08:00 GMT

@rms1954 wrote:
Over this. Lately I've had things in my hands (today it was something I picked up off our printer) and set it down and totally forget what I did with it. I could not, after searching 30 minutes, find where I put my printed documents down. So i reprinted it again, and went it got it. An hour later I walked to the sink and there, sitting on top of the dish drainer, were my printed documents. I feel like I'm losing my mind recently. I've been doing this a lot. The other day I was driving to our local grocery store 20 minutes away and totally forgot where what the correct entrance was went into the wrong shopping center, had to turn around and go back to the correct entrance.

Hope it's not the dreaded "A" condition. My father had this and well it was plain awful.

@rms1954 Talk to your doctor. There are tests for memory they give to you to see what is going on....

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

Bhvbum — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 19:15:14 GMT

Yep, been there and done all of that. My only salvation is I have young grandsons who will run up to tell me something, and I can tell by the look on their face they forgotten what they were going to say, L O L.

I suspect my memory is not as good as it used to be, so I write things down and make a note here and there if I absolutely positively can't forget. Usually what happens is you simply get distracted doing something else.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

RedTop — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 19:21:24 GMT

@rms1954

I am beginning to notice the start of a pattern with your health related posts, and believe once you get a diagnosis with your most troubling issues, hopefully everything else will go back to normal. I do sincerely wish you well.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

goldensrbest — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 19:21:30 GMT

Perhaps you have much going on, also depression can cause this, but under the fact your dad memory loss ,good idea to get it checked out.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

Foxxee — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 19:39:25 GMT

This often happens when we are not concentrating on what we are doing...usually thinking about something else.

Alzheimer's patients wouldn't even remember they printed anything out. It would never occur to them to look for it. They wouldn't realize they went into the wrong grocery store entrance.

From your description of events, it sounds like you are in deep thought about something. Are you worried about something in your life? Getting enough sleep? Tired?

For peace of mind, next time you have a doctor's appt, ask for a mini-mental test. You can take it online, too, but can't cheat.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

Tinkrbl44 — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 20:17:34 GMT

I had a friend years ago that decided she'd had enough of going to another room and then forgetting why she had gone there. So, during her walk from one room to the other she would repeat the reason ... "scissors, scissors, scissors ... "

Personally I forget mundane things, but right now and every week I can tell you how much paper towels are on sale for at every single store I might buy them at. It's a temporary memory, since the prices will be different next week, but I easily hold on to the information, short term.

Honestly, I have no idea what that might actually mean ....

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

Puppy Lips — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 20:32:33 GMT

@rms1954 By all means, go talk to your doctor, but hopefully it is nothing serious. I too forget where I put things. And the other day my mind was wondering and I missed the turn to my office.

There is a lot going on in the world that we are all worried about. I think our brains can only handle so much stress, and we lose focus. It is hard enough to shoulder what is going on in the world, but to add personal problems on top of that is a bit much - too much for me anyway.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

catter70 — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 20:40:23 GMT

I lose/misplace stuff a lot ,too, and say a prayer to St. Anthony, the finder of lost things. Sometimes, if it was a snake, it would have bit me. But, if you think you need to be checked out, please do,just so you feel better about it, since you have a family history.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

hckynutjohn — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 21:00:49 GMT

@rms1954

I have been writing notes to myself since my 20's. Why? Not because I like writing and using paper.

Ever heard of the brains "long term/short term" memories? I learned tons of info about this when sitting on a Jury Panel in a Civil Trial. It was about a Contested Will, which turned out to be the 1st Will overturned in our State!

Looking for glasses on top of your head for 15-20 minutes? Walk into a different room in the house, then forget why you went there? Have made my morning coffee/sat it down while I took care of litter boxes in a couple other rooms, then! Spend 15 minute going through our big house looking for my coffee!

Pretty common for me. Talk about my childhood the 1940's-1950's? Remember even small details from many things that far in my past.(long term memory) at work.

Meet a man at the ice rink named Joe. Skate a few times around the ice and! What was his name? Phil/Robert/Vince? (short term memory) not at work!

I, unlike you, do not jump to the worst possibility, stuff happens. But does it mean I am suffering from Dementia or Alzheimer's? Never enters my mind. I had a Cognitive Test a few years ago and was nowhere close to either.

You seem to have many different physical issues going on, so I won't suggest you see a professional for mental acuity. Weighing o only 65lbs(I have read here), you have more important medical issues to tend to first.

Wishing you well in all things physical and mental. 🙂

hckynut 🇺🇸 🇺🇦

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

spumoni99 — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 21:16:13 GMT

My father had alzheimers also and I am very paranoid about getting it also. Like others have said more than likely your mind is just somewhere else. It wouldn't hurt to mention it to your doctor if your worried about it.

My husband just turned 72, he is 9 years older than me, he has no A in his family but I notice just normal forgetfulness with him, I think a lot of this is normal aging. Also like others have said once you get alzheimers you forgot a whole lot more than that but the beginning would start out small so that worries me also when I forget things.

They say learning a language or something helps as we age. I am still working even though I could retire comfortably and part of it is I still want to use my brain, its like any other muscle and we need to keep using it to keep it strong.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

BlueFinch — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 21:53:12 GMT

@rms1954 Many physical and/or emotional issues can contribute to brain fog. It's not necessarily a sign of dementia, but, of course, that's always our greatest fear.

I can relate. My mom had Alzheimer's, as did her mother. So, if I misplace my keys for 5 minutes, I immediately think I'm doomed, discounting that everyone loses things from time to time.

From some posts you've shared about your health, I do hope you are being followed by a primary doc. Some issues left untreated can cause long term, irreversible damage.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

Pook — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 22:03:12 GMT

@rms1954 A former co worker would constantly forget things and it turned out she had low electrolyte levels. Also my hairdresser who is only in her 40's had a few scary episodes of forgetfulness and she found out she was comsuming too few carbs having been on a keto diet for a year.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

cindyNC — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 22:15:09 GMT

I had this issue about 20 years ago and it turned out to be a vitamin B deficiency. About 3 years ago, I started having problems again and saw a neurologist - it turned out to be a lack of sleep.....i was only getting about 3 hours a night due to stress.

I would see your physician.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

SilleeMee — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 22:27:18 GMT

Declining estrogen levels have been associated with memory loss. If it gets bad enough then discuss having HRT and see if that helps.

There's a lot of NIH literature about this correlation. I can't even begin to post all that's out there.

About the time I started going into meno, I experienced many episodes of memory loss. I chalked it up to aging until I had a discussion with one of my docs. That was an eye-opener for me.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

Tinkrbl44 — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 00:02:44 GMT

Or, keep in mind (if you can ) stress is always a contributing factor.

A seminar presenter years ago said something that stuck .... basically it was:

"The amount of STRESS you have in your life is often in direct proportion to how many attention units in your brain are being used at any given moment .... "

Interesting way to put it, IMO.

Got a lot on your mind?

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

RedTop — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 04:31:08 GMT

I've watched 5 people go thru dementia, no Alzheimer's, and spent hours looking for lost keys, glasses, teeth, money, you name it. Losing things is not the big issue to be concerned about. The following are examples of what I've witnessed:

It's time to be concerned when you go out to run errands and later think about that outing and not remember driving home, or anything you saw on the way home.

It's time to be concerned when you go grocery shopping and cannot find the products you want, because you are looking for a specific label and do not recognize the product any other way.

It's time to be concerned when you repeatedly make mistakes with time; you read the time off your appt card or a note on your calendar, and know that time, can say that time, but you cannot get yourself to the appt at the right time.

It's time to be concerned when you have problems counting money, as in being in a checkout line and you don't hand the clerk the right amount of money for your purchase, and cannot comprehend that you are short by X amount of dollars, or find that much money in your wallet without help.

It's time to be concerned when you fall asleep in late afternoon, wake up at dusk, thinking you slept all the way thru to the next morning, and start calling your children because it's nearly 8:00 and your paper isn't in the box.

And it's a little late to be concerned when you've done every one of these things, and can't remember, as is the case with my mother.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

qvcaddition — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 05:02:01 GMT

@rms1954

@rms1954 wrote:
Over this. Lately I've had things in my hands (today it was something I picked up off our printer) and set it down and totally forget what I did with it. I could not, after searching 30 minutes, find where I put my printed documents down. So i reprinted it again, and went it got it. An hour later I walked to the sink and there, sitting on top of the dish drainer, were my printed documents. I feel like I'm losing my mind recently. I've been doing this a lot. The other day I was driving to our local grocery store 20 minutes away and totally forgot where what the correct entrance was went into the wrong shopping center, had to turn around and go back to the correct entrance.

Hope it's not the dreaded "A" condition. My father had this and well it was plain awful.

I would have it checked, but if you are like me, I need to focus on what I am doing because then I get in trouble. I write a list also to help me remember what i need to do and check it off as I complete the chore. Also, I am finding when I speak with friends or relatives on the phone, i forget what I wanted to tell them, so I also have a list of things i want to remember, because you get lost in a conversation and forget. It's part of aging, and I am pretty. Most of the time though, it's because a person is in a hurry and thinking of other things while doing chores. As a person ages, they have to slow down and focus.

If you are worried though, it might be best to tell your Dr. Good luck.Also, since my eating habits have changed for the better and i started drinking a lot of water, I can think better.

Re: Memory ... Sometimes I Worry Myself

phoenixbrd — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 10:54:43 GMT

@rms1954 If I had your concerns my first thoughts would be: am I stressed and how can I remedy (less news, more sleep, up Vitamin Bs, work issues, etc). There is a lot to be concerned about in today's world, but my perspective and choices about how I face problems can determine my health. My path would be to reflect on my life to see if changes can be made to address short term memory issues, which could be temporary due to lifestyle or current issues. The fact that you are aware you are doing this is encouraging and not an indication of disease, but distraction.

Another poster mentioned that you weigh 65 pounds. If correct, my concern would be weight issues and wondering if that had something to do with the st memory issue.

Seeking medical help would not be my course of action, but If you feel you need to seek medical help then pursue it of course. The weight issue is a concern, but that can be corrected. I'm just stating how I would proceed with your question and I'm wishing you the best of health.