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[notgivingin]

Hi - have been going through a good patch following a holiday and some positive self talking but recently I have been getting some worrying
memory problems and thought I would enquire to see if anyone else has lapses to this degree or should I take myself off to the docs.  Eg./ today .. fancied listening to music, looked for my wireless speakers , they were not sitting in the doc so I wandered all around the house looking for them. I came back to the doc, stood there staring around the room and then out of the corner of my eye I noticed them just there beside the doc ! literally inches away   scary scary. THEN a little while ago I took a painkiller out to take with my meal ( horrendous painful periods again) went back to take it and it was gone. Had I taken it?  I literally cannot recall if I had or not. It wasnt anywhere, dropped or anything but I just cannot remember if I had taken it or not.  Its really bad. I cant find my car where I have parked it , cant remember if I have fed the cats, cant remember much nowadays.
I am tired, so it could be that? . I wake twice a night and on average having around 5/6 hrs sleep. Surely it cant make you lose your memory to this degree...can it? 
 

[CLKD]

It is probably age related.  Also, you can remember not remembering 

I have spent hours searching for my reading glasses in recent years, well over the last 8 probably.  Often found on top of the chicken run  , by the pond, on a windowsill outdoors ……. mobile phone goes missing, as do car/door keys.  I did worry and also it made me angry about the amount of time searching for stuff.

I can also stand looking at the item I am searching for but it simply doesn't register even though it's in front of me - what's that all about 

[Ju Ju]

I regularly go to fetch something from another room only to get there having forgotten what I wanted to collected! I have to retrace my steps in order to remember. DH regularly loses his watch, wallet, glasses.........

[pepperminty]

Hi NGI,

Oh yes, lack of good sleep, the meno/ peri menopause , stress, depression and taking on too much etc can all have a dramatic effect on the memory.

I have gone into the supermarket with a list and come out without hardly anything on the list, shattered and completely confused as to how I managed to do that.
I have lost my car on several occasions in the car park.
I have lost items in the house on numerous occasions , not having a clue where I put them.
I have put things in the cupboard when they should have gone in the fridge and visa versa.
I have had no idea if I had taken a tablet or not either and have no recollection of taking them if I had.

You name it, I have done it.

All due to the peri menopause making it doubly difficult to cope with the stresses of every day life.

Hrt helped ,so did realising I needed to slow down and  take care of me.

Watching Dr Annie Evans lecture on the menopause on Utube will explain it all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1RtnxKy8TI

Anyway you aren't going nuts , it is all perfectly normal , but if you are concerned see your Gp.

Now I manage to laugh about it , but at the time it was hideous and very worrying.

Also have a note pad by your tablets and write down the time and day you take them - that helped me!

Peppermintyxx

[Dorothy]

Extreme tiredness can cause ridiculous memory lapses.  When I was at college as a mature student, juggling a full-time course and 3 part-time jobs, I lived on about 4 hours sleep a night during the week and slept most of Sunday, but I still found my brain giving up on me as we got to the end of term.  I lived in a small flat at the time, and once spent 10 minutes looking for the milk bottle, which was nowhere to be seen in my tiny kitchen - it was only when I saw my face flannel sitting in the fridge that I thought to check the bathroom...sure enough the milk bottle was sitting on the edge of the basin, where my flannel should have been...

[honeybun]

I'm awful with regards to short term memory. Long term is good but that's about it. I have trouble recalling whether I've done something five minutes ago. Shutting windows, turning things off, taking pills.....but if I write a list then its committed to memory and I don't even have to take the list with me.......very strange.

Short term gubbed.....long term fine.


Honeybun
X

[Dulciana]

It's the front door, with me.  The number of times I head down the corridor then have to turn back because I can't remember for the life of me whether or not I've locked it.  And I always have done.  Crazy!

[notgivingin]

Thank you everyone!  Its a comfort to know I am not alone going through these moments of madness.

I had an idea maybe I should take selfies of everything important I do as a record to remind me of where Ive been and what ive done!

[bramble]

When do you know it's a problem and just not menopausal?

B

[notgivingin]

When do you know it's a problem and just not menopausal?

B

Yes good point!  Sparkle, you are so right . Being sleep deprived is surely a large factor in mental alertness etc. I sleep 2 hours then wake for a couple and then around 5 am fall back to sleep for another two or three hours so all in I get about 5 hours of zzzz Whatever happened to those days when you went to bed at 11am and slept deeply until the alarm went off 7 or 8 without any wake ups inbetwwen/. sighhhhhh

[SadLynda]

As my hours of sleep are again in decline its starting again yes..

In answer to how do you know? be sure you have had your bloods done recently, check full blood, B12 and folic.  DH has a folic deficiency and that is what did for his memory that was always excellent, he still has a great long term but short is appauling, I have to remind him of things all the time which is now getting tricky again as mine is failing too.

One of my faves is forgetting were I am going when out in the car, I am 'meant' to be going shopping complete with said list (of course) and bags and I find myself heading off to daughter or Aunts house sailing merrily past the shops

[CLKD]

If you remember being forgetful it is unlikely to be serious.  It's when you do things i.e. you meet someone you live with but don't remember them or their name but are aware that you 'know' them, i.e. they aren't a stranger.  It's when people tell you that you repeat stuff ……. i.e. asking what the time is when the clock is close by, asking what is on TV when recently told …...

[honeybun]

I don't think forgetting where you are going is a memory issue, it's more likely to be that you are distracted or absent minded. How many times do you do a journey then can't remember anything about it. It's done on auto pilot as its been done so many times before.
I found myself up the drive of my old house many times as I just went in that direction automatically, through pure habit....and yes I felt like a complete prune. My old neighbours were highly amused

I was reading an article the other day that seemed to say that one of the very early signs of dementia was a change in sense of humour. Laughing at inappropriate things for example.


Honeybun
X

[CLKD]

I often can't remember where I went yesterday or what I did this morning  ……. to the point that by mid-afternoon I can't remember if I have opened my bowels that day so have a tick system on the bathroom calendar.  Fortunately my med packets have 'days' on them