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Memory Loss

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Gostevie
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Memory Loss

#459842

Postby Gostevie » November 21st, 2021, 2:30 pm

This is a genuine question from a long-term TFM/TLF member.

I am a 58 year old male and am becoming increasing concerned about my short-term memory. I can remember every word from Bohemian Rhapsody and remember the 2005 Ashes series like it was yesterday but sometimes I can barely even remember what I did last week. I have no drug/allcohol issues.

Any ideas? Many thanks,

Gostevie

ReformedCharacter
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Re: Memory Loss

#459848

Postby ReformedCharacter » November 21st, 2021, 2:55 pm

Gostevie wrote:This is a genuine question from a long-term TFM/TLF member.

I am a 58 year old male and am becoming increasing concerned about my short-term memory. I can remember every word from Bohemian Rhapsody and remember the 2005 Ashes series like it was yesterday but sometimes I can barely even remember what I did last week. I have no drug/allcohol issues.

Any ideas? Many thanks,

Gostevie


Sorry to hear that Gostevie. I think most people would suggest a visit to your GP. Here's some NHS advice:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/memory-loss/Pages/Introduction.aspx/amp/

Do not try to self-diagnose the cause of your memory loss – always see a GP.

RC

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Re: Memory Loss

#459869

Postby vrdiver » November 21st, 2021, 4:21 pm

I'll second the recommendation to have a chat with your GP, but mainly to put your mind at rest.

Being unable to recall names, places etc. at short notice is a common problem as we age, and not the sign of impending mental failure; likewise not remembering what you were doing or what you had for lunch yesterday is also not usually a definitive sign of marbles rolling away. (I found this out after getting somewhat alarmed myself...)

Hopefully*, you'll be able to report back here and let us all know what your doctor says.

VRD

*If you remember ;)

GrahamPlatt
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Re: Memory Loss

#459873

Postby GrahamPlatt » November 21st, 2021, 4:54 pm

No head injury when you broke the leg?

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Re: Memory Loss

#459875

Postby jackdaww » November 21st, 2021, 4:59 pm

.

GP is first port of call .

but if you are still concerned , you could request a referral to a specialist , or go private .

at 83 , i sometimes wonder about my sanity ..

:?

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Re: Memory Loss

#459918

Postby stevensfo » November 21st, 2021, 9:06 pm

Gostevie wrote:This is a genuine question from a long-term TFM/TLF member.

I am a 58 year old male and am becoming increasing concerned about my short-term memory. I can remember every word from Bohemian Rhapsody and remember the 2005 Ashes series like it was yesterday but sometimes I can barely even remember what I did last week. I have no drug/allcohol issues.

Any ideas? Many thanks,

Gostevie


Crikey, I've been like that for decades.

I often think it's simply down to the way we subconsciously organise our thoughts and memories in our head and the priority attached to them. Things that I don't remember are always those things for which not remembering isn't the end of the world. The problems are more noticeable when my wife asks me about them. We have quite differing sets of priorities and what is important to her is not always important to me and vice versa. So I can remember exactly which pieces of clarinet music are waiting to be practised and can describe exactly how they're arranged after one day or one month (haphazard playing!), but I will completely forget something my wife asked me to do the previous day, and I really couldn't care less about what I ate yesterday. Then again, I never forget about car tax, insurance, paying bills etc.
This could be seen with our kids as well, who remembered exactly when their friends were coming, where they were going and what Jake had told them about Big Brenda behind the bike sheds etc, but would forget to pass on messages to us from phone calls. Their priorities were different.
What I tend to do these days is to simply send myself an email 'Things to do' and reply whenever I have something new to add. I also use my work outlook calendar for both work and personal stuff, which helps.

Steve

Sunnypad
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Re: Memory Loss

#459958

Postby Sunnypad » November 22nd, 2021, 2:39 am

Is it a big change? Are you forgetting important things?

I have been on long ish term antidepressants which wreck my memory. Insomnia from the past caused a lot of issues. Are either of those factors?

I actually just bought a memory training book. I'm not forgetting anything hugely important but it does bug me.

I get my days and weeks in a muddle but that's a post lockdown thing. Eg yesterday I told mum .i'd had dinner with someone on Wednesday night...she said no, you were here on Wednesday night.

Turned out I was remembering Wednesday of the previous week.

All work is run by a very detailed diary. I was warned about this with long term use of meds.

Then there is the Sherlock brain attic factor...if it's not important, there's a good chance you won't remeber it.

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Re: Memory Loss

#459959

Postby servodude » November 22nd, 2021, 3:48 am

Sunnypad wrote:Then there is the Sherlock brain attic factor...if it's not important, there's a good chance you won't remeber it.


This I am finding to become more and more true as I age
- perhaps having the detritus of my life (thus far) in there already it becomes harder to make room for new stuff

I know what to do when the cupboards end up like that; I buy plastic boxes, stuff them with the bits I kid myself I still need and dispose of the rest as best I can... not sure what the mental equivalent would be?

Actually it's not really a true comparison
I know that we (well us "I'm not a bot"s) can keep adding stuff in to our memory for the whole of a life and barely touch the sides of it
We do however seem to become more selective with what we do stuff in there as we get older
Some of that is physiological (changes in brain elasticity, Hebbian learning rules etc)
But mostly I think we just learn not to bother too much
we develop "oh yeah.. that? whatever" filters which protect us from a life of cognitively having to evaluate every bit of experience as if it was new
- you'd go a bit mad if you had to give everything the same amount of consideration every time you encountered it
- so we don't
sometimes we need to nudge ourselves in to paying a bit more attention

Anyways for Gostevie
I'd echo the suggestions to speak to your GP as you are concerned about it
- this is one of those cases where the anxiety about the possibility of a condition can make the problem worse
- get yourself the all clear first and then work out where you go from there

I am myself bloody forgetful in the short term (or scatterbrained possibly) and I do notice it more than I used to
I need to have processes and tools in place to make the most mundane of appointments
- but I've got those in place and I know that they work for me; if they didn't, or I didn't trust them, I'd be (more) useless (than I am)

good luck
- sd

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Re: Memory Loss

#459962

Postby Mike4 » November 22nd, 2021, 6:50 am

Gostevie wrote:This is a genuine question from a long-term TFM/TLF member.

I am a 58 year old male and am becoming increasing concerned about my short-term memory. I can remember every word from Bohemian Rhapsody and remember the 2005 Ashes series like it was yesterday but sometimes I can barely even remember what I did last week. I have no drug/allcohol issues.

Any ideas? Many thanks,

Gostevie


I have the same thing but I don't worry about it particularly. There seems little point as it seems 1) most people get it as they grow older (the easiest way to remember what I did yesterday is to look in my diary), 2) there is nothing that can be done to fix it and 3) Homer Simpson explained it perfectly.

Homer says our brains can only hold a finite amount of information so in order to fit in something new, something old needs to be pushed out to make space. To illustrate this he reminds Marge about the time he took salsa dancing lessons, which made him forget how to drive.

So basically, its happening because your brain is now full up. :)

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Re: Memory Loss

#459997

Postby bungeejumper » November 22nd, 2021, 9:03 am

Mike4 wrote:Homer says our brains can only hold a finite amount of information so in order to fit in something new, something old needs to be pushed out to make space. To illustrate this he reminds Marge about the time he took salsa dancing lessons, which made him forget how to drive.

Funny, I thought that was when he took up home winemaking? But hey, maybe t's just my brain cells that are out of synch with the rest of the universe?

Without wanting to dilute the message about seeing the doc (because that's part of what he's there for), I think we should make allowances for the fog of covid, which has been making twofold inroads into many of us. Firstly, because mild covid infections (or even vaccines, perhaps) have been impacting on our memory cells. And secondly, because the whole lockdown thing (and the succeeding restrictions too) have lightly scrambled our brains.

I'm just 70, and for part of the summer I was forgetting names and stuff, and occasionally spouting non-sequiturs and other garbage. But now I'm back to normal, and doing it full time. :D

BJ

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Re: Memory Loss

#460045

Postby Sunnypad » November 22nd, 2021, 11:07 am

Something I should have posted yesterday but I forgot ... :lol:

I heard that memory declines from age 28. I started on citalopram at 31 and noticed a problem quite quickly but then I read that...also, my brain stopped being on red alert when I began the meds which might be connected.

I also recall Reece Witherspoon talking about this in an interview pre covid. She said
"if you ask me some dance steps I learned as a teen, I remember them right away, but I get to the store and think "why did I drive here, what am I meant to be buying?""

So...yeah...it's a thing. She may not even have been 40 when she was saying it.

If you feel you need to see a doctor, then obviously do, but just in case it reassures you, I thought I'd share.

One of my neighbours is a bit part actor. He says now, at 47, as soon as the part is done, he forgets the lines, whereas he can recall loads of lines from work done in his 30s. That's more brain attic. There's no need to store it in a plastic box. I guess people who use gadgets a lot have the same thing. There's a whole book that. Gadget use might be a factor for you?

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Re: Memory Loss

#460065

Postby 88V8 » November 22nd, 2021, 11:51 am

Gostevie wrote:I am a 58 year old male and am becoming increasing concerned about my short-term memory.

I have always had this problem. I keep a To Do list in my pocket to remind me what I should be doing.
Hopeless at remembering people's names, which is embarrassing.
Sometimes even forget common plant names.
Don't remember what I ate a few days ago - I eat very well thanks to the wife so this sometimes niggles her.

At the moment I'm preparing to dismantle a fitted cupboard I built a few years ago from oddments of antique oak and pine so I can paint, stain, varnish and finish it... it's been 'temporary' for some years... . I look at the way it's made and I have virtually no recollection of having made it, although I know perfectly well that I did.
Which in a way is concerning.

But it's how it is and doesn't prevent me from functioning, I know how to continue the cupboard, make the drawers that will go underneath, make the doors. Perhaps three years down the road, the details will have faded away but that's OK.

I look at photos from 2,5,10 years ago and sometimes I have no recollection of having been there.

A friend I've known for 60 years recall teachers from our primary school, I don't.
This is probably the one aspect that bothers me.... old friends are not much use if they don't remember old times. So I feel a bit of a fraud when I'm with him.
I look with amazement at tjh's recollections of 50 years ago.

So is the OP more concerned because it's getting worse?

Is my memory getting worse? Well, I am 70, so I suppose it might be, was my memory better in the past? I don't think so, always had trouble with exams, remembering stuff.
But it certainly is irritating.

V8

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Re: Memory Loss

#460083

Postby Watis » November 22nd, 2021, 12:40 pm

Memory is a funny thing.

On the one hand:

I share with other posters the inability to remember names, unless I'm really focused on remembering them when I'm introduced to someone new.

On being shown how to do something, I often need to be shown twice before it sticks.

Apparently, I regularly forget what Mrs Watis tells me.

On the other hand I can remember some things with almost photographic retention. Examples would be:

- the registration plate of every vehicle I have owned.

- the year I went on any given holiday. Or in reverse, 'where did we go in '89?'

- the year I bought most items of clothing, and how much I paid. Not so much these days though, it just isn't important enough.

- login names and passwords for dozens of online accounts.

- the order of the planets from the Sun. A simple one I thought, and something I've known since the age of six. But I was horrified to find that many of my colleagues, grown men, hadn't any idea, even down to Earth being the third planet out!

Watis

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Re: Memory Loss

#460145

Postby Mike88 » November 22nd, 2021, 5:54 pm

Sunnypad wrote:Something I should have posted yesterday but I forgot ... :lol:

I heard that memory declines from age 28. I started on citalopram at 31 and noticed a problem quite quickly but then I read that...also, my brain stopped being on red alert when I began the meds which might be connected.



Interesting to see you are suffering memory issues since taking citalopram. My wife was prescribed that medication following a complete change in her behaviour three years ago. Since taking citalopram her memory has deteriorated massively and she is constantly repeating herself. Her brain functions seem fine as she is able to complete difficult crosswords and suduko puzzles with no difficulty. Have you been prescribed an alternative anti depressant that has improved your memory loss? I'm asking on here as my wife refuses to consult her GP merely brushing my concerns away by saying she in suffering from the early stages of alzheimer's like her mother.

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Re: Memory Loss

#460178

Postby Sunnypad » November 22nd, 2021, 8:18 pm

Mike88 wrote:
Sunnypad wrote:Something I should have posted yesterday but I forgot ... :lol:

I heard that memory declines from age 28. I started on citalopram at 31 and noticed a problem quite quickly but then I read that...also, my brain stopped being on red alert when I began the meds which might be connected.



Interesting to see you are suffering memory issues since taking citalopram. My wife was prescribed that medication following a complete change in her behaviour three years ago. Since taking citalopram her memory has deteriorated massively and she is constantly repeating herself. Her brain functions seem fine as she is able to complete difficult crosswords and suduko puzzles with no difficulty. Have you been prescribed an alternative anti depressant that has improved your memory loss? I'm asking on here as my wife refuses to consult her GP merely brushing my concerns away by saying she in suffering from the early stages of alzheimer's like her mother.


Not sure how useful I can be
This was 15 years ago...I changed to fluoxetine because the weight gain problem on citalopram made the memory change irrelevant. No pun intended, the weight gain was so bad I either forgot the memory issue or stopped caring.

This was age 31 and that will have some bearing on response to the meds, or likelihood of other problems. Certainly Alzheimers wouldn't have been on my risk radar at that age, rightly or wrongly.

The fact that your wife had complete behavioural change prior to being given citalopram may be a bigger link? I hope it gets sorted.

Change of meds needs care IMHO, especially if you are working. Changing over caused headaches, dizziness and after three nights of no sleep due to the worst RLS ever, I got sleeping pills too. Probably took two weeks to change over and a friend used to come to my office to check on me so I could have a little stroll and health check in with her, which sometimes involved a chemical induced cry, then go back to my desk to keep up appearances. It was a hard thing to do but necessary as I ballooned in weight so fast.

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Re: Memory Loss

#460232

Postby Mike88 » November 23rd, 2021, 8:01 am

Many thanks. I've made a note of fluoxetine as that might be worth a try if I can persuade my wife to consult her doctor. I hadn't realised weight gain was an issue with citalopran as my wife's weight has remained pretty much the same for the last 40 years at around 9 stone.

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Re: Memory Loss

#460262

Postby Charlottesquare » November 23rd, 2021, 10:13 am

Is it not just the connective pathways breaking down a bit, hence the initial loss of the name of that person you last saw thirty years ago? Luckily the brain , a touch like Edinburgh Council, is constantly patching roads (still with a lot of dips) or changing the way traffic flows, so five hours later the lost name pops out.

I can live with forgetting names, or whether I was told we were doing x or y on Wednesday, the bit that more annoys me is if I forget a word, the plus point is at 61 they tend to return, the worrying point will be when they do not- on the bright side when words start permanently going awol perhaps by then I will not notice it is happening.

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Re: Memory Loss

#461658

Postby XFool » November 28th, 2021, 5:56 pm

And now for something completely different! (Possibly)

This thread reminds me of my old boss, who I once came across in the library at work. He informed me he shouldn't really be there, as he was supposed to be giving a lecture at UCL on memory at the time - unfortunately he had forgotten all about it.


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