Memory problems getting worse

Hello everyone,

I guess I'm a little chatterbox tonight. I just really am getting frustrated here lately because I am forgetting so much! My husband will recall actual conversations where I interacted with him and all, but have absolutely no recollection of talking with him.

Sometimes I forget very obvious and hard to forget things, my son telling me important things that I will write down but then cannot locate. Sometimes, in my car, I actually 'forget' where I am. I have had nightmares of getting lost and not knowing how to tell Bill where to find me. I'm only 40 but I feel like I have the mind of an eighty year old. I am very frustrated and worried about this already being a problem. I am scared I am going to lose my mind for real.

Rosey

I have the same exact problem. How weird. I thought it was just me. I don't know if it is a symptom of bipolar or if its from the medication. I feelliek I have the worst memory. Ihave to work extra hard at work to keep up - constantly making notes to myself.

Oddly, I read this book by Kay Jamison called The Unquiet Mind. It has been around for quite a while. But in it she recalls SO MUCH - and has bipolar - and I wonder to msyelf how did she manage to keep so many memories. I coudl never write a book about my life ebcause I don't remember enough of it. No one woudl be able to follow it because it'd be all misshapena nd out of sequence.

Anyway, sorry for the tangent. I feel bad for you, because Iknow how frustrating its probably getting for your husband and thent hat makes it worse for you. I know that because my partner is just exasperated with me sometimes. Still veryloving and supportive but sometimes she just gets so sick ofme forgetting things. I feel like a robot who just says "Sorry, i forgot" all the time. Plus having conversation I don't remember.

I hope you get to the bottom of this issue and if you ever do, let us know here, or at least let me know I guess. I will do the same.

My doctor blamed it on Topamax but I think its much deeper than that. Now Iam off of it and still have memory problems.

I use to have a nearly photograhpic memory and would get mad at people when they would say that they forgot things. I didn't understand the concept of forget. I'm only in my 40s too and now have the concept down quite well. My theory is that the accumulated years of sleep deprivation are the main cause. Some of the meds don't let me get quality sleep either. It was weird that 2 days ago I suddenly had my good memory back briefly and it kinda scared me because I'm not use to it now. I don't know if it means I'm doing something right or if I might be on the edge of hypomania. I'm not sleeping well right now so it doesn't make sense to me.

Memory is just plain weird. Mine used to be excellent, which was a double edged sword because somethings said are better forgotten. And some of the 'excellence' was from hypervigilence (constant vigilance says Moody in Harry Potter)so is it a sign of effective treatment that some of that is gone? Or is it the new meds, or the lack of meds because of my med change thats going on now.

I too have listened to whole conversations with people who are important to me and promptly forgotten most of the conversation. Is that the meds or because my treatment is in transition and I am easily distracted. I used to be able to maintain concentration thru any distraction--now I can't handle the sudden booming of commercials on TV. Distractions from any single thing I am trying to do now make me very irrritable super quickly.

And whats with the typing---I used to be good at that too--now its typos everywhere---I think thats a subgroup of whatever the memory mechanism is too. Its like memories are racing out of my mind instead of into it.

I've described it as memories leaving as fast as I can make them. I have very little recollection of my childhood, and it seems like I just forget my life as it happens. Its really weird.

Now what was I going to write? Lol
I too have a horrible memory. I actually forgot all about a three day visit I had with my sister whom I hadn't seen for a while. When my husband brought up that visit a few years later I told him that I'd never even seen my sisters house.
I am known to ask my husband whether I like a certain restaurant or not or I'll comment that I'd like to try out a restaurant we'll be passing and he'll have to tell me that we already had.
Forgetting the lists I make used to be a big problem too but I licked that one, at least at home.
Phone numbers, appointment dates and stuff like that are now nearly un losable at my house. They are written on our sliding glass door in dry erase marker. As long as no one leans on the door stuff doesn't get lost. I also will make post-it notes of what I need to do each morning then stick them on the front of my wallet.
It helps me because I can remember that I wrote something down then know where to find it. Dry erase markers can also work on small patches on car windows as long as the humidity isn't bad.
If only I could do the same for getting lost. I walk out my back door and can't find my front porch, ( a little exaggeration but not as much as you would think. lol).

YES! I too have read the "Unquiet Mind" and another book, of which name I cannot recall right now...:)

I am thinking that either all the memories were tragically underlined in some way or else those ladies just kept diaries all the time. I have actually written down things on the internet in an online diary like this one or I write on calendars so I can remember stuff.

It is sometimes very frustrating but I guess its the nature of the beast. OH and notes to self? You should have seen my old workstation at Baker and Taylor, it was nearly solid yellow full of sticky notes! lol!

I make very detailed to-do lists that list even the most ridiculously mundane things - like go get file from file room. Well, duh, I cant work on a case without the file but I still put it on the list...

I am trying to keep a journal on this site and hope that will help me some...

Yellow stickies are good--but my cats like to knock them down and play with them. Wait till they do that to the "feed the cat" one--then they will be sorry. LOL.

I'm convinced it's the meds! My memory used to be brilliant :) Now when I go to the kitchen to do something I can't remember what it was by the time I get there, i.e. 10 seconds later. Drives me mad. I'm on lamictal only. Went to see pdoc about this problem, he agreed for me to reduce a little - slooowly of course! - I do think I'm noticing a slight improvement. Put on two socks this morning anyway ;)

I know it is now 3-17 and this post was started 3-5 but here I go anyways. I have always had a hard time remembering. I have conversations I do not remember and I remember conversations I have not had. I did not know what was real and what wasn't. I called my mother often to ask if events really happened. And the worst was that I would not remember conversations I had with my children. Like if they asked to go to a friends house after school, I would not remember, and I would be very upset they went without permission. And to the point.... My pdoc tried Rozerem, she thought it would help to control the sleep pattern. I have no trouble sleeping at all, but she said it would make it quality sleep. And it seems to help. My children are thankful ;)

Wow! Ambergee, Your last post could be from my biography. I frequently forget important things and not just quick things like my kid saying they'll be late for diner. I forget hours or even days at a time. I also "remember" things that evidently never happened. I was telling my husband about my favorite childhood memory once only to find out a few days later that it had never happened. Sometimes I think that what I am "remembering" was actually something I read in a book but sometimes I think it comes from daydreams that I have. My mind just leaves off the fact that it wasn't real.
I also have what I call a 'mulithinking' brain. I don't think one thing at a time but instead have at least 5 to 8 trains of thought happening at once and I think that sometimes the memories I'm missing are just on a track that got derailed somehow.
For me it doesn't seem to matter what meds I take. I've been like this all my life.
I do notice that it does get worse with poor sleep though. I used to get 8 to 9 hours a night and still forgot a 5 day trip to the beach.
If anyone has a solution besides more sleep I'd love to hear it.

My sister 45, recently experienced such serious memory problems that the whole family was concerned about her, very concerned. She went to see a herbalist and was told it was a sign of approaching menopause. She was told to drink a cup of sage tea morning and night for 4 weeks. Her memory is back to normal. I've been drinking sage tea for 2 weeks and I have noticed a difference. I don't know if it has a bad effect when taken with lots of medications so you might want to check with your doctor first. I'm on Citalapram 80mg and Lithium 825mg daily. I haven't noticed any side effects with the sage. I put 1 teaspoon of dried sage leaves in with a normal tea bag. I leave it for about 5 minutes then add sugar and milk.

Mooky, when the physician told me about Rozerem I did not want to take it. If I got under 10 hours of sleep I could not function. Then she explained that it wasn't the hours of sleep but the quality of sleep. I am surprised that I still wake up at 2am to take my children to the restroom and I still wake up when my daughter cries out (6 yrs. has frequent leg cramps). I have not had the problem of waking up and believing that the dreams I had were real events or real events that did happen were dreams I had recently. And I can function with only 7 hours sleep! (Well, for a couple days anyway.) Thank you for your post.

Kelpie, I have always been concerned about herbs. I took St.Johns Wart for a while and shortly after starting I was in a roller coaster ride of cycling. It took a long time to recover from that. Related or not, I still would not want to try that again. I will check into the sage and see what the doctor has to say.

Amber

Amber, I totally agree with you. I have always been concerned about herbs too. Some herbs and potions are very bad news. Checking for compatability with medications is important. A bad combination can make you sick. Maybe I should have made that more clear in my post. Thanks for bringing it up.

Sue

The lamictin used to make me forget stuff... Since the doc put me on a lower dosage Its improved quite a bit... Also replaced the seroquel, and since that I've been much more stable than ever!!

=)

shite CAhulaw2007, I only saw the high dosage of Lamictal ur on, You should perhaps see if your doc can't replace that or maybe lower the dosage... That could be a huge part of ur memory loss..

I also have some memory problems. From reading everyones post, I am quite younger than most that have replied, 20, and I have to say I am a little worried that the memory problem will never be alleviated. I am not sure what has caused it. I have been on medication for depression for 8yrs and am somewhat convinced that has made the problem, however when I bring this subject up, I am always told depression can make you forget things. I am not that old and cannot remember anything, even something that happens the same day or day before, much less something in the past! I often have those moments of believing something happened that may not have and people just look at me like Im crazy! I also frequently, every day, have moments of "why did I come in here?, what am I doing?, Where am I going?, where did I out that?" If you find a solution, def let me know! It becomes very frustrating!

3 days ago i lost my phone, so wanting to call my boyfriend yesterday i messaged him and got him to email me his number, which im sure i new a few months ago but hey, i wrote it on a sticky yellow tab and went out for lunch, came back and i couldnt remember where id put the paper, after an hour or so of looking i found the paper then couldnt remember where my sister kept her phone x ended up just emailing him back again saying a call was 2 much effort x lol at yesterday
this on the whole is v. bad because im currently trying to revise for my gcse's and the lack of sleep and lack of memory and lack of concentration rrrreeeeaaaly arent helping x good to have a rant tho x

I was wondering if anyone else suffers from anomia. (Spelling?) It means without a name. I will forget the name of some item and end up describing it to my kids or husband. For instance...Last night i asked my daughter to please get me down a...a...a...a ceramic flat disc used to put food on for meals....I couldn't remember the word plate. I know it sounds funny to most people but it is VERY frustrating. It only happens once or twice a week but when it does it is very embarrassing especially if I'm asking the guy at the gas station to please ... Introduce patrolium products into my car until the container is full. I'm really not trying to sound stuck up or make a joke. I just can't remember the words "fill it up please". My meds do not seem to have an effect on it. i've done it most of my adult life and been on many different kinds of meds.
I'm wondering if anyone else has these problems or an i just a fruit cake?

Mooky,

Yes I have experienced that occasionally but not to the degree that you describe. Thanks for sharing and I hope that you are not offended that your excellant description gave me a good laugh. I know that it is not funny while it is happening but I hope that you are able to laugh about it afterward. When it happens to me, my husband thinks that I'm just joking and I'm not sure if he realizes that I really have temporarily forgotten a simple word.

I have had the anomia too--not bad, just once in a while. I usually wind up pointing to the location of whatever it is and saying, "you know--pass me the thing." Which sounds silly, but it works.

Now if I could only figure out why I am having trouble with typos all the time.

Since I've been on the seroquel I've noticed some slight memory problems and also the inability to do math computations in my head. Even the most simple of them. I've been forgetting words as well and seeing that we share the seroquel helps me narrow down the cause. On a normal basis I have nearly a photographic memory but not anymore. Before the lamictal I had a 144 I.Q., but not anymore. So there has been some trade-offs for the good of me. The typos can be from your brain working way faster than your fingers. I know in the manic I'm like that for sure. So you are not alone in your experiences thats for sure. It's nice to be able to relate and identify with our experiences.

Kef
Don't worry about laughing about my anomia. It is funny after the fact. I can usually laugh about just about anything. Even my Biggest manic attack gets me to giggling as i remember some of the stupid things i said.
I figure that if I'm going to have bipolar anyway why not joke about it.
:)
You all take care.

muhaha ur a fro0t cake :p


jk.... lol, glad to see im not the only one :-p