Have you had a memory fail??

[Ally T]

About a month ago I was in a shop & they needed to take my contact number & I couldn't remember it! I have had this number for my mobile phone for almost 20 years?!! I could feel my heart pounding & face getting hot, and after about 15 seconds it came to me & we laughed it off.

Something like this, that actually caused me to panic, has never happened to me before. We are all forgetful on occasion, but it has really stuck with me & I have felt my anxiety disorder slowly reappearing over it, questioning everything I do, recalling everyone's telephone numbers parrot fashion, car registration numbers, just generally always testing myself. I have now started to loose sleep over my memory block incident. I mean seriously?! How silly does that make me feel??

And how many times in general conversation with others has someone been telling me something & said "for the life of me, I just couldn't remember X, Y or Z & it was a nightmare!"

So my question is, have You ever had an epic memory fail that has worried you? I have only just turned 41 last weekend, so I'm not considered old & a good 20 years from the general 'early onset' bracket for memory issues. It hasn't happened since & there is no history of mental issues in my family. I completely know I am getting over involved in this mind block moment, but it worried me quite a bit!

Share you memory fails! Make me feel normal!!

 

[chrono]

I had excellent memory all my life but I've experienced blanks quite frequently the last 3 years. I guess it's all part and parcel of growing old.

 

[Ally T]

I should add that I have always suffered terrible anxiety since I was a small child. I had rather a lot of very expensive & very successful hypnotherapy treatment several years ago, with the odd session here & there since. I know I will always be a horrible worry wort, but I have the tools now to recognise it & deal with it.

I have recognised the signs again lately, the dizzy spells, tingling fingers & toes, cotton wool brain, unable to sleep etc. So this forgetting my number incident has obviously really thrown me into a tizzy about dementia or something!!

 

[missy]

Yes I have and please don't worry Alex. It depends on many variables. How much sleep you have gotten the previous night, over the last few nights, how much stress you have in your life atm, how many things you are juggling atm and on and on so deep breath it is completely normal and has happened to many (I daresay most) of us at one time or another.

Now if it starts happening with much more frequency and becomes more extreme then it is time to consult a doctor but that one little forgetful moment, well it is nothing by itself. Hope that reassures you!

 

[Ally T]

Thanks Chrono. My mother or anybody else I have told the phone number story to doesn't seem remotely concerned, so why am I so concerned? My elder sister says she has a brain like a sieve but it doesn't concern her or worry her at all.

I think I am just weird

 

[iLander]

I'm going to tell you the technical term for what you had, it's hard to pronounce, but it's important to know the medical lingo:

It was a brain fart.

Yes, this condition happens to millions and they live with the heartbreak of brain fart. There are various charities you can contribute to as they work to find a cure for this farty disease. Don't forget to attend the annual Fart Gala.



Seriously, though, it happens to everyone, all the time. I have actually given up trying to learn my phone numbers because I know that they will change someday, so what's the point. I look up my numbers on my cell phone.

If you're really worried about it, go to the doctor and have a blood panel done. Any number of vitamins could be deficient in your diet, and they can make you slightly forgetful. I was missing words, forgetting appointments and feeling generally unfocused for the last couple of years, then I found out was severely anemic. I've been taking mega does of iron since then and I feel much sharper and the words I need come instantly, like they did when I was young. You need a blood panel, because if you take mega iron and your iron is normal you can poison yourself. Also, it might be a lack of B12 or D or even low cholesterol that can cause slight mental lapses. They're all temporary, and a vitamin adjustment will fix it right up.

So, don't worry about it. It's normal.

 

[Ally T]

Thank you Missy

iLander - I have also been getting my words a bit muddled on occasion too! Like when I am talking too fast & two words can meld into one, or just having to pause for a split second whilst I find the right word! I have consciously slowed my talking down & this has stopped it from happening. Perhaps I could be vitamin deficient. Might make an appointment with my Dr for blood work. Generally I am super fit & healthy & I eat right.

 

[chrono]

I've also been saying the opposite to what I meant (but I got it right in my head ). I agree that the lack of sleep, stress and diet play a role, in addition to the usual brain aging.

 

[Arcadian]

Brain Farts? Yep, I do indeed have them Its not entirely unexpected considering how much stuff I have to have in my head. I can't keep it all in there, so something has to give on occasion. Here's whats sad though , I remember my phone number from when I was 5, but could not tell you my current cell phone number half the time.

 

[Ally T]

I have an unopened & in date pot of vitamin B12 in the cupboard that a friend gave me a few weeks ago when we were chatting about our health. Her husband had bought them & never used them. I might crack them open & see if there are any improvements over the next month or so. Does vitamin B12 cure brain farts?!!!

 

[sonnyjane]

I don't think that they even have to be associated with age. I had a pretty epic one when I was in my early 20's. I'd had the same ATM pin code ever since I got my ATM card. One day I walked up like any other day, popped it in, and blanked. I tried a few different combos and then it locked me out. To this day I couldn't tell you what it was. I had to walk into the bank and explain what happened and fill out paperwork for a new pin.

The phone number thing almost happened to me just a week ago. I blame computers. I hardly give my number out in person, and for online forms, once I type the first number, many times my computer will auto-fill the rest. Because of that I haven't had to type my full number in a while. The other day I had to recite it a few times because it didn't sound right to me. I'm 31.

 

[iLander]

I should add that I have always suffered terrible anxiety since I was a small child. I had rather a lot of very expensive & very successful hypnotherapy treatment several years ago, with the odd session here & there since. I know I will always be a horrible worry wort, but I have the tools now to recognise it & deal with it.

I have recognised the signs again lately, the dizzy spells, tingling fingers & toes, cotton wool brain, unable to sleep etc. So this forgetting my number incident has obviously really thrown me into a tizzy about dementia or something!!

All of these, plus anxiety, are signs of vitamin deficiencies! Get thee to a doctor asap! Especially the tingling and dizziness.

Doesn't matter if you think you are fit or eat well. There are many conditions where the body won't absorb certain vitamins.

And taking just a B won't help, without a good multi. You need A to absorb B's, C to absorb iron, D to absorb E, etc. And not all vitamins are created the same. You need to find ones that have the USP symbol, they're lab tested to dissolve properly and deliver the amount of vitamin they promise.

If you won't go to a doctor, just google up blood work or lab testing in your area. Make an appointment and get it done. It's very easy to read results, they usually bold anything that is out of the norm. Even a walk-in clinic can give you the insurance info to get blood work.

Just do it, you don't have an anxiety disorder, you have deficiency. You may have had it for years, but they tend to show up around 40, when youthful vigor can no longer mask the symptoms. OR they show up when you're young when you need every bit of vitamins to grow properly.

 

[chrono]

I have recognised the signs again lately, the dizzy spells, tingling fingers & toes, cotton wool brain, unable to sleep etc. So this forgetting my number incident has obviously really thrown me into a tizzy about dementia or something!!

All of these, plus anxiety, are signs of vitamin deficiencies! Get thee to a doctor asap! Especially the tingling and dizziness.

I get this very often (all except the unable to sleep part) but my bloodwork results came back as fine and my doctor deemed me healthy.

 

[iLander]

I have recognised the signs again lately, the dizzy spells, tingling fingers & toes, cotton wool brain, unable to sleep etc. So this forgetting my number incident has obviously really thrown me into a tizzy about dementia or something!!

All of these, plus anxiety, are signs of vitamin deficiencies! Get thee to a doctor asap! Especially the tingling and dizziness.

I get this very often (all except the unable to sleep part) but my bloodwork results came back as fine and my doctor deemed me healthy.

I got all those and it was severe anemia. So bad that the doc was worried that I had internal bleeding. Jury is still out, I'm on a lot of iron and hoping my next round of bloodwork shows some kind of improvement.

I think it's worth a trip to the doc to rule things out at least. Don't you think it's logical?

 

[chrono]

True, never hurts for Alex to see her health practitioner. IIRC, I was also borderline anemic. Anemia seems to run in my family line due to minor Thalassemia being passed down the tree.

 

[iLander]

True, never hurts for Alex to see her health practitioner. IIRC, I was also borderline anemic. Anemia seems to run in my family line due to minor Thalassemia being passed down the tree.

Aha!

I'm just so happy they figured it out for me. It was so slow, so insidious, that I didn't notice that I was losing mental capacity. It was at least a 5 year issue. I prefer fish and chicken over beef, and we avoid red meat (not more than 2 servings per week) because DH's family has heart disease. It's great for him, was killing me! Plus my calcium was super high (great fingernails, BTW) which inhibits iron absorption. Also caffeine hinders iron, and I'm a coffee nut.

I only notice the mental issues now because I feel so much sharper.

But now I am mildly tense all the time. I'll ask doc about that next time. Might be TOO sharp, lol.

 

[LLJsmom]

"A" memory fail? I get them daily. Lol!!! And like Chrono, I have anemia thing passed down in my family. I'm super low on iron so I'm taking supplements now.

 

[Ally T]

Thank you everyone - I knew I could post here & get some support. My family & husband are so used to my spirals of worries & anxiety episodes, that they kind of take me with a pinch of salt. Sometimes my husband has told me to get a grip & not venture there. But anxiety is a mysterious thing to them

I have made an appointment to see my Dr next Wednesday morning. The foggy brain comes & goes - sometimes I don't feel odd, but then it can come over me & when I'm listening to someone talk I can be under water, if that makes sense....

I have suffered with anaemia over the years on & off due to heavy periods (I have Von Willebrands) and now I'm knocking on a bit I have heavier periods anyway, but thought I'd countered that with an iron rich diet & supplement. Also worth noting, is that both sisters (one is 36 & one is 50) were both diagnosed with underactive thyroid in their early 30's. They are always telling me I have that as again, the symptoms of anxiety can be similar, but I am tested every year due to their history & my results are always within normal boundaries. My elder sister says she always knows her medication has got out of whack when she gets foggy & forgetful.....

Fingers crossed it's a vitamin deficiency

 

[House Cat]

B-12 deficiency is big for memory. If you are deficient, you can try sublingual (under the tongue) supplements, but injections are better. I get injections once per month, but I am finding that they only lift the fog for a couple of weeks. Because of my health plan, they won't give me any more injections because my numbers are at 200-300 (borderline low) so I am going to start paying for injections at a weight loss clinic and then I will take them once per week.

I have severe memory issues. I even went to neuropsych to have them evalutated. Again, because of my health plan, they were pretty halfa$$ed about it and only tested me for about an hour. I know that a thorough neuropsych eval is usually about five hours long. The good news is that I don't have early onset dementia or alzheimer's. The bad news is that I have no idea why I am having progressive memory loss. They said it was normal aging. I don't remember last week...my children's childhoods...significant details of my wedding...soooo...normal aging? It isn't that I don't remember anything, it is just that there are holes in my memory, big ones.

The upside is that I can't hold a grudge.

I am hoping that more b-12 might help the issue.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

I'm pregnant and I feel like they happen daily lol.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Everyday!..

 

[Dee*Jay]

Alex T, you are definitely not alone!

I live in Chicago and several years ago some organization started publishing a "newspaper" for homeless people to "sell" rather than just asking for money. It's called Streetwise (not even sure it still exists... ). I was walking to work one day and I had the nicest chat with one of the Streetwise guys while I was waiting to cross at the light but a little while later while I was trying to tell someone in my office about it I COULD NOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME remember the name of the paper. It really nagged at me because I never forget ANYTHING (which had become a joke with my family and all the people I worked with because they could ask me something that had happened years ago and I knew it down to every detail) so when I went to the doctor a couple of weeks later for something totally unrelated I told him about it. My doctors is awesome and has a total deadpan sense of humor. He set his paperwork aside, leaned forward with a concerned expression on his face and took my hand, "Oh no! You know what you have?" I reeled! Brain tumor! Early onset Alzheimer's! Some sort of crazy adult onset amnesia disease! What?!? He looked me right in the eye: "It's called BEING OVER THIRTY. Relax!!!"

The next time I can recall a total brain fart was a couple of months ago when the CB locked his keys and his phone in his car while it was running because he went out in the winter to start it to warm up while he made coffee. When he realized what happened he woke me up to ask if he could take my car to get the extra set of keys from the guy at his office. But I needed him to call me from the shop so I had some gauge of what time he would return so I could let my office know if my first meeting needed to be moved back. He wasn't sure of my cell phone number (and who knows anyone's number any more now that it's all programmed into every damn device?!) so he asked me... and I wasn't sure of it either! To be fair, it was 5:30 in the morning and I am lucky I can remember my own name being woken at that time of day, but I seriously had to get up and find one of my business cards to be sure I had the last two numbers correct. I'm writing that one off to BEIGN OVER FORTY.

Who knows what I'll forget at fifty...

 

[Ally T]

Dee Jay - this has totally made me chuckle
Thanks ever so much for all your replies everyone!

 

[missy]

Alex T, you are definitely not alone!

I live in Chicago and several years ago some organization started publishing a "newspaper" for homeless people to "sell" rather than just asking for money. It's called Streetwise (not even sure it still exists... ). I was walking to work one day and I had the nicest chat with one of the Streetwise guys while I was waiting to cross at the light but a little while later while I was trying to tell someone in my office about it I COULD NOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME remember the name of the paper. It really nagged at me because I never forget ANYTHING (which had become a joke with my family and all the people I worked with because they could ask me something that had happened years ago and I knew it down to every detail) so when I went to the doctor a couple of weeks later for something totally unrelated I told him about it. My doctors is awesome and has a total deadpan sense of humor. He set his paperwork aside, leaned forward with a concerned expression on his face and took my hand, "Oh no! You know what you have?" I reeled! Brain tumor! Early onset Alzheimer's! Some sort of crazy adult onset amnesia disease! What?!? He looked me right in the eye: "It's called BEING OVER THIRTY. Relax!!!"

The next time I can recall a total brain fart was a couple of months ago when the CB locked his keys and his phone in his car while it was running because he went out in the winter to start it to warm up while he made coffee. When he realized what happened he woke me up to ask if he could take my car to get the extra set of keys from the guy at his office. But I needed him to call me from the shop so I had some gauge of what time he would return so I could let my office know if my first meeting needed to be moved back. He wasn't sure of my cell phone number (and who knows anyone's number any more now that it's all programmed into every damn device?!) so he asked me... and I wasn't sure of it either! To be fair, it was 5:30 in the morning and I am lucky I can remember my own name being woken at that time of day, but I seriously had to get up and find one of my business cards to be sure I had the last two numbers correct. I'm writing that one off to BEIGN OVER FORTY.

Who knows what I'll forget at fifty...

Haha I'll take this one. Your age.

 

[Ally T]

Hi all

I saw my GP early on Wednesday morning & explained my symptoms. She sent me round the corner for blood tests, testing specifically B vitamins, vitamin D & iron, as well as the usual standard ones such as renal & cholesterol. She offered no opinion or advice, but said we would start here. I'm not sure if her lack of opinion should be something to feel happy about, or something to add to my worries?!!!

Anyway, blood work will be back this afternoon (it's Friday) & I have a follow up appointment on Monday. Fingers crossed it's a simple & straightforward fix. I shall keep you posted. Have a lovely weekend!

 

[momhappy]

I have memory fails and worry about them too. My most common one is walking from one end of the house to the next, with a goal in mind (for example, to get an item from another room), and half way through my walk, I forget where I'm going and/or what I was going to do My husband and I joke and call them "silver moments" as in gray/silver hair = old and forgetful. I'm only 40-something (with no gray hair ), but these moments happen more and more frequently and they worry me sometimes.
I'm glad that you went to the doctor and I'll be crossing my fingers that all is well. Please keep us posted!

 

[Ally T]

Thank you momhappy! Perhaps YOU need some more vitamins too?!

I think as a woman, we have So much stuff to remember sometimes. We just get full up! Between school, ballet lessons, swimming lessons, school friends parties, shopping, cleaning, remembering to phone & book a service for my car etc, it's no wonder that re-stocking the bedding plants in the front garden gets forgotten! My husband has said every day this week "oh, no bedding plants yet?" when he's come home from work. As if I don't have enough to do & remember?!! If he asks me one more time about them, I know exactly where I shall be planting them when I remember to eventually buy them

 

[Ally T]

Hi all

So my blood work was all absolutely perfect. My Dr said none of my results were even at one end if the 'normal' spectrum or the other - everything was spot on in the middle & as damn near perfect as you could get. Even my bone density was excellent & cholesterol low.

Most of the symptoms I had have largely subsided now too, so for the most part she is chalking it up to anxiety. However some of them can be a sign of an overactive thyroid, and due to both my sisters being diagnosed with this around the age of 30, I have an annual test at the end of every August anyway. So we''ll see what that one throws out, if anything at all. In hindsight she probably should have requested this test at the same time last week, but hey ho

I have been keeping busy, listening to the mp3 my hypnotherapist gave me to calm my stupid brain a couple of years ago, and if necessary I shall book in to go & see him. I shall also revel in my apparent perfect health & try to ignore the sensitive & tender fingertips, the odd numb sensation that makes my legs feel like they belong to someone else on occasion & the brain farts