precise type of memory impairment???

[FoolsGold]

is there any precise way to describe a certain type of memory impairment?

I am able to recall some long ago incidents without much difficulty.

Later stuff such as in the last five years is all a blur and I have to resort to detailed analysis to figure out when and where things happened. I seem to have only a vague recollection of when major events such as a geographic relocation took place.

I seem unable to keep in mind things like where I've left my car or my keys, I do strange things like trying to start the car with the tv remote or put my car keys into the microwave oven or the refrigerator. I set out for the coffeemaker machine and find myself at the telephone instead. I have an important task to get done but instead find myself re-reading a novel that I have not only already read but did not particularly enjoy reading.

I can recall journal articles that I've read years ago but have trouble recalling what I read last week in a newspaper.

Is this normal CRS? Can't Remember Stuff due to old age? I'm 60. And i don't like this at all.

[vette]

Hi Foolsgold, I have the same kind of memory problems as you describe,i'm 40. What is CRS?

Be well,

Y'Vette

[FoolsGold]

CRS = Cant Rember Stuff OR Cant Remember S***.

CRS is a popular abbreviation for memory deficits that are typical with advancing age.

[FoolsGold]

is there any precise way to describe a certain type of memory impairment?
I seem unable to keep in mind things like where I've left my car or my keys, I do strange things like trying to start the car with the tv remote or put my car keys into the microwave oven or the refrigerator. I set out for the coffeemaker machine and find myself at the telephone instead.

Note: I'd just like to add that I complained of three things to UWPhysicians (now UWMedicine) in Seattle:

First: Lifelong deficits in Executive Functioning.
Second: Recent severe deterioration in the already poor Executive Functioning.
Third: What I referred to as "problems in daily living" under which I listed as examples: constantly losing my car in parking lots, having it ticketed and towed all the time, winding up at strange destinations, missing the turn onto the stree where I had lived for twelve years, trying to start it with a TV remote, going to the bathroom sink or the telephone for a cup of coffee, talking to a bicycle rack, etc..

Now ALL that UWPhysicians would do is yammer at me about hypertension, something that I had NEVER complained about and always felt was not a disease and not something I would ever consider to be a disease or would ever consider treating.

My question is:
Were those three complaints listed above adequate descriptions of my problem? What better way could I have phrased things so that that (censored) UWPhysicians would have stopped yammering at me about hypertension when I clearly wanted an endocrine and neurological orientation and not some utterly foolish focus on hypertension which I don't even consider to be a disease state.

[dyslimbic]

Fools gold. You come over as a very intelligent and articulate person which could explain their reluctance to accept you have 'executive functioing' problems.

Like you i have had such problems for a long time but because i am articulate and seen as being intelligent i am looked at with a varying degrees of incredulity if i mention that i have such problems.

Mine centre round problems with organising and planning resulting in my being prone to being disorganisedand difficulty with knowing how to proceed in multi step situations.
I have difficulty with visual spatial tasks being significantly less able on a visual spatial level than i am verbally and i am sure that impacts on my executive functioning.




Mine resulted in declining academic performance from an originally high start point. I have lost count of the number of times i have been accused of being resulted in inferences that i was lazy/ awkward /not trying when in reality i could not do things because of the impact of those executive functioning issues .
With that came anxiety and frustration. Expectations were and are based on my being articulate and intelligent rather than the way those executive functioning problems impact on my overall functioning.

One of the problems is that with intelligence comes the ability to use certain abilities to compensate for others to some extent.
I have a feeling this ability to compensate explains the perceived more rapid decline of those with good levels of intelligence and alzheimer's.
By the time problems are picked up ie the person can no longer compensate for their difficulties they are quite advanced in their dementia.

I do not have the kind of problems with memory that would warrant me posting about them here.

I do have a better long term memory than short though this has been the case for as long as i can remember . Whether it is a product of my mental illness or the effect of various drugs to treat that illness is debatable.

I can remember people i was in hospital with for a relatively short time over 30 years ago but ask me to relate the content of a phone call or describe an event that happened half an hour or so ago or even less and the description will be fuzzy and imprecise.
I would make a terrible witness to a crime.

[FoolsGold]

"...You come over as a very intelligent and articulate person which could explain their reluctance to accept you have 'executive functioing' problems. ..."
They would not even address the issue of such problems existing. Perhaps they felt trying to start a Toyota with a TV remote was acceptable, but getting lost in your own neighborhood or talking to a bicycle rack? I really and truly believe that ANY doctor, no matter what their specialty or scholarly fields that they believe in should consider such symptoms to be far more serious than hypertension!! Apparently UWPhysicians never agreed with me! They only obsessed about my hypertension!

"...and difficulty with knowing how to proceed in multi step situations..."
So become a 'greedy algorithm' and just focus on the very next step only.

"...I have difficulty with visual spatial tasks..."
If you have difficulty with scrubbing floors, hire a maid service.
If you have difficulty with visual spatial tasks, hire an artist.
If you have difficulty with math, buy a calculator and don't become a bookie.

"...resulted in inferences that i was lazy/ awkward /not trying when in reality I could not do things because of executive functioning issues ..."
Sure sounds familiar!

"I would make a terrible witness to a crime.."
The best witnesses to a crime are those who are quick to duck and quick to say 'I didn't see a thing'.

[UNIBORG]

Couldn't it be just distraction problems? When someone is leading a very busy life style, or dive into deep thinking while doing something issues like "not remembering where the car is ..." wouldn't be a big issue, because you were not thinking about that when you left the car, you were thinking of something else. But it could be something esle too, this is just my opinion. :)

[FoolsGold]

Couldn't it be just distraction problems? When someone is leading a very busy life style, or dive into deep thinking while doing something issues like "not remembering where the car is ..." wouldn't be a big issue, because you were not thinking about that when you left the car, you were thinking of something else. Thank you. I understand your bringing up the issue of attention versus distraction. IF I had indeed been leading a busy life style I would think that you were quite correct, but the lack of executive functioning skills means that I rarely do anything or accomplish anything at all. So I'm not so busy that I don't notice where I've left my car, I'm wandering around in a confused mental state in which I didn't even notice it at all. I failed to turn onto my own street but was not pre-occupied with other things. I drove in the wrong direction a number of times when on an important errand and even once got lost twice while enroute to a destination less than a mile away despite being familiar with the area.

[lewisl]

It may be possible that a lot of what we do is while on auto pilot. This means that we can drive and park the car quite well without consciously aware of the specific steps of what we are doing or where we are because we are so experienced in these tasks.

I gained tremendous improvement in similar issues to to what you are experiencing by taking myself off auto-pilot. You can do this with positive affirmations which work for you and which you repeat throughout the day.

This may sound a bit weird but you can repeat to yourself "You are smart, you are smart, you are smart" throughout the day especially at key moments like when you are about to leave your car somewhere unusual. This tends to bring you out of auto-pilot mode and the mind seems to refocus to what it needs to so at that point in time. In this instance it will determine "hey I need to know where the car is when I return. OK it is opposite the bank so I need to remember this."

You can try other phrases that you are comfortable with you and it should make a positive difference. Affirmations like this can also work in other areas of your life to give the mind some positive direction.

[Brandy]

Okay..ppl talking about something I can understand..not quite as drastic and FG, but some days are worse than others. One thing I do not understand is what that term "excutive function"means exactly..?? When i first read it I thought of work..lol..but I have been way beyond..I don't know what at times. It's gotten a little better since a yr ago, but not by much.

Mine is due to a double head injury I had acquired Oct 28th at a 60 mph or so impact..have a slighy dent/bump at my hairline on the left side to show it!!..but the goos egg behind my ear on the same side was gone in just over a week..thank God. Unfortunately, to keep it short, the hospital had an attitude with me (too many meds for their liking..I go to a pain clinic for 5 yr now..even if it took me 2 yr to get to that level and I functioned just fine on them, actually)..got in my face saying "they were looking for new injuries, not old ones"..and had me out the door in 1/2. I fell asleep..not sure how long, my son had 3 hr to get me since I was half way to Ga when this happened.

Was suffering some memory issues prior to that, and it was going to be looked into as soon as I got back..but figured it might be one of the meds since it has a side effect just like that. I can't remembe SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much of months before or after..but weird things here and there. And then the rest of history depends on the day..may remember one day and not the other..

I'm 48..but have had 5 MVA head injuries and once drug by a horse for 70 yd or so..and it was not like what u see in the movies, as my friends who watched like to describe it..straight and all..I was bouncing all over the place..

So, how many times can a person hit their head before it causes problems..??
Kinda joking..
Have a good one.

[Brandy]

BTW..that whole smart thing..last psychatrist..went to do some test and had me spell 'marker' forward and then backward. Of course it wasn't a problem..and did it rather quickly..so..then said I was fine..dahhhhh What does that have to do with all the memory stuff..really??

[Nana4&cntn]

Foolsgold, I also wondered exactly what you meant by Executive Function, I am assuming you are in an Executive Position.

Hypertention, can cause some of the symptoms you are experiencing, along with doing permanent damage to your heart. If your Doc's are harping on it, you blood pressure must be high and has been for some time. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/HI00062 this is a link to the Mayo Clinic, re: Hypertention, If you toward the bottom, Dementia is listed and explains why it happens with high BP. The rest of the article may open your eyes as to your Docs concerns.

I watched my mother go thru a lot of the memory things you are having. Then she had a series of heart attacks, was medicated and is doing better. This was 4 years ago, she is 70 now and having more problems and a lot of that is distraction and having so many things going on in her head she can't keep up.

Another thing to look at is the possibility of depression. I sat in my office for an entire month of a new position, distracted, forgetful, going to the restroom and going to the file room to get a file, I forgot the name of. Thank God for my office partner reminding me she was covering my phone so I could go to the restroom. I was in my mid 30's.

But, most people do do these crazy things that make no sense. I put the peanut butter in the freezer and the milk in the cabinet. Carry the house phone with me on an errand expecting to talk the whole way, Duh, right, I did. I now have my car keys on a long shoe lace type thing and hang my keys on my doorknob, if that doesnt work, place a bowl or designate a drawer for keys, cell phones etc as you come inside. I also hang my purse on my bedroom door.

I place sticky notes on the dash of my car as reminders of errands or appointments. I find myself getting on the interstate to go to one doctor and heading to a different one. I need to go to the bank and end up somewhere else, forgot to make a deposit. I recently bounced the first check ever, and argued with the teller, looked at their print out, looked at the receipt and found the supposedly deposited check in my wallet.

I call these things blonde momments! I really am not concerned about them, I just turned 50, no dementia in my family and have many health problems, which impact my memory.

If I were you and you can, switch doctors, or listen to the advise they are offering, high BP is a silent killer, you could drop dead at any time unless you get treatment. Your doctors may listen to your complaints freely, if you listened to their advice. Why would you pay a doctor to care for you and not listen to their concerns, or fill prescriptions.

Brandy, I had a major MVA in 1996 @ 38 and have had too many surgeries and also take pain meds and meds for BP, cholesterol, and a whole box of others. They do not affect me as I have been taking the same dose for years and the pain is relieved and I am lucid and have good reactions in the car, and with my grandchildren if they run toward the street etc. I forget I am not to run, but hey, a kids life is worth the pain.

Sorry I went on so long. I did not want to make anyone angry, just telling the things I know about, personally.

Take care,
Kathy

[FoolsGold]

One thing I do not understand is what that term "excutive function"means exactly..?? Nor do I. It is a phrase most often used to refer to the selection of goals, the alloction of time and energy, the balance between short term goals and long term goals, the decision-making process in managing your life and getting things done.

[FoolsGold]

Foolsgold, I also wondered exactly what you meant by Executive Function, I am assuming you are in an Executive Position.

I call these things blonde momments! I really am not concerned about them.

If you can switch doctors or listen to the advise they are offering, high BP is a silent killer, you could drop dead at any time unless you get treatment.
No, I am most definitely NOT in an executive position. The term Executive Functioning is used by psychologists and the like to refer to what might be termed "managerial skills" for directing one own's life.

Well, a young and attractive female, particularly one who has blonde hair, is entitled to blonde moments. Males are not. And my 'blonde moments' would more properly be termed blonde days or atleast blonde hours.

Listening to the doctors forever prattling about hypertension when I've made it clear that I am not and never will be concerned about it is an intolerable ordeal. For most of my life whenever my blood pressure was taken the readings evoked comments about how very low it was. So if these problems of which I've complained about have been lifelong problems, anf for most of my life I've had markedly low blood pressure, how is my currently high blood pressure relevant to their causation? Doctors at UWMedicine in Seattle insisted on prattling on and on about my high blood pressure when I repeatedly told them I did not want to hear even one word about it!

[Mal L]

Well, this is not good news, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility that your memory problems have to do with early stages of hardening of the arteries, and that's why the docs were talking about hypertension.