MEMORY ISSUES

Does anyone have short term memory loss? My Coiling was done 16 months ago in the middle cerebral artery and before the coiling I had a large bleed. It is so embarrassing for example, trying to tell about something that happened and in mid sentence forget what I am trying to say or trying to introduce someone and cannot remember the people's name and I am standing there trying to have it come to my mind and they are looking at me like , "What is wrong with you." Sometimes my speech slurs. Any input is greatly appreciated.

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Comment by Robin Forry on February 8, 2013 at 6:11am: Thank ALL of you so much. I surely will use advice. ONE DAY AT A TIME..LOL

Comment by Judith on February 8, 2013 at 3:35am: I've done that Janet! A couple of times. Glad it's not just me.

Judith

Comment by Janet Ulm-Edelman on February 8, 2013 at 1:44am: Well...I decided I'd throw in my cents to your comment Robin...just as I was ready to hit "Add comment", I decided to scroll down the list to see what others have said..only to discover my OWN comment amongst the list ! Wow, yeah, I can relate for sure ! Lol Janet

Comment by Troy on February 7, 2013 at 10:40am: Yes, Lynn and Judith, I experience those issues too. Both those things would tend to happen with age too. Lynn, listen for that inability to retrieve the right word out of your memory in other people. That might ease your embarrassment. I know it happened to me before my rupture and I remember friends complaining/joking about it happening to them. It happens to more and more people as we age. Judith, training myself to focus on calendars and to do lists has been very helpful. The amnesia involves looking at the calendar and saying" Oh no I missed this appointment" when I didn't miss it. And besides that doing it over and over like a broken record. My daughter calls it looping.

Comment by Judith on February 7, 2013 at 9:34am: I often can't remember what day it is and have various tricks for finding out. Watch with a date, calendar, to do list etc. I also have trouble remembering when events happened. Yesterdays activities seem anywhere from days to weeks ago. Strange. I'm not sure it is quite the same as the global amnesia type memory loss you describe, though, Troy.

Comment by Lynn Jones on February 7, 2013 at 7:57am: You are not alone, I can be having a conversation and totally not be able to remember a certain word, it can be embarrassing. I can describe what the word is but can't actually say the word, I usually try and laugh it off but deep down I find it very frustrating.

Comment by Troy on February 6, 2013 at 1:07am: Memory issues are big for me now too. And beyond regular short term memory issues, I wonder about more global amnesia. Judith, I'm working on work arounds like you suggested too. My daughter had a weekly planner sheet that I am using. On one page it has one week with a line for each daytime hour. I wrote in my regular schedule on a master and made copies. Then on Sunday I transfer from my monthly calendar. Somehow seeing the picture of the day laid out helps. There is space to I can write in my ToDo's at a time. It helps having them assigned to a time. I'm taking a birding class that has new members every couple of month. We go around the room and introduce ourselves and I tell everyone that I won't be able to remember their names. I also do brain exercises online at Lumosity.com. That site was recommended by the local Stroke Center. I'm sure there are more coping mechanisms that I need to develop.

The big thing I am wondering about is the amnesia episodes. I mean real amnesia where you can't remember anything about your day or even what day it is. I've had several episodes since my rupture and craniotomy 7/15/11. I've been to a neurologist who orders and EEG and CT scan and they come back showing no seizure and nothing of note. I thought I was getting better and then about 2 weeks ago I had another big one that lasted a good 5 hours and still wasn't totally resolved overnight. Do any of you have experiences with amnesia?

Comment by ron k on February 5, 2013 at 11:22pm: hi Robin! I go on lumosity.com for memory, it seems to help a little.keeping you & yours in thoughts and prayers!

Comment by Robin Forry on February 5, 2013 at 8:24pm: Thank you to all for your heart felt comments. So greatly appreciated. I feel the Love.

Comment by Robin Forry on February 5, 2013 at 8:22pm: Thank you Teresa. You are so right. If only the ones that don't understand could just walk in our shoes or live in our bodies for one week. Some days I could just cry, and wish I could go back to the way it used to be. But, I also Thank GOD for allowing me to be here. I know acceptance is overrated. haha Much Appreciated.