I asked this q in the bipolar forum but it didn’t resonate there. I thought this was a bipolar symptom; I even thought I read that once. I guess not.

I have a problem tracking time. I really cannot tell what time of day it is. I don’t know whether to say good morning or good afternoon. I have to set alarms to remember to go home from work and many other things.

I have a hard time telling what day it is. Monday is easy. After that it gets murky. Telling Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday apart is hard without looking at the calendar. Sometimes I don’t know it’s Friday, and I say “Goodnight” instead of, “Have a good weekend.”

Worse yet, sometimes I can’t remember what month it is. Especially at certain times of the year, and I don’t know why. Sometimes it’s really bad and I’m so embarrassed in front of someone.

I know I’ve gotten pretty good at blocking things I don’t want to think about, and I’m starting to wonder if that might be causing the time tracking problem.

This isn’t new. It’s not my meds. This is me my whole life.

And it’s not consistent. Sometimes I operate just fine, but not usually. If there was something wrong with my brain, it would always be the case. I think.

Is this weird? Is it a symptom of complex PTSD? Or maybe it’s just my own idiosyncrasy.

[seeker33]

Hi, I think this is probably not a typical symptom of cptsd. Have you got some learning disability, such as dyslexia?
I would ask your therapist about this.

Hi Seeker—thank you for your reply.

No, I don’t have a learning disability. I was an A student in college (with a lot of obsessive studying).

<shrugs> I’ll as the t.

[mindwrench]

I have periods where time does not pass correctly, and that throws off my sense of what time or day it is. It seems to be most prevalent in times of high anxiety or other symptoms occurring. I know it is dissociation in my case. Have you considered that as a potential cause?

Mindwrench - Thank you for your reply! I'm high-functioning bipolar; anxiety is my worst problem. That's just what I was wondering! Is it the anxiety causing this.

I have a new therapist, and she pointed out that my anxiety is due to CPTSD, which I had not thought much about. I described how one of the executives at work is treating me (everyone - its not personal), and she said that of course my anxiety is going to be tripped by this person because of the way I was treated in childhood.

I once had a coworker describe an incident where I was yelled at (previous job), because he wanted to talk about what a jerk that client was, and I couldn't remember it until he repeated it to me multiple times. It was only a few hours later. I think I just block things out that I don't want to think about.

[mindwrench]

Something I tried during a rough stretch was putting check marks on the calendar, like one each for morning noon and night. I kept in my mind continuously to remember to make the marks. The spooky part was going to the calendar and finding that I had missed anywhere from a few marks to a few days worth of marks.

I’ve been looking at my to do list, among other things, and I’m bothered by the things I’ve forgotten.

I need to figure out a better calendar. I liked Sunrise, but it’s gone now

I talked to the therapist about this. She says this is anxiety—the high cortisol does it

[Wild Coyote]

I deal with this, too, constantly.
I think mine is from C-PTSD and dissociating.

I am sorry you also deal with this.

WC