[ak482]

I am frightened by the short term memory issues I'm having. I'm only 35 & I have trouble remembering important things. I have had to change roughly 25 passwords in the last 2 weeks because I can't remember them. I don't want to write those down lest they fall into wrong hands. I don't smoke, I'm a very light drinker, I don't know what to do.

[*Laurie*]

Are you on medication?

[benzenering]

Have you had any psych evaluations, or seen a psychiatrist or psychologist or even a primary care physician and explained this as one of your symptoms? Has this come on suddenly?

[ak482]

Originally Posted by *Laurie*

Are you on medication?

I'm currently on sertraline for anxiety & vitamin d prescription.

[*Laurie*]

Psych meds can cause pretty severe memory and cognitive issues. If I were you I'd definitely mention the problem to your pdoc. Perhaps a med change is in order.

[ak482]

Originally Posted by *Laurie*

Psych meds can cause pretty severe memory and cognitive issues. If I were you I'd definitely mention the problem to your pdoc. Perhaps a med change is in order.

I do have an appointment with my psychiatrist this week. I've also had days where when I wake up I don't know what day of the week it is.

[Travelinglady]

Definitely tell your doc. I've been "doped" up so much at one point I could hardly remember my way around my town--even though I'd been there for years.

[ak482]

Well, I did talk to my doc today. He thinks it might be my sleep issues because my work schedule rotates weekly. I'm not able to go to bed at the same time every night & not able to sleep soundly.

I know stress can also affect short term memory, you write you have anxiety, that alone could be impacting on your memory (the brain can only handle so much).

I was on Setraline and did get a bit slow and hazy on it, so it could also be that. Sleep issues can be important too as your doc says.

I know you mention your Vit D, that can impact too, did you get your Vit B12 levels tested too? That can have a big effect on memory, might be worth supplementing a while and seeing if it helps.

[HALLIEBETH87]

Another thing that can affect memory is thyroid function issues. Have you had your thyroid tested lateky? It's a simple blood test.

[ak482]

Originally Posted by prefabsprout

I know stress can also affect short term memory, you write you have anxiety, that alone could be impacting on your memory (the brain can only handle so much).

I was on Setraline and did get a bit slow and hazy on it, so it could also be that. Sleep issues can be important too as your doc says.

I know you mention your Vit D, that can impact too, did you get your Vit B12 levels tested too? That can have a big effect on memory, might be worth supplementing a while and seeing if it helps.

My doctor wrote a script for it, but since my insurance didn't cover, I got a B complex OTC. My primary care doc thinks that I should have a blood retest soon.

[with or without you]

I am the same age as you and I noticed a definite slip about 4 years ago. I got evaluated for it just last month and this is my story.

4 years ago, I started walking into rooms in my home not remembering what I came in there for. Also, I started forgetting that I had just told someone something. This really bothered me because I always prided myself on having a good memory. As the years went on I became more obsessed with checking dates, street numbers, appointment times, and so on.

Fast forward to this year. My long term memory is still good but I'm still dealing with the frustrating short-term crap and I've had to resort to iPhone reminders, constantly writing things down, etc. In May I happened to be in a neurologist's office for an entirely different matter - chronic back pain affecting my right leg in weird ways that didn't resemble sciatica. I mentioned this memory stuff to her and she ordered a MRI of my brain, a neuropsychological examination, and a sleep study. That may sound radical, but my insurance paid for all of it so I figured why not just so I would have peace of mind.

- the brain MRI was perfect
- the neuropsych evaluation was last month. It lasted 3 hours and was performed by a psychologist. It is comprised of various intelligence, cognitive, and motor skills testing. The results showed that I had some weakness in certain isolated recall tasks but that it was not concerning and did not show a chronic degenerative deficit. The psychologist's ultimate opinion was that this memory slide is due to my chronic pain (which didn't make sense to me because the chronic pain didn't kick in until 3 years after I noticed something different), lack of sleep (makes sense), "polypharmacy" and it was suggested that I try to reduce the number of meds I'm on—uh, that's a no-go—and my ongoing depression and anxiety. The only recommendations he made that were helpful to me were to break down larger tasks into smaller ones, and to do monotasking instead of multitasking. The sleep recommendations he offered are things I was doing already, and they're not working.
- sleep study is coming up this Friday evening. I really hope they find something on this test because I am waking up an hour earlier than I am supposed to every single morning covered in sweat with intense heart palpitations. This is really ruining my life and it takes me until noon or 1pm to calm the hell down. I try not to take benzos or beta blockers for these "events" but I can't help it. Deep breathing, mediation, and caffeine cessation have failed.

Anyway, I didn't find the MRI or the neuropsych eval to be a total waste of time. I was glad there weren't any "surprises" going on inside my brain. I just didn't find the suggested solutions to the neuropsych problems to be all that helpful. This may be worth looking into if it's bothering you that much. Good luck.