[Murray]

OK - Here's the deal. I know that when one reaches a certain age, one may start losing some of that sharp edge, the mental accuity that perhaps characterized earlier years .... But I'm forgetting stuff left and right. I was in the teaching game for 30+ years, and could hold my own in just about any discussion/debate. Now I have trouble putting two words together. Sometimes I'll be talking with my girlfriend about this or that, and suddenly go blank. How to express a particular idea simply disappears. I taught English lit and writing, for Chrissake! It frustrates the hell out o' me. I'm told that some of it may be due to the injury; some, the meds; some ... who knows? Is anyone having similar problems? Any ideas, suggestions? (I already do crossword puzzles. They seem to help a little.) Thanks.

[Deej]

Hi Murray,

I know exactly how you feel and I'm still only 39 ! I forget the words for simple things - at work when I need to ask someone to pass me something and I just forget what the thing is called and have to point and say 'can you please pass me .... erm.... that there'. It's so frustrating and embarrassing. I used to have an excellent memory and now if I don't write things to do down in my diary then they don't get done.
I also do crosswords and sudoku puzzles but I still get the impression I have early Alzheimers disease sometimes.

Not sure what the answer is.

[nomis]

Hi Murray
My grin is so wide it’s pushing my ears back. I know what you mean (I’m 59). I wonder if all the world’s population over the age of 30 is thinking the same?

Something I’ve noticed (actually, it’s a story I like to tell myself) is that the older I get the more demanding and critical of myself I get that I should remember things.

If I cast back to 20-something I recall angrily rushing about the house looking for car keys. It was always the bloody keys fault and I never stopped to question the efficiency of my mind. So I did forget things way back then. The difference is that today I immediately think “Alzheimers!”

We know mental performance slows downs with age but in my case I reckon that is a good thing. My brain was always rushing too fast (ie easily distracted) to focus clearly. Today, I can understand my simpler life and life generally better, clearer than ever before. It’s all beginning to make sense.

Also, I wonder in your case where you are still actively coming to terms with life in a chair (I reckon it’s fair enough to say that, pull faces at me if you disagree), that your mind is correctly prioritising information by blocking out what is not important. Maybe your mind knows better than you what it needs to process – and I imagine it’s very busy relearning your relatively new role.

Having said that, you might get Alzheimers or have a minor head injury. Same with me on both accounts. If it happens to me I hope I keep enough neurones intact to accept the change.

[wheels5894]

At 58 I have some troubles from time to time remembering a name ora place. I think most people do. My problem is a different one but I think related and I hve been doing this all my life I think. My AB wife gets it as well. It is going to aroom in the house, say the bedroom, and then wondering why I went there!

I'm sure there is nothing serious going on and that it is just how our minds work.

To Murray, I would say that the hardest way to remember a name is to talk t someone about it, say an author, because the mind goes blank under pressure. most teachers and lecturers have notes and these include names and dates just to avoid this circumstance. perhaps when you taught you did the same so that, now, you are taxing your brain to do what you didn't do when teaching.

how about relaxing a bit and not worrying about it. It might make the problems disapperar.

[Murray]

To Murray, I would say that the hardest way to remember a name is to talk t someone about it, say an author, because the mind goes blank under pressure. most teachers and lecturers have notes and these include names and dates just to avoid this circumstance. perhaps when you taught you did the same so that, now, you are taxing your brain to do what you didn't do when teaching.

Wheelie - You're right about the lecture notes bit. I used them for the first few years. After that I shot from the hip. Random sequential stuff - allowing spin-offs at student's "inspiration." About walking into the bedroom - then going blank .... (Got to admit - that begs a joke, but I'll refrain.) What about those times when we were teenagers, and would go to the kitchen, open the fridge and just stare? I hope I'm not the only one who did that. It was like the fridge's light going on turned mine off.

This post has been edited by Murray: 20 August 2007 - 03:35 PM

[edlee]

Teenagers, like mothes, are attracted by the light.

I was 58 when my accident happened and was forgetting stuff then, so I can't really blame the head or back injuries.

I do find myself at a loss for a word/name more often, now. When it happens, I just blame it on the " head wound". Better they think I'm hurt than stupid. ( Like in little league baseball, after your slide into home came up a foot short. You needed to get up limping)
ed

[Murray]

Thanks, folks -

It's good to know that I don't have to be so damn hard on myself. I'll just grin and let it slide.

Have a great holiday .... Tomorrow's Labor Day or something, right?

[wheels5894]

Murray

I was mentioning the problem of the fridge to my wife who says she had the same thing as a teenager. She says her best trick, though, was to go shopping for her mother with a 5 item shopping list and to come back with 3 items of which 1 was wrong!

Right, now... what was I about to do...

[tony_brooklyn]

Murray, on Aug 19 2007, 08:19 AM, said:

OK - Here's the deal. I know that when one reaches a certain age, one may start losing some of that sharp edge, the mental accuity that perhaps characterized earlier years .... But I'm forgetting stuff left and right. I was in the teaching game for 30+ years, and could hold my own in just about any discussion/debate. Now I have trouble putting two words together. Sometimes I'll be talking with my girlfriend about this or that, and suddenly go blank. How to express a particular idea simply disappears. I taught English lit and writing, for Chrissake! It frustrates the hell out o' me. I'm told that some of it may be due to the injury; some, the meds; some ... who knows? Is anyone having similar problems? Any ideas, suggestions? (I already do crossword puzzles. They seem to help a little.) Thanks.

Shit.......hahaha.....I forget all the time .....uhhhh? where am I? hahaha...I have very low blood pressure, usually 80/60 (on a better day), and I see white stars flying across every so often and that's with my belly bider and leg binders on. Well, I guess being insomnia is another reason for my being forgetful.