I'm just curious as to whether anyone has had unusual memory blips.

I began noticing a problem a little over a year ago. I've always had a memory like an elephant. I have decent long term memory still, and don't use recreational drugs, and I hardly drink (maybe twice a year). An avid reader, can chew the fat as well as most, and since thirteen or so could go all day long all philosophy, theology, etc.

But in recent months, I have difficult so much as finishing a sentence without tearing out my hair over certain words in my normal vocabulary being absent. Once wordy (can't even recall a better fitting word) I have trouble completing a thought.

I turned thrity in august, and other than having had whiplash in an accident about four years ago, there's nothing i can think of as to a cause. some memory defunts go further than just words that escape me, but, for example, I was asked by one of my daughter's friend's parents for our phone number a few months back, and my ten year old had to answer for me!
I couldn't remember my ow phone number, and that's just one of the numerous blips I've had. it's surpassed aggrevating.
And headaches. SEVERE migraines that I wake up with- they've also become problematic- up to four times a week. I put off going to sleep as long as possile, due to fear of waking up with another. My family doctor finds no causes, but still, I know something isn't right.
I can't help but wonder if it has to do with something being put in our water or food, in the air, or are people being deliberately attacked if they ask too many questions, or a mind of their own.

My question is- is anyone else having such unusual problems that can't be explained?

SOB i typed a long post and clicked a wrong button.

short reply. Are you on Blood pressure meds of any kind?

Yes I have been there and im 28.

In the past 5 years, I've become a totally different person. I'm now like the Absentminded Professor. I finish sentences with the wrong words. I have no short term memory. My kids and wife are constantly making fun of me.

The wife says she's gonna take good care of me. When I get too bad, she says she's gonna sit me out on the porch in a rocking chair and come out every now and then to wipe the drool off my chin.

But seriously, I know what you mean. I'm in my 40's and this has really bugged me. I think I might be add or something.

[edit on 20-11-2008 by Clark W. Griswold]

I understand where you are coming from but my problem seems to be that I'm running on auto pilot and i find it hard to remember what I'm doing at times and i have put alot of weight on in the past year I'm 34

I just blame it on life mainly and getting older

I'm 28. Sometimes i feel like i have a black spot covering what I try and think of. This is odd for me because i have an amazing memory about things and know a ton.

I have gained weight.

Sometimes I feel like I'm emotional for no reason and find myself holding back some tears over nothing. I'm not a person that cry's and never will be .

it could be something in the water but more then likely its just getting old

You might want to look into getting a sleep study done. One of the purposes of REM sleep is to transfer memories from short to long term, and build new neuro connections. If you are getting insufficient REM sleep, then memory is one of the first things that takes a hit.

Have you had a brain scan since the trouble started? This could rule out an obvious tumor or other physical anomaly. When the headaches and memory problems began, was it a particularly stressful time at home, work or within yourself?

I started having concentration issues several months ago, an unusual issue for me. I have gone from one who engaged in lengthy academic discussions every day to one who avoids them. The trouble is, I will often forget what it is I am trying to say soon after beginning to speak, so a fully formed idea in my mind is truncated to a mere half of a sentence, with the rest just disappearing into oblivion. This is the best way to describe it: imagine traveling easily down a road and suddenly slamming into a brick wall that appears without any warning. The thought just stops. Headaches began at the same time, but I have attributed it all to stress, which is often the culprit for these symptoms.

As a matter of fact, I do take blood prssure meds for the past few months, a relatively new development in my life. I've been told by some that it could cause headaches, but even my doctor can't rule it to be precise cause, as the migraines and memory blips have gone on much longer.

I've had two catscans, and yes! thanks for the recall, as i've also had some serious issues with concetration! My head, when working decently, is all ove rthe grid!

AS an amateur writer, i have projects started all over the place, outlines and notes filling rows of shelves with notes. Notes for my notes, if you can believe it. Whenever I start one project, I get derailed by my kids or husband, and before I know it, another project that's sat on the shelves is full-force in the front of my mind.

my eyes are fine, for now, and I take my meds as prescribes. my b.p. is now better than my grandmother's, and still it persists.
I'm not recalling much about REM sleep exactly ( though I'm sure i once knew what it was, haha) but it's very rare that I don't dream.

I hope this isn't getting old. Not that I'm a spring chick, but if this is thirty, i don't think i even what to imagine forty or fifty. by then i probably won't remember my own name!
And my emotions are a little... active as well. words just don't come out right anymore. thoughts end midstream, as well. for someone who was once known to be a full of useless information, without the info, i guess I'm just useless.

I think other people have made a number of good points.

The first is whether you're on any medication at all. I have taken medication with the specific side effect of "tip-of-the-tongue" syndrome, believe it or not. (antidepressants, in my case, but I think other medications can have the same side effect). At one point it was really bad and I would lose a word at least every five minutes or so in a conversation. And they'd be really simple words.

The next is the brain scan – can you ask your family doctor for a referral to a neurologist? If the symptoms are as bad as you say, I think that would definitely be warranted.

And finally a sleep study might identify a problem if the neurologist can't find anything either.

It's possible that something in the air/water/food is causing your issues, but the best way to trace it back to a specific substance is probably to identify how that substance acts in the body first, and you probably need some more medical help for that.

People people... Do you not keep up with the latest medical news? New tests for vCJD have been invented. You can now get a blood test instead of the whole brain dissection thing.

If you have been a beef eater in the last 50 years you probably have it. If your turning 30 then the onset is just beginning. The symptoms mirror Alzheimer disease which has lead to a drastic increase in Alzheimer mis-diagnoses in the last decade....

I would suggest getting a rife machine as their is no pill to cure this disease.

[edit on 20-11-2008 by titorite]

It's a kind of cannibalizing your own thoughts.

It comes from deciding - more often than not - to live in one or another comfort zone rather than challenging your mind and getting OUT of your comfort zone.

The kicker is that - in escaping a comfort zone - quite a few people will just exchange one comfort zone for another.

Their mainstream religion for a fringe religion that is "the answer".

One dull job that pays the bills for another dull job that pays the bills.

One wife/husband who treats them like crap for another wife/husband who treats them like crap.

One town where they've never really liked living for another town where they never really like living.

How difficult to do but true: No-one else is to blame. You have talked and
thought your own existence in to reality, but therein lies the mechanism for true change...









[edit on 20-11-2008 by undermind]

I've found myself with the same symptoms as well. I just turned 34, and I swear sometimes I think I'm losing my mind with decreased lack in short term memory and constant fumbling of words to complete sentences. Simple things like remembering my best friends name in conversation and such. I never had any issues like this while growing up. It only seems to have become noticeable over the past seven or so years.

I joke with my wife about me getting alzheimers early, but it seems like there are so many other younger people with the same symptoms these days.

I read a thread the other day where they are linking artificial sweetener to it, and I DO drink my fair share of diet soda. Come to think of it, I never DID drink it growing up and started around ten years ago.

Wow. . I might have actually found my cause. Scary. . .

Do you drink diet soda by chance?

It' simple really. What happens is you start getting... what's the word? Damn, I had it on the tip of my tongue...

Now, what was I talking about?

No, don't prompt me, it'll come back...

...any minute...

Yes seems the older I get memory fades,used to have photographic memory,now I can barely find a photograph,but ya know after 55 yrs a lot of stuff I wish I could forget lol

I'm sorry so many of you are having some of the same issues, I know how rough it can be, especially when you go blank in mid sentence. embarrassing. I feel like i've been hit with a stupid stick for everyone to see.

the bp meds are all i take. and, sorry, i don't drink diet pop, because the aspartame ( whether nutra sweet, splenda, or equal) upsets my stomach.

If it's a part of getting older, then i guess i'll have to take it. What worried me most was how quick my mind went to crap. Always heard the mind was just another muscle that needs exercise. For years, I thought that was the best exercise any part of my body was getting.

i drive myself crazy wondering if it's just me, or something in foods and drink my whole family shares. I try not to go nuts concerning all the poisons and additives that are put in everything, i'm concerned though if this is just the beginning, to play conspiratorial advocate.
will the next generations start having the issues when they're twenty, or earlier? I know, sounds paranoid, but even my grandmother has a better memory than me anyone, and she's nearly seventy.

Just concerned as a whole, as to if it's my problem, or something (sorry for the dramaticism) on a larger scale.

Though, I'm curious, is anyone else with memory blips have sleep troubles? REM disturbance?

I had Severe memory loss for almost a year, ending just a few months ago. Turns out I was really low in certain vitamins. A possible easy remedy would be to go get a b100 complex and take some vitamin c with it. See if this helps you. Our environment has too many toxins these days. Junk food lacks many essential nutrients. I would suggest a b100 once a day with a couple grams of vitamin-c. If you have problems with racing mind, loss of sleep, bad night vision, try zinc also.

To everyone out there that are having these problems I suggest that you should go see a doctor. Or look at the worm in a womans brain thread, could maybe be applied to some of you. But for me, yeah I noticed that I have some memory and IQ problems. Sometimes I can't think of a word that I wan't to say or write. I can't remember what day something happened on. I can only remember things that happened a few days ago, in detail, but when it comes to about 4 or 5 days ago, I can't really remember, I have to think really hard. All in all I just feel so much stupider, I used to be really smart. But I'm guessing that my problem is that I don't exercise my brain as much as I used to. I finished high school 4 years ago and then went to college for 2, so I've been out of school for a couple of years and then I had my son so I pretty much stay home. For me, I don't exercise my brain as much as I used to, and maybe this could be applied to some of you also.