Since becoming one of the main caregivers of my nursing-home residing mom who is 89, and my 93 yr old dad, whose home my husband & I moved into to care for him, my memory is SHOT. I feel wound up and cannot retain much of anything any longer; I really feel the excessive worry & stress is causing this. Anyone else experience this? It is frightening to me.
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I would be embarrassed to relate some of the kooky lapses I am experiencing. Maybe it's not my age afterall!
Yes, I do know what you are saying. I actually do have a lot of stress related issues. I have OCD and anxiety on top of caring for my Mom (part time ). I get panic attacks and when I do I seriously cannot talk. I actually forget simple words. I am absolutely certain that stress effects memory and problem solving skills.
I am sorry you have pain. My friend was diagnosed with fibromyalgia but recently was re- diagnosed with "Misconnected Tissue". I think is what it is called. Something eles to check out if you still have pain issues.
Mishka- that was funny. I laughed. And yet, not funny..if you know what I mean.
With how very forgetful I've been becoming, I swear I've had to stop myself from going to the clinic and ask to be tested for Alz! Hey, my mom started showing signs of Alzheimer when she was in her early 50's. I'm just 3 years shy of 50.
By the way, Everyone....Yesterday on HLN news they brought up this study that was done. When people our age (40s, 50's, etc..) think of ourselves as OLD, then we start showing signs of it. Even just saying: I feel old. Just anything that makes us think we're old - we start showing it. I guess it's the half empty glass vs the half full glass. I was hoping they would go into more details, but they didnt.
I did double up on most vitamins and find some quiet time to myself each day.
Best wishes!
I have also found that white chicken breast or some form of B-vitamins and protein help too. But when PMS comes rearing its ugly head, I find no matter what I do, I seem to get more forgetful and lose my concentration. It never fails.
P.S...I sure hope it's not permanent!!!
Aside from the stress factor I think it is the distraction factor, my mother talks 90% of the time (mostly complaining, criticizing, obsessing, and ruminating). Always has around family, but acquaintances think she is so quiet, gentle and sweet lol.
Anyway this constant complaining, jabbering and questioning distracts me to the point of near insanity. I can't concentrate on anything with her always following 2 steps behind me and never a moment's silence. I can't even escape long enough to go to the bathroom, she's outside the door talking, very much like caring for a child, that you are not allowed to correct or discipline.
Some days I think it won't be long before I have less mental capacity than she.
My only advice is try to chill. Things happen in life and even when things seem terrible, if we step back from it, we see that it is all just part of life. It would be nice if we could learn not to take things too seriously and just go with what is happening at the moment. Worrying about tomorrow is a problem that I have. I try hard not to do that, because it just causes anticipatory anxiety, which is not useful or good for me.