Cognitive General Mentalness

Specific Illnesses & Conditions VM/MAV
1

Right… I’m losing the plot. My marbles are seriously leaving me for greater plaines…

My memory is becoming SHOCKINGLY bad. I’ve gone from someone who my friends used to call ‘elephant’ … and no, not because of the size of my ass :lol:

Here are a few things to date:

  • Last night I flooded my flat-mate’s kitchen because I turned the tap on to wash the dishes, walked off and forgot about it. She walked back into a raging torrent!
  • Last month I did the same thing in my friend David’s house.
  • I have a pill box and there have been about 4 or 5 times now where I open the box for that day/time and there is a pill missing when I could’ve sworn I put them all in there correctly. And I mean sworn!
  • I have taken the night-time pills in the morning instead
  • I have managed to misplace (actually, lose completely because I still cant find them!) several items of mine including brand new bottles of shampoo and conditioner, body lotion, socks, and such stuff.
  • I walked around the supermarket last night for an hour with only 4 things in the trolley, went down all the isles at least 3 times and just couldnt get my sh*t together in terms of what I needed etc
  • I have always had an exceedingly bad sense of direction and could get lost in my own shed, now, it’s out of control, I literally cannot go ANYWHERE without a map/GPS because I wont make it home :lol:
  • I get words mixed up a lot and whilst it’s hilarious i.e. “do you need a pen to write with?” becomes “do you need a fork to write with?” :shock:
  • Leave the house to go to the shops and not have my handbag
  • Say stuff to people, and then think a day or so later ‘why the HELL did I say that?’, it was totally incorrect!!

Suffice to say, the reason we Brits are not allowed to donate blood in any other country, due to our outbreak of Mad Cows Disease (CJD), I am now officially living up to my namesake. I am a mad cow :mrgreen:

2

I don’t have anything profound to say or insight for why you are having these symptoms but I do have to say that you absolutely crack me up. You are too funny. Not that what you are experiencing is funny, but I love how you have such good humor about it!!! I’m sure it’s the meds or it could be from migraine.

3

Maybe it’s a good sign – you have stopped worrying about all the small details and are thinking big thoughts!

Something good is about to happen. Bookmark this thread.

4

If it’s any consolation my memory is now terrible and has got increasingly worse. I think it it due to this illness, it certainly gets even more terrible when I am in a bad phase. I am unclear whether the propranolol is also a culprit, it has memory loss as an SE. I am actually going to get checked out at the GP’s in case I have a thyroid disorder, one of the reasons I want this checked is to double check there isn’t something else going on affecting my memory.

H

5

Muppo, my sense of direction is appalling. I always go the opposite way to where I am supposed to go. If I come out of a shop in the high street I go back the way I came (if you know what I mean). My husband says to me if I think I need to go one way, choose the other, that way I will be right. I flap a lot nowadays, get flustered, I bump into people, leave purses on the side and walk off while I am flapping to get something in a bag, when our daughter was little (I know we had adopted her and werent used to having a baby around) but we left her in the supermarket in the trolley and walked out! Outside we realized something was missing :shock: Inside of the house, I write lists all the time, so not so bad but as soon as I hit outside space, people, traffic, I cant get my mind in gear plus the dizziness or drugs dont help.

Christine

6

Muppoooooo,

Just checked out drugs.com and a common SE with neurontin is memory loss I’m afraid. Looks like you’re going to need to write down everything you do from now otherwise you’ll burn the house down … :lol:

Some side effects are more likely in children taking Neurontin. Contact your doctor if the child taking this medication has any of the following side effects:

changes in behavior;
memory problems;
trouble concentrating; or
acting restless, hostile, or aggressive.

Lyrica and Dopamax also have the potential to turn you into a complete whack job on the memory front.

S

7

Fine Scott, so whats my excuse, I am not on Neurontin :frowning:

Christine

8

I’ll add on to what Scott said about writing everything down regarding using “external memory.”

My sweetie remembers lots of things for me. Even if you don’t have that one special whatzit, knowing you from this board you must have loads of friends, moreover largely (hey, an elephant reference!) friends who will support you the way MJ supports me when my memory and my word sense are playing tricks.

At least in this country, I understand that pharmacists are willing to put up your daily meds in weekly AM and PM packets. I don’t know whether that would be more helpful than you present system, but it might be worth a try. I’m okay on taking AM in AM and PM in PM, but sometimes I overlook taking them–especially when my routine is disrupted.

Finally, the sink thing sounds rough. My equivalent whoopsies involve letting bathtubs overfill and setting off smoke alarms (all of ours are interconnected) because I’m heating a cast-iron skillet to dry it (the skillet thing relates to the smoke alarms, not the tub). I’ve replaced the smoke alarm closest to our kitchen with one that has a hush button. In your case, difficult as it will be, I suggest that you consider giving up doing dishes.

9

— Begin quote from “cmoc”

My husband says to me if I think I need to go one way, choose the other, that way I will be right.

— End quote

My boyfriend says this to me all the time. Whatever way you feel like going, go the opposite way and it works every time but sometimes my gut instinct to go a particular way is so strong that I follow it and still end up LOST!!!

As for your kid being left in the supermarket… brutal but frickin hilarious! That’s the kind of stunt I’d pull.

David - I will print out your comment about ‘giving up doing the dishes’ and tell my friends it’s now written in stone!!! Thanks for the other advice as always.

Longshort - if I dont win lotto now, I’m gonna hold you responsible!!! :shock:

Scott - maaaaaaannnnnnn!!! So the upshot is these drugs might give you your life back, but they’ll steal your memory so you cant remember anything about your life anyway!!! :lol:

10

Muppo,

You make me laugh - also everyone else’s whoopsie stories too :lol: . Glad to know I’m not the only one who walks into the laundry and wonders ‘What am I here for?’ or pours juice on a bowl of cereal instead of milk or forgets the name for ‘spoon’ and asks “You know, that small domestic shovel thing made from metal we use to eat with…what’s that called?”

My advice is to write everything down, except then I forget where I put the list… :lol: It happens at work. Any instructions more than one sentence and they say “Get your pen and write this down!” and I’m constantly saying “Truly, I’m going mad, where is that freaking list…?!”

11

Muppo - I was having a good laugh at your post & all the others whose memory is as bad or worse than mine. Just printed out a few to show my hubby as he’s always teasing me about losing or forgetting things when I realised I’ve got a doc appt in 45min & was going to ask for Gabapenten to help with my ongoing motion probs & the ants crawling over my scalp - seeing as you had such good results Muppo! Now, I don’t know which way to go!!
Barb

12

— Begin quote from “cmoc”

when our daughter was little (I know we had adopted her and werent used to having a baby around) but we left her in the supermarket in the trolley and walked out! Outside we realized something was missing :shock: Christine

— End quote

I have a friend who gave birth to both her children (i.e. not adopted) and who doesn’t have MAV. There is a five year gap between the kids, so they had five years of being used to only having one child. They went to the five year old’s parent/teacher night, with the new baby in the pram. Half way home the three of them (mum, dad, five year old) stopped, thinking “We’ve forgotten something…” - yes, the new baby! :shock:

13

Yeah, topamax and MAV have definitely taken their toll. I joke with my husband and friends that I should at least have had some good drug highs in my life to explain the memory loss that I seem to have. :shock:

14

Hi Muppo! I don’t know how old you are, but it couldn’t be the dreaded “M” word, could it? (And I don’t mean migraine; I mean…you know… that thing that supposedly causes ALL ailments women are having by about age 35, according to much of the medical world.)

You look way too young for that in your picture. :slight_smile:

But the truth is, I think most women hitting perimenopause DO start having shocking, scary problems with memory and cognition. Examples from my own life:

I never forgot a baby, but I once forgot to pick up my 11-year-old son and his friend from the movie theater–at 11:45 at night. When I finally arrived in a panic, they were sitting on a curb in the huge deserted theater parking lot, talking with a security guard who’d just come by. I wanted the earth to swallow me up: how could I forget my own son??? (OK, I’d been talking up a storm with visiting family members and had my back to the clock, but still…)

Second case in point: when I was in my late 30s, me and the other PTA moms would chat awhile before the meetings started. WITHOUT FAIL, some fortyish mom would tell a story about forgetting something. WITHOUT FAIL, she’d sigh and end with these exact words: “I can’t remember ANYTHING anymore!” And WITHOUT FAIL, every single other fortyish mom would immediately chime in–“ME NEITHER!!” It happened every single meeting.

But, assuming you’re too young for that kind of fun, have you thought about asking your neuro whether some cognitive testing–what do they call it–see, now I can’t remember what it’s called!–would be appropriate, to make sure nothing else is going on? (Besides possible side effects from the medication you’re taking? I wouldn’t ASSUME that that’s the only reason you’re having problems.)

And of course there’s the cognitive kee-raziness caused by MAV itself…

I REALLY scare myself sometimes (now at age 55) with some of the unbelievable mistakes I make, things I forget, and odd ways in which I mix things up. Fortunately I don’t get lost. (But there’s time… there’s time!) I have to say, though, I do feel my memory and cognition improved noticeably after getting (way) past menopause. On the other hand, I think it’s helped quite a bit by my Strattera (SNRI). I shudder to think how I’d fare without it.

Ah, you have my sympathize (as my English-challenged husband would say).

Nancy

15

Muppo,
I tried Neurontin for one night…the next day I was driving to an appointment and I was just totally laughing in the car because for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out where I was going. My brain was blank. It was weird. And that was only at 100mg. I also got super duper tired and was driving to California the next day. I saw my doctor (the drug guru in Cali which is the reason I was headed there) and he said not to take it. That it was not for me if Iwas having those kind of side effects.
So! I didn’t feel I even gave it a chance, but he was pretty certain that the right med(s) don’t do that…my memory is crazy good, or I should say used to be. I’ve def lost some of my sharpness and frequently use “you know” and “what’s his face” and “whatchamacalit” in my sentences now…but at 46 I think it could be the “M” word creeping up.

Kelley

16

— Begin quote from “Nancy W”

Hi Muppo! I don’t know how old you are, but it couldn’t be the dreaded “M” word, could it? (And I don’t mean migraine; I mean…you know… that thing that supposedly causes ALL ailments women are having by about age 35, according to much of the medical world.)

You look way too young for that in your picture. :slight_smile:

— End quote

Bless you Nancy!! I’m 35… no wait, no I’m not, I’m 34!! I’ll be 35 in June!! See… wishing my life away already!!! :shock:

Honestly, I’m glad I’m not the only one that is suffering with memory meltdown!!!

Sometimes I’ll turn up to a place and think “right, now why am I here?” :lol:

Memory loss aside, Gabapentin has worked wonders and is still my liquid gold.

Peace out.

Mup x

17

It’s the Neurontin, no two ways about it. Lyrica has done the same to me. I get completely muddled up with words, and forget what I’m saying mid sentence.

Where was I?

Oh yes. Forgetful. but it’s a trade off for feeling better, although even that is wearing off recently unfortunately.

As a speech therapist it’s quite
embarrassing at work when I’m treating patients with aphasia…

Much love

Dizzy Lizzy x

18

Muppo: OK, it ain’t the “M” word–34 or even 35 is just too young for that! :slight_smile:

The meds are often a trade-off, I guess. Seems like such a long trial-and-error process of finding what works best for you.

Good luck and I hope the memory problems improve for you!

Nancy (turning 55 tomorrow–at least it’s a nice round number, so I’ll remember it more easily! :slight_smile: