Short Term Memory

Annabelle41415
Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
in Colorectal Cancer #1
Oh my goodness, I've been having problems with remembering the simplest things since diagnosis. Sitting here tonight I'm thinking that there is something that needs to be done upstairs, so there is where I'd be heading and then go up there and can't remember the reason I'd even go up there for. Looking around upstairs, still couldn't figure out what it was. It was so frustrating, so back downstairs to think I'll remember what it was I'm supposed to do upstairs, still can't remember. I'm sure it was unimportant, but it just frustrates me that I'm losing what little mind I've ever had :)

Hugs! Kim

Comments

  • Buckwirth
    Buckwirth Member Posts: 1,258 Member
    #2
    happens to me all the time
    and apparently is affecting one of my chemo buddies from last year.

    Chemo Brain, I expect it is pretty common, but very frustrating.
  • taraHK
    taraHK Member Posts: 1,952 Member
    #3
    All the time
    All the time! Hard to know whether it is "physical" or psychological (we are coping with a lot!). But my short term memory is truly shocking. My loved ones all know it and my colleagues seem to have worked a way around it! Meanwhile, I go through a lot of post-it notes! ("brush teeth", "go to sleep" haha)

    Tara
  • pete43lost_at_sea
    pete43lost_at_sea Member Posts: 3,900 Member
    #4
    thats why forgivness is easy for us
    dear kim and blake and tara,

    me too.
    i don't hold grudges for too long now.
    my wife and i argue to much, but at least i forget what it was when i wake up
    the next day.

    i could say something profound but then you guys would forget it, so whats the point.
    i guess at least our posts are in writing and will be around as long as csn servers have space.

    hugs,
    pete
  • John23
    John23 Member Posts: 2,122 Member
    #5
    Kim ?
    What?

    John
  • coloCan
    coloCan Member Posts: 1,944 Member
    #6
    John23 said:

    Kim ?
    What?

    John

    About a month and a half ago i hid my digital camera and have
    @ i put it in my bedroom!!!!! From now on, I'll write such stuff down (as long as i don't forget where i put the reminder!)(I'll make a list of stuff to ask my docs and then leave list at home!!!)

    I was in a take out place and ordered roast chicken.....When the clerk gave me roast beef i asked him what he did that for......He said:"Thats what you ordered" to which i retorted:"No i didn't' " to which several firemen in line behind me all yelled out:"You ordered roast beef!!!!!" I almost started crying.......Chemobrain/memory problems are no figments of the imagination!!!!!!!! Yet i can recall stuff from 20,30,40,50 years ago!!!!!
  • TMac52
    TMac52 Member Posts: 352
    #7
    coloCan said:

    About a month and a half ago i hid my digital camera and have
    @ i put it in my bedroom!!!!! From now on, I'll write such stuff down (as long as i don't forget where i put the reminder!)(I'll make a list of stuff to ask my docs and then leave list at home!!!)

    I was in a take out place and ordered roast chicken.....When the clerk gave me roast beef i asked him what he did that for......He said:"Thats what you ordered" to which i retorted:"No i didn't' " to which several firemen in line behind me all yelled out:"You ordered roast beef!!!!!" I almost started crying.......Chemobrain/memory problems are no figments of the imagination!!!!!!!! Yet i can recall stuff from 20,30,40,50 years ago!!!!!

    Is it chemo brain?
    This has been so frustrating for me too. My business partner is starting to look at me w/ one of those "are you kidding me ?" looks. Getting back to work was hard both physically and mentally. I have been done w/ chemo for almost 6 months and still have real issues w/ short term memory. I feel like i'm loosing my mind. Does it get any better? God I hope so i'm feeling like a dummy, and I wasnt the sharpest knife in the drawer to begin with.
    Maybe I should start the ginko biloba?? Tom

    Thanks for the Post good to talk it out...
  • herdizziness
    herdizziness Member Posts: 3,624 Member
    #8
    The memory problems are a real bummer at college
    I actually have a 3.45 GPA only because my math I took as a pass/no pass class, I did not pass. So far I've had two tests redoing the math class, have a 90 and a 93 at the moment. The only reason I have those grades in math is I discovered if I stay up all night studying (when I start to study and I see a problem, I'm like, what? how do you do that? Even though I've done it everyday of the week)and then sleep two hours get back up, go to the college and go over each type of problem once, I can remember long enough to take and pass the test. When I didn't do that (started to do it the last part of the last math I failed and got 98 and 100 on the last two tests, but it was too late to save me)I couldn't remember how to do the problem for the life of me. Over just one day, I forget how to do the math problems, even though I know I actually ENJOYED doing them the day before. In my other classes, I took notes heavily, then would go over the notes the day before the test, writing down what I thought was key to the class, then the morning of the test, I would spend two hours going over those notes in hopes it stayed in my memory long enough to pass the class. In others it was essays, to which was nice, I'd read what my essay was on, writing my thoughts on it as I went along (If I waited till after, I'd have to start over again, thoughts got lost)then I could write the essay no problem.
    The problem with note taking is an issue though, I'll start to write what the professor said, I get half of it written and then realize I've forgotten the rest of it!! My notes have a lot of half sentences written, I have to go to the book and try and fill in what I forgot before I could write it down. Does that make sense?
    Oh well, certainly makes life more interesting. I've discovered I can re-read books with just an inkling of what happens next, they seem familiar but still like reading a brand new book, I save a lot of money that way now.
    Winter Marie
  • pepebcn
    pepebcn Member Posts: 6,331 Member
    #9
    herdizziness said:

    The memory problems are a real bummer at college
    I actually have a 3.45 GPA only because my math I took as a pass/no pass class, I did not pass. So far I've had two tests redoing the math class, have a 90 and a 93 at the moment. The only reason I have those grades in math is I discovered if I stay up all night studying (when I start to study and I see a problem, I'm like, what? how do you do that? Even though I've done it everyday of the week)and then sleep two hours get back up, go to the college and go over each type of problem once, I can remember long enough to take and pass the test. When I didn't do that (started to do it the last part of the last math I failed and got 98 and 100 on the last two tests, but it was too late to save me)I couldn't remember how to do the problem for the life of me. Over just one day, I forget how to do the math problems, even though I know I actually ENJOYED doing them the day before. In my other classes, I took notes heavily, then would go over the notes the day before the test, writing down what I thought was key to the class, then the morning of the test, I would spend two hours going over those notes in hopes it stayed in my memory long enough to pass the class. In others it was essays, to which was nice, I'd read what my essay was on, writing my thoughts on it as I went along (If I waited till after, I'd have to start over again, thoughts got lost)then I could write the essay no problem.
    The problem with note taking is an issue though, I'll start to write what the professor said, I get half of it written and then realize I've forgotten the rest of it!! My notes have a lot of half sentences written, I have to go to the book and try and fill in what I forgot before I could write it down. Does that make sense?
    Oh well, certainly makes life more interesting. I've discovered I can re-read books with just an inkling of what happens next, they seem familiar but still like reading a brand new book, I save a lot of money that way now.
    Winter Marie

    The same happens here my friend!
    hugs!
  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
    #10
    herdizziness said:

    The memory problems are a real bummer at college
    I actually have a 3.45 GPA only because my math I took as a pass/no pass class, I did not pass. So far I've had two tests redoing the math class, have a 90 and a 93 at the moment. The only reason I have those grades in math is I discovered if I stay up all night studying (when I start to study and I see a problem, I'm like, what? how do you do that? Even though I've done it everyday of the week)and then sleep two hours get back up, go to the college and go over each type of problem once, I can remember long enough to take and pass the test. When I didn't do that (started to do it the last part of the last math I failed and got 98 and 100 on the last two tests, but it was too late to save me)I couldn't remember how to do the problem for the life of me. Over just one day, I forget how to do the math problems, even though I know I actually ENJOYED doing them the day before. In my other classes, I took notes heavily, then would go over the notes the day before the test, writing down what I thought was key to the class, then the morning of the test, I would spend two hours going over those notes in hopes it stayed in my memory long enough to pass the class. In others it was essays, to which was nice, I'd read what my essay was on, writing my thoughts on it as I went along (If I waited till after, I'd have to start over again, thoughts got lost)then I could write the essay no problem.
    The problem with note taking is an issue though, I'll start to write what the professor said, I get half of it written and then realize I've forgotten the rest of it!! My notes have a lot of half sentences written, I have to go to the book and try and fill in what I forgot before I could write it down. Does that make sense?
    Oh well, certainly makes life more interesting. I've discovered I can re-read books with just an inkling of what happens next, they seem familiar but still like reading a brand new book, I save a lot of money that way now.
    Winter Marie

    Understand
    Don't think I'd be any good at college, I'd probably forget to go to class :) Keep up the great scores

    Kim
  • herdizziness
    herdizziness Member Posts: 3,624 Member
    #11
    Annabelle41415 said:

    Understand
    Don't think I'd be any good at college, I'd probably forget to go to class :) Keep up the great scores

    Kim

    Kim
    Just Thursday as I left math class to attend my political science class, I stopped in the middle of the walk way trying to reason out where my political science class was exactly, I just could not recall exactly where it was, it took a few minutes trying to picture it all in my mind, then I figured I would just keep walking in the direction I had been heading. Then I remembered where it was LOL. A lot of times I think, is this the right place, is this the right time for different classes.
    Oh well.
    Winter Marie
  • Kathryn_in_MN
    Kathryn_in_MN Member Posts: 1,252 Member
    #12
    Sadly
    Sadly this happens to me a lot. I used to be VERY organized and a great multi-tasker. Not so on chemo... My second daughter laughs at me. She says now I know what it is like to be her. She suffers from ADD, but manages it pretty well. Multi-tasking is not a strong point for her - she gets distracted easily and forgets where she puts things or what she was going to do. She takes it in stride. It frustrated me a LOT! I don't have the patience she has for those issues. But she has always lived with it, and it is new for me.
  • thxmiker
    thxmiker Member Posts: 1,278 Member
    #13
    Confuses said, "Ink stained
    Confuses said, "Ink stained paperis the best form of memory."

    Even then I messed up. lol
    Best Always,
    mike
  • marqimark
    marqimark Member Posts: 242 Member
    #14
    Huh?
    What were we talking about?

    Mark
  • k1
    k1 Member Posts: 220 Member
    #15
    list and the car on chemo
    I try not to leave the house without a list, even if it's just one or two things on it, and since chemo now I have to write not just the things but the name of the store or place I have to go to buy or do the one or two things. Otherwise I just can't manage and waste a lot of gas not remembering not only what to do/get, but where to go.

    I've also had a lot of trouble remembering where I parked my car even if I get to the right place and get/do the right things. I will usually use the alarm on the keyring pad to find it and that helps, but I feel like everyone in the parking lot thinks I'm a doofus for having to do that.

    K1
  • lizzydavis
    lizzydavis Member Posts: 893
    #16
    k1 said:

    list and the car on chemo
    I try not to leave the house without a list, even if it's just one or two things on it, and since chemo now I have to write not just the things but the name of the store or place I have to go to buy or do the one or two things. Otherwise I just can't manage and waste a lot of gas not remembering not only what to do/get, but where to go.

    I've also had a lot of trouble remembering where I parked my car even if I get to the right place and get/do the right things. I will usually use the alarm on the keyring pad to find it and that helps, but I feel like everyone in the parking lot thinks I'm a doofus for having to do that.

    K1

    Ditto!
    Yes, count me in. It all sounds so familiar to me!

    Lizzy
  • pete43lost_at_sea
    pete43lost_at_sea Member Posts: 3,900 Member
    #17
    lizzydavis said:

    Ditto!
    Yes, count me in. It all sounds so familiar to me!

    Lizzy

    at least our sense of humour is working ok if not our memory
    what was i going to say ?
    hugs,
    pete
  • laurettas
    laurettas Member Posts: 372
    #18
    Some of us
    have had these problems our whole lives. It's nice to know that a few others are joining the group!
  • herdizziness
    herdizziness Member Posts: 3,624 Member
    #19
    k1 said:

    list and the car on chemo
    I try not to leave the house without a list, even if it's just one or two things on it, and since chemo now I have to write not just the things but the name of the store or place I have to go to buy or do the one or two things. Otherwise I just can't manage and waste a lot of gas not remembering not only what to do/get, but where to go.

    I've also had a lot of trouble remembering where I parked my car even if I get to the right place and get/do the right things. I will usually use the alarm on the keyring pad to find it and that helps, but I feel like everyone in the parking lot thinks I'm a doofus for having to do that.

    K1

    List
    I wish I would have had a list with me yesterday. I went to the gas station to get fuel and got a coffee and a coke cola and headed on my merry way to class, didn't make class in time, but did get a bit of homework done as I sat in my car on the side of the road waiting for triple A to show up. I had forgotten to get the fuel, the main reason I went to the gas station as I was on empty. Big Sigh and a hearty laugh when I realized as the car started coughing that I had forgotten it.
    Winter Marie

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