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Is it Cognitive decline?

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Is it Cognitive decline?

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 195

Yeah, the memory thing comes and goes. What I need to remember is that I was often distracted as a child. My teachers were always telling my parents I was easily distracted/daydreaming and horsing around too much. I was a good kid, but not a great student. But I was a good student when I applied myself. If I had the same drive for taking classes and doing well as I do when I am deep focused on a workout, I'd have a matsers. I have been a fitness freak since age 14.

It's also really quite appropriate that my wife is an elementary school teacher. She had been teaching for about 8 years before we met. I think some of my teachers would be amused to find out that I married one of their own. LOL

Had a few moments of dissociation last evening after I posted. This was driving home from getting the Chinese food. But I took half of a diazepam (2.5 mg) before we ate and watched a movie and then has my magnesium-calm, chamomile tea, 5-HTP, Gaba and some other natural supplements I use. I was conked out on the bed by the time my wife had finished work she was doing.

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 89

Sounds like you got the memory thing pretty much figured out. It's hard to focus when all those threats are out there. It weighs heavily.

Glad to hear you're keeping up with the exercise. That should help a lot.

I'm also glad to hear that your weekends are less worrisome and that you are enjoying it with family. Sounds like you're figuring the root of your anxiety out as you write down what is going on in your life. Your successes with that are helpful to all of us, so please keep visiting. It inspires me as I'm facing some big transitions too. Fortunately, my job and employer are excellent!

Keep up the good work!

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 195

Alright. 1 day into the weekend and I am doing good. Not perfect, but good. I had an awesome back workout last evening. This helped me destress from the sales blitz day, of which I did very well. I may have a couple of more sales on the horizon to shut the bosses up.
We slept until about 8 this morning, had a nice breakfast of organic oatbran and organic eggs. I did my shoulder workout with great intensity. I am so proud of the way I have thinned my waist back to 32 inches and kept all my muscle. We both just finished a Jillian Michaels' yoga DVD. Very hard.

The dissociation is still with me, but I am fending it off. I know dissociation can only be the brain's response to stress and anxiety. I've had it a lot throughout my life. It makes you real unreality. I had some anxiety today at Whole Foods. I think it was mostly that I stood up too fast when I was crouched down looking at peanut butter while my wife was talking to me about almond butter.

We also are going to put another shelf up near the ceiling for out cats. This way they can walk from the floor to the ceiling whenever they want.

Now I just need to keep the positive vibes into tomorrow and into Monday. We are also going to plan a trip to the Keys when my wife is off school this summer. We have not been away on just an "Us vacation" in a few years. Going to schedule it 4 days before the weekend so it will really be six days. The Keys are about 5-6 hours away from where we live near Orlando.

OK, time to go pick up the Chinese food.

By the way, I forget things less when not working and on the weekends. LOL

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 4027

Wrestler,

It's great to hear someone in peak condition admit that.

I take it one step further.

I apparently talk to myself, so visitors can't tell if I'm on the phone or just talking to myself. Once during a night course, someone started to answer me, and I realized I must have been saying something.

I really need to get out, but my list of excuses for GAD is very,very long and I give new meaning to inner "talk"...

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1665

Hello everyone: ahahahaha - yes, I run upstairs and then ask myself why the heck I came up here! No problem, everybody goes through this every now and then. I just stand there for a second or two and then it comes to me. Sometimes it's because you have lots on your mind. As you say, GAD, things are constantly intruding.

your friend, Sunny

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 195

Thank you, everyone.

I am going to have to catch up with all the great responses and ideas this weekend. I did not get home from work until about 6:30 and we just finished relaxing on the couch after we had dinner. I plan on doing some stretching now or maybe even put in a yoga DVD. I have not had time, since my post about taking classes, to actually go by the school and find out what class I should start with. My job has become ridiculously stressful because of how much they are pressuring us for sales. Apr 8-10 is what they call a sales blitz. I already have one more sale than I need, so I should be relaxed, but now they are adding GPS things to our trucks and monitoring where we are at any moment. They say it's to save gas, but when you have something that allows the bosses to be "big brother," you know they will use it. We are also not supposed to let the trucks idle for more than 5 minutes if we are waiting for an appointment to show up, etc. This is Florida. Heat, humidity, sweat. Enough said. But bosses always get the last word. I guess they care more about saving gas than the comfort of any given employee. The GPS (big brother) device has not been put in my truck, yet. I found out today how they got on a couple people for idling their trucks more than 5 minutes. Add this to how they added an extra Saturday, the extra pressure for sales, threats of being fired if our trucks are messy, and I think I have my answer why my anxiety has been off the charts lately and with anxiety comes stress. With stress comes worry, with worry comes depression. Anyone have any idea why I may be forgetting things or having trouble relaxing and virtually being panicky all day? Ugh! I have felt in another world for a couple days this week. I can only describe this as dissociation.

I do remember how this latest bit of feeling anxious started. I remember having really bad OCD a few weeks ago. It was the kind where I could not get a song out of my head. Even if it's a good song, eventually you want it gone. I hate OCD. The OCD may have been brought on by the stress over sales pressures or it may just be in addition to the stress.

OK, time for my relaxation. Thanks for letting me vent. My wife let me vent tonight and my anxiety level was so high that she told me to leave the kitchen and go relax. This was after I fed the turtles outside. :-) So I took a nice shower. She understood I was grumpy and we had a nice dinner together.

I will post more this weekend. One more day and the whole weekend is ours.

David

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 89

Wrestler, it's funny how when I read everyone else's posts here that they sound like something I would write. That tells me that the things we experience and feel are most likely directly related to the anxiety/panic/depression.

I have what I think are memory issues as well. Exactly like you are experiencing. But I don't think it is anything necessarily wrong with the brain, other than being focused on other things like worry. How I figured this out was the fact that if I commit to remembering something, I can do it. I'm a member of the Freemasons and as such I had to memorize extensive texts to qualify as a Master Mason.

You know that saying, "He gave us the third degree." That comes from Masonry and means a long winded speech when used like that. Well, I memorized the third degree. How they heck can I do that if I really have an issue with my brain? I couldn't. I suspect you have a lot of complex things memorized as well, especially with your background in physiology, nutrition, knowing chemicals and different bugs and such.

I still walk into other rooms and forget why. I still forget simple things. Now I just use those moments as cues to slow my mind down a bit and get back to the here and now.

My mom calls it living in the hereafter. She goes into another room and thinks, "Now what am I here after?" LOL!

It'll get better as you practice calming your mind down. Keep working on the CBT.

What Davit recommends is very good too. There are many things we can do to help us remember things by using different cues or mnemonics, little tricks to help the memory. Do a search on the word mnemonics and you can learn a few.

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 4027

Memory loss for me is non-existant. I just wish I could forget, but it is as though I have a photographic memory, except for people's interests, which is only since I'm selfish, I always thought!

I've always been very organized with lists, cellphone and computer cross-checks, so I'm good at making use of them through GAD's over-vigilance.

Now if I "remember" that I didn't make a note of something, I just console myself I'll remember since "worry" is my extended memory. I don't bother getting out of bed at all.

For me, it is the silver lining of this cloud.

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 653

Hi again, Wrestler,

Yes, it sounds like that person might be looking for evidence to support his claim about medication not being useful. You and I both know many people who have had a great response to medication, so take a big grain of salt! What Davit said also may have some truth. Bottom line is that it sounds like you are doing great and what you're experiencing sounds pretty normal. Try not to worry about it too much unless it starts to get worse or you become more concerned. Then talk to your doctor.

Stay strong! Keep up the good work.

Tiana, Health Educator

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

Wrestler,

Do you remember a few posts back you mentioned wanting to do something else other than your job. I was counter man in a welding supply store but had to quit because I couldn't remember peoples names, I was only 30 then. Strange thing is I could remember numbers. People with anxiety disorders tend to be over observant which should help your memory. But it doesn't. Instead it makes you observe for a second that you can't remember something and you lock on the fact you can't remember instead of what you can't remember. If it is like mine you get a big blank spot you can't fill and boy does it bring on the anxiety. People never used to be a big part of my life because of the anxiety, I avoided them. So I couldn't remember there names. I could remember other things about them, like I knew them just couldn't remember there names. I can describe the inside of a building perfectly but can't remember My first girlfriends name. I would say loss of memory with your job is because you are bored or not interested. I would also say since you are thinking about it that you are panicking every time you can't remember something for a minute. Associating all these little things so they seem to be a bigger thing. Here is something you can try, I call it using the back door. Instead of trying to remember something directly try to remember something associated with it and the missing memory will fill in. An example. If I can't remember some ones name, I try to remember there house or job, things that are of more interest to me and there name will come along with it. If you can't remember if you checked the baseboards, try to remember the colour of the room or how many windows. By taking the focus off the base boards the block you have put on it should go. A lot of people stop right in the middle of what they are doing and can't remember what it was. Difference is that we with an anxiety disorder lock on the the fact we can't remember rather than what we can't remember. Accepting that for a fact of our condition helps. There is also the fact you are getting older and slowing down. Memory is only one of the things you will have to deal with as you age.

God forbid that you are thinking dementia. There are tests for peace of mind.

Lets see what the others think. I'm betting there are others just like you, especially since this is a panic site.

Here for you,

Davit.

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Is it Cognitive decline?