Memory? What memory was that then?

[Deleted User]

My late OH always said that doing crosswords were excercise for the brain cells.i love crosswords and keep the weekend DM one by my computer so when I am booting up the machine I always have a look and see if I can do a few answers everyday.It does take me virtually a week to complete but I have lots of time to sit and scratch my head :):)

littlemissbossy

I'm 39 and my memory is pants. At work people tell me something and I'll say right, ok, then they say "do you want to write it down" they know me now!

When you start a new job its extra hard cause of all the new things you have to remember that would have come naturally in your old job.

I work in accounts and when I was in my first week I got my debits and credits in the wrong columns, of course I didn't balance and spent the next 2 days trying to find out what I'd done wrong. Gosh, I felt like such a plonker!

foreign_correspondent

I used to work with a very well spoken, dignified lady who once said to me, 'oh dear, I am having a 'craft' moment..' of course, I asked 'what is a 'craft' moment?' - she smiled and to my surprise said 'oh, it stands for... Can't Remember a F*cking Thing!' - it made me laugh, and I thought it was one way of dealing with those awkward times when your brain flips out of gear!

At the risk of sounding like a certain poster whose name is in my signature, (a criticism which was levelled at me not because I am an advocate of vitamin D, like Ted, but because I know I do get a bit of a bee in my bonnet about certain issues and stick by my convictions) there is some really interesting recent eveidence that vitamin D slows down mental decline related to ageing.

http://www.nursingtimes.net/nursing-practice-clinical-research/specialists/older-people/vitamin-d-linked-to-good-memory/5001842.article

I have started taking vitamin D for other reasons, and have bought a years high strength (5000 iu) from bigvits for about £16, so it could be worth a shot - it seems that in the UK most of us are probably quite deficient unbeknown to us.

Savvy_Sue

As I walked to work yesterday, 2 women passed and greeted me as if they knew me. On my way home, a man greeted me as if he knew me. I suspect the first two are volunteers from work, but the 3rd definitely isn't (all our volunteers are women!) I don't work directly with the volunteers but they all wander into my office at various times. Trouble is they didn't even look familiar!

Then this morning, someone started shouting at me about where their child was, where they were going if they hadn't been in school for 6 months, and how it was my job to find out. I'd suspect mental health problems, but after yesterday ...

downshifter

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

I used to work with a very well spoken, dignified lady who once said to me, 'oh dear, I am having a 'craft' moment..' of course, I asked 'what is a 'craft' moment?' - she smiled and to my surprise said 'oh, it stands for... Can't Remember a F*cking Thing!' - it made me laugh, and I thought it was one way of dealing with those awkward times when your brain flips out of gear!

At the risk of sounding like a certain poster whose name is in my signature, (a criticism which was levelled at me not because I am an advocate of vitamin D, like Ted, but because I know I do get a bit of a bee in my bonnet about certain issues and stick by my convictions) there is some really interesting recent eveidence that vitamin D slows down mental decline related to ageing.

http://www.nursingtimes.net/nursing-practice-clinical-research/specialists/older-people/vitamin-d-linked-to-good-memory/5001842.article

I have started taking vitamin D for other reasons, and have bought a years high strength (5000 iu) from bigvits for about £16, so it could be worth a shot - it seems that in the UK most of us are probably quite deficient unbeknown to us.

Hmm, interesting. I'm surprised that in this country we are short of vit D as we get a reasonable amount of sunlight and many foods are fortified with it too. There are so many things that could (or could not) make a difference though, that I find myself rebelling after a while and becoming fatalistic - and I don't believe in fate or luck normally at all.

I liked the craft moment, had one of those at work again this morning, fortunately found where the problem was but like littlemissbossy, it took me ages to find where the problem lay. I've realised though that on the days I work alone, I do much better, the distractions of everyone else stressing around me make me produce far more errors than when alone. Also I don't have to admit to a problem when alone, as I have space to work out what's gone wrong and sort it before anyone finds out!!! Goodness how childish that sounds.

Thanks everyone anyway, nice to know I'm not alone!

DS

downshifter

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

As I walked to work yesterday, 2 women passed and greeted me as if they knew me. On my way home, a man greeted me as if he knew me. I suspect the first two are volunteers from work, but the 3rd definitely isn't (all our volunteers are women!) I don't work directly with the volunteers but they all wander into my office at various times. Trouble is they didn't even look familiar!

Then this morning, someone started shouting at me about where their child was, where they were going if they hadn't been in school for 6 months, and how it was my job to find out. I'd suspect mental health problems, but after yesterday ...

I'm forever greeting people as if they were bosom buddies because they look familiar, only to remember afterwards it was probably the lady on the till at Morrison's earlier that week or something. She probably thinks I'm some daffy eccentric, I can live with that!

foreign_correspondent

downshifter wrote: »

Hmm, interesting. I'm surprised that in this country we are short of vit D as we get a reasonable amount of sunlight and many foods are fortified with it too.

The sunlight we get here is relatively weak, and we tend to spend a lot of time indoors in modern life, as opposed to our ancestors, and cover most of our skin with clothes!

From PatientUK

Vitamin D deficiency is a very common problem - more than half of the UK population has insufficient levels of vitamin D.

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Vitamin-D-Deficiency.htm

pollypenny

I have just had a lovely young lady waving madly and smiling at me, while I waited at a junction in the car.

I must have taught her, but have no idea who she is.

agal

downshifter wrote: »

I'm not even 60 yet and my memory seems shot to bits.
DS

I know the feeling. I've progressed to a pad of Post-it notes plus pen in every room in the house. Think of something - write it down - put note in pocket. Next day put on different pair of trousers and discover lots of notes in the pocket from a week ago.....

flossy_splodge

littlemissbossy wrote: »

I'm 39 and my memory is pants. At work people tell me something and I'll say right, ok, then they say "do you want to write it down" they know me now!

When you start a new job its extra hard cause of all the new things you have to remember that would have come naturally in your old job.

I work in accounts and when I was in my first week I got my debits and credits in the wrong columns, of course I didn't balance and spent the next 2 days trying to find out what I'd done wrong. Gosh, I felt like such a plonker!

This post resonated for me as I work in an accounts environment at the moment and as it is all totally new to me I HAVE to write everything down but the person who should be training me has NO training skills whatsoever and jumps around all over the place when telling me of a new procedure then often stops half way through to answer a query from someone else! Nightmare! But excellent excuse as I can say" you didn't cover that part" and as she is so disorganised she doesn't know if she did or not so I get to cover up some of my missing memory!!!
I think you have to be MUCH more methodical when you are older - that's what I've found helps anyway.
Good luck to all of us!