Lost memory?

Wow, it was an odd experience. I'll tell you about a few days ago first.

I went in the shower and started to bathe then, I caught myself putting back the soap as if I was finished. Thinking, I couldn't remember bathing at all. I had a flash of soaping my left leg but nothing more. :huh2: My skin felt clean so I had to have gone through the whole routein... It wasn't a case where you're doing something so automatic that you just can't remember the details, (which I do all the time so it's nothing strange,) it was more like "what the heck just happened?" Nothing like that ever happened to me before.

Today, something so bad happened, it scared me.

About three weeks ago, I borrowed my sister-in-law's hair dryer to dry the spray paint on a freezer I was touching up. Today, I decided to clean out my ROP's reflector and window and needed the dryer to blow off the water to avoid water stains. Now, in general, I don't remember where I put things but, I do know where I'd put something so logically, even though my room's a mess, and the dryer's exact position isn't known, it wouldn't be hard to find since I'd put it some place obvious (obvious to me ie.)

Well, I looked throughout my room and couldn't find it. I looked in the junk by my bed and it wasn't there. I looked under the bed and it wasn't there. I looked on and under the desk and no luck. I even looked in the clothes backet and couldn't find it. Ok, so maybe it wasn't in my room after all. I checked on top of the cuppboard by where the freezer was and no luck. I asked my sister in law if I gave it back to her (don't remember doing so) and she said no. I asked my mother if she knew where it was and the answer was no as well. I checked my room again and no luck. :candle:

Whatever. I went ahead and washed my ROP bits, went back into the bedroom and dried them. I put on the fan, left the bits on the bed to air dry and went outside for no more than two mins. Came back in, sat on the bed and reassembled the ROP. When I got up, the hair dryer was sitting down on the bed behind me. Ok, so someone found it and put it there when I left. I wonder where they found it? Went to ma, and she didn't know what I was talking about. She didn't put it there. Asked my sister about it; she didn't put it there. Went to my sister-in-law and asked her about it; she didn't put it there. There's no one else in the house.

I wasn't sleepy or lacking sleep. I wasn't taking any medication.There was no alcohol in my system, I'm not stressed, I was not abused as a child and I don't do drugs. Where the hell did my memory go? How in the world did I find the dryer, put it on my bed and not remember? Besides the shower incident, the ONLY other time I lost memory was when I was terribly drunk.

Have this happened to any of you before? Does it have a name? Is it common? Am I loosing my mind? I'm not really worried about it in fact, I laughed at how insane it was but really, is going on with my head?


Edit: forgot to add that I'm only 30 and healthy.

:help:

There can be many causes of memory lapses. It's a common joke for older folks to complain that they can't remember what they went into the bathroom for.

If you are concerned, it's a very good idea for you to see a neurologist as soon a practical. You might even (considering the time of day) consider calling the emergency room, explaining the symptoms and ask if you should come in. Mini strokes cause strange reactions, but there are drugs that can help if administered early.

If it helps, I often run on auto-pilot in the shower and find myself with no idea where I am in my routine. I end up extra clean those mornings.

Daniel

Lots of reasons. Are you diabetic? Have you been tested?
It could also be a form of epilepsy that does exactly as you describe.
It could also be the brownies or thinking about the girl next door.

It is something that should be checked as soon as possible. It will probably be a waste of time but there are a lot of things that can be treated if caught early and can't be a bit down the road.

huh...sometimes its a good thing to be young

Dude, i have the same storage system but tend to know where everything is.

I have on ocation gone to look for an item where i KNEW it to be only to find a blank space...... odd. I then walk out of the room for less than a minute and walk back and *presto* there it is as expected in the space i thought empty moments before.

I have always put it down to thinking about something else and not activly looking. Hmmmmm

PS i am also 30, very healthy and have avoided all drugs

lol sometimes when driving i daydream ...things to do in rush hour traffic and i would go for 10 miles and snap back into reality thinking whoa im here already forgetting what just oocured on the road the past 10 miles

What you describe is a typical day in my life. I can put something down on my desk and a minute later not be able to find it. I know I haven't moved from my chair, yet I have no idea where I put the thing. I have ADD (diagnosed) and the problem is that I always have something else on my mind and don't pay attention to where I put things. I spend an inordinate amount of time looking for things.

I do the driving thing too. I sometimes pop back to reality while driving and have no idea where I am. I have to think for a minute to remember where I was going.

My guess is that you were just thinking about something else while doing a mundane chore such as showering.

Inattention examples: At work, people constantly pass me going in and out of the building. I will see a person come in through the door, in a split second recognise the face as someone who belongs here and go back to what I was doing. Most times, the instant I turn away, I forget who was there. It's not that I'm stupid, it's just that remembering who was there is irrelevant information so it doesn't stick. Sort of like looking at your watch for the time and as soon as you turn away your wrist, you forget the time and have to look again. Situations like above happens because of inattention. You don't pay attention so the information doesn't get time to be burnt into your brain and just leaks out of short term memory just as fast as it entered.

Another example would be an idle conversation between two friends. Both of you will be enjoying the talk and for eg the phone would ring. The call is only a few seconds long and when you're finished, both of you are completely lost as to what you were talking about just before. At least you know you were talking about something but forgot what it was about.

Inattention to detail is one thing, not remembering because the memory isn't there is scary. As mentioned in post one, the closest thing to this was a few years ago when I had too much to drink. Apparantly, I spoke to people I don't remember seeing that night. I also asked a girl who I hardly talk to to dance and don't remember. I've heard of intoxicated people driving home and not remembering getting into the vehicle. If I were drunk,(which I don't waste my time doing anymore,) that would have been expected but I was awake and as good as ever and still couldn't figure out what happened.


Mike: LOL. @ brownies or the girl next door. Really, I'm distracted all the time and not more so recently than any other time so I guess that's not a reason...

qip: at least you knew that you were daydreaming...

LedBlind: I had to laugh. Have been in that situation so many times it's not funny. Everytime I search for something and can't find it, I ask my mother to look and she usually finds it exactly where I was looking in the first place.

LedBlind said:

I have always put it down to thinking about something else and not activly looking. Hmmmmm

Click to expand...

Yeah, kind of like scanning through emails or CPF threads without actually reading all the words. You simply don't focus enough energy on searching.

Ok, tired now. 2:55am here. I'm at work.

You better not forget about the $500 I loaned you... :lolsign:

In all seriousness... If this starts happening more often, you really need to go to see your Doc. It could be anything from nothing (probably) to a brain tumor (unlikely). Don't let it keep going without getting yourself checked out. Hope everything is OK! BTW, I'm also a healthy (but fat! lol) 31yo that does NO drugs/alcohol/cigs.

Roger

Could it be the anticipation of the Windies winning the World Cup of Cricket?

Have a couple of beers each time this happens. That way you will be more relaxed about not being able to remember what it is you forgot to remember.

Actually, apart from the possibility that it is a medical issue, it could be a sign of a very active brain. If you find your thoughts being interrupted by other thoughts a lot, it means your brain is trying to multitask too much and you might benefit from some mental concentration/relaxation exercises.

Cobra: What $500?

DUQ: We sucked today. Batting first, we got 86(84?) all out against India... Thank goodness I'm not a cricket fan, my heart wouldn't be able to take it.

Really, if this memory loss crap happens again, I'll definately go to the doc. It's just baffling that something like this happened.

Flouride toothpaste or aluminum getting into your system? = short term memory loss. Do a little research on this, examine your lifestyle. Deodorants also have aluminum in them. Oh ... and don't lick your flashlights to clean them

You might be just stressed and your mind wonders off from time to time, the incidents you described are nothing major.

One day i was looking for a couple of tools i usually keep in my tool drawer, couldn't find them, turned the place inside out still nothing. 2 weeks later i was going through my tool drawer for something else and there they were right in front of me... There is noone else living here so noone else has access to my drawer, conclusion, i was tired and didn't see them when i was looking the first time...

Some times life can be excausting, try and take some time out, take a short vacation if possible. Also look at your sleep regime, are you getting enough ? What is the quality of your sleep ? You might get the 6 hours minimum but you might not really get any rest if you got too much on your head.

Going to the Dr or self medicating shouldn't be the first answer to any of your problems. Take some time to evaluate your self and where you are in your life.

See you all tomorrow Dr Phil sighning out

Go see a doctor right away. I had a friend die fom a tumor growth that he did not catch soon enough, and he was forgetting alot of things.

z96Cobra said:

You better not forget about the $500 I loaned you... :lolsign:

In all seriousness... If this starts happening more often, you really need to go to see your Doc. It could be anything from nothing (probably) to a brain tumor (unlikely). Don't let it keep going without getting yourself checked out. Hope everything is OK! BTW, I'm also a healthy (but fat! lol) 31yo that does NO drugs/alcohol/cigs.

Roger

Click to expand...

Could be serious, could not be serious. I'm 55 and I have been attributing my forgetfulness to my advancing age. I have to wonder about other factors--so many different items on the plate so to speak--life just so complicated anymore and feeling more distracted and less on target with my thoughts. You had mentioned that you may not be as organized as you'd like as well and, without some more organizational skills you just may find the forgetfulness episodes occuring more frequently. I do agree though, see a Doc to check it out and then, get organized!


Karl

The following is a JOKE, if it is deemed inappropriate the mods may delete without giving me any warning:

640k ought to be enough for everyone

The preceding was a JOKE.

Perhaps poltergeists are real and common. My wife and I will both look in the same areas several times for things only to have them show up where we had looked. Maybe our brains just block out what we see because this is a regular complaint of many people.

I've gone looking for my keys, when, all the while, they were in my hand. Same goes for my cell phone. My coworker was just telling me how he was searching for his cell phone all throughout his truck (for several minutes). My boss drove up and asked what he was looking for, and he said...uh...nothing, as he just realized he was talking on his cell phone the whole time. I always find myself arriving at some location but not able to remember how I got there! My dad calls it "driving on instinct."

Another recommendation for a checkup. I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on TV, but this sounds like an event that warrants further investigation.