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Memories, may be beautiful and yet...

Is your memory the same as it was before you got ill?

  • No, my memory is essentially unchanged since I became ill.

    Votes: 8 26.7%
  • Yes, my memory has deteriorated, and I blame my disease.

    Votes: 4 13.3%
  • Yes, my memory has deteriorared, and I blame my meds.

    Votes: 8 26.7%
  • Yes, my memory has deteriorated, and I blame the trauma.

    Votes: 1 3.3%
  • Yes, my memory has deteriorated, but it is just the aging process.

    Votes: 2 6.7%
  • Yes, my memory has deteriorated, and it is a combo of all of these

    Votes: 10 33.3%
  • What was the question?

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    30

Kev

Senior Member
Hi folks. I've come here to ask for some help, some input, some advice... any thoughts, stories, etc., would be welcome. Here is what brings this all on. In the last few days, something happened at work. I related the story to a very dear friend... and ... a short while later, she inquired about it. I couldn't recall whether it happened on Saturday, or Monday. And this conversation took place on Tuesday. OK, just a brain fart, right? However, as anyone who has read any of my posts will note, I frequently warn EVERYONE not to trust my memory. Hey, I'm 58 & 1/2 years old, maybe I'm just getting senile. But, in talking to this friend... she asked a question, and I started telling her about me and my sons moving from the outskirts where we originally lived to a place closer to the hub... it was on bus routes, my sons were starting to date, and the school in the new area was renowned. I'm talking a part of our history that involved a couple of years. And that is when it got very frightening for me. You see, until I was asked that question, I believe I had completely forgotten it all. Gone. Not that I couldn't remember it, but I wasn't aware I'd forgotten it. If I'd been asked that question a week or two ago, I don't know if I would have remembered it. OK? This is scaring the living bejeepers out of me. I've never been this age before... so it could be aging. It could be that I'm going senile (I'm not joking, I know 2 people with dementia/Alzheimers, and it isn't pretty). It could be the long term effect of my various meds over the years... or it could be from the disease itself... either a part of it, or just the trauma it puts you through makes everything in life surreal, dreamlike.

Anyway, kind people... I need your sage wisdom. I need a consensus. A poll. Is memory issues a part of this disease, its treatment, a side effect, or what?
 

Jennifer

Adminstrator
Staff member
Location
SLO
I do deal with minor memory issues often that I think may mainly have to do with medication (forgetting what I was doing, forgetting what I was going to say, forgetting what I was thinking about (that's become more common for me), and something else which I forgot (I seriously did, I'll add it later when I remember). That's more of a guess really since I do notice a change after starting new meds and after stopping meds. I've never dealt with something that scared/frightened me though. Have you talked to your doctor about it?
 

Catherine

Moderator
My first suggestion would be get your b12 levels checked. Low b12 has know side effect of memory problems.
 

Kev

Senior Member
Well, my recent bloodworks (plural) have been excellent... In fact, in spite of everything, I'm in remarkably good health. The diabetes I got for Christmas last year is completely in check... I mean, I do have to take a pill in the morning, and another in the evening, but my blood sugars are bang on normal with just that (and the more I ponder Forksoverknives the more I think I may be able to make it go away permanently, wouldn't that be nice)... So, my b12, etc., are all good... wish it were that easy.

Thing is... OK... I've got ADD (actually, AADD).. .Had it all my life. Don't know whether my 'memory' was ever normal... scatterbrained would be a more appropriate description.
Recently I've reduced my caffeine intake... and caffeine is just the stimulant my AADD brain needs to stay sharp. And, as I mentioned... I've never been this old before. I knew 2 people with Alzheimers... one advanced case, the other early onset. And another lady who had an extremely rare form of dementia... literally it was diagnosed from a video that was posted on You Tube... It came on hard, and fast... within a month she was put in an institution... Anyway... life has been really good to me... 2014 has been great, just one for the record books... AND then I realized that my 'spotty' memory had let me drop 'years' from my life... and I didn't immediately realize that I had done that.. and that scared me. (Guess a bit of it is superstition... everything going soooo good, what can go wrong).. Realistically, I've been working like crazy, things have been very hectic, MAYBE it is just a one of a kind slip.. BUT... on the times I've warned people not to trust my memory, invariably somebody will chime in and say their memory is on the skids too. Sooooo, before I go asking my doctor, raising any alarms, I thought I'd bounce it off of the forum. Is there anything to this? Does this disease affect memory? Or am I crazy? (well, the latter has nothing whatsoever to do with the former, but you know what I mean)
 
I had an awesome memory before I got crohns. After I got diagnosed and got sick from an extremely bad case of C. Diff (lost 30 lbs which for me is a huge amount) and then started to flare really badly at the same time my memory totally crapped out. I can't remember most of the things that happened to me during those months. I blame the disease, because it ravaged my body so much my mind couldn't really doing anything. I feel like the trauma of what happened to me in the fall of 2012 has impaired my memory. I still don't feel like it is up to what it used to be. I'm only 27 so I don't think its age related for me. Also I find that I have a similar situation where I know I used to know something (random factoid, or important date, or something I was supposed to do) but I can't remember it until someone else jogs my memory. It is pretty depressing I think.
 

Kev

Senior Member
Thank God someone else has experienced this... misery loves company. I used to be tarp as a shack... not Mensa, but close... and today... just... depressing is a very good term for it. Not good as in good, good as in appropriate. I honestly expected more folks with similar memory issues... guess not everyone is lucky like us. Thanks for the feedback...
 
I have only been diagnosed with Crohn's for about six months. The diagnosis was made after I had a suspected ruptured appendix in March 2013. Since this time (and even before that) I feel my overall cognitive performance has decreased.

I worked job over Summer at a local cafe. My manager would sometimes ask me to do something simple and I would forget what she asked me in a matter of seconds. I would hear what she said, but the words wouldn't register. Through one ear and out the other.

When talking to a friend he mentioned that recently I haven't been as sharp as I normally am. It takes me longer to articulate words and process information. My mother always has a go at me for being so slow in everything I do. She says its like i'm going in slow-motion. I also find it very hard to recall what I have done on days earlier on in the week, everything is a bit of a blur.

I don't know whether or not this is a direct influence of Crohn's disease itself. Perhaps the current state of my mental health and the powerful drug combination I am currently on is also playing a role. Living with a chronic condition also gives us something to worry about every day, something the average person doesn't have to deal with.

In my opinion it is a combination of factors.
 

kiny

Well-known member
I noticed you tend to forget things if you're focused on something specific. If I'm thinking about something specific that's on my mind, or reading something, someone can walk up to me and tell me they're going out to eat......I'lll say "..ok"...10 minutes later I am wondering where she went. She'll come back 2 hours later and I'll go..."where did you go?"...and she'll go.."I told you"..and I'll go..."oh...right". The more focused I am on something, the more I block out other things around me, and that leads to easily forgetting some things. But the mere fact I still remember clearly what I was reading, means there's probably nothing wrong with my memory.
 

Kev

Senior Member
I wonder.. but will never know.. what exactly it is that does it... the disease... the diet.. perhaps poor absorption (mal-absorption??)... I don't know. To me, my whole life since I was diagnosed... hell, since I became ill... is totally surreal. And parts of it are distinctly 'blurry'... Like I was in a haze (drugs???)...

You know, some ''opinionated'' folks have suggested that Crohns (CD, CC, UC, etc.) is ALLL in our heads. I have this minor sinus issue... never goes away, never gets worse... I wonder... What if that is the source... the Ground Zero of my disease... and that part of it literally 'blew' my mind?
 
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