How's your memory?

I think most of us struggle with lapses in memory. The occasional word I can’t bring to mind, and yes, names. I walked down to the supermarket today and when I got to the checkout, found I had forgotten to pick up my handbag, so no means of payment! It was sitting on the table at home. I can’t say it doesn’t worry me, but try not to dwell on it.

kircubbin2000 This year, having probably had a TIA, I have been up at the hospital having brain scans and very thorough and extensive cognitive tests - twice.

On each occasion, my brain scans showed no sign of any damage and I got full marks and more in the cognitive tests. Yet less than ten minutes ago, I was trying to think what we had for lunch, and had to think really hard to remember!

I don't call it 'memory loss', I call it 'buried memory'...most often on the occasion when I forget where I was going with a thread in conversation. It usually comes back later as do people's names...especially if I set aside time to think about the person; the feelings I have about them and the context where we may have encountered each other in the past. DH often gets involved in this process.... We often say that 'together we make a whole person!'

I fing going through the alphabet helps.

Find*

I did try that but I was convinced her name began with S but I was wrong!

kittylester

I fing going through the alphabet helps.

I do that too.

Trying to remember the name of someone the other day, I was thinking for ages then tried the alphabet and only needed to get as far as A!

I do the alphabet thing too. I think my brain just registers important stuff and chucks the rest in the spam box. That’s my excuse anyway!

The older you get, the more stuff you have stored in your memory, so the harder it gets to fish out the one thing you want.
That’s my excuse, anyway.

Germanshepherdsmum

I do the alphabet thing too. I think my brain just registers important stuff and chucks the rest in the spam box. That’s my excuse anyway!

Our brains are full of grey filing cabinets, some with old files lurking inside, dusty from lack of use.
Some are locked!

Yep mines dreadful I forget names, remember them, then forget them again
I often see my vitamins gone off my breakfast plate but no recollection of actually taking them
I think we are so often thinking of many things and yes we have got 70/80 years of thoughts/ memories/ names/ dates etc churning around in our heads
While I can still do my word puzzles and sudukos I m not going to worry too much
I was remembering an old boyfriend the other day just couldn’t get his surname, about two days later it popped into my head out of the blue, now it’s gone again 😳

Oh dear, now what was Gary's surname 🤔
Nice boy, but it was never going to work out .....

Oh yes!!
Remembered 😁

I wonder where he is now

I think my memory is going a bit too. After going out for my weekly lunch with old school friends I try to recall what they were wearing - it's very hit and miss whether I can do so or not.

Then of course it's names which often escape me, "You know, so-and-so, who was in ... such and such ... ? It may or may not come to me, sometimes hours later.

Yes, I forget things sometimes.
It’s because my brain’s full.

I read quite a lot and I’ve noticed I’m getting terrible at recalling the names of the authors of books that I’ve read, sometimes I even struggle remembering the titles of the book too!! I’ll start telling a friend about a really good novel and they’ll say ‘Oh that sounds really good who was it by’…that’s when my mind goes blank, sometimes it comes back to me but not always. I’m the same with tv programmes and actors. I think we just have too many things going around in our heads at times.

I'm honest now, I just say " I know your face, but can't remember your name"

It’s quite reassuring to know that so many of us are the same 😁. I’m pretty certain that as we age, it becomes more usual for us to forget, briefly, the everyday things. (I do it all the time). It does not mean that we have a form of dementia, but of course, it’s natural to worry that we might be developing one.

Long-term memory, excellent, short-term memory, absolutely diabolical 🤷‍♀️

Yesterday somebody asked me whereabouts my daughter lived. Could I remember the name of her road? My mind went completely blank and I was really embarrassed.

Bridie22

I'm honest now, I just say " I know your face, but can't remember your name"

Yes, I met someone a couple of weeks ago and neither of us could remember where we knew each other from.
I mentioned a group, she said no, not there.
Then I thought I remembered another group we go to but she wasn't there last time 🤔

I, too, am somewhat reassured that I’m not alone with a failing memory! For me, it’s often the names of very well known actors in old films, which I like to watch, which would have been household names back in the day. My vocabulary has also suffered, as I hunt for a particular word. This may be because I live alone, so I miss having conversations with someone else.
However, like Bluebelle, I enjoy doing Sudoku and word puzzles, so all is not totally lost!

I find it quite embarrassing. I don't just forget names but also where I know people from. Someone passed me the other evening and said hello. I smiled and she said was I going to such and such when it dawned on me where I knew her from but her name! She had to remind me.
My excuse is my eyesight isn't great (I'm awaiting cataract surgery) and I met her earlier this year for the first time.
Not good though.

I am good at facial recognition not names sometimes out of the blue I see someone and their name comes to mind. It’s just age and the passage of time isn’t it really.