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Post by resprayedmonger on Aug 10, 2014 23:38:18 GMT
It came to my attention recently that I don't use my memory like the majority of people and wondered if this is an ADHD thing or my own thing. I was told most people think in pictures or at least some sort of mental image but I don't do this , I try to remember the sound, I try to remember the words of the instruction to remember something which of course means its easy to get distracted and lose the thread . I have been making a real effort to form real story boards in my mind and it is making a real improvement to my short term memory. Please post with your memory improvers .
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unohoncho
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Post by unohoncho on Aug 11, 2014 20:18:46 GMT
For me, it's emotion, dunno why, it's just always been that way. My long term memory is outstanding but I think this is at the cost of my short 'working' memory which is just shit. Typical ADHD'er in always losing my keys, wallet, phone, sometimes two or three times a day with absolutely no recollection of when I last had any of them.
Smell is particularly powerful for me in recreating an emotional memory, especially aftershaves and perfumes but typically I feel the memory and the images and sounds follow, can't explain how it works much better than that I'm afraid
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Post by contrarymary on Aug 11, 2014 21:53:36 GMT
interesting thread. i can sort of identify with both of you.
for short term memory i much prefer to have something to look rather than something to hear, but if i only hear i will try to remember the sound of the instruction/ direction /thing i have agreed to do/phone number etc and recite it back two or three times in my head or indeed out loud
if not impeded by anything and i can get as far as writing it down then it's safe. if something interrupts, i'm completely thrown and have forgotten far more than the thing i was trying to record - i don't remember what day it is, what the subject was, what or why i was doing something.
my longterm memory is apparently excellent - after a lifetime of disbeliving the people who told me it was unusually good i was surprised to find myself testing on the 99.99th %ile. i remember things by feelings as well - i can remember exactly what it felt like to be 5 years old and crossing the road on the way to school, and then the teacher, the school, the day, the colours come back after the feeling.
my only improvers have been around writing things down, and using lots of colour that means something to me in order to make the things stick in my head. often i find i can only remember that it's in orange and on the top right of the page and not necessarily what it is, but i have found that writing things down in colour helps.
but sleep and good food and meditation and exercise and avoiding sugar and all that stuff also help memory.
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Post by danherts on Aug 12, 2014 1:11:39 GMT
interesting thread. i can sort of identify with both of you. for short term memory i much prefer to have something to look rather than something to hear, but if i only hear i will try to remember the sound of the instruction/ direction /thing i have agreed to do/phone number etc and recite it back two or three times in my head or indeed out loud if not impeded by anything and i can get as far as writing it down then it's safe. if something interrupts, i'm completely thrown and have forgotten far more than the thing i was trying to record - i don't remember what day it is, what the subject was, what or why i was doing something. I can relate to this. I get completely disorientated sometimes. I think for me it's the transition between thinking and doing. Like when you walk into a room and you can't remember why you are there. You probably knew why you were going there, you might have been thinking about what you were going to do on your way but switching between thinking and observing something gets lost. I get this a lot, I can be driving and suddenly not have a clue where I am even though I'm on familiar roads. I can be reading and look up and know what room I'm in or even building or town. I wonder of it's like the ASD face blindness thing. I seen this guy in the queue in front of me in a supermarket in another town and drove myself mad for ages trying to think of where I knew him from (does anyone else always seem to be the one who won't let it go when you communally forget the name of something/someone?) A few days later I bumped into him whilst working the dog and realised I speak to him all the time. I wonder if it's related because it seems to be context that makes me remember rather than anything else. If I'm at work and I forget where I am, I realise it's work time, I realise where at work I'm not and suddenly the alien walls become familiar again as I re-remember them. Like when you stay at someone else's house and wake up in the middle of the night. I didn't think most people have a visual memory, but it certainly seems the best way to remember. I learnt that technique years ago where you make a visual interconnected story in your head and managed to easily recall all the states of America but never put it to any practical use because it's so labourious. As mentioned above emotion creates strong memories, I'm much more likely to remember something that made me happy or sad or angry but I suppose those are the things that aren't mundane and we're 'designed' to remember. Visual and emotional combinations create memories I'll never forgot, decapitations etc. Strange how we can't remember the things we want to but can't forget that things we don't. Smell seems to be the most persitant memory and can instantly transport me back 20 years. It seems hard to replace a connection between smell and an early event with a much later one. Cow shit and open fires will always remind me of being five in Ireland and some herb I'm yet to identify will always remind me of those 'Pizza Rollas' as they pretty much melted my bottom lip off oozing molten cheese and tomato. One thing I always seem to remember is song lyrics. I can hear a song for the first time in 10 years and know every word. Why can't I delete some of this crap to make some space? I'd much rather know my Mum's birthday than the words to Shaggy's 'Boombastic'. I'd love to know how most people remember things. My hunch is that they're better at it than me purely because they're more present. They take cues from their environment and don't suffer from that transitional interference. Tangential thinking is probably another reason.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2014 8:58:44 GMT
I never forget a face, but sadly have trouble with names. Emotional memory is very strong allied to a very strong and reliable long term memory. In recent years I've been thinking about early onset Alzheimer’s because my short term memory seems so shot. But I think I've always had poor short term memory which was easier to handle at a younger age given the energy I had back then. Now I just can't be bothered to employ the myriad of coping strategies I once did.
It's kinesthetic and visual learning for me, whilst auditory is really poor. Somebody can say something to me and I've instantly forgotten it. But then I can only attend to them for mere nanoseconds.
Thanks for starting the thread; interesting, cathartic and full of personal affirmation
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Post by contrarymary on Aug 12, 2014 11:03:00 GMT
i love this thread - it makes me feel better I also remember tunes & lyrics to just about everything I have ever sung - hymns from primary school, musicals i was in, songs my daughter learnt when she was five, stuff I've done in various choirs... One of the things that seriously bothers me on a regular basis, and which i've been meaning to post about for ages but kept forgetting (!) is pretty similar to what danherts talked about, about suddenly not knowing where you are, even when on familiar roads or at work, and having to readjust... what i get is that it feels as tho my brain resets all the time, and whatever situation I am in is unfamiliar - not just the surrounds, tho that is one example - even if i am sitting on my bed, I suddenly see the view into the garden as something I don't know/have never seen before, even tho I have spent thousands of hours looking at the same thing. but it is as tho i see afresh the people i am talking to, no matter how well i know them. or the situation i am in, whether i am half-way through a two-hour meeting or ten minutes into tea with a friend. it is as tho my brain resets - like a refresh the screen command on the computer, and when it is refreshed I do not comprehend what is going on. I don't even have to be with anyone else - my brain can hit refresh and I suddenly do not understand what i am in the middle of doing, what I am in the middle of feeling, or indeed who I am. And I have no idea how long I have felt like this, tho I suspect that like everything else it has been around for much of my life, is part of why I have always struggled, and has got worse since I stopped smoking (the stimulant nicotine is very hard to live without after self-medicating for twenty years!) It is completely and utterly weird, and quite frightening. In fact so weird that I haven't previously been able to put it into words, wondering whether it is adhd or perhaps asd or indeed something completely different, to do with my neuro condition or the medications I have been dosed with which have trashed the limited working memory I used to have. So, is this just me or can anyone else relate?
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Post by quebec on Aug 12, 2014 11:50:55 GMT
omg. can't believe I didn't realise this before. 'how do you learn best?' is a question that's been posed to me a few times. followed by me clutching at the straws that were offered. I've never been able to justify a weighting on any one thing. in fact, a recent test showed I am evenly distributed between the three core tenets. surprise, surprise, another NT yardstack that is hopelessly inadequate for us. Emotion. It makes perfect sense. The only time I remember anything, learn anything is when it raises my emotional level well above threshold. This must be the reason I remember all the bizarre stuff I do and also the reason I can't force myself to learn things and the reason I *still* walk upstairs to fetch the dirty washing and come back down with an empty drinking glass. thank you !!
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Post by mark-thecarpark on Aug 12, 2014 12:52:11 GMT
hi,
Interesting thread. I've enjoyed reading it and been able to relate to it. I often forget names which can be very frustrating - especially when I'm expected to introduce the person in question onto other people I know. I wish I could just put that extra bit of effort in at the time to concentrate and remember the persons name.
"Emotion. It makes perfect sense. The only time I remember anything, learn anything is when it raises my emotional level well above threshold." - I completely agree.
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unohoncho
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Post by unohoncho on Aug 12, 2014 13:04:40 GMT
I *still* walk upstairs to fetch the dirty washing and come back down with an empty drinking glass. Completely relate to that
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Post by probioticgirl on Aug 15, 2014 8:24:17 GMT
My short term memory is far too scattered and unreliable to identify that I use it in any specific way. I do try and write lists at times and check jobs off lists, this can work for a very short period, up to 2 weeks, until the novelty wears off. Guess that's a visual?
I used to have a silly thing I did when I thought I would forget something ...i would tell myself I would forget it. Strangely, this often helped me remember it! Must have been a coincidence, but it did seem to have success.
The problem for me with ANY system on the planet is I WILL EVENTUALLY FORGET TO USE IT OR GET BORED OF USING IT.
One thing I am good at is remembering phone numbers. I make a rhythmic pattern and repeat it and it seems locked it. Guess that's an aural?
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Post by danherts on Aug 15, 2014 19:24:50 GMT
I forgot my debit card PIN number today, which happens occassionally. I was in Screwfix which is the DIY version of Argos where you write the catalogue number down on a slip and take it to the cashier.
I'd written the catalogue number down wrong repeating the last digit twice when it was the second digit that was repeated i.e writing 1233 rather than 1223.
When I left I looked at the receipt and noticed the number was very similar to my PIN and I'd entered my PIN incorrectly twice making a mistake very similar to that of the cat number. So having this other number in my head caused me to make the mistake.
I can understand how I might have got the numbers muddled, but how the hell did it make me completely forget my PIN?
I've been reading some Freud lately who has some explanations on forgetting that seem to make intuitive sense. If anyone could think up an explanation for the above I'd love to hear it.
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andres
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Post by andres on Aug 17, 2014 23:08:15 GMT
Like other have said, the best way I have found is by associating it with something another memory - emotional, sensory, visual. There's a load of mnemonic techniques that utilise this process. Whenever I smell a deodorant or aftershave that I have used in the past, I always get a flood of emotions that I was feeling at the time when I was using it. The curious thing is, that even though I clearly remember feeling these emotions at the time when I was using that particular deodorant, they're not familiar too me now. It almost as if your emotions, or the way you feel them, develop and change over time.
I've noticed that I learn a lot of codes (for doors, ATMs etc.) by learning the spatial shape of them rather than the sequence of numbers. I always find them harder to remember (and have to think about it rather that input in automatically) when I am at an angle or upside down to the keypad. There is a mnemonic method called Loci which is AMAZING! I've never used mnemonics as you have to put a bit of initial effort in and I'm lazy, but I've tried it a couple of times and it's fairly mind blowing how effective it is. There are also working memory training techniques but there is controversy over how effective they are. If you want to know how your working memory works and don't know, the most validated and agreed on model is by two chaps - Baddely and Hitch - en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baddeley's_model_of_working_memory To get a grasp of it you have to understand that your WM is very short term (literally seconds), it's used for information computation like reasoning and planning (like the memory in a computer), and everything you are aware of now is in your WM. It model has 4 components - 2 short term storage devices - the phonological loop for audio and linguistic memory traces, and the Visio-special sketch pad for visual and spatial (and possibly kinaesthetic) traces. These are both filled with information either from your long term memory or info from the outside world via your senses. There is also something called the central executive that controls the flow of information and directs attention, and lastly, something called the episodic buffer that combines all the info into a memory episode (what you are aware of right now). It has been proposed that your episodic buffer underpins consciousness! So you have these two storage tanks that feed the episodic buffer, and everything is controlled by the central executive. If you're wondering why you can hold, say a phone number in your WM for more than a few seconds, it's because it has a rehearsal mechanism which can feed the info back into the the storage device (hence the name phonological loop), this is what's happening when you keep going over a phone number to try and keep it in your mind. So, you 'think' in both sound and vision, plus a load of other stuff. When you are reading this, the info goes into your Visio-spatial sketch pad, your central executive is retrieving previously learned linguistic info from your long term memory to make sense of the words, it then goes to your phonological loop where you 'hear it' as an internal monologue, then into your episodic buffer where you are aware of it. The problem, I guess, that ADHD peeps have, is controlling the flow of info and attention (Central executive)- for instance, recalling a name (or other info from your long term memory), or keeping your attention on the task as you walk into another room and get distracted by something else. Not being able to access info in a fluid manner seriously screws up your ability to reason. One thing I have noticed after taking MPH for over a month now is vastly improved memory recall whilst it's working, which has a massive effect on everything else. I was always struggling to recall the right word or name, and thought my WM was shot, but it's not.
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Post by danherts on Aug 18, 2014 10:15:11 GMT
Whenever I smell a deodorant or aftershave that I have used in the past, I always get a flood of emotions that I was feeling at the time when I was using it. The curious thing is, that even though I clearly remember feeling these emotions at the time when I was using that particular deodorant, they're not familiar too me now. It almost as if your emotions, or the way you feel them, develop and change over time.Â
I've noticed that I learn a lot of codes (for doors, ATMs etc.) by learning the spatial shape of them rather than the sequence of numbers. I always find them harder to remember (and have to think about it rather that input in automatically) when I am at an angle or upside down to the keypad. I get both of these. When smell awakens a memory it's like the period of time I get sent back to has it's own unique aura that has become totally unfamiliar. I don't know whether that feeling was actually there at the time or my memory has added it. I also remember keypad pins much better if if kind of draw a line through the numbers. If I can't remember the numbers, first I'll try to get the shape back, then I'll use my fingers which have a memory of their own and often they will seem to just tap out the number indendently with no conscious feedback from my brain, similar with playing a tune on the guitar or writing a word I've forgotten the spelling of, no amount of thinking brings it back but the fingers just know.
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Post by Andres as guest on Aug 18, 2014 11:41:30 GMT
I also remember keypad pins much better if if kind of draw a line through the numbers. If I can't remember the numbers, first I'll try to get the shape back, then I'll use my fingers which have a memory of their own and often they will seem to just tap out the number indendently with no conscious feedback from my brain, similar with playing a tune on the guitar or writing a word I've forgotten the spelling of, no amount of thinking brings it back but the fingers just know. I think this is called procedural memory. It's weird because you're not consciously aware of recalling the instructions to coordinate a series of motor movements, unlike recalling knowledge, past events, or emotional memories, where you are aware of it in your working memory, you just do it. So I guess, with respect to the PIN numbers, you might learn the sequence of numbers or the shape first, and this gets transferred into you procedural memory, and maybe the original number/shape memory gets hidden in the depths of your long term memory. Because it's not retrieved very often (because you now use your procedural memory instead), it's harder to recall. I forgot to mention this before (I know, ironic), but the best way I find to remember things on a short term basis, is to recall them as often as possible. The more you recall a memory trace, the stronger it's consolidation in your long term memory. If you can't remember everything when you try and recall it (for instance a list of objects or names), if you look at the list after you have failed to recall it, you have a much higher chance of recalling it next time. The more you do this, the stronger the consolidation. Just going over and over a list does help a little, but the act of recalling it with out the list in front of you is much better. This is why flash cards for exams work so well.
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andres
Member's posted somewhat
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Post by andres on Aug 18, 2014 13:14:33 GMT
Whenever I smell a deodorant or aftershave that I have used in the past, I always get a flood of emotions that I was feeling at the time when I was using it. The curious thing is, that even though I clearly remember feeling these emotions at the time when I was using that particular deodorant, they're not familiar too me now. It almost as if your emotions, or the way you feel them, develop and change over time.
I've noticed that I learn a lot of codes (for doors, ATMs etc.) by learning the spatial shape of them rather than the sequence of numbers. I always find them harder to remember (and have to think about it rather that input in automatically) when I am at an angle or upside down to the keypad. I get both of these. When smell awakens a memory it's like the period of time I get sent back to has it's own unique aura that has become totally unfamiliar. I don't know whether that feeling was actually there at the time or my memory has added it. I also remember keypad pins much better if if kind of draw a line through the numbers. If I can't remember the numbers, first I'll try to get the shape back, then I'll use my fingers which have a memory of their own and often they will seem to just tap out the number indendently with no conscious feedback from my brain, similar with playing a tune on the guitar or writing a word I've forgotten the spelling of, no amount of thinking brings it back but the fingers just know. I think this is part of your long term memory called procedural memory. It's concerned with the coordination and sequence of motor movements, and also operates below the level of consciousness so you you're not aware of it. I guess, with reference to the PIN numbers, you learn the sequence of numbers or pattern first, and then over time, your procedural memory takes over, and the original memory is buried deep inside your explicit memory which is concerned with memories that can be consciously accessed. I think, because you're now relying on procedural memory to input the PIN number, you don't often access the number sequence or shape of the pattern from your explicit memory, and memories that you don't often access are harder to recall. Why you transfer this to your procedural memory (if you do), I'm not sure - maybe it something to do with reducing the cognitive load on your working memory, which would make sense. There have been cases of people who have zero ability to form new explicit memories, ie. can't remember what happened in the past - have total zero access to it, but can still learn new procedural memories like learning to play an instrument. In the past when I have forgotten an pin, sometimes I just go for it, and it has worked! I think you use all types of cues to access long term memory - something weird happened to me the other day. I saw a van down the road with a sign in top of it advertising whoever's van it was called 'The Jetwash Guy' - I clearly remember thinking this as I thought that wasn't a very good name for their business, maybe it is, I'm no marketing expert. Anyway, after this, I was reading a lot of stuff this psychologist called Stephen Pinker and he makes various references to to his Jewish faith and upbringing. The next two times I saw the Jetwash Guy's van, I read it as the Jewish Guy, even though I had previously read it correctly! So I guess all kinds of things, including recent experience (like a number similar to your PIN), influence how you access your memory.
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andres
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Post by andres on Aug 18, 2014 13:23:44 GMT
Yeah, not quite sure what happened there. I posted as a guest and couldn't see it, so posted again. Whoops!
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Post by dizzydumpling on Aug 18, 2014 22:23:03 GMT
One of the things that seriously bothers me on a regular basis, and which i've been meaning to post about for ages but kept forgetting (!) is pretty similar to what danherts talked about, about suddenly not knowing where you are, even when on familiar roads or at work, and having to readjust... what i get is that it feels as tho my brain resets all the time, and whatever situation I am in is unfamiliar - not just the surrounds, tho that is one example - even if i am sitting on my bed, I suddenly see the view into the garden as something I don't know/have never seen before, even tho I have spent thousands of hours looking at the same thing. but it is as tho i see afresh the people i am talking to, no matter how well i know them. or the situation i am in, whether i am half-way through a two-hour meeting or ten minutes into tea with a friend. it is as tho my brain resets - like a refresh the screen command on the computer, and when it is refreshed I do not comprehend what is going on. I don't even have to be with anyone else - my brain can hit refresh and I suddenly do not understand what i am in the middle of doing, what I am in the middle of feeling, or indeed who I am. And I have no idea how long I have felt like this, tho I suspect that like everything else it has been around for much of my life, is part of why I have always struggled, and has got worse since I stopped smoking (the stimulant nicotine is very hard to live without after self-medicating for twenty years!) It is completely and utterly weird, and quite frightening. In fact so weird that I haven't previously been able to put it into words, wondering whether it is adhd or perhaps asd or indeed something completely different, to do with my neuro condition or the medications I have been dosed with which have trashed the limited working memory I used to have. So, is this just me or can anyone else relate? Hi Contrarymary, This post just pulled me out of lurking as it's something I've been worrying about a lot recently! What you describe has been bothering me for about the last year and I was starting to wonder if I could be getting early onset dementia as although my memory's always been shite, this sudden feeling of "where am I and How did I get here?" seems a bit more extreme than usual! Also things like word blindness, which have always been a problem, seem to be getting worse. I've been trying to make myself feel better by telling myself it's just a normal part of getting older - i.e. as a child/young adult I lost my belongings and forgot things more than I did in my thirties. I assume that by my thirties I'd just managed to train myself a bit better and use routine places to store things a bit more etc., but now I'm in my 40s I seem to have gone backwards and forever losing keys/phones/bank cards again. I have a feeling that I read we are at our peak of mental agility in our thirties, but that the brain goes downhill from 40 odd so this would fit! So I've been trying to tell myself that it's not dementia & I'm just past my peak, but these temporary 'absences' (for example, suddenly not being able to work out where I am in a street that I've walked down many times before) frighten the living crap out of me when they happen! Like you, I'd be really interested to know if this is an ADD/ASD thing or something else. In fact I'd be really interested to know if attention deficit and associated problems generally increase/decrease with age for other people. Without meaning to sound nasty I can't help feeling glad I'm not the only one this happens to as in a way it puts my mind at rest regarding dementia. By the way, I've never had ADD meds so can't be a side-effect of meds (except maybe past anti-depressant/recreational drug use). My DX is ASD with a 'subset of attention deficit', but I would argue that it should be the other way around! The only other thing I thought it could be linked to is depression as I've been a bit worse with this in the last year or two.
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Post by contrarymary on Aug 19, 2014 7:33:11 GMT
hi dizzydumpling glad to have hooked you into posting - having put this out there i was hoping it would get picked up on and put my mind at rest too i've not been on adhd meds either. i have a private diagnosis of adhd combined and a gp who doesn't believe in adult adhd but who has referred me to the maudsley for adhd/asd assesment. it's now at the sort out funding stage. but i was on lots of medication for a number of years, including high dose diazepam which is known to affect the brain's executive function in the long term. and i know that my overall attention has got worse since stopping smoking - there are studies which show nicotine's affect as a brain stimulant. hence many adhders self-medicate with smoking and find their symptoms escalate when they stop. (it is a miracle that i have stayed stopped for that very reason!) re the brain resetting thing - i wonder if it is a type of attention-span deficit? i know that it is more frequent when i am tired, or have strained to hold my attention for a while eg in a meeting, or catching up with a friend. but for me it happens at least several times throughout the day, not just occasionally. or perhaps it is some relation of the being dragged out of hyperfocus thing, where surroundings and people and everything are alien and uncomfortable, and interruptions feel as tho i have been assaulted. i struggle to move from one thing to another effectively unless there is time for transition. i generally only notice symptoms when they are new; once i understand or get used to them they become Normal and then struggle to remember or describe them. it's only because this is so very disconcerting and has happened so often that i remember it. i would love to understand it, or find a way of mitigating or ameliorating the effects. but meanwhile i'm glad not to be alone
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Post by dizzydumpling on Aug 22, 2014 23:02:25 GMT
hi dizzydumpling glad to have hooked you into posting - having put this out there i was hoping it would get picked up on and put my mind at rest too i've not been on adhd meds either. i have a private diagnosis of adhd combined and a gp who doesn't believe in adult adhd but who has referred me to the maudsley for adhd/asd assesment. it's now at the sort out funding stage. but i was on lots of medication for a number of years, including high dose diazepam which is known to affect the brain's executive function in the long term. and i know that my overall attention has got worse since stopping smoking - there are studies which show nicotine's affect as a brain stimulant. hence many adhders self-medicate with smoking and find their symptoms escalate when they stop. (it is a miracle that i have stayed stopped for that very reason!) re the brain resetting thing - i wonder if it is a type of attention-span deficit? i know that it is more frequent when i am tired, or have strained to hold my attention for a while eg in a meeting, or catching up with a friend. but for me it happens at least several times throughout the day, not just occasionally. or perhaps it is some relation of the being dragged out of hyperfocus thing, where surroundings and people and everything are alien and uncomfortable, and interruptions feel as tho i have been assaulted. i struggle to move from one thing to another effectively unless there is time for transition. i generally only notice symptoms when they are new; once i understand or get used to them they become Normal and then struggle to remember or describe them. it's only because this is so very disconcerting and has happened so often that i remember it. i would love to understand it, or find a way of mitigating or ameliorating the effects. but meanwhile i'm glad not to be alone Interesting about the diazepam. I never really took benzos as I reacted quite badly to them, but did take too many opiates in my 20s so perhaps they have a similar effect. I've often worried about the legacy of my past drug use in relation to physical health, but hadn't given so much thought to long-term cognitive effects - which seems daft when I think about it! Coming off Citalopram a couple of years ago definitely caused various weird neurological disturbances though and I really wouldn't be surprised if that was linked to memory problems. Like you, I definitely struggle to move from one thing to another, but I don't think this 'brain-reset' thing particularly happens when I'm hyperfocused - but definitely tends to be on those over-tired, stressed days that you just drift through in a fog. It feels a bit like when you wake up in a strange bed (that sounds worse than it is!! ) and it takes a minute to work out where you are, what's real, and what's just residual dream! Having this happen several times a day must be very disconcerting. I'm feeling quite fortunate now as some weeks I won't get it at all, but then other times it seems to happen a few times a week. Good luck with your assessment process - perhaps ADD meds will help with this (would insert a fingers-crossed smiley if I could find one!) [/quote]
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Post by carly31 on Aug 26, 2014 23:26:03 GMT
I need to know how everything works from start to finish. I like to have the life story of everything ! You don't watch a film from the middle, like you don't start a book from the end! I can't articulate or express my understanding unless I've grasped things this way- which can be annoying for others!
I use external memory mostly. I found this particularly helpful when feeling anxious about life events. I drew a picture of all the things that are important to me so that one thing doesn't suffocate me. I live today, not yesterday, not tomorrow, whatever is worrying me is the theme of my life today, which can either be really productive or really destructive!
I find emotion helpful too. I never realised that those feelings in my body were emotions and they tell you all you need to know about any situation.
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Post by contrarymary on Aug 26, 2014 23:58:09 GMT
I need to know how everything works from start to finish. I like to have the life story of everything ! You don't watch a film from the middle, like you don't start a book from the end! I can't articulate or express my understanding unless I've grasped things this way- which can be annoying for others! I use external memory mostly. I found this particularly helpful when feeling anxious about life events. I drew a picture of all the things that are important to me so that one thing doesn't suffocate me. I live today, not yesterday, not tomorrow, whatever is worrying me is the theme of my life today, which can either be really productive or really destructive! I find emotion helpful too. I never realised that those feelings in my body were emotions and they tell you all you need to know about any situation. i love every single word of that post. thank you.
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Post by tink on Sept 14, 2014 19:21:45 GMT
I've always worried about my long term memory. I don't seem to have much sense of time... Once a stage in my life is gone, it's almost deleted kind of thing. Memories of my childhood are very fragmented, not running along a fluid timeline, and I don't recall much at all. Just some of the feeling I had. But there's no ongoing storyline to it.
It does really worry me though.
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Post by carly31 on Sept 15, 2014 16:55:58 GMT
For years I swore that I had an amazing memory! Turns out I don't, at all! In fact my memory is so bad that I seem to have lived a completely different life to the one others have witnessed!
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Post by clubby on Jul 27, 2015 13:35:04 GMT
I am fascinated by the different ways people think, feel and remember. Until recently I thought we were pretty much all the same.
This is how it is for me:
Visual Memories - good as long as attached to another type of memory - very poor in isolation
Visuo-spatial Sketchpad - almost non-existant. Limited to a symbolic line, square or circle. I can hold these in thought for about 0.5sec
I can do movement on the sketchpad -grey shadows moving on a white background Visual memories can land on it - only enough time for comprehension - not enough time for thought
Black and white only
Comes to life just before I fall asleep. Can be amazing. Detailed colourful images
Auditory Memory - Numbers are hopeless, words poor, music good
Phonological Loop - Auditory processing disorder means significant delay in listening and reading comprehension
Struggle to follow verbal and written instructions of any kind
Mental arithmetic almost impossible
Inner monologue garbled
Can hear full classical symphonies in my head as an orchestra would play. Lovely.
My ability to think consciously is seriously compromised which is why I think on paper.
Most of my processing is done subconsciously and the result is feelings as follows:
Feeling memories - all strong - smell, taste, touch, movement, music, stories, emotion, concept
My subconscious "thinking" appears in my consciousness as a concept. I am a conceptual thinker.
If someone tells me "It was a fine day", I will remember the statement later as "It was a lovely day".
I remember concepts but not words.
I don't know if any of this relates to ADHD but I wanted to share, just in case it might help someone else
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