Specific memory concern

[Breathetalkeat]

Hi everyone,

I've seen a few old threads about memory issues and concerns... Seems they come along with anxiety quite a bit (makes sense they would), and if you're prone to health anxiety then it's just another anxiety rabbit hole to disappear down!

I'm struggling today (my partner, who's a good leveller for me, is away at the moment) to get myself to calm down and be rational, so I wondered whether this sounds familiar to anyone else and others would mention it to a doctor?:

I know I had a specific conversation with someone in the last week where they mentioned a recipe to me. I just can't remember who the conversation was with! Even when I think through all of the possibilities, I can't pull up the full memory at all. Or, I feel like I can half remember it being about four different people! This is the second time something like this has happened in the last few weeks (and I can't even remember what the last time was now, ha!), and I've also noticed that I've struggled to come up with a word I was looking for a couple of times, too.

I know I have a tendency to scan for things when they're worrying me; I hate taking medication, it scares me, and in a state of extreme anxiety two weeks ago I took 1mg of diazepam for the first (and probably last!) time - I didn't even feel the effect of it, but then obsessed about whether it would have done any damage for about a week, so this could be a hangover from that worry, but I'm now also worried about all sorts of nasty things that memory loss could be a sign of.

Does this happen to anyone else? Thanks for any thoughts!

M

[MyNameIsTerry]

Memory issues are very common in mental health conditions. They are known to make our cognitive processes more difficult so we struggle making decisions, retrieving memories, even adding things up sometimes.

I posted some info about the different types of memory in this thread which might explain some things about how it works:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=159329&highlight=memory+loss

Some people are affected in more than one form of memory, others one only, and if you read that thread it might help you understand if its one or more so you can better identify which you are struggling with.

I'm betting that you are worrying about the classic issue we think of with memory loss, like we see on the TV adverts and the warnings to see our GP's, but please try to remember that memory issues are very common with our disorders (I've had loads over the last 8 years and there has been no degradation in my intellegence (although some may disagree!!!) and no degradation of memory)