Memory and spelling mistakes

[snowdrop]

Hi

Do any of you suffer from a really bad memory with your anxiety? mine has become really bad and its making me feel old plus I keep forgetting things my boss has told me to do and she's not too impressed! I'm finding it hard to keep up and think I might have to start writing everything down as am worried I will forget something really important, anyone else get this?

I also seem to have forgotten how to spell certain words, this may sound odd but there will be certain words I correct a few times before getting them right....I have always been REALLY good at spelling and these words aren't particularly difficult ones!

x

[NoPoet]

Yeah, I worry about this all the time, thinking I'm gonna be the first 29 year old to suffer from alzheimer's. Nothing wrong with writing everything down -- don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

Tiredness, stress, concentrating on too many things, being scatterbrained, dyslexia, worrying about getting things right, being easily distracted, all of those things can cause you to make very simple mistakes.

EVERYONE makes mistakes. I'm willing to bet your boss has put her foot straight through her tights when getting dressed, or stumbled over a kerb in front of people, or dropped loose change all over the floor of a busy shop or shouted "Oh Colin Farrell!" during sex with her husband. If you make a mistake, relax, it isn't gonna start world war 3, just take a breath and fix it.

And don't apologise unless it's really worth doing so -- don't give away power or make yourself look accountable by saying sorry just cos you added something up wrong. Just say, "Right, I'll fix it now."

[Mully]

Stress, Anxiety etc can affect your memory. I have really bad days that I call my 'dippy' days, where I will do stupid things like make coffee without actually putting coffee in the cup !.. ( I've posed about this is the misc thread )

I will take a phone call and if it is for someone else, I have to write down the name of who called, or I will forget a split second after I hang up, who it was I spoke to !..

I find the best way to deal with it is to laugh at myself, and don't take it too seiously, I tell everyone my brain is broken, I have a memory like a cracked sieve ..etc. that way, I don't get stressed about it and other people accept that I can be fogetful at times.

As for your boss.. being under that stress in itself will add to your already anxious state. Like Psycho says ' if you make a mistake, just take a breath and casually say.. oh poop, I'll go fix that'.. or ' oops, sorry the cogs in my brain need oiling' .. try and make light of it.

You are aware of the problem and can help yourself by writing things down, invest in lots of sticky notes. they are a godsend lol..

An remember, its not just those of us who have an anxiety disorder or those that are on meds that this happens to. Anyone, who has some stress in their lives, can be affected this way.. our working memory ( short term memory ) can be so easily get befuddled with over work or family, relationship problems etc.. I'm sure it has even happened to your boss!..

Keep your chin up honey ..

[krog]

Hi,

This issue is the main cause of my health anxiety.
When I first noticed it happening I thought I was going mad.
When it does happen, the panic that I get myself into makes it even worse.
I take comfort from a particular example that I am going to bore you with now

I was working on my computer one evening and my wife came and stood at the side of me and began to tell me that she thought her mobile phone was on the blink. I was not paying particular attention to her as I was focusing on the task that was in front of me on my PC. She eventually walked off and I finished what I was doing and I then tried to remember what it was she had said to me. Needless to say I could not remember and I went into a massive panic attack. I ran downstairs and confronted my wife who was by this time, trying to calm me down. I then explained that I had forgotten what she had said to me not five minutes earlier.
At this point, a rather bemused look fell across my wifes face and she said that she could not remember either. She eventually remembered but the whole episode made me realise that we all 'forget' things and that we all cannot truly 'multi-task' and take on different information at the same time.

Sorry about the long story but it is always one I recount when I think I'm losing it

Cheers,
krog

[snowdrop]

Thank you for your replies!

I am trying to not let it stress me out and you are SO right there are times this happens to everyone, I guess I'm just worried because I'm on a contract and it might look like i'm being lazy, maybe trying to relax about it more will help.

I do the most crazy things, like go towards an area in a room to turn a lamp on when I know the lamp isnt there!! I also go to places to get something from a cupboard or something and then completely forget why I am there and it takes me about 5 seconds to remember. It is laughable I suppose, its just at work it bothers me the most. Some of the most simple tasks I forget how to do them.

x

[Nechtan]

I do it all the time Snowdrop. It frustrates the like out of my wife. When I'm in the kitchen my wife will shout me to bring something through, usually for the kids, and I'll come back without it. Usually I've something else on my mind.

Anxiety makes the mind a bit muddled too. I remember every morning sitting with a cryptic crossward staring at it and not able to fill out a single line. Then I'd go and do a brain training exercise I had on the laptop, go back and start filling it in.

I think tiredness makes it difficult for us to keep focus and the mind works a little slower as a result. Nothing to worry about though. We just have to learn how to accomodate it for now.

I wish you all the best in your job,

Nechtan

[samtheman]

This has really worried me over the past years, I did really well in English at school, I was always the kid that the other kids came to when they wan't to know how to spell a word, Now my spell and grammar have went to pot all together,