memory loss

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-28-1999
memory loss
8
Thu, 06-08-2006 - 4:12pm

My DH has BP and I have a ques. for anyone who has it--do you have problems w/ short-term memory loss? and if so, what do you do? Many times he will forget his appts. and I have tried to remind him to show me the card for the new appt. as soon as he comes home so I can write it on the calendar. But last night he was watching a movie that he has seen at least 5 times, so I said you must really like this movie, you watch it so much. He said "I've seen it before?" I said, yes you have the DVD too.

The funny thing is that he can remember anything he needs to for work. He matches paint among other things. He doesn't forget how to do that. He can remember everything he has learned over 20 yrs. doing hardwood floor installation, matching stains, chemical composition of things which are really complicated. So maybe it's only kind of trivial things that he can't remember, Idk.

It does get him really frustrated, though, because he always had a good memory and is very intelligent, so I supposed that not being able to remember something really simple makes him feel kind of stupid.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-05-2004
In reply to: musiclover12
Thu, 06-08-2006 - 5:59pm
A couple of years ago I was taking Trileptal and my memory black-outs were notorious. Eg; I could remember the beginning of an evening out and getting home but absolutely nothing in between. It caused some embarrassing moments! Last year I switched to the generic form which is Tegretol and I have much fewer problems. Is he on any medication with memory loss as a side effect?
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2002
In reply to: musiclover12
Thu, 06-08-2006 - 7:44pm

Before I was diagnosed bipolar, I had a near-photographic memory. I don't anymore. My memory is much worse when I am having an episode, but it still is not up to previous levels even when I am on an even keel. Could be the meds (some of which should be illegal!), or the illness itself, who knows. But, I know there is a connection between bp and memory loss, at least with me.

Express!
Beth "Petrouchka"

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-30-2004
In reply to: musiclover12
Thu, 06-08-2006 - 9:50pm

What was the question? lol

I absolutely have it!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
In reply to: musiclover12
Fri, 06-09-2006 - 8:20am

Hey there...its the meds...the stupid stupid meds!!! Yes, I have lots of short term memory loss...but too, like with your dh, not usually with work stuff...how weird is that? But with movies, tv shows, appointments, directions to places i have been a million times, things i'm supposed to do like call someone, or stuff like that...hate it.

I hate psych meds with a passion. Its like you trade one for another...and have to choose which evil is worse. UGH.

Sorry to go off there, but its a real thing with me.

Yes, we get your dh...we know how frustrated he feels.

Hang in there and I'm glad you stopped by. I've seen your posts on the other board.

Hugs,

Keli

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-06-2005
In reply to: musiclover12
Fri, 06-09-2006 - 8:59am

I'm really not sure if its a side effect or not...could be meds, could be his age (not sure how old he is, sorry), could be many things.


Best thing right now is to check the side effects of the meds he's taking and make sure his pdoc knows.


good luck

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iVillage Member
Registered: 11-28-1999
In reply to: musiclover12
Fri, 06-09-2006 - 10:07am

Thanks to everyone for your fast responses. I don't think it's his age since he's only 51, not close to senility yet, although he is the first person I know who couldn't wait to join AARP. lol

Everytime he tells his psych, they say it's not the meds, it's the depression. As far as I understand it, he tries to block out the bad memories of his past and blocks out a lot of other stuff too? Idk if that's true, but he has had so much trouble getting a combination of meds that works and doesn't have really bad side effects. He had to go off lithium because he was up to a nearly toxic dose and it didn't even work. Now he's on Paxil, Wellbutrin, I think Tegretol and something else. It's hard for me to keep track. He's like an experiment. Now his psych nurse prac., who he's gone to for years and really likes, is going for her PhD and she's also going to work full time teaching at a college (in order to get her kids free tuition, like she's worried about that, her husband is a psychologist and they live in a really fancy home). So anyway, she won't be taking patients any more and he will have to go to a new psych. Maybe someone starting out with a new outlook will have some new ideas. We can only hope. At least he's stable now.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-01-2004
In reply to: musiclover12
Fri, 06-09-2006 - 11:13am

Big hugs to your DH--I'm 52 and battling with this BIG time, so I can definitely sympathize!

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-28-1999
In reply to: musiclover12
Fri, 06-09-2006 - 2:55pm

Dear Marci:

It's interesting to hear the "other side" point of view. I am usually on the Families & mental illness board and we commiserate w/ people in the same situation, but it's interesting to hear from someone who has the same illness how it feels. My DH has tried to explain it to me sometimes too. Like I have asked him, when you are manic and irritable and really over-reacting to things, do you realize it later and I think he does, but he just can't help himself at the time.

Well, now that he will have to change docs (and he will be going back to his old therapist who he had for years) it will be interesting to see if they have anything new to add. He had to get a new therapist due to his old one not taking our health ins., but now his co. has switched to a diff. health ins. so he can go back to the old one.

As far as getting him to go to a neuro, it would be like pulling teeth. He has various medical conditions, like high blood pressure, things on his skin that might develop into skin cancer that he is supposed to keep an eye on, bad knees & hip (he will eventually have to have knee replacement surgery). I can hardly get him to go to his doc. He usually forgets to call and he won't allow me to call and make an appt. for him. He usually works something like 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. so the office is closed after he comes home. When it's urgent, I keep reminding him and eventually I give up. I figure if it gets bad enough, he'll remember to call. Maybe that's the wrong attitude, but I don't want to turn into a nag.

I try to do as much as possible, like pay all the bills so he won't have to think about that, plus I can make sure they are paid on time. Then a month ago, I was going through our bank acct. on line and found out he wrote a check for $1500 for his car ins. which he forgot to write in the check book, so I wrote a bunch of other checks, thinking we had that money in the acct. (We didn't even have $1500 in the checking acct. at the time he wrote the check, which he would have relized if he had looked at the register.) Luckily we did have some money in the savings acct. to cover it so the checks didn't bounce.

The kids think it's kind of amusing that he can't remember anything, but I know it really bothers him.

Liz