| Memory Lapse | Hot Conversation |
Lately I have been forgetting where I put things at. I will be 52 in April. I am starting to get worry that something is going on in my body.. or is this part of menopause?
Posted in health & fitness.
Related posts:
35 Responses
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Shirley - what a breath of fresh air. It sounds like you are quite the extraordinary person. I'm going to take your advice and ask myself what would I like to do on this long holiday weekend! Who knows...I just might have some fun. The loneliness is Dear Wondering,
First of all, you will be in my prayers over the next few days. What a sad situation for you to cope with. I hope that he will provide properly for you ... Make sure you get legal advice right away especially if there's any possibi
Shirley,
Sounds like you do have a FABULOUS life already.I too have journals I kept of all ot my travels .They include my sketches of different places as well as recipes from local restaurants which I figures out on my own.
I will be 60 inI was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis for the first time at age 53. I have always exercised a lot. I know for sure that it came about after doing a lot of walking in Sketchers with no arch support. I love those shoes but from now on will only weaHi
I do keep journals but would never be arrogant enough to think anyone would want to read the details. I have been so very fortunate to have chosen a mild climate, a place within easy reach of Europe, and to have found a job which will take me to
I am 51 years old. I forget some important facts that I knew quite well a few years ago. I’m assuming it’s perimenopause causing my troubles. I do have some foggy days where I don’t function as well as I’d like. I pray that it will go away as soon as I am through with real menopause whenever that starts. I do forget why I walked into a room sometimes.. I do have my bad days when I can’t remember facts in a conversation, and afterwords it takes me hours to remember the fact or I go look it up on the Internet. I feel stupid, like how will I be able to function in a real job with a real employer when the time comes.
I was wondering if I was going to crazy. I has misplace money, but I can remember putting it some where so I know I did not loose it. I pray too that thiw will go away soon. I think I am going to get gingko or whatever it is called. For 2010 I am going to learn how to say NO to things that I really do not want to do just to please other people.
Maybe I need that new supplement called Focus Factor.. maybe it has Ginko Baloba in it.. I like your ides of saying NO to people when you already ahve too much to do.
Hi, I’m Ella and I work for Marbles: The Brain Store. Everyone has lapses in memory, especially as they age. I am a perfect example! Sometimes I have to pause and the edge of a doorway to figure out why it is that I am going into that particular room. So, I totally understand. You might want to give NeuroActive Memory & Multitasking a try. It helps fine tune your memory skills through fun, simple games as part of a software program. It is definitely worth a try! http://www.marblesthebrainstore.com/software/comp057.html
51 and perimenopauseal? I have been in monapause since my forties. Sorry, but I don’t remember having just alot of problems with perimenopause, didn’t have time with all that. Had a baby at 40 than it was all over.
I had peri-menopause and it was actually worse than menopause. After 5 minutes of exercise at the gym, any type of cardio I would begin sweating profusely. One time I was in a leotard when I was 40 and look at the lavender leotard croch was covered with blood. I quickly left the class and huge clots that I thought were pieces of liver were leaving my body! I was in an HMO plan and having worked in healthcare had reviewed some Emergency room claims with nurses ( in those days unless it was life threatening in CA regs you had to call first your PCP to have it covered) with this happening to women and they thought they were hemmoraging so I knew that I had to call first. My daughter told me to lay down and it would be gone in 24 hours. It was a hormone spike that can happen in peri-menopause. For years when the doctor would check my hormones up until age 53 the hormone levels would be that of a 20 year old then he did a recheck and they were almost menopausal. Then went through menopause at 55 no hot flashes or anything..just a little more emotional and a little more forgetful but so are the men that I know…
i am living proof of going thru memory loss in menopause. I am 61 years young and after I started using BHRT,,my memory came bac,,the hot flahes went,,the 5 llbs came off..my hair stopped falling out..Life is now good for me!!
I have problem with memory loss that effect my social life.
what is the BHRT
BHRT – Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy. A saliva test and a blood test are used to identify which hormones you are missing. Then a prescription is made up with the missing hormones. This is different than synthetic hormone replacement therapy which causes some very undesirable side-effects such as blood clots, strokes and heart attacks.
Here’s the link http://www.replenishhormones.com/BHRT.html
I am 52 and have notice brain fog and memory lapses as well. I am in menopause and found these symptons worse than in peri-menopause. I try to do internet word and math games to try and stay sharp. Sometimes I wonder if this is what Alzeimers is like! I am sure there are vitamins that can be taken for this like ginko biloba. Physical excerise should help as well as mental excerise, such as a daily cross word puzzle.
I noticed that I much weaker physically and it takes longer to get fit than it has in my past. I am very sorry that I let my fitness regieme go due to work and financial stress.
I am 51 and am suffering through all of these mentioned symptoms. I feel as though I’m living in a fog most of the time. I’ve really noticed it at work (so has my boss) and it can be quite embarrassing. All of my girlfriends are much younger, as is my husband, so I really have no one that understands what I’m going through! I hate it!
Oh, the Brain Fog! I’m 55 & obviously in menopause although my partial of hysterectomy of 23 years makes it difficult to calculate my beginning, middle, & end. I’ve taken to tape recorders, sticky notes, & palm reading (where I write notes on my palm so as to remember what I’m going for when I enter a room). Compound this with an extremely busy work schedule (I own my business), 3 grandchildren under the age of 5 (that I love to babysit sometimes), a husband who needs me to help him with everything (where I don’t want his help with anything) and the fact that I love to indulge in my favorite wine… Presto, Brain Fog! What I have learned? Walk. Water. Wink. Walking & water bring oxygen to the brain. Walking gives you a moment to breath & personal reflection. And finally wink. Loved ones will think your flirting or being playful. Strangers will wonder what you’re thinking & only you will know you can’t remember.
this is so me!! i am 52 and also had a partial hysterectomy 18 yrs. ago. thankyou for your comments , it made me laugh and i am going to try all these things!!
I recently spoke to a Dr. Dan Purser, specialist in preventative medicine for women. He told me that when the pituitary gland is damaged (falls, stress, childbirth, etc.), then progesterone is depleted. It is the progesterone that women desperately need or we suffer PMS and all manner of menopausal symptoms. I asked if the symptoms abate with age. He said in some women, yes, in others, no! He recommends bio-identical hormones, especially progesterone, for reducing brain fog, fatigue, memory gaps. My experience has been tremendous! I also use a supplement with gingko. Both helped pull me out of always feeling like I’m running to keep up. I’d say I’m 90% back. I still have trouble with name recall. Does anyone know a great program for this?
Anything out there organic or herbal. Don’t like to perscription meds.
I’m 60 and no longer have all those menopausal symptoms that I had from age 50 to 55. What I take now is mostly organic and herbal, and is customized to me based on my DNA. A key ingredient is CoQ10, which we hardly produce after age 40. This really helps with the brain fog, but knowing which form to take is key. Most CoQ10 in the stores is in the form of ubiquinone, but about 30% of the population doesn’t have the enzyme to utilize this. My DNA report showed that I couldn’t either, so my custom formulae has ubiquinol, which my body can utilize. The rest of my formula is comprised of whole foods, fruits, vegetables, botanicals, and herbs. You can look at my website http://www.mygenewize.com/joann to learn about how we can even do this – customize nutrition for each person to compensate for genetic predispositions that affect how well we age.
I’m 58 & I’ve been forgetting the simpless little things for years. My Dr. tells me it’s part of getting older, not menopause, so to help our situation is to start exercising our brain in doing all kinds of mind puzzles & games. Within time you will notice big improvement.
DejaNew
I teach line dancing, and it’s a great brain/memory exerciser. You have to memorize choreography, simple at beginning level, more complex as you progress. All my dancers tell me it has improved their memory, and many of them are over 50, 60, 70. There’s somethign magical about matching the brainwork of learning choreography with the physicality of dancing and muscle memory.
Yes Yes Yes. The body is a big part of the healthy-brain equation!
Hi I am going to be 57yrs. next month and I too have discovered that I can’t remember things my family will tell several days earlier. Also my husband has noticed that I cannot mult-task as well as when I was younger. The funny thing is I am a nurse and work on a a surgical unit that sometimes can be moving at a fast clip, but I usually have no problems remembering several things that I have going on at the same time. i wonder if my brain just decides when I slow my pace down at home that it can slow down as well and maybe that protects my sanity.
I absolutely agree, I worked insanely busy yesterday, 14 hrs in sicu, and taught a new nurse the whole time. Today I feel hung over…I have found caffeine helps with memory, If I feel foggy at work, I take vivarin.
I am 58 years old and I have been having brain fog since I was 49 .Everyone keeps telling me that it will get better but I don’t no wieither to beleive them or not.I hate being this way.So I reaLLY KNOW WHERE YOUR COMING FROM.
Can someone recommend some good free sites to get the good brain exercise?
I like (and teach) Kundalini Yoga. There are many brain exercises associated with the practice. One of the specialists is the brain field is Dr. Dharma (DrDharma.com). He has put out some tapes that are clear and simple, which give exercises for nourishing the brain. He says that cross-word puzzles do nothing, and I’ve read that before somewhere. Being a Movement therapist has taught me that movement must be involved to stimulate the brain. That spinal-cerebral fluid must get moving! Good luck.
My memory!! What happened to my memory? Mr. Sandman stole it in the night? I lost it watching the WWI wrestling or America’s Next Top Model?? What happened?
It’s not just losing my keys, forgetting why I entered a room or not being able to complete a sentence with a shred of coherency, but I am staring this very moment, at my “to do” list from yesterday and one of the items I hastily scrawled marked “urgent” is: “MAKE PRICE RED SOCK”. What am I supposed to do with that?? I have formed the letters in every possible combination and got nothing! It may come back to me and then again may not.
And another frustration…I get the most ingenious ideas in the middle of the night. And since I would forget them the next morning, I placed pencil and paper by the bed to jot down my gifted prose and creations. I then would wake up to: “The rock has moss but the sun comes out”…??What am I supposed to do with THAT?
I’m learning, as I know I’m not alone in this, to find humor when I forget names and faces, my address and social security number, birthdays and leaving my keys, cell phone and wallet in the car while it’s running…wait that last one wasn’t funny at all. Never mind. I’m really not learning anything at all about this and if I was, I’ll most likely forget it anyway…
You are so funny. I do the same thing. I think that happens when the bridge between the left and right brain (logical and creative minds) is not open. We get a creative thought, but saying it in words (logic) is not there for us, especially when stressed or tired or in the middle of the night. Don’t worry about it, but do something about it. The Kundalini Yoga brain exercises are great and DrDharma’s Brain Tabs (DrDharma.com) work wonders. I’m also using Brain Power from Young Living (youngliving.com). Immediate focuser…
Hello, I am in my sixties and all my friends joke about having “brain farts”. Everything seems to slow down as we age. I take 240 mgs of Ginkgo Biloba daily which helps keep me more alert. Coffee in the morning, and green tea in the afternoon help stimulate my brain. I think we all have to keep learning new things and find ways to challenge ourselves. I too line dance and find it is a good workout for the body and the mind. It is best not to get too uptight about our memories slowing down and just go with the flow. If we are too worried about it, we might cause more mental blockage. It is just another stage of aging.
Ah yes, the menopausal brain. How Do I adjust to that, anyway? I’m 57 years old, and have been struggling with brain fades (aka “senior moments”) for almost 10 years now. I was told it would get better once I went through menopause (it started in perimenopause), but if anything it seems to be getting worse. It’s not as though I’m not exercising my brain. I’m constantly learning because researching and keeping up with new findings in psychology is part of my job (I teach in a graduate program that trains future therapists). My mind is constantly going. But I feel as though my mind is a sieve, whereas in the past I had a memory like a steel trap. Once something was in there, it was locked in. Now I feel as though information keeps leaking out. It’s SO annoying, especially since the younger students have no idea what I’m talking about when I tell them I can’t remember things. I’ll be in the middle of a lecture, and if I’m talking about something that has two points to it, by the time I get through explaining the first point, I can’t for the life of me remember what the second point is! Sometimes I’ll be in the middle of talking about something and I’ll suddenly draw a COMPLETE blank and not be able to remember what I was just talking about 10 seconds ago. At that point I usually look at the class and say, “What was I just talking about. I just had another one of my brain fades, and I have NO IDEA what I was just talking about. Key word. Give me a key word. I need to Google my brain. I KNOW it’s in there somewhere!” Fortunately my students tend to be quite amused by my antics, which definitely helps! I’m wondering about the suggestions made here about BHRT. Because of my mother’s having had breast cancer and pre-cancerous cells in her uterus, I’ve been told that regular HRT is too risky. Is BHRT safer in that regard? I hate to think this will get worse. I do know that getting back to regular cardio exercise will help. I just need to make myself do it! Easier said than done, to be sure!
I had uterine cancer stage 2,,in Dec 2008,,I have been on BHRT since then,,Im 61 and would rather be dead then go thru the miserable life I was leading…Run to your BHRT Doctor and get his input,,BHRT dont go thru you liver and they are such weaker strengths,,,Good Luck,,get a life,,teehee
My research indicates that bio-identical hormones are perfectly safe. That said, it’s important to compare companies and do some sleuthing on your own. Anybody can say anything and get away with it. The terms, natural and organic even mean next to nothing…
I’ve found that Gary Young of Young Living and Dr. Dan Purser have both become specialists in hormones. Dr Purser notes that the Pituitary produces Progesterone which gives us better moods, enhanced memory, more energy, less fatigue and lowers mood swings and headache that accompanies pre and post menopause. The transdermal creams are not necessarily the best carriers for the Progesterone, which, by the way, helps prevent breast cancer. Gary Young took the bio-identical progesterone hormone (made from a Yam and not from the urine of pregnant horses (Premarin) and put it in a Frankincense base. The Frankincense oil not only smells divine, but it can move right past the blood barrier and into the blood stream, something even the creams have a hard time doing.
Do the research, compare notes and take the action. I don’t think we need to suffer so much.
I also trust homeopathy. Dr. Theresa Dale in California has some excellent product.
Let me know if I can help. I’ve been looking at this for years…
Count on it — something is going on in your body — it’s called age, change, not needing to know all the things we thought we had to know when we were younger. I had someone tell me ‘it’s not forgetting where you put the money, it’s forgetting what money is for’. Same with car keys, and going from one room to another til the penny drops. I’m 78 and rather lucky — didn’t start the brain farts and all until about 5 years ago. Now I ALWAYS ask myself ‘how important is this in the grand picture of things’ and get on with it. Usually, when I relax and accept — then my brain remembers. There are memory tapes one can listen to. They are more to help one relax – meditating – which then allows the memory to kick in. Good luck!!!
Wasn’t it one of the best brains in the world – albert einstein – who said someing about not being able to keep all the stuff in his head — but he knew where to find it when he needed to!!!
[Edited by Moderator]
[See Community Guidelines.]
In this day and age of information overload and multi-tasking, we all forget things. That is normal. Menopause can bring on a feeling of fuzziness and forgetfulness. Problems with concentration and memory are most likely linked to sleep loss and fluctuating hormones, but aren’t necessarily signs of aging. Make sure that you get a good night’s sleep (at least 8 hours uninterrupted). You will awake clearer and more alert. Hopefully this helps you a little.
I found these miracle supplement in an article from Womans World.The ladies father had alyzheimers and then she started taking them also..and it helped immensley..so I took them and it was such a great improvement,,no more fuzziness and I can find my car keys now..teehee. Acetyl-L-Carnitine 300mg and PS.from NaturalFactors (phosphatidylserine) 100mg. Also since i have been on BHRT’s I no longer need them,,such a difference..Life is Good!!
I think it’s partially menopause but also we tend to get overburdened with sandwich generation things and work and too much multi-tasking. On NPR they had someone who had conducted a study (always terrible with name and titles – even in 20s and names but great memory for plots or the story itself) and multi-taskers perform the wrorst on jobs and in tasks compared to directly focused people .The only thing they were found to do better was conccentrate on the road and text messaging though it was still highly dangerous. Women are forced to multi-task and are not able generally to engage on very focused non-interrupted tasks. Even my 24 year old daughter who helps me in my business will forget what she is doing when we are very busy shipping and packaging then answering phones, photographing and listing items.