A very real concern! (becoming forgetful)

Old Salt

Old Salt

Senior Member
Location
New Brunswick, Canada!
I am 85 years old and will forget something I was going to do almost immediately. It does come back to me eventually! Also, some words I always knew now don't come to mind despite my best efforts. I don't think I suffer from reduced intelligence but do the weirdest things, like trying to shove oven mitts into the fridge (as I did a few moments ago) etc. etc. Should I worry about Alzheimers or is it a natural symptom of aging? Any ideas?
 

This is actually funny (I like to think), but I knew all of my adult life that some folks are fooled by the Placebo effect when taking a medication. The word "placebo" totally slipped my mind. I told my daughter only last night please put placebo into the subject line of every email until I finally remember the word again. Just had to look at her last email to find it again. :)
 
Old Salt said:
Thank God, Ruthanne, you made my evening. I do okay when it comes to practical matters but only if I single mindedly concentrate on doing them, the moment I start thinking of anything other than the task at hand I am lost! Bless you!
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Maybe as we get older, we do things less mindfully, which causes us to make mistakes such as forgetting where we put things or putting things where they don't belong. When I put something down, I try to make an image of it in my mind so I don't forget where I put it... that is when I remember to do so.
 
I'm soon to be 75 and have been having the same concerns. You've saved me the trouble of starting a thread about it. I've been thinking my brain is not functioning as it should lately. I may go for the fridge when I mean to look in a cabinet or reach for the teabags when I meant to get an ice tea mix packet, but I always catch myself immediately. While I'm concerned about Alzheimers (my [half] sister has it, I'm chalking it up to be being sleep deprived much of the time as well as being on auto pilot with some things. @Irwin made a good point as well.

From what I've read Alzheimers is not a "natural" progression of aging and there are things that distinguish the types of actions we are describing here from the signs of dementia. Read them below and if you think your actions are the early stage of dementia/Alzheimers, speak to your doctor about it ASAP.
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/memory-forgetfulness-and-aging-whats-normal-and-whats-not
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I'm soon to be 75 and have been having the same concerns. You've saved me the trouble of starting a thread about it. I've been thinking my brain is not functioning as it should lately. I may go for the fridge when I mean to look in a cabinet or reach for the teabags when I meant to get an ice tea mix packet, but I always catch myself immediately. While I'm concerned about Alzheimers (my [half] sister has it, I'm chalking it up to be being sleep deprived much of the time as well as being on auto pilot with some things. @Irwin made a good point as well.

From what I've read Alzheimers is not a "natural" progression of aging and there are things that distinguish the types of actions we are describing here from the signs of dementia. Read them below and if you think your actions are the early stage of dementia/Alzheimers, speak to your doctor about it ASAP.
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/memory-forgetfulness-and-aging-whats-normal-and-whats-not
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Thank you so much for your comforting reply! I will look up the link tomorrow. Actually today since I live in the Atlantic Provinces of Canada and it is after midnight! And I am glad I saved you some concerns about your own brain. I am starting to think, based on the replies that we are not alone and that others go through the same things.
 
I haven't shoved oven mitts into the fridge yet, but there's still time; I'm only 69.
I have walked into a room & immediately forgotten what I needed to get.
I've learned to go through the kitchen & write a list before shopping; otherwise I forget to get things or buy more of something that I already have too much of.
A couple of times, I saw a famous actor on TV whose name I've known for over 50 years & said many times, but couldn't remember for several minutes.
When my mom was 78, she couldn't find her bridge. She called me, panicking because she couldn't eat without it because it was almost a full upper denture. I found it in the kitchen trash.
My sister (who was 50 at the time), lost her keys & asked me to help her look for them. After not finding them for 30 minutes, I said, "I'm going to look in a weird place." When my sister saw me looking through the trash, she said, "Aw, come on....you really think I'd be stupid enough to throw my keys away?"
I said, "You might have had your keys in one hand & some trash in your other hand & just threw the wrong thing away."
HAHA - I found her keys in the trash.
 
win231 said:
I haven't shoved oven mitts into the fridge yet, but there's still time; I'm only 69.
I have walked into a room & immediately forgotten what I needed to get.
I've learned to go through the kitchen & write a list before shopping; otherwise I forget to get things or buy more of something that I already have too much of.
A couple of times, I saw a famous actor on TV whose name I've known for over 50 years & said many times, but couldn't remember for several minutes.
When my mom was 78, she couldn't find her bridge. She called me, panicking because she couldn't eat without it because it was almost a full upper denture. I found it in the kitchen trash.
My sister (who was 50 at the time), lost her keys & asked me to help her look for them. After not finding them for 30 minutes, I said, "I'm going to look in a weird place." When my sister saw me looking through the trash, she said, "Aw, come on....you really think I'd be stupid enough to throw my keys away?"
I said, "You might have had your keys in one hand & some trash in your other hand & just threw the wrong thing away."
HAHA - I found her keys in the trash.
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Oh yeah, when I was much younger and feeling like an Amazon woman, working as a janitor, at least twice I threw my keys in the trash. The first time I called my supervisor in a panic and he knew exactly what happened to the keys. Fortunately, they were easy to recover. I finally got a key chain that kept the keys attached to me.

Also when I was much younger I would walk into a room and forget why. I asked my doctor if I had Alzheimer's disease and he laughed and said no, it was just my personality.

Words or the spelling of words can totally evade me. I have found if I stay relaxed they are more likely to come to mind. Trying to think of something seems to drive it further in the dark corners of my brain.

It is comforting to know my friends also endure these challenges. And actually, I think because I am making more effort to remember things, I am actually doing better than when I was young.
 
To all who replied to my anxious post: Thank you! It is past my bed time but I really empathized with those who couldn't remember movies they watched. I keep telling my daughter "this is the only benefit of growing older,I can read books over and over and the same with watching movies!" Sometimes, I, too, am almost through with a movie and see something that looks vaguely familiar and reminds me that I saw it not too long ago. Another question, do you remember incidents from your youth better than you used to? Strange, isn't it?
 
Old Salt said:
I don't think I suffer from reduced intelligence but do the weirdest things, like trying to shove oven mitts into the fridge (as I did a few moments ago) etc. etc. Should I worry about Alzheimers or is it a natural symptom of aging? Any ideas?
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They're good with milk......or so I've been told
Old Salt said:
I am 85 years old
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Yer good

I'm 72 and unsure why I'm in this room

Poster time;
(I've posted this about two dozen times.....but the subject keeps coming up)

not to brag.jpg
 
oldpop said:
Yep. When I was around eight years old an old fellow told me that he remembered things that he did as a youngin better than what he had done the day before. Lo and behold the same thing happens to me.
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...and me... I'm 66.. but I'm always forgetting stuff, or doing stuff like putting the teabags in the fridge etc... Only last night my daughter asked me for the name of the OTC meds that I take at least 3 times a week.. could I remember the name.. not a chance :unsure: I had to rake through the meds drawer to get the name ..sometimes it concerns me, and I worry, but I do think that the less active my brain has been since retiring.. the more I seem to be not concentrating...
 
I'll be 89 in 3 days, and believe me, this happens frequently. Especially when a word I've used all my adult life is no longer available to me. My poor brain is so overloaded with information it's a wonder I can think at all. As for doing odd things, that's another sign that we have a lot on our minds and aren't necessarily thinking, but just jumping ahead of ourselves task wise.
 
"Don't worry be happy". I think these kinds of things happen to us all. Working in the shop, it seems I spend half my time looking for something I just had in my hand, and sometimes it's still in my hand. This is why I always have several projects going on. If I've misplaced something I need, I just move on to another project, and I will sooner or later trip over whatever it was I was searching for. I have always been something of a worrier, and I'm really trying to remove that from my life. The less time you have left, the less time you need to be worrying about anything. The world will keep circling the sun, no matter our little mishaps. When ever I find I've done something silly, I just smile at myself, and move on. Oven mitts in the fridge is not nearly as bad as ice cream in the fridge instead of the freezer. Cheers, Mike
 
I'm dangerous when it comes to forgetting the kettle whistling away on the stove.

I try to combat/manage the slippage by changing the way that I do things.

I've switched most of my cooking to small appliances that will shut themselves off.

I try not to leave the kitchen when I'm using the stovetop.

The worst part of it all is an erosion of my confidence. I find myself checking and rechecking simple things to make sure that I have turned things off, taken medication, etc...

I don't think that dementia sets in until we forget that we are getting forgetful. :giggle:

"Always remember two things: That I love you and the name of the bank." - Leadville Johnny Brown
 
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Aunt Bea said:
I'm dangerous when it comes to forgetting the kettle whistling away on the stove.

I try to combat/manage the slippage by changing the way that I do things.

I've switched most of my cooking to small appliances that will shut themselves off.

I try not to leave the kitchen when I'm using the stovetop.

The worst part of it all is an erosion of my confidence. I find myself checking and rechecking simple things to make sure that I have turned things off, taken medication, etc...

I don't think that dementia sets in until we forget that we are getting forgetful. :giggle:
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yes the oven is my Achilles heel... I take the food out but don't turn the oven off until I'm sure the food is thoroughly cooked...and if it isn't back in it goes.. but I very often forget to turn the oven off if the food is ready when I take it out the first time...

That's one thing if I'm home and I see it an hour later when I go into the kitchen, and altho' it hasn't happened yet , I'm very concerned I'll leave the house one day with the oven still on.. so like you Aunt Bea..I find myself double and triple checking things sometimes to ensure I've done it. and honestly that's one thing that does make me feel OLD
 

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