Suddenly realised I was getting old!

I have had my cooker for 11 years now and frequently set it to cppk while I’m out. The other day I just looked and looked at the buttons and couldn’t work out what to do. I had to get out the handbook and follow instructions. It was very scary.

My mother and maternal grandmother both died from alzheimer's. I am absolutely petrified I will also end up with it.
My biggest loss so to speak is names and some words. However I remember I dont remember and often over a period of time the memory returns
However if I lose my sense of smell I will be advising my GP that it is time for dementia checking

My DH 'forgot' where I was when he came to pick me up.

I walked 6.25 miles towards home before he passed me - luckily remembering what he was looking for and stopping to collect me.

He was terrified - you are in good company.

It happens to all of us. It is a good reason for not moving house and learning new routines too late.

Morning just catching up on people's experiences. I had the same in my car I could not remember where the head lights were or how to put them on. It's very scary. I also work from a diary on my phone now. I am 75yrs and still active. Lost my husband 2yrs ago after 53yrs of marriage so I put it down to that I hope that's the reason.

I went to use my (mobile) phone yesterday and walked downstairs to fetch it from the kitchen but, at the bottom of the stairs I'd forgotten why I went down. To empty w/machine? To check for post? Went back upstairs then remembered it was the phone, which I'd looked at on the kitchen table.
I can understand people getting freaked out which must be frightening and upsetting and my lapse wasn't but, for myself, I won't dwell on it as that could cause more angst.
We may have had small lapses in our younger days but not thought anything of them.

I think my car has a mind of its own. It takes me somewhere I often go to, when I'm really going somewhere else!

Yes like everyone else I too have those 'blank' moments and have a panic that it's the start of dementia - both my parents had it. My dad had been a chef and one day forgot how to make pastry which he did every week. I do think that for most of us it's just brain overload. I've lost my car, forgotten my PIN and can change a password only to instantly forget what I've changed it to. My BIL apparently shouted out his PIN in a shop the other week much to SIL's horror!

I wouldn't worry too much about your lapse re the Royal Icing - sure the cake was delicious!

This is such a reassuring set of posts to read. That armpit itching moment as a pin number has 'disappeared' after years of automatic use... awful. The flood if relief if/as it returns... Worst time for me (so far), getting a total blank, momentarily thank heavens, just a couple of streets away when I couldn't remember how to get to a shop I have been driving to for years. My mum has two sorts of dementia, which obviously makes one somewhat hyper alarmed by any mental failings, but as we are all seeming to say, it seems to be totally normal, phew! Must say though, slightly surprised that no one has felt it necessary to tell us they never experience such times and that their memory is better now than ever it was and maybe the rest of us should begin panicking... maybe such members are not online yet?!? Flowers to the rest of us and the OP especially????

No point worrying anyway, it's not like we can do anything about it once it starts. Having said that, my theory about suddenly not remembering how to turn the shower on type of events is that usually we do a series of steps habitually, and this is handled by a lower part of the brain than does our reasoning-type thinking. If we get distracted, however briefly, in a way that interrupts the learned sequence of actions, we have to use the higher bit of the brain to restart. But because we're now starting in the middle of the sequence, the higher brain can't just hand back to the lower brain to carry on - so the higher brain has to start the next step - and it's an action it doesn't usually handle so it can take a little while to load up the instructions from the script held in the lower areas of memory.

I went away for a few days with a friend, one morning she shouted to me that she was going up for a shower and that she had made me a cup of tea and left it in the kitchen. Whilst I was drinking my tea I thought this tastes awful but carried on drinking it. When I took my cup into the kitchen I noticed a little empty bag on the side, she had actually put a packet of silica gel in my tea by mistake instead of a packet of sweetener. I don't know who was the daftest me for drinking it or her for putting it in my tea.

We all have moments like that.I dont live in the UK,and often people ask me what is that called in English, and sometimes I havent a clue. I think they must wonder " is she really English"
I honestly think we have so many things stored in our brains,it is a wonder we can remember at all.
Now what else was I going to write?!

It ‘s nice to know that these senior moments happen to other people, too! I don’t think that they only happen to older people, though. I think it’s just brain overload and having too many things going on in our heads at the same time!

It is normal...try not to worry.

I was in riding my bike through my local park having been for my early morning swim..... I stopped dead, and looked around me, and for a total of 5 secs I had n9 idea where I was,! Been doing 5he same trip on and off for 10 years or so. I was indeed the scariest thing.. I broke into a cold sweat knowing I SHOULD know here I was and didn’t. Horrible feeling. Never told anyone . So you’re not alone Craftycat.

I had a horrible experience I woke up 1.30am and felt really ill I panicked I knew I had to get to someone but who? Because I couldn't remember my husband or kids. I knew someone was in the house who could help but I didn't know who. Lasted less than 5 minutes but was scary. GP reckoned panic attack. I was definitely panicking after that!!

Very encouraging to read these posts. Been there, bought the T shirts etc: My worst errors are Freudian slips, when I accidentally say what I really think, instead of diplomatic replies. I don't worry about forgetting words, that is what the word 'wotsit' is for. Say it quickly and no-one will notice.
Those awful blank moments though! Caused by stress mostly and I sometimes suspect that I haven't been drinking enough (water I mean). The brain is mostly water so I try not to deprive it.

I had a similar incident in my 40s. I remember it vividly! Scared me too! It was stress. My mind had too much to think about, so it shut down. I have recently found that I sometimes completely forget a word.

I agree with what Tuppence15 said (much earlier). My friend recently started to think that she was beginning to develop dementia, as she'd had several 'memory lapses' so she made an appointment with her GP; she then made a list of all the incidents that had worried her, got to the GP's and found that she'd forgotten it
She was very upset - but when she told the GP why she was crying, he laughed and told her that it proved that she didn't have dementia - she'd remembered that she'd made a list..!
(He did do a dementia test with her - no sign - and they concluded that several stressful incidents had caused the lapses. She's been fine since)

I remember my Mum saying my Dad went to make toast but couldn't remember how the grill worked and he went on to develop Alzheimers it's my biggest fear worse than cancer losing your mind. In the end he didn't know any of his family it was so sad.

I cannot believe how many responses there are to my original post.
I have read them all- thank you so much. It has certainly helped me put this incident into perspective.
I knew that as we get older our memory's get a bit dodgy but was not prepared for the sudden onset of this weird experience. I have been fine since then but I will mention it next time I have to see a doctor unless it happens again in which case I will make an apt.
It is such a minor thing compared to not being able to change gear or not knowing where you are. That is truly scary.
I suppose we need to keep a sense of humour over these things when possible. DH - who is nearly 13 years younger than me so he has it all to come & I will get my own back- is teasing me which is probably the best way to deal with it but I may well clobber him soon if he carries on.
Thinking about it , we have had a very difficult few weeks with DDiL very ill so maybe I am out of sorts anyway.
I'll just carry on & see what happens.
BTW Grammareto- believe me I would really be in a state if I let DGS help with the cake! Although I cook with all of them when they stay here & they love icing cakes - the birthday cake is a big affair!! Every year all 6 of them try to find something more tricky for Grandma to make+it's a family game & I don't mind at all. He loved the cake when I took it round yesterday.
Thank you all so much again.

We do a lot of things on auto-pilot, not really thinking about what ae are doing, but if for some reason we doubt our action, it's really, really difficult to remember how to do that action. If I had to tell someone how to drive my car, I wouldn't have a clue how to explain which pedals I press and in what order, but my brain does it automatically. When I take a certain journey, I don't have to think about directions but if I actually try to remember that route, then panic can set in when I can't remember the fine details. I think a lot of these panic blank episodes come when the brain, for some reason, tries to switch from auto-pilot to actual thinking mode. Anyway, that's my hope!

It happened to me recently when I was sending a message using computer and I could not remember the word for those big pink birds with long legs. I tried and tried and felt stupid, so I went to make a cuppa thinking that it will come to me in a minute. But it didn't, and after ten minutes I had to Google pink bird to get flamingo. I was worried as I had been discussing flamingos the previous day. Very frightening.
Glad to know I'm not alone.

Big pink birds with long legs are called “Mangoes” according to my granddaughter!

Chicken - that's exactly my theory but you put it so much more plainly than I did :D

I have never been good at remembering names, I often need to meet some-one several times before I can recall their names some people I can never remember

DH & I had to drive to Woking Railway Station instead of Staines to collect DD as there had been hold ups & that was the nearest she could get to us. We got in the car & DH looked at me & said I don't know how to get there, he had completely forgotten the way, fortunately I could give him directions part of the way & whilst he was driving the route came flooding back. DH suffered from Depression on & off for many years.

My DM is 90, forgetful & repeats herself at times but doesn't have Dementia.

When DD has been pregnant & for many months after having her babies she constantly complained of "baby brain"