Should I be worried?

Being forgetful as we get older is normal, I sometimes lose my bearings even though it is a well trodden route. Having a lot on my mind usually causes this to happen.
And passcodes!! Don’t get me started! I forget them regularly.
But if you feel anxious over this, do go to see your GP.
All the best.

These things have happened to me too Foxtail. It is a worry and I understand how it feels.
Babs is right, stress or too much going on can be a trigger.

I think as we get older we do forget things , but I also think if we have too much on our minds, the forgeting seems to get worse, and the worse it gets the more we worry about it . but if you are worried then please see your GP, if only to put your mind at rest

I was only about 60 , when I was driving back from school, with my little grandkids in the car , turned into the street where they live and just lost it - could not remember their house - the kids told me where it was.
Another time I lost the way to my own house.
Thankfully, nothing like that has happened since.

Babs03 - maybe I’m wrong, but I stick to the same 3 passwords.

I do expect to have some memory issues with ageing but I felt real panic yesterday, it was a real fright as the knowledge just did not come to me at all. Thank goodness for road signs.

I am glad to know you all think too much going on in my head is probable cause.

Thank you for the replies and if I get another situ like yesterday, I will see GP.

crazyH

Babs03 - maybe I’m wrong, but I stick to the same 3 passwords.

Just 3, I have lots more but do need them written down. A future plan to whittle them down.

crazyH

Babs03 - maybe I’m wrong, but I stick to the same 3 passwords.

I tried that for years and it worked well but then a site was hacked into and I had to renew the password, then I joined other sites that needed a new password but wanted a symbol and a punctuation mark etc., which were not in my usual passwords.
So I am constantly forgetting them and then having to make up a new one which I promptly forget as well 🫤

crazyH

I was only about 60 , when I was driving back from school, with my little grandkids in the car , turned into the street where they live and just lost it - could not remember their house - the kids told me where it was.
Another time I lost the way to my own house.
Thankfully, nothing like that has happened since.

Babs03 - maybe I’m wrong, but I stick to the same 3 passwords

Having the GC in the car must have been awful, glad you have not had similar since.

I have the same password but change the beginning to match whatever it's for.
Just like you, I forget things and occasionally have mental blocks but that's usually when I'm stressed.
A queue behind me at the ATM and I forget my pin.
Place names, peoples names can all be problematic.
My DMiL who died aged 98 with a brilliant memory always made a list of what she wanted to say or to ask visitors.
She was reciting Keats poetry the day before she died!

Lets look at this problem logically. Most of the problems you describe are familiar in one way and another to all of us as we grow older. Most of the problemss you describe are also associated with the onset of dementia.

So the simplest thing to do is go and see the doctor and have a memory test and assessment. Hopefully it will set your mind at rest, but if there is a long term problem the sooner you know it the better.

I have sometimes had memory lapses, but a few years ago I was misdiagnosed with having minor strokes. As part of the assessment I twice did a series of quite extensive cognitive tests - and aced them, including well exceeding the expected score in a couple of openended questions.

So you can be fully mentally on the ball but, especially when you are very busy or stressed, also be having memory lapses.

As a student nurse a neurology lecturer told us to visualise memory as a room full of filing cabinets, our memories are all stored within these.
The older we become more memories are stored and so the filing cabinets increase, therefore it takes our brain longer to search for the relevant information.
Makes sense to me.

Babs03 my friend bought me a little password book and they are all in there and as I live alone and the book is kept in a secure place I’ve always got them at my fingertips

There is a medical thing called TGA Transient global awareness Foxtail it happens suddenly can last a short time or a day at most I believe it only happens once
My friend had it with no knowledge for 24 hours she carried on her day as normal but had no memory of it and no knowledge of what she had done or where she had been She had actually got the bus to the doctors ( afterwards he said she had seemed a bit vague) The next day when she saw a urine sample pot on her table she was scratching her head to know where it had come from 🙄she had no recollection of that 24 hours at all
The older I get the more I forget names and worse still faces of people I m not familiar with
Today a lady spoke to me in the supermarket I knew I knew her from some way past (although not well just a passing knowing)I was comfortable speaking to her but cannot recall how I know her or who she is

Occasionally you temporarily forget where you left your keys or glasses. Or you forget a familiar espression like satelite dish. However you can explain that its that thing on the roof for Sky TV. Or you later find the missing object. Its called "age related recall problem" and is a natural part of the aging process. It is not related to dementia.

Some years ago I was holding a tutorial and I could not recall one of the words I needed. So I chose another. At the end of the lecture I admitted to the students that I had temporarily forgotten the word I wanted. I was still in my 40s at that time and made a joke about "senile decay" setting in. One of the students remarked "Well that happens to me and Im only 22".

Sometimes I have to pause and think how to do familiar tasks on the computer that Ive automatically done dozens of times. I might even have to google them.

I had a telephone medical screening appointment the other day and stumbled when I had to give my date of birth.
I've decided it's because in all recent medical situations, it's been my Dad's date of birth I've had to give!

BlueBelle

Babs03 my friend bought me a little password book and they are all in there and as I live alone and the book is kept in a secure place I’ve always got them at my fingertips

There is a medical thing called TGA Transient global awareness Foxtail it happens suddenly can last a short time or a day at most I believe it only happens once
My friend had it with no knowledge for 24 hours she carried on her day as normal but had no memory of it and no knowledge of what she had done or where she had been She had actually got the bus to the doctors ( afterwards he said she had seemed a bit vague) The next day when she saw a urine sample pot on her table she was scratching her head to know where it had come from 🙄she had no recollection of that 24 hours at all
The older I get the more I forget names and worse still faces of people I m not familiar with
Today a lady spoke to me in the supermarket I knew I knew her from some way past (although not well just a passing knowing)I was comfortable speaking to her but cannot recall how I know her or who she is

I think you mean Transient Global Amnesia - a long way away from “awareness”
Transient global amnesia is an episode of confusion that comes on suddenly in a person who is otherwise alert. This confused state isn't caused by a more common neurological condition, such as epilepsy or stroke.
During an episode of transient global amnesia, a person is unable to create new memory, so the memory of recent events disappears. You can't remember where you are or how you got there. You may not remember anything about what's happening right now. You may keep repeating the same questions because you don't remember the answers you've just been given. You may also draw a blank when asked to remember things that happened a day, a month or even a year ago

I am very aware that I have these problems and have developed strategies to deal with it. I write everything down all the time as I know that otherwise I will forget.

Yes sorry Rosie absolute opposite not sure if that was me or predictive text probably me 🙄

I have had a TGA, thankfully mine only lasted for about 20 minutes. I was nearly out of petrol and driving to a petrol station. The next I remember I was driving down a sliproad to the M40 with dangerously little fuel. I had gone round a roundabout, back on my tracks and then taken the road to the motorway.

A friend had one that lasted nearly a day. He was chairing and running a day school very effectively, although I had noticed that he was not quite as exuberant as usual. He came to later in the evening with no memory of the day.

M0nica

I have had a TGA, thankfully mine only lasted for about 20 minutes. I was nearly out of petrol and driving to a petrol station. The next I remember I was driving down a sliproad to the M40 with dangerously little fuel. I had gone round a roundabout, back on my tracks and then taken the road to the motorway.

A friend had one that lasted nearly a day. He was chairing and running a day school very effectively, although I had noticed that he was not quite as exuberant as usual. He came to later in the evening with no memory of the day.

This TGA sounds really scary. I think my old mum must have had one whilst out shopping one day. I was visiting with my DH, we had no kids then, and she had popped out to get a few bits. An hour later she came back without any shopping. We were worried when she said she couldn’t remember where she had gone and came back to her senses as she rounded the corner near her home with an empty shopping bag. We wanted to take her to the docs but she waved it away and said she was just over tired. Funnily enough we bumped into a neighbour as we were going home who said my mum had been telling her about the new garden fence and recommended the person who did it but left before telling her the persons name.
Very strange.

I find I am frequently forgetting names of people or places. f I carry on with what I am doing, and don't start worrying about it , the name will eventually pop into my mind. I just presume that the words are taking longer to find. I heard a doctor say that the time to start worrying is when you don't realise that you are forgetting things.

I have been reading about TGA not sure if I experienced that yesterday however I have had something similar years ago, again when driving I somehow found myself about a mile away from my work with no memory off using the roundabout or missing the road I wanted and taking a road i'd never been on before.
It was like I had been asleep but managed to drive the car, very odd and very dangerous. Now knowing about TGA's I wonder how many accidents are caused when in that state.

I really do think a visit to your gp is on the cards and soon . We are all ladies of a certain age and yes being a little forgetful at times is normal but what you describe is a big red flag in my opinion . It may well be nothing to be concerned about but if it isn't you can deal with it head on .
I hope all will be ok, please come back and let us know all is well . Take care

This must have been so frightening for you Foxtail.
I recall something similar happening to my dad when he was about 80. He went into town on his own and suddenly didn’t know where he was or where he’d parked the car. He eventually managed to get on a bus and find his way home but was very late and distressed when he finally arrived.
The doctor suspected a mini stroke but the tests came back negative so the suspicion was stress.
It never happened to my dad again and hopefully it will never happen again to you Foxtail.