Kinda Forgot - Covid Fog

Boozlefoot · #1 23-02-2023, 02:15 PM

I recently have been forgetting simple things - get to the shed / no key / return to house and get key / open shed and wonder why I came out there in the first instance.

This coupled with my dear older sister having been diagnosed with dementia had me concerned it may be hereditary. But I was recently assured no, it is far more likely a result of Covid I had a couple of months ago, apparently it's fairly common to have some short term losses.

So I'm out in the Obs this morning sorting/tuning up some gear, and happened upon a suspicious box in the EP cupboard.

Turns out I've got a 20mm T5 Nagler I have absolutely no idea was there.........

xelasnave · #2 23-02-2023, 02:23 PM

I was going to explain it but I seem to have forgetton what I was going to say.

However a tip..keep telling yourself you have a good memory...that really works.

Alex

glend (Glen) · #3 23-02-2023, 03:25 PM

It's common, especially if your over 70. I had Covid last November, and understand your problem. I wish I had a dollar for the number of times I walked up to the back shed, only to wonder why I was there. I go back to the house, then I remember. I seem to need a visual reminder.

AstroViking (Steve) · #4 23-02-2023, 05:15 PM

There's actually a psychological term for this sort of forgetting (which, ironically enough, I can't recall right now) about the changing of your mental context as you walk from one room to another.

This context change causes your short-term memory to forget what you were about to do.

The best way to keep a sharp mind is to exercise it - word puzzles, playing scrabble, cross-words, sodoku, learning a new hobby or language, etc.

Cheers,
V

OzEclipse (Joe Cali) · #5 23-02-2023, 05:39 PM

It's called the doorway effect and is a psychological term for forgetting things when you leave one location, walk through a door to another.

Joe

GrahamL · #6 23-02-2023, 09:21 PM

Can relate to this after covid last October foggy went on for quite a few months.. last weekend i was trying to order a plug cable for my 12 v fridge
and for some reason couldnt when i came back from a camping trip .. there it was sitting in a box in front of the garage from last october.. I raised this with my doc a while back and he said hopefully things improve with time .. they have but it has taken quite a while .

You should try out the 20 t5 its a cracking eyepiece.. btw I didnt happen to sell it to you did I.

xelasnave · #7 24-02-2023, 07:56 AM

So I remembered my meds last night set them out on the bench...but I could not believe it when this morning I find them still sitting there..I would have bet the farm that I took them!!!! .And living in a van I can't blame going from one room to another...
But I have a good memory as I remember putting them on the bench...so I have turned to get the milk to wash them down and in turning forgot I guess...
Alex

glend (Glen) · #8 24-02-2023, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xelasnave

So I remembered my meds last night set them out on the bench...but I could not believe it when this morning I find them still sitting there..I would have bet the farm that I took them!!!! .And living in a van I can't blame going from one room to another...
But I have a good memory as I remember putting them on the bench...so I have turned to get the milk to wash them down and in turning forgot I guess...
Alex

It gets worse, when you take them and then don't remember taking them. It's why I use a segmented pill box.

xelasnave · #9 24-02-2023, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glend

It gets worse, when you take them and then don't remember taking them. It's why I use a segmented pill box.

I have found myself wondering if I had or had not ...more so now

I keep meaning to go for a " Webster" pack but forget to organise it

Alex

Nikolas (Nik) · #10 24-02-2023, 09:37 AM

I'm a teacher and the doorway effect is real, usually I am preoccupied with work and when I walk into the staff room of whatever I then just stand there for a second wondering what I was supposed to do, fairly common when under the pump, it's even funnier if I'm holding an empty coffee cup and forgot I was holding it.

doug mc · #11 24-02-2023, 09:57 AM

Walking around mentally pre occupied with something other than what you decided to do will do it for sure. A little being in the present helps.

Boozlefoot · #12 24-02-2023, 10:38 AM

I'm really heartened to find I'm not Robinson Crusoe.

Glen and Alex - I used to forget the blood pressure tabs frequently, with disastrous results - my foolproof method now is to keep them on the coffee grinder; I might forget essential medications, but I will NEVER forget my morning coffee!

Nik and Doug - There is definitely a correlation to being preoccupied and forgetting, no more multitasking for me! At least for a time.

Graham - I still have NO idea as to the 20mm T5 origin. Will have to go back through the archives to find out, still at a total loss, which isn't like me. Maybe the TV fairy has made an annual visit - I live in hope.

V - I try to keep my mind agile doing puzzles etc. Currently learning to use abacus for complex calc's. I was also told I was speaking fluent Swahili at the pub last week, does that count as another language lesson?

And to the 37 other IIS members who have PM'd me saying they only loaned the EP to me for a limited time............nice try, fellas!

PS/Update - Trawled through the records of the exchequer - Bought the 20mm Nagler T5 from an IIS member last October, would have thought I could remember something so recent............

Shano592 (Shane) · #13 24-02-2023, 06:00 PM

Now that I'm comfortably into my 50's, I'm finding this happening to me a little more frequently than before.

To combat this (and for me it has been effective to a large extent), I have taken to saying out loud what I am doing, and why. This has the effect for me of making an auditory trigger. Not only have I had the thought, but in saying it out loud, I have also heard it.

Now my brain has two points of reference, so it is much harder for the thought to fall out of my ear and disappear into the ether...

xelasnave · #14 24-02-2023, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shano592

Now that I'm comfortably into my 50's, I'm finding this happening to me a little more frequently than before.

To combat this (and for me it has been effective to a large extent), I have taken to saying out loud what I am doing, and why. This has the effect for me of making an auditory trigger. Not only have I had the thought, but in saying it out loud, I have also heard it.

Now my brain has two points of reference, so it is much harder for the thought to fall out of my ear and disappear into the ether...

Well I have tried talking to myself to provide a running commentary but I just get into horrible arguements and end up not speaking to my self for days.

Alex

Shano592 (Shane) · #15 25-02-2023, 09:48 AM

Haha!

You're a product of the company you keep!

taminga16 (Greg) · #16 25-02-2023, 03:23 PM

I too struggle with 'The Doorway effect' and the only room that I enter and know why I do so is the Bathroom.

Saturnine (Jeff) · #17 25-02-2023, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xelasnave

Well I have tried talking to myself to provide a running commentary but I just get into horrible arguements and end up not speaking to my self for days.

Alex

I hate it when I argue with myself and I lose the argument .

Interesting thread this, now in my 70s' and seem to forget why I came into a particular room or where I put that item that I really need right now and it isn't where I thought I put it . Is it just trying to remember too much at once and getting confused.

Boozlefoot · #18 25-02-2023, 07:09 PM

The one thing I sincerely regret was laughing (surreptitiously) at my old Dad, walking around the house looking for his glasses. They were on top of his head.