what are the earliest signs of memory loss?
 

wait..what was i talking about? oh yea, vegetables.


okay..serious. i have a coworker that cant remember anything. i asked him to track how many sheet piles we had left so we could tell where this wall we were building would end. he kept forgetting. so i drove by on the last day and counted myself. 11 left (remember 11)..they are 4.33' wide driven, so we could estimate where the sheet wall would end. we were shooting from the hip to stop a road from sliding out.

i told him we have 11 left.
he pulled out a calculator to do the math, and asked me..how many do we have left?
11.
he forgets the answer, pulls out the calc.."how many?
11
over a 30 minute conversation, i tell him maybe 5 more times. in the end he jotted it down. (after asking me again)

what goes first? short term memory? it has gotten bad over the past two months.

Yikes. Is he on any med's? (some are like 'date-rape' drugs)

I forget.

Actually, I do all the time. 55yo, short term memory isn't as bad as described, but not what it used to be.

Edit: good point island.

When you start the same thread 4 times in a three day period?

Kidding. I have a guy that works fro me that has to write everything down because he has a terrible memory. If this is recent for your guy it could be stress or some other more simple thing. Do you all do random drug testing?

Being older, I can relate to occasional minor lapses in memory - like recalling a more efficient/descriptive word. What you describe is way beyond that. He needs to talk to somebody who can evaluate and advise him - unless he's just putting you on. I can attest to the side effects of some meds. I was on Vitorin for cholesterol for some time. At one point I started experiencing confusion and some short term memory loss. I started worrying I was developing some kind of mental deficiencies. Soon after, I got the major muscle aches, pains, and loss of strength. I stopped the medication and all the symptoms disappeared within a couple of days.

Ya' know, they say the memory is the second thing to go.

i first thought it was just him being lazy.

first noticed it in january when i told him i was going to AZ to hunt on Jan 23.

his favorite three questions were:
1. where are you going?
2. what for?
3. when are you going? for how long?

he would ask me every time someone i have not told got the info. i thought he was joking.

i let the supervisors know. it aint on me if we find him driving to oregon. which he thinks is the grocery store.

We all have different strengths and weaknesses. I have trouble with names, and words, but am pretty good with numbers and anything visual (faces, buildings, CARS )sticks like glue.
The thing to look for is change. If someone's or your memory or other cognitive functions are changing at a rapid rate that could be a sign of something going on.
My mom, who is 94, is really losing here short term, but recollections from her childhood (in the 20's!) are clear as a bell.

He could have something serious going on. We had a guy at site who couldn't remember the combo to the site trailer and was just standing by the door in tears. We got him back home and to the doctor and he has serious neurological issues and is no longer able to work. When he first started showing signs we just thought he was slacking. Sounds somewhat similar to what you were thinking.

Ask him to draw the face of a clock when there is no clock for him to look at. If he struggles with that, he needs to see a doctor ASAP.

He needs to be checked out for sleep apnea or risk of stroke.

LOL! You know you're an old fart when they ask you to do this during check ups...I was asked to draw 8:20. I asked if 8:18 was okay...explaining that it's the time used in many watch ads because it shows all the watch face features...

Of course, you MEANT to say 10:10, right? Because maybe you had *forgotten* that almost every watch shown on display is set to 10:10...
LMGTFY

I used to know this

LOL! Next time, I'm thinking I might draw a digital watch for them. But I notice not a lot of humor in the medical community.

Besides, Altzheimers (sp?) and Dementia are pretty serious subjects, aren't they?

It's actually something that has me somewhat concerned lately.

I find myself sitting there struggling to remember a word, phrase, name, even if I heard it 5 seconds ago. Worse when it's something you know you've known your entire life.

It's disconcerting if you are self aware.

What was the subject about again?

I worked with someone like that. He would take a phone message, then five minutes later he could not recall who he had talked to.

He had several serious car accidents, which we attributed to his inability to pay attention while driving.

He died of Alzheimers IN HIS EARLY FIFTIES.

Id answer you, but I forgot. LOL! J/k;)

I'm with the monkey. I've noticed the same problems. Common words that escape until I make an effort to remember that particular word. Usually I use phonetic tricks to start the spelling of the escaped word, and therefore work into that word. Scary stuff.

A couple of years ago my memory was failing fast. It was going downhill in a big way :(

Then I started getting proper sleep and it came back straight away. It was kind of strange and at the time I didn't see the two as being related, but after the event it was obvious.

Edit. Mine was getting so bad I couldn't remember where light switches are in rooms that I've walked into (nearly) every day for the last 15 years.

Actually drawing the face of a clock really is the first thing to go with someone with either dementia or Alzheimers. Just the circle with numbers is enough to show problems. Next is counting backwards from 100 by 7s.

For normal memory loss the first sign is walking into another room and forgetting what you went in there for.

Lead poisoning?

Arsenic poisoning?

Mercury poisoning?

Alcohol?

I think long term exposure to any of these is bad on the brain/memory.

Stress is a big one and can be coupled with sleep loss for a double whammy.

Having this problem myself, maybe not quite so severe. I often can't remember my coworkers names though and I think that's pretty bad since I'm only 45. But I have some new health problems and have been taking a water pill which along with diabetes makes me wake up about 5 times a night on average. I also abused alcohol for many years

I think you should be blunt and tell this guy what your observing and ask him if he is ok. Could be something dangerous

I am amazed at the things I have to remember for my prototyping job in the rubber industry. At 52 years old, I can still recall details about things that happened a year or two ago.

That being said, I will forget to turn into a parking lot for something I have to get on my shopping list for home (I just drive on by) or forget other domestic things that aren't critical.

I have learned to make lists for the things I can't forget.

It sounds like this guy has something else on his mind, or like someone else mentioned, maybe a drug side effect.

Most instances of impairment of short-term memory is due to not making the effort to memorize whatever it is such as names, a number, shopping item, etc.

Then there is evidence that the brains of some people are just not wired to easily remember certain classes of information. My father NEVER forgot a face. He would recognize people he had not seen for 30 years. I've personally witnessed him go up to somebody and say, 'I know you...' and proceed to glean the where and when of it. It could be a car salesman from way back, a colleague a neighbor or whatever from decades prior.

At the same time, he'd spend more time looking for a tool he just laid down than actually fixing whatever he needed the tool for. That is if he could remember what tool he was looking for in the first place.

He cauld also give accurate directions on how to get around downtown Detroit when he had not actually even been there for years and years.

I've lived in my town for 25 years and still don't even know the names of most of the streets: 'Go down three lights, turn left at Burger King, two blocks on the right is Jones' hardware store, turn left, go past the stop sign and its on the right...'