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A little advice?

Geezer Brown

Geezer Brown

Guest
Dec 6, 2012
726
53
41
Santa Rosa, California
#1
So I'm just gonna jump into it:
I don't pay attention. If I don't care about a topic, or if I'm distracted, I won't pay attention to something and will forget it ever happened. The weird part is that I'm only 18. Here's an extremely sad example from today:
I was watching tv at my girlfriends house, and she seemed slightly mad about something. When I asked what was wrong, she explained to me that she asked me if I wanted to have sex....twelve (12) times. She counted. Every single time, I would stare mindlessly at the tv. I have zero recollection of her asking to have sex. To me, it didn't happen, I don't remember it at all. This isn't the first time this has happened with her, either. My band mates notice it, my friends notice it, I do it all the time. I don't remember the dates of gigs when I'm blatantly told. 5 minutes later i forget things completely. I've missed movies, car shows, all kinds of things. Now of course, I know what you're going to say: "just pay attention more" or something like that. This hasn't been a problem until a few months ago. But please, anything you can say/do (aside from smart *** comments) will be much, much appreciated. I really want to fix this, it really bothers me.

Thank you tb!
 
#9
Anything change in your life a few months ago since you noticed the problem?

Other than see a doc as soon as possible:

First thing that comes to mind, have your ears checked to make sure they aren't packed with wax and you just aren't hearing things people tell you. If no wax, a check up with an audiologist to test your hearing may help.

After that, IME, there may be two different things happening.

One, you were watching TV and focusing on that. People used to talk to me when I was watching TV and I didn't hear them either. Now I just pause with the remote and let them talk. I suggest you tell your GF when she wants sex to grab your hand and lead you into the bedroom. No verbal communication needed.

The other, hearing things, getting them into short/long term memory and recalling them as needed. I also couldn't remember basic things that people told me.

What worked for me is vitamin supplements (B,D3 and Omega Oil). I noticed a difference in 4-6 weeks. Also, getting more sun on a regular basis helped pretty much everything work better for me. . All of these things improved my memory and ability to pay attention a lot, maybe 100% for short-term things.

The other thing I did is to keep an updated appointment date calendar(with reminder alarms) on my phone. I also have a home calendar that duplicates my phone calendar for our family to use as well. If your brain can't do it, you gotta use a tool to make up for it. Gotta have a system!

How do you remember stuff you have to read for school? jobs?

If you can't remember stuff for school and the vitamins don't help, I suggest you get checked out for a general physical and also, possibly ADD.

Good luck. YMMV and all that.
 
#10
^ Omega 3 oils was going to be my first suggestion on reading the OP. It can make a huge difference with this sort of thing.


Is there any reason this would be a recent phenomenon? Have you always had similar problems but noticing them more just recently?

Though to be honest, people talking to you and you not noticing sounds a lot more like you're just zoned out for whatever reason (sleep deprivation?) than any sort of memory loss or lapse. If you never actually noticed or acknowledged them saying anything then you're not really forgetting anything, but rather not paying attention in the first place.
 
#14
If you are 18 and your girlfriend's sex requests blow right by you, go see a doctor. At your age, everything that comes out of her should sound like a come on.

I worry about today's yute and what happens to their brains when they start smoking weed early. This ain't your daddy's weed.
 
#16
Stumbo said:
Anything change in your life a few months ago since you noticed the problem?

Other than see a doc as soon as possible:

First thing that comes to mind, have your ears checked to make sure they aren't packed with wax and you just aren't hearing things people tell you. If no wax, a check up with an audiologist to test your hearing may help.

After that, IME, there may be two different things happening.

One, you were watching TV and focusing on that. People used to talk to me when I was watching TV and I didn't hear them either. Now I just pause with the remote and let them talk. I suggest you tell your GF when she wants sex to grab your hand and lead you into the bedroom. No verbal communication needed.

The other, hearing things, getting them into short/long term memory and recalling them as needed. I also couldn't remember basic things that people told me.

What worked for me is vitamin supplements (B,D3 and Omega Oil). I noticed a difference in 4-6 weeks. Also, getting more sun on a regular basis helped pretty much everything work better for me. . All of these things improved my memory and ability to pay attention a lot, maybe 100% for short-term things.

The other thing I did is to keep an updated appointment date calendar(with reminder alarms) on my phone. I also have a home calendar that duplicates my phone calendar for our family to use as well. If your brain can't do it, you gotta use a tool to make up for it. Gotta have a system!

How do you remember stuff you have to read for school? jobs?

If you can't remember stuff for school and the vitamins don't help, I suggest you get checked out for a general physical and also, possibly ADD.

Good luck. YMMV and all that.
Click to expand...

These are all such great suggestions, thank you so much! I'm actually really glad you brought up the supplements, I completely forgot about that. I haven't touched a supplement in months. I've started drinking more water, smoking less, and excercising (swimming)

I use a planner for my school work, my job doesn't really require me to remember anything. I won't go to a doc until I've tried all alternative methods.
 
#17
Simo98 said:
^ Omega 3 oils was going to be my first suggestion on reading the OP. It can make a huge difference with this sort of thing.


Is there any reason this would be a recent phenomenon? Have you always had similar problems but noticing them more just recently?

Though to be honest, people talking to you and you not noticing sounds a lot more like you're just zoned out for whatever reason (sleep deprivation?) than any sort of memory loss or lapse. If you never actually noticed or acknowledged them saying anything then you're not really forgetting anything, but rather not paying attention in the first place.
Click to expand...

Let's see, I started dating my gf a few months ago, started smoking a little more, moved out for the summer, and that's all I can really think of. Oh and I stopped working out around that time. I got a full time job....I can't really think of anything major.
 
#18
Pills Are Yummy said:
Yes, and I know it's a likely culprit and plan to seriously cut back.
Click to expand...

OK. I want you to re-read your original post.

You're 18. Want to have this described memory loss for the rest of your life, and/or get worse? Can you imagine trying to hold down a job, or anything else in life with this condition? Yeah, didn't think so.

You're talking about "cutting back." I'm getting the impression that you're probably smoking a lot, b/c a casual user would just say "I'm going to stop."

Before you go see a doctor, stop smoking (and other drugs) for a couple months, cold turkey, and see if things improve. I'm betting they do. If not, go see a doctor.
 
#20
noiseguy said:
OK. I want you to re-read your original post.

You're 18. Want to have this described memory loss for the rest of your life, and/or get worse? Can you imagine trying to hold down a job, or anything else in life with this condition? Yeah, didn't think so.

You're talking about "cutting back." I'm getting the impression that you're probably smoking a lot, b/c a casual user would just say "I'm going to stop."

Before you go see a doctor, stop smoking (and other drugs) for a couple months, cold turkey, and see if things improve. I'm betting they do. If not, go see a doctor.
Click to expand...

You're right:(
Everything you're saying is spot-on, so I'm gonna cold turkey it for a while as well.
 

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