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Memory

Lynnedz56
0 Recommendations

I have a question. I seem to NOT being able to remember things like I used to. On Mother's day my son bought my daughter a beautiful mother's ring. I was there when he gave it to her. Yesterday I was with my kids and I asked my daughter where she got that ring. That's just one of the things that I have seem to have forgotten. I also can't seem to remember details of my job and things around the house. And it's really beginning to bother me. Is it a symptom of heart disease or congestive heart failure??

Explore topics in this discussion:

Heart failure Surgery Lipitor Dementia Plavix Stent Spironolactone Stress Heart disease Dyslexia Lisinipril Confusion Aspirin Lisinopril Stroke Atherosclerosis Diovan Memory Congestive heart failure

35 replies

jay73

Hi, me too! I can't remember things with the clarity of detail that I used to. I'm not sure whether it is related to heart disease or the drugs that I'm on. I suspect the latter. This link also discusses memory loss in cardiac patients and will no doubt add to the statin debate!


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-203369/Heart-disease-drug-link-me mory-loss.html

Take Care
Jay

angelmom4

I am also having the memory issues since starting cardiac drug therapy and I don't like it one bit. I feel old enough as it is without adding this to the mix.

kardia

So glad you brought it up...for the longest time, I blew it off as, the "M" change in life you know...

But, I know other people my age 54 who aren't as bad...

Then of course I have thought it might be the "A" dimentia variety...but then, again, I think it is different from that even because of how I have loss...it isn't like I am making coffee, and in the middle forget what I am doing...but I do forget...where I am going some times and can't remember words for the life of me.

I am experienceing overload mentally with the heat, more shocks/defibs this summer from the ICD, and confusion that happens just before, so I am thinking it has something to do also with the oxygen flow to my brain...plus the meds, maybe plus the "M".

If you figure it out or get diagnosed, please keep us abreast of your findings.

Sorry you are going through this especially if you are younger...

kardia
www.kardianotes.blogspot.com

Kennarina

I think Kardia's right on the money. I have begun to notice that these transient memory blocks (and I'm talking 'nobody home' upstairs!) are directly tied to my fatigue level, stress, worry, the hot weather. Throw in mentalpause - and you have serious memory lapses.

Here's one for you. Can anybody top this? My grown daughter Larissa and I were recently sitting on a park bench chatting near our local village market when an acquaintance stopped to say hello. I said: "Karen, I don't think you've met my daughter....................." BLANK! A complete blank! It only lasted one second before I blurted out: "LARISSA!!!!!" - felt like five long minutes of mortification! - but my daughter shot me 'the look' immediately. Try explaining THAT to your own child....

On the other hand, with some subjects (like the five days I spent at Mayo Clinic last fall) I am sharp as a tack and can remember things in frightening photographic detail - everything the Mayo cardiologists taught us, medical terminology, research results, diagnostics, stats, drug names, the works.

That's why I'm convinced this isn't permanent drug-induced brain damage - it's occasional and usually affected by other factors that day.

Or else I'm some kind of idiot savant like Rainman.....

:0)


XOXOXO


http://www.myheartsisters.org

martzj

This began in my mid-30s....I wasn't aware of impending heart attacks or on heart meds back then. But what reassured me was that the episodes were transient. Some days were just 'foggy' and I would feel confusion and brain sluggishness in delayed reaction time. I learned it would pass and all that stored memory was still intact....it was my ability to access these things that ran on some kind of roller coaster. After heart attacks it has continued but always in flux and I am reassured the basics are still residing in my female brain waiting to be contacted. Kind of like a cell phone that works only if enough bars are showing. Some days I can't get any bars showing in my brain : )

The past few years a kind of verbal dyslexia has been growing.....I say things backwards. 'Shelf bra' for instance. I'm forever saying 'bra shelf' now and getting confused about which is correct. My sister finds this endlessly amusing...."Jaynie, a bra SHELF is what you place bras ON....a shelf bra is where you place the boobs." : )

Jaynie

Dgrant

Kennarina -- Since I'll be going to Mayo in October, I am hoping that I will be able to retain most of what I learn there!! I plan to take LOTS of notes!!

I am hoping that since I have a medical background to begin with, most of the information will probably stay with me......

We shall see --

I'm getting so excited!!

Dana

Lynnedz56

By the way, I'm 53 and the memory stuff only started a couple months ago, after the stent actually. However, that is also when they put me on 5 new meds. I saw the cardiologist today and I forgot to ask him about the memory stuff. I had a million other questions. He took me off Lisinipril because I was coughing, so tomorrow I start Diovan. And I had to have him fill out some more fmla paperwork. I think part of the memory problems are also my high stress job and what I am going to do about that. My cardiac rehab continues to tell me that STRESS is not good. And my cardiologist tells me to listen to the rehab folks.

sternum

Oh thank goodness ---

I have been afraid of bringing up this one .

It happens so often that I just look at my friend when I forget in mid sentencewhat I am saying, just begging her to read my mind because I can't find anything in it.

Yes Jaynie I have forgotten my daughter's name when introducing her or answering someone's qustions about her. Then there was the afternoon I was talking to my doctor about forgetting words and trains of thought and what I am doing. I just stopped with a blank stare on my face. He did say that the meds contribued to it, but basically he wasn't in the least bit surprised. He just looked at me with that "I wish I could help" look in his eyes and said my body has been through such trauma, and that includes being on the heart and lung machine, and three other major surgeries in one month and their consequences, that he would be suprised if everything was fine. I asked him how long and he just shook his head and mumbled who knows.

I really do hate it though. When explaining something I want to a clerk, in everyday dealings with friends, teaching...and the list goes on. I almost want to write my thoughts down before I open my mouth.
Have you ever stopped what you are doing and run off to do something else because you just remembered you forgot it earlier. LOL and DUH sigh......

Have a good night. I'm going to put one more load of laundry in the washer before I forget :) :) This would make a great comedy routine. No one could make it up.

Gloria

sternum

Sorry that was Kennarina who forgot her daughter's name. I forgot.

Gloria :D

jay73

'I saw the cardiologist today and I forgot to ask him about the memory stuff.'

Great pun! ;-)

sternum

One of my friends keeps telling me about an herb that is supposed to help with memory --- But I can't remember what it is.

Oh Well ........;)

Trissie

Me too!! I saw my cardio today and I too forgot to ask about the memory thing.
I have Prinzmetal's and when I'm having an episode, not only does my memory fail, but I simply cannot think logically. And now I feel that I have lost a lot of smarts, I wonder if these attacks affect the brain enough to cause a drain of thinking ability. But then sometimes I still feel able to think intelligently.
Hopefully,
Trissie

Lynnedz56

According to the nurses at rehab as well as the "stress" counselor there...yes, some of the meds can affect memory. But they also feel in my case it has to do with the EXTREME stress of my job. I see the cardiologist again on Friday and I am going to make a NOTE to ask him.

Jamaicanmenuts

Ginko is the herb is you remember to take it. I tried for 4 months after a moderate concussion 10 years ago.
I have no idea if it was of help.
Everyone wants your money.
What I do is try to concentrate of what is happening at the moment. I often find myself noting what is being said as if : Yes I know that and that and that (intuitively) but when a discussion comes up I find it difficult to verbalize my knowledge or recall what exactly is being stated.
One thing that does help me is to limit distractions when I am speaking with someone. TV/Radio OFF and any extraneous noise off and away. I find that most helpful. Reading aloud to myself is also a big help with instructions and recipes etc....it doesn't mean I will remember every detail but I believe it helps the brain store the important info.
'Ain't' it fun girls?

WillowBark

Hello Sisters,

I was going to post something, walked away for a minute to put my pjs on, walked back and forgot what I was going to say...

I have to think hard to bring back lost thoughts. I'll say this...I'm not nuts about it just being circumstance driven. If it's the meds, I can blame the meds. And I have blamed the meds - Lipitor, Plavix, Lisinopril, Metropolol, Atavan, Aspirin, Spironolactone. I'm not ready to face brain issues.

However my MI didn't wait till I was ready for it, so I guess the memory stuff ought to be looked at.

I can't tell you all how amazingly grateful I am that you write down your realities. I read and I feel like I'm listening to aspects of myself. Thank you so much for validating that I'm not 135% out of my mind. Just some, and I'm not alone. :)

wyntersgrace

I had severe, undiagnosed atherosclerosis (until the MI) and I had *significant* cognitive impairment. I would get lost in my own neighborhood (that I had lived in for 5 years), would be on a road I traveled daily and suddenly not know where I was, nor where I was going.

Several months after the MI, I saw a neurologist for other ongoing issues and he sent me to a neuropsychologist for testing. I do, in fact, have cognitive decline. Mild Cognitive Disorder, NOS, w/amnestic features, to be exact. A brain MRI also showed some "midline cerebellar atrophy" that no one can explain. (That is something seen as you age - I don't think 36 counts - and with raging alcoholics and I rarely drink.)

My thoughts? Oxygen wasn't getting where it needed to be for a long time. You don't get to where you suddenly need 4 stents overnight. I think the damage was permanent. That's just my personal opinion based on how I was before and how I was after and continuing.

I am forever losing my words - which is maddening because I can't even describe the word, I just have to wait for it to come back to me - getting my words out of order, losing my train of thought mid-sentence, have trouble with simple math (and I'm an accountant :/ ), etc, etc.

My kids will get frustrated when they tell me something and I've never heard it before. They'll tell me, "I've told you this 5 times already!" My response is, "Really? Was I there?" LOL I think at first they thought I was just ignoring them, but they now realize that I really just don't remember.

I actually felt better after having the testing. Finding out that it was more than likely permanent was disheartening, but I got over feeling "stupid", as I used to call it, all the time. It was very disconcerting. It still is at times, but having a definitive test helped me accept it a lot better.

Ann1215

I have the same problems. I was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia last week. The memory problems have been an ongoing problem since my CABG surgery in Nov 04, you know, them TINY BUBBLES associated with PUMP HEAD SYNDROME obviously have become balloons and busted. All of my symptoms are associated with the atherosclorosis, heart failure, high blood pressure and other problems getting oxygen to the brain. My neurologist has put me on Namenda and another drug - waiting on that one from my mail off pharmacy. We hope the Namenda will retard or slow the progression of the dementia. Prior to my heart surgery in Nov 04, I was an avid crafter - I made intricate beadwork items, pictures, ink pen covers, lighter covers, small evening purses, etc. I was a prolific reader and had a near photographic memory. I rarely read books as I cannot remember from one day to the next what I read so unless I can finish a book or article in one day it does me no good to read. I mourn the loss of my beadwork and reading. I do knit and occasionally crochet but those are just rote work to keep my hands busy.

BUT I AM ALIVE and I am so thankful to all my doctors for keeping me alive. I try to focus on what I gained and not what I have lost from my heart disease. But it is hard not to dwell on the loss of my beading and reading. I cry about that on occasion but I try not to because then my blood pressure goes up and I get very anxious further affecting my memory.

Ann

ktbmom

I had short-term memory loss after my defib went off eight times in about three minutes. It is slowly coming back to me over time (it has now been three and a half months since shocks), but slowly. When I get overly tired it makes it worse.

Of course, the doctor said that he had never heard that before. I told him not to discount it because all patients are different. He agreed with that.

I try to do memory puzzles when I have free time hoping that will help me get this back. My children, 7, 4, and 4, tend to get upset because at times I tell them I am making lunch or going to get them something and never get it done until they remind me again. They think I do it on purpose.

Anyone have any ideas on how to work on gaining back memory loss? I am grateful to know that I am not crazy or alone in this journey we are all on.

Chrissy_l

thank goodness i am not the only person with this problem i am only 24 and since they have increased my cardiac meds i have been having a lot of memory problems i wqill be looking at an object but just cant recal the name of it for the life of me or i will ask my son if he could go and get the whats you call it and put it near the thingy and it is just really bad at the moment

wondering48

I am also going to ask my cardiologist when I see him about the memory lapses and what causes this.
Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I have to try and
figure out what day it is....and I really hate this!
I do crosswords and read alot..but still hate forgetting
things.....

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