Tag: memory

Brain Fog

I have been experiencing brain fog for the past few days. This includes memory issues, trouble holding a thought and trouble with concentration.

I have been googling about it and it sounds like brain fog can accompany bipolar which I have.

The brain fog started when I decided with my doctor to go down 25mg on my Clozapine – from 400mg to 375mg. I have since decided this can wait until stress surrounding my daughter’s finals and graduation dissipates.

Brain fog for me is very different from racing thoughts. Brain fog is difficulty finding a thought and hanging onto it, while racing thoughts are usually elevated and rapidly firing and usually occur with an elevated mood.

Have you ever experienced brain fog or racing thoughts? Do you find brain fog different from racing thoughts?

Back in 2004/2005 I was diagnosed with a brain tumor

During a routine MRI after my daughter was born, a frontal meningioma was found – that is a small tumor in the brain sac likely benign. I was told at the time not to worry about it. In 2013, I asked the doctor specifically if follow-up was needed. He said no unless there were new symptoms. For about the last two years, I have been experiencing additional anxiety and short-term memory loss. I am unsure whether these are signs of the bipolar condition progressing with age or are symptoms of the meningioma pressing on the frontal lobe.

Friday, I had an MRI of the brain and should know the results next week. There is a part of me that is hoping it is pressure on the frontal lobe so that once removed my anxiety and memory loss should be better. It is craziness to think that way, but there you have it.

Anybody Experiencing Memory Loss (revisited)?

This original blog post on memory loss and mental illness posted almost 2 weeks ago has had the most traffic of any of my posts: https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/mental-health-is-health.com/473

For that reason I am revisiting it. With this update, I am trying to understand when people experience memory loss, what kind of memory loss it is and how long it lasts.

  1. Are your memory issues associated with certain episodes of mental illness, meaning they just occur when you are in a depressive state or manic state or the equivalent for you?
  2. Do these memory issues linger after the episode is complete?
  3. In other words is your memory loss temporary during the episode or does the memory loss remain after the episode is complete?
  4. Are you more likely to experience short-term memory impacts or longer term memory impacts?
  5. What coping mechanisms like writing notes, leaving reminders on your phone have you adopted to help manage the memory loss?
  6. Do these mechanisms help you manage the memory loss?
  7. Would you say the memory loss is mild, moderate or significant?
  8. Have you talked this through with your care team / doctor / therapist?
  9. Do you believe the memory loss is a function of the mental illness or the medication or both?
  10. Do you feel covid-19 is a factor in your memory loss?

My memory loss issues are largely short-term — where did I put the car keys or the phone? I also might forget going to a certain restaurant a month or two ago. My memory issues tend to exist during and after episodes and are not episode-specific. The memory loss is there whether I am showing signs of bipolar break-through symptoms or not but are worse for example when my anxiety is high. So far, I have not taken this up with my therapist and my doctor since the problem has been on the mild side. But since the memory issues may be getting more prominent I will likely share with my therapist and my doctor at my next appointments. I am not sure whether the memory loss is medication-specific or illness-specific. I use notes and to-do lists all the time to help manage as well as a few reminders on my phone. I use a hand-written calendar to track appointments and dates. I also use my online calendar to manage appointments as well. I have a bulletin board set up in the kitchen as well to post things that need my attention in the short-term or mostly in the long term. I would say covid-19 is a huge impact since all the days do run together one to the next.

Thanks for sharing your insights on memory loss as you are able.

Anybody Experiencing Memory Loss?

This is a question for folks who have a mood disorder including bipolar illness. For the last several years I have been experiencing mild to moderate memory issues. I have chalked it up to strong psyche meds and basically have not worried about it much. What is the most difficult is that sometimes I forget where I put things. It seems worse for short-term items than long-term items and so far is manageable. It seems worse in the age of covid-19 than before March 2020.

I am wondering if memory issues typically accompany mood disorders including bipolar illness? Not big things like forgetting family names and places but where I put the phone or the keys. So far, I have chalked this up to too much brain function due to the bipolar and too much time at home due to covid-19.

Has anyone with mood issues noticed short-term memory impacts? Thanks in advance for sharing.

My Sojourn through Bipolar Illness – Managing Anxiety Then and Now

My daughter was born 16 years ago when I was 40 years old.  She is the light and the delight of my world, yet her birth marks a turning point in my illness particularly as regards my experiences of anxiety.  As a parent, my experience of anxiety has quadrupled or more over the years of being a parent. 

In years prior to the birth of my daughter, everyday life felt relatively normal between breaks with breaks or mini-breaks coming every six months or so each year.  After the birth of my daughter this scenario was replaced by a low to medium to sometimes high level of generalized anxiety all of the time.  This generalized anxiety now persists as my benchmark or my norm with little or few break-down episodes.

While I no longer have episodes that land me in the hospital or at my sister Jane’s house twice a year, I do maintain and live with a generalized sense of anxiety all the time.  In many ways my illness has migrated from severe to partially severe breaks every six months to living with anxiety on a regular basis.  The anxiety may also be the by-product of mixed moods – or experiencing mania and depression simultaneously.

The good news is I have become better at policing my environment and know those things that trigger my anxiety:   fears of safety, not being sure the house is locked or secure, not knowing the location of important things like documents in the safe or prescription medication, big parties where there is an emphasis on alcohol and drinking…. In many ways it feels like my bipolar illness has migrated toward including a combination of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety. 

But, I am not the doctor and as far as I know I am still diagnosed as having bipolar illness… 

As a parent as discussed, I tend to be hyper-focused on safety concerns for my daughter as well as for my family.  I tend to be extra vigilant about little things like crossing the street or being in a venue where alcohol is served or being aware of predators on the internet or elsewhere.

I also appear to have some short-term memory problems that I associate with a high dosage of meds over the years and/or over-active brain synapses.   These short-term memory issues continue to present challenges to me particularly in the workplace.  At times, I am challenged with finding a place for everyday things like a wallet or keys or cell phone.  It is also difficult for me to keep track of things of my daughter’s like phones, laptops, keys, etc. Each of these things has to have a specific place or I will become anxious in the not knowing.  The not knowing again is tied with the short-term memory challenges. 

These short-term memory issues have turned me into “a checker.”  Before leaving the house, I check routinely that the stove and oven are off and that other appliances are unplugged.  I have developed a checking routine for various appliances and doorways before leaving the house.  This level of “checking” feels important for me because of the memory issues but drives my husband and my daughter crazy.  

In general, I would say that the general anxiety that I experience currently presents my largest challenge in the management of my life including my role as mother to my sixteen-year-old daughter.  The anxiety is something that I face every day.  Being overly sedated so as not to feel the anxiety is one approach.  I am hopeful, however, that the medication I have been taking for the last 10 years will allow me to address that generalized sense of anxiety.  Perhaps also, this anxiety simply is tied with being a parent and all the worrying about things that that role entails.    Perhaps also this anxiety is due to unresolved issues of potential child abuse when I was six.

Prior to my daughter’s birth, I managed my condition with a combination of lithium and tegretol for ten plus years.  This was my regime when I had the mini breaks every six months or so that were treated with Mellaril and Haldol.  Now, I no longer have those mini break-through episodes, but I do have a sense of generalized anxiety a lot of the time.  The generalized anxiety appears for now to be the trade-off for no longer having the mini-breaks.   Managing through this generalized anxiety is my current mental health challenge.     I am hopeful as I get through to the other side of child abuse as a six-year-old, these anxiety symptoms will abate markedly.