Hi, I’m new to lemmy and this is my first post. I’ve been diagnosed with adhd for a while now and I’m on medication. I’ve always had issues with memory and was wondering if this could have something to do with my ADHD, as taking the meds seems to help and it’s only with small, simple things like what I did today or had for breakfast, sometimes even things I just saw or did seconds ago.

  • rowinxavier@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    25
    ·
    1 year ago

    Making a memory requires intention and attention. Most people don’t remember the drive to work, going to the toilet, or showering, but their way of interpreting the world includes a little summary step, a sort of “Yep, done that” for each task. They remember that they showered, but they don’t remember showering. When they then try to recall showering they confabulate something reasonable, a sort of stand in for having a shower, but it isn’t recorded that morning, it is just a kind of simulation of what showering is usually like when they have a shower at home, in the morning, on a workday etc.

    Because you have fewer executive function slots you are using all of them to do your tasks, so you don’t have spare slots to also make summaries. This is actually not a bad thing, I mean who really wants to have full video memory of every shower they have ever had, but it can look like memory issues if you have incorrect expectations. Most people don’t remember most of what they say they remember, they remember a summary which compresses it and makes it much easier to store but not a full recollection of the event itself.

  • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    1 year ago

    Here’s a simple experiment you can try. Look up one of the contacts in your phone. It has to be one whose phone number you don’t know. Read their phone number, then try to recite it or write it down from memory without looking at it again.

    If my meds are working like they should, I can do it. Otherwise I have to literally look at every single digit as I write it down because it’s like as soon as the number is out of sight, I might as well have never seen it. Same with reading books. I love to read but I struggled with it before getting on Vyvanse because I would get to the end of a paragraph and have absolutely no idea what I just read. I’d have to read the same paragraph 5-6 times before some of it actually stuck.

    This is something that some people who don’t have ADHD struggle to understand. Everyone forgets things occasionally. That’s normal. What’s not normal is forgetting things so quickly and frequently that it severely degrades your quality of life. That’s a common symptom of ADHD and boy does it suck.

    • Schlemmy@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Just remembering people’s names is a torment. I’m a Teamcoach and I have to keep some sort of inventory because from time to time I can’t remember the names of colleagues that I’ve been working with for 10 years.

  • Mighty@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    ·
    1 year ago

    It might be one of the most frustrating aspects for me honestly. I feel like a shitty friend/partner because I literally forget almost everything. Somebody might tell me something and 2mins later I have no idea. Sometimes I “feel” the memory somewhere in my head but can’t grasp it. Sometimes I really feel the empty space where it should be.

  • Buelldozer@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    1 year ago

    Short Term and Working Memory of a damn goldfish. Long Term memory is so freakishly good that people think I’m making it up.

    I can struggle to tell you what I had for a meal 10 minutes after I finish eating but I can tell you the exact page and location on the page of phrases that I read in a book 20 years ago.

    Why did I just go to the kitchen? Who the fuck knows. Ask me what I was doing last Thursday afternoon at 3:30 though and I can write you a detailed description of the entire days events.

    Welcome to ADHD.

    • Dr. Coomer@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      This is literally me, except the farther out the memory is, the clearer it is. I remember stuff that I was to young to viable be able to remember.

      • Buelldozer@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        I remember stuff that I was to young to viable be able to remember.

        Same! My earliest memory is a man, who wasn’t my Father, coming to the house and giving my Mother a letter. After reading she hid it inside a flower pot underneath a fake plant. It happened in 1973 when I was just about 12 months old. I know the year because I talked to my Mom about it a few years ago and after she got over her shock she told me when it happened.

        Yes my Mom was a serial cheater and yes my first memory of life is her getting a love letter from one of her lovers. 👌

  • watson387@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    1 year ago

    Oh most definitely. I can’t remember people’s names that I’ve known for decades sometimes. It’s mostly on-the-spot though. Like I’ll remember it again at some point, I just can’t do it at the particular moment I need to, if that makes sense.

    • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yes, that’s a good distinction. It’s not like I’m constantly forgetting my name or where I work, I just can’t keep it all within my minds grasp at all times.

      I often miss birthdays, and I always say it’s not because I didn’t know your birthday was May 23rd, it’s because I didn’t know TODAY was May 23rd.

      • Schlemmy@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        As I’ve missed my own birthday so many times. My wedding anniversary mostly falls when we’re on vacation so it’s even worse. I’m not aware of time at all when we’re on vacation.

    • Schlemmy@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      This! I just commented this but It’s awful. I’m a teamcoach at work and a lot of the times I can’t remember the names of colleagues that I’ve worked with for over 10 years.

      I found a trick though. I ask them for their name. When they respond with their first name I reply 'I know your name, you silly, I need your last name so I can send an email. Only works on newer colleagues.

  • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    1 year ago

    Yeah. My short term memory can only hold one thing at a time, if I get distracted, it’s gone.

  • folkrav@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I can’t even remember if I took my meds on some days lol. I need reminders, tasks, alarms and calendar events for everything, or I can’t function.

      • folkrav@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Oh, I do too. I keep closing the alarms going “I’ll do it in a min”, or just snoozing them until they stop.

    • Schlemmy@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      That’s why I took Concerta for a while. Just one pill a day. And I numbered the capsules on the strips so I could just check the date.

      • folkrav@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I take Vyvanse once a day too (plus other stuff, but all once a day at the same time), I prepare everything in a pill box that I keep at my computer desk, which is the one place I go to every single day around the time I take them, but I still manage to forget lol

    • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I literally took a small dose of meds to work because as soon as I am on the road (and I plan my commute very tight with small room for error), I notice that I did not do something. And then I am a good 2 kilometres away from home.

    • topinambour_rex@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Say out loud where you put it. I day out loud when I close a door, or do a task which I easily forget. Then I remember it more easily, because I said and heard it.

  • xkforce@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    1 year ago

    Poor executive function often manifests as poor short term and working memory so yes what you experienced is a common symptom of ADHD

  • Schlemmy@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    Yes, I have ADD and I miss parts of my days, certain special occasions are blurryand sometimes I can’t remember what I’ve done the last hour.

    It’s part of the ‘symptoms’.

  • Radioactive Radio
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    You can’t forget what you never knew/noticed. My brain just ignores and misses a lot of things.