Any Other 40+ Experience This?

[Robert Murphy]

Dear fellow old fucks,

Does this happen to you?:

FYI I am 41.

You have the perfect rejoinder, but a critical word doesn't come to you! You are writing, you know th perfect word but... but...

WHAT WAS IT?!??!

You're writing or worse (speaking): you have to consult your own personal thesaraus; and it comes to you!!! Great if you're writing, bugger if you're speaking.

Question: is this early. on-stage Althezheimers(sp)?

Help,

Robert

[Hoopla Phil]

1. It's called "sometimers disease"

[JVS]

2. I can't relate. I know that the perfect bon mot is always a variant of "fuck"

[12string]

86. I'm glad

that I had already swallowed my milk.I hate it when it comes through my nose all over the keyboard.roflmao.

[Atman]

3. I wouldn't worry about it, Robert. I'm about to turn 50 and...

...there is no doubt that...uh...I'm 49, so it means that, uh...anyway, what was the post about? Rejoinders or something, right? I don't know why I replied 'cuz I don't know shit about carpentry.

.

[Robert Murphy]

6. LOL!! (N/T)

.

[Saphire]

97. What's really fun is when you forget the names of things....like the

big white thing in the garage you put dirty clothes in, or that thing in the kitchen you cook on. See, I know exactly what it does, but the name of the object just.........slips my mind.

[eleny]

4. Wait till you find your car keys in the fridge

And sure, what you experience happens. Between aging and meds, it gets interesting. Sometimes I have to visualize an object and then I can remember the word for it. Oy.

[DesertFlower]

17. i found the tickets

for the dry cleaner in the freezer. lol

[JerseygirlCT]

30. Or put the milk away in the dish cabinet...

Yeah, we've probably all done something like that!

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Nothing wrong with that.

Sometimes if you just stop trying to grasp the word and think about something else, the word will come to you. It happens to me, more with names than with particular words. The way I think about it, by the time you get to a certain age, you've accumulated so much knowledge that it's harder to find exactly what you're looking for -- kind of like an overstuffed file cabinet. It's all still there, just a little harder to find.

[eleny]

7. Yeh, takes longer to get it from the hard drive to the desk top

:D

[Journeyman]

8. Halfheimer's. . .

a lesser form of Alzheimer's. . . get used to it. . .

[Robert Murphy]

12. You people kill me....

i suf fro ha Alzs
Yo

Rob

[Fleshdancer]

9. I'm 10 yrs younger and it happens to me all the time

In fact, I've dealt with this annoyance my whole life. It's embarrassing when I'm speaking to a group of people because I have to pause and inform them that I've lost my word. Sometimes I'll try to describe what I'm trying to say, but then the conversation deteriorates into a weird guessing game which inevitably leaves everyone confused.

[CTyankee]

107. I had a math professor who once said "I had a thought but it died of loneliness."

So I say that now...

[joeunderdog]

108. I wanna use that one...

but I'll probably forget it as soon as I log off.

[TBF]

10. It started a few years prior to age 40 with my first pregnancy. Could not remember a thing.

Now that I'm 42 I'm thankful that I've probably forgotten the bad along with the good!

[netania99]

44. I had the same experience when I was pregnant

I couldn't remember the simplest words - mostly it was nouns like "pen" or "chair." It was so embarrassing. I was 32 when I was pregnant and the forgetting went away after a while. It'll probably make a comeback soon enough.

[virgdem]

11. Nothing to worry about...

You're just having a Pre-Senior Moment!!!!!!

[yodoobo]

13. Yea. I had that one thing happen at that one place that one time

damned if i can remember what, where or when it was.

[DesertFlower]

14. i'm 67. i came down with

chronic fatigue syndrome when i was 48 and started having problems with my short term memory. now i don't know if it's age or the illness. both my parents had dementia. i worry.

[cherish44]

15. 41 isn't old ya goof!

I'll be 42 in April and I have a mind like a steel trap! ooooooooh shiny! :::wanders off:::

[Robert Murphy]

18. I'm Wid YA!!!!

.

[Winterblues]

16. There is a scientific term for that ...CRS

Can't Remember Shit..:-)

[Boomerang Diddle]

19. Defintely not Alzhiemers

Just a part of aging.

[Stellabella]

20. No, it's just a full brain.

I like the definition of simply growing older vs. Alzheimer's put this way:

If you lose your car keys, you're just getting older. If you find your car keys but don't know what to do with them, that may be Alzheimer's.

[monmouth]

21. Ah Robert, welcome to my world.. The word is there, I know it so then

I quickly go threw the alphabet. Voila! I doubt it's what you suspect, I remember back when little "senior moments" like this would happen. Tell you doctor though, you're pretty young.

[HeresyLives]

22. Happened to you at 20 as well.

Hence the phrase 'I just had it on the tip of my tongue'.

It's just that at 20, you never thought of it being Alzheimer's, it was just being human. :)

Forgetting where you put your keys is normal. Everybody does that.

Forgetting what keys are is something else.

[Canuckistanian]

23. You're absolutely..... ummm... wait a minute....

Right!

[Tripper11]

24. Happens all the time for me.....

It's really frustrating. I'm rolling along, and then BANG, word or name roadblock, and I just stammer and stutter trying to figure it out, and knowing that I know what it is, but just can't get there.
I always chalked it up to 2 things;
1. past indiscretions! :smoke:
2. chemo therapy....seriously, when I had leukemia 6 years ago, I was told that I my brain could get a little mushy from the chemo. :shrug:
But seeing this thread, maybe it's just my age...hitting 44...ugh!

[latebloomer]

47. The dreaded chemo brain!

I also had leukemia and am doing well, but the lack of memory lingers on. What type of leukemia did you have?

[LiberalHeart]

89. chemo knocked me for a loop...

Used to have a photographic memory; it's gone.

Used to read a book a week; now I struggle to get through one a year.

Short term memory: doesn't exist most days.

The change was sudden and awful and hasn't improved all these years later (18 years).

[Neecy]

25. well....

I'm a 40+ woman and I call it 'menopause'.

[baldguy]

83. If women go through "menopause", what do men go through?

six-packs

[Betsy Ross]

26. Buck up there. It's going to get worse.

I am so relieved when my husband can't remember a word or uses the wrong one. It ain't just me and menopause!

At near 60, I also find that I am less capable of multiplexing. I burn way too much food because I try and do something else while it cooks.

[KansDem]

27. Yeah, the phrase "It was on the tip of my tongue" is one of my most often-used phrases these days.

And, I've noticed lately that I tend to leave the house without zipping my fly a little more often...

[JerseygirlCT]

28. Just age, I think

Or Topamax. That does it, too. Combine them, and then you REALLY start feeling old.

It happens. I think it's just that we only get so much memory, and I could use another few gigs... Somehow my kids can remember all sorts of things. Me, I'm now happy if I can remember my cell phone number!

You're ok. You're just 41. (I'm older btw, so I can tease a bit, I think).

[CitizenPatriot]

43. topamax...

that did me shameful memory at young age!

:-)

[JerseygirlCT]

49. That was 6 awful weeks for me

Too bad, I surely didn't mind finding my clothes too big. But finding that in part b/c I was sick and anything I actually did force myself to eat... well it didn't stay long. But looking back, it's downright scary how stupid I was!

Why can't they find a migraine med w/o cruddy side-effects?

[CitizenPatriot]

55. I know!

I was on it for over a year -- lost a ton of weight (more than healthy) and had some serious side effects.

back to imitrex and the 160 dollars a month it costs. PM me if you want to - I started a magnesium program that cut them down a lot. I know, sounds like hooey, but it actually worked.

:hi::hi::hi:

[TheCowsCameHome]

29. I forget why I'm repling to you, but it seems normal to me...

...whatever it was you said.

[Robert Murphy]

33. Because...

...we had a love ly walk in the park. now come over to.... ;-)

[TheCowsCameHome]

39. Oh great, now I'm hearing voices.............

[Mike 03]

31. As a fellow writer, I have to pass on a George Clooney paraphrase that might calm you:

He just said that "After 40, life is about springing holes, and we just have to hope we have enough corks to plug all the holes."

That is what it feels like to me. I have to fight this battle every day.

On the mental front, I've begun to actually make vocabulary lists. Even if it's a word I know, but like and fear forgetting, I write it down and make a note of it, or if I see it in a book I make a checkmark beside the sentence or circle it.

That is one reason I like getting several copies of the same book, if it's a really good book. I believe making notations on written works is good for the brain.

I've also found that playing a musical instrument is both a fantastic diversion and enormously stimulating to the brain.

So is exercise, eating raw vegetables, consuming fish oil and other supplements.

Good luck, friend!

[geckosfeet]

32. All the time.

[cordelia]

34. Have you had the lovely experience yet

of going into a room in your home, and wondering why you're there?

If it hasn't happened yet, it will.

[latebloomer]

50. Happens all the time

That, and I'm constantly losing things- which is related to the clutter that surrounds me.

More than once I searched the whole house for my glasses, only to discover them on my head!

[Cerridwen]

56. I wrote my post before reading yours. I think it's #52, but I forget.

LOL

[latebloomer]

69. Ha ha!

I like the way you describe it!

[Cerridwen]

75. :D

Thanks, it was an hour or two to remember. One of the few things I do remember in spite of how hard I try to forget it. LOL

[Withywindle]

62. I've done that since I was about 10.

Has to do with being a bookworm. Your mind is just not necessarily always in this world.

[Pakhet]

104. what's worse is going upstairs

forgetting what you went up for, getting most of the way down, remembering, going back up...
wash, rinse, repeat LOL

[stray cat]

35. No - unlikely - sounds normal

[marybourg]

36. When this happened to me in my 20's

I blamed it on talking only to toddlers all day long. Used to be a big joke among stay-at-home moms! I think it happens to everybody!

[Holly_Hobby]

37. You're going through male pre-menopause

I lost my ability to recall the perfect words at 44 due to pre-menopause. I'm not kidding. I did.

[Sisaruus]

58. Mentalpause

I swear I lost 25% of my vocabulary as I neared menopause.

[Kajsa]

38. I don't know Robert-That happens to me all the time.

57 going on 23, here.
( arrested development)

I like to call them 'white outs', because
I'm stone sober when it happens.

Can Not Think Of The Word
( and I know the word- argh!)

:banghead:

You are not alone.

[DBoon]

40. We joke about playing "find that noun"

nt

[zazen]

41. check your B12 levels . . . I had developed pernicious anemia and thought I had lost my mind (42)

Nervous tics, severe fatigue, brain fog, something called semantic dysphasia (had to look that one up. My girls sure thought it was increasingly funny to hear Mommy pick completely opposite or apposite words on a regular basis.) Thought it might even be MS; then just thought I was lazy and losing my mind.

Two weeks on B12 (now that the blood work confirms what no one believes until, well, they see blood work) and I feel at least 5--occasionally 10-- years younger. Not sure if the effect will last or get better, but it's good to know it wasn't all in my head. I'm sure there's normal aging, too, but apparently b12 deficiency can creep up on you, especially if you're a vegetarian.

Over the counter sublingual b12 liquids from a reputable manufacturer might be worth a try, as a start, and they can't hurt, apparently.

Good luck!

[w8liftinglady]

72. I had the very same thing happen

seriously low B12 levels-I couldn't remember my son's birth date.I did an aggressive round of B12 injections-not perfect,but a whole lot better.

[zazen]

105. are you still on them? (you could e-mail me if you want) n/t

[sarge43]

42. No, hardly the onset of Alzheimer's

It's just the natural progression. The brain is an organ like any other. It's not going to function as it did when we were 20 something. As we age the occasional memory lapse is normal, annoying, but normal.

A few hundred threads ago, someone posted her doctor's excellent insight. I'll paraphrase: Forgetting where you left the car keys isn't anything to worry about. When you can't remember what they're used for, you have a problem.

[TexasObserver]

45. Ha! Welcome to the second half of your life.

You will learn why pro athletes retire by age 40 most of the time. It's not just your physical skills that diminish with age. That perfect word may get stuck somewhere in your head for a second, a minute, an hour, a week. It's annoying as hell.

A few years ago, I couldn't remember KD Lang's name to save my life. I went months trying to remember it without looking it up. It became my constant craving. I finally asked my son, and of course, he knew it immediately. I could remember everything about her but her name. The handle got lost somewhere in there.

[Red State Rebel]

46. CRS Disease - Can't Remember Shit!

[hay rick]

48. ???? happens

I find that the suddenly missing words are usually nouns. Names- proper nouns- are most likely to go MIA. I am now in the habit of retrieving people's names before I walk into the place where I typically encounter them.

Last winter I couldn't dredge up the word "poinsettia" for weeks before it finally popped back into my vocabulary. The same thing happened again this year. I was still waiting for it to return from its apparently annual migration when I saw your post. I had to google "Christmas plants" so I could write this paragraph.

[Cerridwen]

51. Stress can cause havoc with your memory as well.

But Robert, you've not truly lived until you've searched high and low, in the sofa cushions, in the 'fridge, in the car, had your spouse or SO help you search and back track again, teaaring apart purses and pockets, only to find your reading glasses planted firmly on top of your head.

:rofl:

[eShirl]

52. it happens to me, I'm 44 and my Dad has Alzheimer's

these facts are possibly unrelated

[Lugnut]

53. Wait.

The older you get the worse it gets. :D

[ConcernedCanuk]

54. . . . eh? . . . say what . . .?

.
.
.

we start early up here

[GoneOffShore]

57. Dude - Wait til 60. That's when the warranty runs out.

[McCamy Taylor]

59. I am a writer and editor and this happens to me all the time. My brain switched from memory

mode to something that feels more like a kind of right brain spatial abstract logical mode around the time that I turned 40. It is much easier for me to solve complicated problems than it was when I was 20. On the other hand, my once almost photographic memory is not what it used to be. So, I end up deriving a lot of things now that I used to just remember.

From my observations of other people, I think that this is normal, and that this change may be genetic and beneficial for the human race.

So relax, and go with the flow. I will bet that if you consider problems like "Why God allows bad things to happen to good people" they will make much more sense now than they did when you were 21.

[eppur_se_muova]

60. "The wisdom of the staircase" -- because you always remember on the way down the exit stairs. nt

[SoCalDem]

61. Sounds like you too suffer from the dreaded CRS Syndrome

Can't Remember Shit:)

[Kajsa]

101. That kitty pic. is so darn cute!

That is adorable.

:)

[Coexist]

63. standard response

I'm 42 btw....

"I have so much in my head, some of it falls out my ears"

[OhioChick]

64. I heard that Omega 3 helps with that. n/t

[LWolf]

65. Yes.

I tell people younger than I that my files are too full, and it sometimes takes a long time to remember where I filed something.

;)

[troubleinwinter]

66. I am not an "old fuck".

I am 58 and am not any less mentally capable than I was at 25 (though I know one hell of a lot more).

This entire thread is an unfortunate stereotype of elder people... that they are forgetful, ditsy, less sharp, less mentally capable, losing their faculties, in other words: easily marginalized.

The thread appears 'humorous' and self-deprecating, but perpetuates and makes acceptable an ugly and unfair stereotype of elders.

[liberalhistorian]

67. Yup, it happens to me and I'm 44.

First started noticing it a couple of years ago. It's called "hard drive clutter." IOW, by this age, our brains, our "hard drive" are starting to get a bit fuller and more cluttered and, therefore, it takes longer for our "search engines" to get through to the info it needs.

That's all it really is; doesn't mean beginnings of, of, of..........hmmmm, what's that word I want again....uh...hold on, it'll come to me........ah yes, dementia! :evilgrin:

[KoKo]

73. And remembering how many people past 40 didn't have to use Computers 24/7

unless they worked for IBM or the competitors...does mean that "Hard Drive Overload Syndrome" has crept into many of our lives. My brain wasn't wired for all the information bombarded at me all the time. I grew up in a much more quiet and orderly world. Sometimes i have to pull a word out that's from that "Other Life." That's at least what I think part of it is with many folks these days. Also time moves much faster with all we have to keep up with technologically than it did just 10 years ago...

Working three jobs and kids schedules and just day to day stuff since Bushies took over where you have to fight for your life all the time...might also be a factor in remembering a few things you have to call out of your "hard drive." :D

[Kip Humphrey]

68. The up side is you'll start remembering the most trivial shit from 30+ years ago.

[emilyg]

74. Oh yes!

I remember what I did 40 years ago. As to present memory - ordered furniture and salesman asked for my address. Had to call my daughter to find out where I lived.

[Mnemosyne]

77. I can't remember my phone number, emilyg!

I live alone, but still. :)

This thread is

What was I going to say?

[slackmaster]

70. The usual term is "Tip of the Brain" effect or phenomenon

It happens to young people too.

Question: is this early. on-stage Althezheimers(sp)?

Impossible to say for sure one way or another.

[AlCzervik]

71. yes, now why did i come in here again?

[Mnemosyne]

78. And that's really bad when it's the

bathroom! :)

[sarge43]

80. That's the one. That is so crazy making. n/t

[POAS]

76. What?

[pipi_k]

79. I was about 42 when I first noticed the same thing....apparently

it's "normal" to not remember some stuff. I'm now 56.

What's really weird is remembering in vivid detail things from 40+ years ago, but not being able to remember where I put something three weeks ago.

[Stinky The Clown]

81. as common as common can be

I'm twenny years older than you. It just gets worse.

[baldguy]

82. I just made a call to get my furnace looked at.

While I was leaving a message on the guys voice mail, I forgot my home phone number.

[janx]

84. Some of it might be age, but I'm willing to bet that it has more to do

with the garbage in/garbage out principle. What are you reading? Are you interacting with people who are articulate and curious? I'm 51 and have noticed what you're talking about, but I've also noticed that I haven't been reading as much as I used to and that the quality of what I read has gone down. In my forties, it always corresponded to what I was reading.

[Incitatus]

85. 20+ experiencing this nt

[Bryn]

87. It happens if you're stressed out

Have a smoke or two with a glass of wine or your favorite drink. :smoke:

[Missy Vixen]

88. It's just a normal part of aging

I forget words sometimes, too. I really hate it when I forget someone's name. At the same time, sometimes the word escapes me, but I am grateful for the increased wisdom and the realization that even if I could, I wouldn't want to be 21 again. Or, I'd be 21 with the knowledge I have now...

[DFW]

90. If it will make you feel better

You say you are 41? That happened to me 41 years ago!

(I'll be 57 this year, and only due to a fortunate win at Firesign Theater's "Beat the Reaper" am I still here at all)

PS--41 is an old fuck? What are you talking about, kid? I was 41 once--dinosaurs roamed the earth once, too.

[SmileyRose]

91. Does anyone know where the sam hell my glasses are?

No seriously, I've been looking for them for 3 days.

Maybe I should look inside the dryer.................

[emilyg]

93. Top of your head? That's

usually where I find mine after searching for hours.

[Hello_Kitty]

92. I was just thinking recently that while I have a fairly expansive vocabulary:

I don't learn too many new words these days. I used to pride myself on how I'd add new words and phrases to my repertoire and now I feel like I'm relying mostly on the ones I already know. It's frustrating as all hell. But I'm still pretty good at crosswords.

BTW, I recently turned 40.

[LiveLiberally]

94. Contrary to a previous post, I don't find this thread demeaning in the slightest....

as a forty-something, this is all-too-familiar and it is infinitely reassuring to know I am not alone. Having said that, I find as a writer that there is an upside to NOT finding the right word on the tip of my tongue (or fingertip). If I don't stress out about it, if I just go with the flow, my brain is much more likely now than 20 years ago to simply PLAY, to jump randomly through the Rolodex of my accumulated minutiae of experience and settle upon unexpected causal connections and modes of expression. In short, I am more creative now, if less deliberative. Not a bad trade-off IMHO.

[NuttyFluffers]

95. happens to everyone, even kids at age 8.

especially happens when your brain is filled with too much information without enough time to process.

remember, adults have many spheres of responsibility and thus many more vectors of bombarding stimuli. and as you get older, it takes longer to recover from major exertions.

more input, shortened processing time, greater general wear & tear = slower processing time than younger models.

at some point though, the calculation of wear and tear tends to factor in heavier. though this often occurs through calcification due to unvaried routines. some learned elderly have amazing mental acuity, some neglected youth have appalling mental acuity...

[canetoad]

96. OMG I can't believe you posted this right now

This arrived yesterday by email from my neighbour across the road. We both relate very well to it.





Edit to rec. I forgot before.

[PassingFair]

98. I was going to post something really smart here....

but...

nope...

GONE.

[mmonk]

99. I hope it isn't or I'm in trouble.

Face it, aging does have its effects. There are things one can do nutitionally to help combat it as well as excerise and well roundedness.

[HuckleB]

111. What can someone do to help combat it via nutrition?

Exercise does help with anxiety and mood, thus increasing the general focus of an individual, but it has its limits of benefit, and can even become an addictive property for some. The brain does change with age, but what we've been finding out is that our environment in middle age probably plays a bigger role than simple aging.

[Vinca]

100. Unlikely it's Alzheimer's. More likely the generic dim bulbiness

that goes along with the aging process. By the way. That word you're searching for? It'll come to you in the middle of the night. The "up" side to getting old is if you happen to remember the word at the time and it's something not terribly polite, the "what-the-hell" gene kicks in and you say it anyway.

[ellie]

102. No, I have always

had a short attention span and have been absentminded. I am 43.

[HuckleB]

103. Go back to school.

Seriously. Work the brain and it will work. I'm not saying you don't, but we all have a tendency to fall into patterns of work and home that are achingly similar, and those patterns get stronger and stronger in our brain maps. Habit can be insidious, in a way. Learning a foreign language is a great way to exercise the brain.

http://brandon-hall.com/richardnantel/2007/05/05/new-brain-plasticity-theory-to-create-a-population-of-life-long-learners/

PS: I'm 41. It's happened to me, plenty of times. And I am going to give the recs of the brain plasticity researchers some credence in the coming years.

[Buns_of_Fire]

106. Nah. I just turned 58, and I'm just as mentally agile as I was at 20!

Of course, I was a wreck at 20, too.

At 20, I worried about it. At 58, I don't give a damn.

[troubleinwinter]

109. Helen Thomas, 88, seems to do OK "speaking" and questioning presidents.

She questioned Obama on Monday.

March 2004, DU members sent 100 dozen roses to Helen for having asked this question that the other reporters didn't have the balls to ask:

“I’d like to ask you, Mr. President, your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is, why did you really want to go to war? From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet—your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth—what was your real reason? You have said it wasn’t oil—quest for oil, it hasn’t been Israel, or anything else. What was it?”

The President proceeded to rollerblade away from the question.

Bush: “...we realized on September the 11th, 2001, that killers could destroy innocent life. And I’m never going to forget it. And I’m never going to forget the vow I made to the American people that we will do everything in our power to protect our people.

“Part of that meant to make sure that we didn’t allow people to provide safe haven to an enemy. And that’s why I went into Iraq—hold on for a second --”

Thomas: “They didn’t do anything to you, or to our country....”

Helen is featured on DU's front page today, aparently with mental faculties in order. "Helen's question at last night's press conference was extremely important." http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5034291

[sarge43]

110. I don't think anyone is saying that we all start doddering on

our 60th birthday. Verdi composed The Stabat Mater when he was 84. Michelangelo was still creating into his 80's. Ted Kennedy still can scare the Senate half to death. Golda Meir, need I say more. And on and on. Barring disasters, you're dead when they throw dirt on your box or you give up.

All I believe we're saying is our mental processing changes. One door may close, but others open. If we occasionally have trouble remembering a word, we also have a life time of experiences to draw upon for wisdom and comfort.

Frankly, I'll accept the aches, pains and the brain farts of age in place of the storms and fears of youth. Been there, done that, time to move on and see what's next.

[ieoeja]

112. This thread makes me feel better about my drinking.

I thought it was all the drinking. Apparently, I'd be having these problems at 47 even if I wasn't a heavy drinker.

Thanks guys!


Actually, reading all the responses it sounds like I might be doing a little better. Maybe the Cliff Clavin character on Cheers had it right. If alcohol kills brain cells, wouldn't it kill the weak ones first resulting in increased intelligence?

[RadicalTexan]

113. I am 29 and that happens to me all the time

And increasingly.

[Politicalboi]

114. I couldn't remember

Blackwater yesterday. I remembered Black but that's as far as I got. I smoke pot everyday need more today if I could only remember the phone number.