Memory loss??

[Naynay99]

Hey. It’s possible I have asked about this question before, but as the subject of my post says, my memory has turned to crap.   I took a few online brain tests to test my cognitive ability.  I know the results aren’t all that valid but I wanted to check how bad I had gotten.  My basic cognition and reasoning and verbal skills were normal but my short term memory scores sucked.

I have missed my tax appt twice now, and I am going to get money back so it’s not like I am avoiding it!!   I literally told a coworker I had an appt in an hour, checked my email and had to respond to that email, then got in my car and drove home to take a nap!! Completely forgot about it until that night. 

I am feeling pretty decent health wise other than tiredness lately, but this memory loss is worrisome and making me feel really stupid.  I have post it notes all over my desk at work for reminders.  I put stuff in nmy phone calendar but never had to put on alarms reminders right before appts before to remember; I would just see what I had scheduled for the day in the morning and remember it.  Not anymore.  Ugh.

Is this from kidney disease or stress or both?  My concentration is crap and I realize I haven’t been reading as much lately for pleasure bc if I don’t read a book in only a few sittings, I forget what I have read and have to look back.  The other day I went to the bathroom during a show and had been channel surfing during commercials and couldn’t rember what I had been watching!    This is starting to affect me.  I sometimes get word recall issues while teaching a lesson.  Idk.  Maybe I am making a bigger deal out of this than I should be? My nephrologist didn’t seem too concerned and blamed it on my antidepressant and said to speak w my psychiatrist the last time I brought it up...

It’s just that I don’t thibk I can handle getting physically sick and also becoming stupid as well.  I used to actuallly be somewhat intelligent and the other day I was using charades to describe a small table because I couldn’t retrieve the word “table” in a normal time frame. 
Has anyone else dealt w this and if so is there any suggestions for how to undo my brain fog and memory problems?   Like should I start eating lots of fish or do a crossword puzzle a day or something?   

This is a legitimate question I have so if anybody has any suggestions I would be grateful for the advice.  I really don’t want to have to start covering the walls in my apartment with different colored sticky notes so that it starts to resemble a homeland episode where Carrie is losing her shiit.   Anyway, perhaps venting about it will help bc if I try to bring it up w friends they mostly dismiss it; saying they forget things too sometimes, it’s bc we r getting older, etc.  But i don’t think 42 is all that old and I can feel a significant difference from how I was last year. 
Anyway have a good nite. 

[Kathymac2]

Hi Naynay,

I'm almost 69 and have had kidney disease my whole life. I have occasional trouble remembering things, but what you describe sounds like something that should be looked into if only because you are concerned.

Maybe you could make an appointment with your primary doctor for a checkup and assessment. He/she can help you decide if what you are experiencing is normal for your age or not.  I would also speak to whoever prescribed the antidepressants in case they are contributing to the problem. Maybe the dosage could be adjusted or a different antidepressant tried.

They don't call it "practicing" medicine for nothing.

Kathy

[MooseMom]

  I really don’t want to have to start covering the walls in my apartment with different colored sticky notes so that it starts to resemble a homeland episode where Carrie is losing her shiit.   

OK, this made me laugh and spill my tea.

I agree with Kathymac2.  You should mention this to your doctor.  I've had fsgs since I was 33 and didn't experience any memory loss.  However, I had abdominal surgery in 2008 and apparently had trouble with the anaesthetic because the surgical team started telling my husband that they didn't know if I'd wake up.  Hmmmm.  I DID wake up (surprise!), but I immediately noticed that I was having some problems with word recall.  When I can't reach a word in my head, I can feel my brain flipping through verbal files.  It's like the files are all on old papyrus and not in digital form.  It's very frustrating.  Anyway, I don't really attribute it to kidney function, rather, I attribute it to those drugs.  That makes me wonder if the antidepressant you are taking may be affecting your brain in ways that it's not supposed to. 

If you feel significantly different from how you felt just a year ago, then it wouldn't hurt to say something to your doctor.  You know yourself the best.

[UkrainianTracksuit]

Hi NayNay,

Man, that must suck. Besides obvious health causes, are you currently more stressed than usual? There's always that link between the two. Just throwing that out there first.

I don't have first hand experience with them but I hear from a couple friends that medications for mental health conditions have this sort of side effect. So, yeah, definitely speak to your doc about it.

We hear a lot about brain fog and kidney disease in the latter stages. My main issue, and still is, word recall. I used to be able to pull all sorts of words and seem like an intelligent person. Now, I sit there, going through word after word, but they can't come out. It is very embarrassing when it happens in the middle of conversations or Skype meetings! Sometimes I ask my husband "what's the word for..." and I explain what I am trying to say. He's no help either... so my brain burns out until I get a similar word. This started to happen below 25 % egfr but it's continued post-tx where my kidney constantly has a 100+% function.

This doesn't apply to you but the other thing that concerns me is the link between diabetes and dementia. So, little capillaries in the brain break and over time, brain doesn't have the power it used to have. Since I had it since birth, but now on reprieve with an SPK, I'm told that whatever cardiovascular issues can repair over time, but I am still concerned about this memory stuff. Now, ask me to remember gossip about an enemy from 10 years ago, ooooh, it's in my head, but a work term? PooF!

If you are genuinely concerned, definitely speak with your doctor.

[Charlie B53]

I can relate.  But I suspect THREE major reasons this occurs.

One.  The Brain, much like any other muscle must be constantly used, exercise, or it becomes 'soft.  Yes, puzzzles and games that makes us 'think' are beneficial to preventing memory loss.

Two.  Something Dr's have labeled 'Mini-strokes' or 'Micro-strokes'.  Small areas of our brains are actually dying.  Dr's are still uncertain of the causes.  Most likely small clots block capillaries, starving and killing a few brain cells at a time.  Depending on the position, frequency, the mind, and body systems begin to show signs of deterioration.   My Wife is now in a Nursing Home from this.  Dr's have yet to label her as 'Terminal, but have already told me so.  The MRI done a year ago very clearly shows her brain as terribly polka-dotted with dead areas.

Three.  Brain 'Stunning' caused by Dialysis treatments and the rapid removal of water from our circulating blood system.  Similar to the Kidney and Cardiac 'Stunning' caused by our treatments.  This has recently been the subject of studies.    The ONLY preventitive measure is to be very vigilant as to our gains so as to keep our take-offs as low as possible, thus reducing all 'Stunning' to a minimum.  Stunning cannot be prevented, only minimized.

In a nutshell, you are correct, your treatments DO have side effects on your body and mind.  However present day medicine has not yet found a better way to keep us alive.

[Cupcake]

Kidney disease when untreated definitely causes cognitive issues--before I started dialysis I was having terrible time concentrating-couldn't read or do crosswords. How are your labs?

Other important things to consider-sleep loss. Your brain needs good quality sleep to reset itself every day.

As far as the meds for depression go, it may be that depression itself is causing memory issues--I saw on a program (I forgot which one-whoops!) that someone's elderly father got forgetful; they were ready to call it Alzheimers, but turns out he was depressed because his wife had died. Got him counseling, engaged in life, and poof! brain came back to normal.

Best of luck to you. I would start with the psychiatrist as they can order more extensive cognitive testing than you get online to help sort it out.

[Naynay99]

Hey. Thanks for the replies. 
I spoke to my friend about it and she said yes it may be an issue but that I may be overreacting a bit.  (Me overreact?! Never!).  Somehow I do manage to teach 5 classes a day and remember who owes what assignment and where we left off in each class and stuff.  Only very rarely does a kids name elide me.  I’ve never missed a deadline.  I think I’ve only ever missed a medication dose maybe 2 or 3 times in 30 years.  It’s the every day dumb stuff I forget. Maybe my brain is subconsciously using all of my brain power for work and letting my memory slide in the rest of my life where it’s not as detrimental.  Idk.

But yeah it’s definitely a thing.  I will speak w both my Neph and psych about it. 
I drew and labeled a clock successfully which I saw on tv was part of the Alzheimer’s Test.  I prob shouldn’t be using television as my prinary information source but ah well. 

Good point about the depression itself being part of the cause; feb and March are the hardest months for me.  I think I have a seasonal affected depression.  Scary about our brain cells dying. 
I will see what my drs have to say.  On the meantime I’m gonna try to keep a sense of humor about it and start setting more reminder alarms on my phone.  I do crossword puzzles but haven’t much lately.  For a while when doing swords a lot I was able to solve up to Wednesday but no I’m back to Monday’s.   

Take care.

[iolaire]

I drew and labeled a clock successfully which I saw on tv was part of the Alzheimer’s Test.  I prob shouldn’t be using television as my prinary information source but ah well. 

If you want to learn a bunch about Alzheimer's and get depressed at the same time - I just finished Still Alice about a woman with early onset Alzheimer's.  Its a very good book but still depressing.  (There is also a recent movie but I'd guess this type of thing is better in book forum.)

[Naynay99]

Lolaire- omg that book was really good but so so sad!

[rcjordan]

About 20 years ago, I had to quit Prozac due to memory and sleep issues. Dreams episodes starting mixing in with real memories.  So I'd find myself confused and thinking "No, that can't be right" and then having to sort out the false memories.

About 4 months into dialysis I had a few weeks when I didn't feel like my memory was up to par.

[Paul]

In your first post you asked "Is this from kidney disease or stress or both?". Stress can have a big effect on your mental ability. I remember, a few years back, when a major (and stressful) life change meant my father had to move (even more stressful). His brain temporarily went to mush. It was bad, I was staying with him, helping him to move home, and I began to worry that he had gone senile. Worst moment was when he was trying to pay for groceries at the till and forgot how to add up money.

More recently, my sister had a couple of very stressful weeks (for reasons I may post about when/if I can), she too began to worry that her mind was going.

Good news is that, if this is the cause in your case, the mind snaps back to normal after the stress has gone away. But I mean "totally gone away" not "gone away for now, but the problems will be back".

[kitkatz]

I have done the "Talk around a word because I don't have it right now in my head files" charades. 
I use a write on calendar to remember appointments and look at it every day, throughout the day.
I  have post it notes near me at all times in my office area to remind me of things.
I post it note ideas when I am writing in order to keep the ideas.
I forget appointments if I am not reminding myself constantly about it.

I chalk it up to three things. 
1. The effects of having sepsis episodes several times.
2. The effects of dialysis and fatigue on my brain.
3. Stress related thing and LIFE in general.

You are not alone.  They say to help with it eat a balanced diet, sleep well, and live well.  The usual crap.

[GA_DAWG]

What was the question? Oh, yeah. I admit that in the hours right after a dialysis session, my memory is not what it normally is, but seems to improve later that night.

[Charlie B53]

I'd have to look above to see who mentioned it.  My memory IS that bad.

Sleep QUALITY can contribute to many things beside general health, like memory.

Not just sleep apnea, simple snoring, the simple noise/vibration can and will jolt the mind out of REM and disrupt the healthy restful sleep.

You may not even be aware of it, so you will have to ask your Partner,  Do you snore?

Wife and I both have our CPAP's.  I've literally worn out two machines in 14 years.  Wife, still hates to admit it, but on rare occasion has said she feels better when she uses hers.  I am still trying hard to get her to use it regularly.  What can you say about hard headed women?


Unfortunately CPAP's can only be prescribed by a Dr.   If you snore you will have to talk to your Dr about this.  Dr can make arraignments for you to take home a test kit.  A recorder with a mic and leads/bands you strap around your chest, etc. and wear each night to record your sleep rhythms.  Dr sends those recordings in to be interpreted and makes the decision.

Some patient actually have better controlled Blood Pressures once they start getting real restful sleep.

[PrimeTimer]

Hubby experiences memory loss from dialysis sometimes. His job requires him to do a lot of math so that is probably what is helping to keep him sharp. And he reads a lot of books. I'm not on dialysis but I can't live without a small pad of paper and pen. If I'm without paper or in a hurry then I write notes on napkins or anything else I can get my hands on before I forget what it was that I needed to write down.

[Riki]

I would say that your memory issues are probably a combination of everything.  The toxins that build up in our systems between treatments can do strange things to us.  When I was kid on PD, I was allowed one night off per week.  Mom says that she always knew that the toxins were building when I would carry a teddy bear with me everywhere I went.  I wasn't a little kid either, I was on PD between 12 and 14, so it would have been unusual to anyone who didn't know me.

Teaching classes is kind of stressful.  I can say that, since I'm a student, and going to classes is stressful enough.  It can take a bit out of you.  There are days when I'm dragging my butt around campus, and I have been known to catch a few winks in one of the wingback chairs outside the student services offices.  I also mentioned to my instructors that Mondays can be harder on me than other days emotionally because I have my dialysis in the evenings, and I wouldn't have been in dialysis since Friday evening.  I didn't want them to see me crying or something and thing that it was their fault when odds are that it was something totally unrelated.  Now I need to throw in menopause, so it's no longer just Mondays, it's any day. *L*