Is the memory loss permament?
 

My memory is very patchy at best and some totally gone from the last 2 years. Last year the worst because I can't remember days like Christimas, family members birthdays, and even my work. I'm on fmla and return to work next thursday but there are duties that I can't remember how to do. Will I get my memory back? My husband walked in while I was watching The Notebook and asked why I was watching it again but I don't remember watching it before. :scared:

Each person is different when it comes to these types of things.

Personally my memory has improved over the past 9 years of sobriety but I still have a significant amount of memory problems most from my childhood and some during adulthood. I am not certain if it is alcohol related but I strongly suspect it plays a role in the memory loss. I do think that the abuse in my childhood probably is a significant factor in not being able to remember most of it.

I hope that helps answer your question.

PS Welcome to SR. I do hope you are finding SR is as great as I do.

Hi gettingsobernow

I think a certain amount of memory loss happens to us all anyway as we age, even before we factor in what we voluntarily did to ourselves.

I can't remember whole years, and woe betide me going shopping without a list - but in other areas my memory's pretty damn good.

I think, if you're really worried about this, you should see your Dr. :)

D

Sorry, I can't remember, lol.

LOL. Perhaps it's my age 41. Maybe some days are better off not remembered. I'm sure I was a real ass when I was using. The biggest pain of all I can't remember my passwords for emails and such. There are clothes and shoes in my closet I don't remember buying. No wonder my husband took away my credit cards.

LOL, I used to write down my passwords and then forget where I wrote them down, lol.

I'm 51 and can assure you it gets worse, lol.

Nandm, I'm sorry for your abusive childhood. I too have endured sexual and physical abuse as a child. I wish I could forget that time. Perhaps it's your mind protecting you from what is to painful. Have you ever had counseling?

Firestorm now I have something to look foward to. More memory loss. Today I asked my husband what our ebay password was and he replied "oxy is what i love". I started to type that in and he said " you really don't remember do you" and gave me the correct password. I thought I must have been really f**ked up the day I set that up.

My best advice, buy lots of post-it notes!!:thanks

I'm 59 and having more memory loss these days... but since I quit drinking ten months ago it's gotten much better. I also take supplements like Omega III and Gingko, for what it's worth...

Do see your doctor if it doesn't get better (or seems to get worse).

My Partners Memory is terrible also, he quit drinking months ago. Mine isnt that good either but we are both in our 50's so I put it down to that! lol

memory loss
 

I have found that I cannot remember past events while I was using. My husband says remember when we did this and all I remember is being more drunk on that specific day. That is all part of using alcohol and drugs it happens to everybody at any age. But that is in the past and to change it would be to change what has brought you to recovery. I do know that once you stop drinking you have way better chance at retaining things as you get older than if you were drinking. It is a great first step, add a few vitamins and mind working techniques and you will be very sharp.
I hope when you go back to work the skills you need come back to you. If they don't ask for help, people notice when you are in recovery and want to be around you.
SH

My understanding, and I can't remember [ha] where I read this (maybe Under the Influence?), is that events that happened when your memory was "blacked out" by drinking are simply not stored in the brain. There's no way to access events that happened then, because your brain did not put them in memory in the first place.

That said, I could be remembering that wrong! :D

My memory has never been great, but it was complete rubbish when I was drinking every day. It seems to be slowly recovering in some areas now. Also, not being in denial anymore has made me remember some things I had forgotten about for years... not necessarily pleasant ones!

Well, gettingsober, and many of you have more experience than I do with this but I always have felt like I've had memory problems even a year before I started my DoC and right now I'm only 25. I'm however extremely vigilant and diligent on remembering things I have done, the little things, the big things... yet when later on I forget that I posted this message I'll feel ashamed of myself. So ... as Nandm said, everyone is different...

My memory is still very "iffy"--some days it is sharp as ever and some days it just ain't there.

I know that some of this is brain damage from drinking, but I also know that the brain does create new pathways--it's how stroke victims, for example, are able to recover.

I think it will never be a hundred percent what it was, but it will continue to improve.

Getting--

My memory definitely got worse as I drank. I'm a financial planner and before my drinking went off the charts (no pun intended... but I like it now that I typed it. :) ) I could remember dozens of company's earnings, their CEO's names, what they made, their competition....etc etc. Toward the end of my drinking days, I couldn't remember any of that, couldn't remember client's phone numbers that I'd called daily for years, etc etc... I just lost it. I thought it was age-related but, since I've been sober a couple years, it's been steadily coming back. I may not be back to my old self 100% but I'm a little older too.

**and I've watched movies before that I didn't realize I'd already watched until I was halfway through - especially late in my addiction and early in my recovery. ;)

Oops, just checking, I couldn't remember if I had replied to this thread, lol.

My memory has always sucked as well. I remember very little of my childhood mostly because I spent 30+ years drinking to forget it due to abuse; unfortunetly the I also lost good memories like my daughter's childhood. Since I quit drinking 3 yrs ago I've noticed memories starting to come back and I'm able to separate the good from the bad. I've also noticed I have much better retention on work related information which has been a huge bonus. With that said I do have to make lists of things I need/want to do at home and grocery lists or I'd never get what I intended.

i'm a lot like Lexie and DayTr. but I would like to add that my memory is improving with sobriety (and my advancing age is 53).

I do try to do simple tasks like memorize my grocery list (sometimes it's the 3rd try where I score 100% of remember what i need)...i use word association to help myself and I've rediscovered how much i enjoyed doing crossword puzzles.

i think a lot of my improvement is due to sleeping well too. sleep deprivation makes my thought process hinky.

My memory is iffy too, and I know a lot of it is due to age. It's not fun.

I used to be able to multi-task to perfection. But, now, I find if I am not concentrating on what I am doing, I am likely to forget about it. Oh, yeah, and lots of post-it notes.