Missed train stop - Overwhelmed with life- decline in cognitive ability?

[mechanicalpencil]

I have been stuck on a freezing cold platform having missed my stop on a train which means I will get home 2 hours later than planned . Similar happened this morning. I got the train but part of it detached and I was in the wrong part. There I was again waiting on a platform to get back to where I started.

No proper excuse for this evening. ..i didn’t fall asleep or anything. I just blankly sailed through the stop and by the time i noticed I was stuck in the middle of nowhere. I now have to get 3 more trains to get home.

These things seem to be happening more and more recently. I have been struggling with a feeling of overwhelm with life in general.. can this affect cognitive functioning? This seems to impact my ability to think clearly. It’s almost as if my brain just starts to shut down and I seem to be getting forgetful /blank. I’m feeling a bit alarmed.

Can anyone relate? I just want to press pause on everything and go to bed.

thank you if you read this far

Thanks again all.

I've been reading your thread a bit whilst trying to fall back asleep. Don't worry, happens to others. Stress can cause this, sadness, day dreaming, day dreaming is a feature of adhd. What ever it is I don't think your in a state of decline. I used to commute to uni on a train as a mature student. I saw people miss their stops for all kinds if reasons. The movement of the train can be responsible for that just moving through feeling. If you know the time your train should arrive at your stop you could set an alarm in your phone for a few minutes before that time? I'm sorry you had such a mission to get back. I hope you got back OK. Yes you're definitely not alone. Great that you reached out. Hope today is great for you and that you feel rested and can maybe smile at the thing, just put it down to experience.

If you have undiagnosed ADHD, peri menopause and a stressful time, you might be experiencing an ADHD burnout episode.
I'm like you, I get through with lists, reminders, etc but when things get intense I can feel myself shutting down. It can last for several weeks of not functioning before something clicks back and I start to re-emerge.
In those weeks I miss appointments, forget birthdays, turn down invitations, ignore housework.

So much support last night and woke up feeling very grateful.

Just to answer a few other questions:

I’m not vegan/ veggie but it’s always a good idea to make sure I’m getting enough nutrients especially Vit B as someone suggested.

I had blood tests about a year ago and everything was clear except ferritin which was very low.

No other loss of memory episodes as such, just these moments of blankness that descend.

The peri/ adhd comments were all very interesting and would seem to make a lot of sense. Thank you all for sharing your experiences! I am 46 and have been experiencing joint pain and some other peri symptoms. Recently feeling very low but there is a lot going on in my life.

@Clafoutie “band-width”! Yes, that’s a brilliant way to put it! The more I’ve got going on, the less I seem able to deal with other stuff…. So my brain just starts to turn off.
Thank you for the kind words.

Potentially absence seizures? You wouldn't really notice them starting unless you miss something like a train stop or something you're being told.

Low thyroid, B12, post viral neuritis if you've had something like COVID. If speak to your Dr as it's a new symptom

@Mamabearsmile thank you very much for this lovely, reassuring message and great tip about setting an alarm, I will try it next time!

@NotbloodyGivingupYet yes to all of this! How interesting, I didn’t even know this was a thing. I will research ADHD burnout!
Looking back, there are periods of time when I just seem to “disappear” and can’t remember much… since my teens.

@Waterboatlass that is very interesting you say that, as my cousin who is a nurse suggested I might have these when i was in my twenties. Then I “forgot” all about it.🥴

If your ferritin was very low last time you had blood tests, did you start any supplements to address it? If not its likely lower by now and that can cause exactly what you are feeling plus a lot of other stuff that you dont want to happen.

Please go and get another set of blood tests for
Ferritin
Iron
Vit B12
Vit D
TSH
Calcium
Parathyroid

and anything else the GP thinks is sensible. If you cant get to the GP, then consider MediChecks…they will send you a kit and you post it back to them with some of you blood for them to test. Some test you can do with just a finger prick, some you need a proper needle and then they tell you where to go for that.

In the meantime, make sure you are taking a really good multi vitamin and mineral every day

Covid has neuro effects, so it's quite possible this is a form of long covid.

Long Covid and Impaired Cognition — More Evidence and More Work to Do | New England Journal of Medicine

If that is the case, then it might (as some other long covid issues do) go away of its own accord.

Glad you got home safely.

Your post reminded me of the time I missed the stop on the underground in Brussels. There were a lot of people shouting on the platform but I didn't understand what they were saying. The train departed and stopped in a tunnel, next thing I see is a chap walking down the outside or the train, it was very surreal, I'd missed the last stop. He didn't notice me but as we pulled back into the station there were some very puzzled looks from people on the platform.

I'm like this now. Been like it all my life. Would never get a train with my husband never mind on my own.

You sound stressed out, a lot going on.

I drove straight passed the shop to home the other day when it was my main reason to go out.

I drove passed the end of the street the other day when I was dropping my grandchildren off, had to turn round

Bought the grandchildren's Christmas presents.......again. Found original purchase stashed in the wardrobe

Washed my hair yesterday with body wash🙃

I am 47/peri & possible undiagnosed ADHD, stressed with work and family life, anxious about Christmas day, life is a lottery at the minute as to things get done or get to where they need to be.

Don't worry OP, you are not alone

Have you recently taken on additional commitments?

Generally I am a fairly organised person who can be in the right place at the right time.

However a couple of years ago the kids started doing more clubs etc and I discovered I had reached my limit.

I was dropping balls all over the place - taking wrong child to clubs, being late/early/wrong day entirely, forgetting what they needed to have with them. It was so embarrassing!

The kids both gave up a club at the end of that term (thankfully) and normality was instantly restored!

For me it’s being overloaded with things to think about. I don’t think it’s necessarily as symptom of your brain being in decline, more that your life is too demanding. We all need silence and peace in life. Sometimes if we aren’t getting it then we just take it!

I would struggle with the trains without any stress going on. Mention it to your GP if you are worried.

I'm like this. I always worry about the possibility of early stage dementia, but of course there are so many other possible causes. Like others on here I have clutched at possible labels, but ultimately I have decided that the chief cause is stress, worsened by my lifelong depression and anxiety.

If you are someone who tends to be ruminating constantly in connection with anxious or depressive thoughts, you simply have less bandwidth for all the other cognitive demands that life is making on you. When you are young, and your brain is at peak functioning, you have enough in reserve to surf the mental multitasking that rumination imposes on you. As you get older, you become less able to juggle everything.

I would urge you not to become overly pre-occupied with possible labels - dementia, menopause, ADHD, long covid, depression, anxiety, PTSD. It seems like everyone is obsessed with finding the name on the box that they fit into, as if labels had the power to change things

Instead, focus on what is going on for you: Do you face more-than-reasonable demands on your cognitive capacity? Does your partner take an adequate share of the mental load? Are there any sources of stress that can be reduced? What self-care strategies could you try to help reduce your stress? xx

About your age, even my DP agreed I was no longer functioning at my normal level when I shared my fears I had early onset dementia. I ended up having a full assessment for that condition, absolutely petrified. Psych said I didn't have it. I struggled on.

Ten years later was diagnosed by nhs with adhd.

I've read all your replies and I don't think you replied to the poster asking about your sleep habits.
There's a lovely book called 'Why we sleep', which may have many answers for you. It's on BorrowBox, the library ebook / audio book app too.

Not sure if you've had bloods and checked your B12 and iron levels? These are often low in women and can cause a lot of mental and fatigue issues.

Similar things have happened to me a couple of times now I'm in perimenopause. I've never had anythng like that before. It's brain fog and being overwhelmed and stressed in general and it's just too much.
I had it quite badly last January, just wasn't really present and made some daft mistakes.
It has settled down but I had to dial back a lot of what I was doing and do less. I've had to cut back on some hobby activities and going out in the evenings in order to save energy to be able to get through the working day and other things I have to do.

You’ve had some good responses here and yes please get checked out with the GP. I became very vague, totally overwhelmed by life, my short term memory was shocking; would read my book at night before bed and actually not remember what I’d read the next night. I put it all down to Peri but it was actually high calcium. So always worth a GP check and make sure that you treat any deficiencies too as PP have said.

When I did things like this and went to the doctor, it turned out I was anaemic.

Interesting what you said about ferritin being low. That’s your iron stores. I had to have an iron infusion earlier in the year. They said the NHS range for ferritin is too low in their opinion and they like people to be around 150. Mine was about 14 at one point. This is ferritin, not haemoglobin.

They also said that all women, menstruating or not, should take an iron tablet three times a week, forever. I bought some in the pharmacy for about £3:50.

This is basically my life. I missed a train stop earlier this month and now I've made a rule to set an alarm 3 mins before my stop. I just get very absorbed in reading or thinking that I don't even hear the announcement or notice the train has stopped.

The worst time was when I once missed my stop, I hopped on a train going back in the other direction, and then somehow I got off one stop too early! I had to get a taxi the rest of the way home. I hate myself when these things happen and do wonder if I have a condition. You have my sympathies. No idea how to fix it but definitely consider setting an alarm next time.