Am I losing my shit?

[iamlittlemissforgetful]

Posting here for traffic
More of a 'am I losing my mind?' than 'am I being unreasonable?'
In the last 5 months I've had a lot of things happen to me. Some quite terrifying stuff. Finally it feels like things are calming down thanks to great support & being proactive.
Prior to that, have been a single parent for 4 years (with abusive ex who's always in the backround) and working in high pressure jobs while trying to keep everything together.
Over the last 6 months, I've noticed that I've become a bit forgetful. Forgetting basic words, forgetting details of what friends are up to, writing more lists, more dependant on my calendar & then things like leaving the fridge door open and going into the other room (lots!) always going upstairs to get something & not knowing what I went to get, getting words wrong and the other day getting someone's name wrong....not a friend but someone I've known for years!
I rarely get a break or a lie in (ex has DD once a month on average for one night) and I've been dealing with all the stress while trying to still be a good parent. Sleep deprived too.
Anyone else feeling similarly forgetful or vacant far too frequently? Does stress do this?
Should I get a memory assessment?
Help!

Do you feel it is worse before your period? I had a long chat with my GP about similar symptoms, mine are definitely worse when my period is due. She basically said its normal, partly down to hormones changing as we get older (I'm 42) I now take a Well Woman multivitamin (when I remember!!!) which is probably helping a little.

Hideous on every level before period!

This is me, too. It makes me feel so inadequate at work when I forget stuff and get looked at like this:

Thanks for the thread and for making me see it isn't just me! Personally, I'm going to try and improve my diet and sleep.

Let us know how you get on!

I’m 36 and have been worrying about my memory recently too! There’s suddenly a whole load of things I can’t remember, I forget words, I forget people, I forget everything! I’ve been under immense stress both at work and at home since I noticed it though and am hoping that it will calm down with some rest and mental downtime. I’ve felt physically drained and stressed most days since term started in September and I need to try and manage this because it’s unsustainable.

I even forgot my child's previous teacher's name, whilst at parents evening last month!! That was excruciatingly embarrassing.

Whilst it’s most likely not something to be concern d about- I would make an appointment with the GP for a bit of a tune up. It sounds like your life is very full on, but it’s been full on (from your post) for 4 years. You allude to terrifying stuff happening recently- if that’s on top of your already stressful and busy sounding life, It potentially is just a stress response, but anything that has and continues to happen over an extended period should be investigated. You’ve had symptoms for 6 months- a month longer than the new stresses and have been dealing with the other stress for 4 years without these issues. Whilst it is unlikely that you need to concern yourself, I would make an appointment as a matter of urgency (for you, not necessarily the GP’s idea of urgent) and talk it through, get some basic blood work and a mini mental exam to check STM (short term memory)

Thanks everyone
Update:
Inspired to go to bed early last night
Had 8 hrs uninterrupted sleep 😳
Going to buy some industrial strength omega 3 oils today (any recommendations? Going to Boots or Holland & Barratt) & going to try and chillllllllllllll a bit more (& maybe as someone suggested go & check in with GP @ some point)

Just sending support your way OP.
You are me, several years back... lone parent to a lovely boy who was in primary school at that time. After school clubs/play dates/ occasional weekend with mind-wrecking ex gave me the tiniest bit of 'me time' which I'd spend working. Shit sleep. Knackered, forgetful, light-headed. I worked every hour God sent me, but I ate well, 'slept' terribly, didn't drink. But I was forgetful and bone drenchingly exhausted.

We moved from our flat on a dreadful red route and this helped immediately! I didn't realise how stressful it had been on me until we left. We also had a slow gas leak in the flat.

Get your boiler checked! You never know.

I also vote for stress, same happens to me when I’m under immense amounts of it. Tends to go hand in hand with an inability to sleep properly.

I'm going through a period of enormous stress right now. More stress than I've ever experienced in my life. I used to have a near perfect memory. Now I can't remember important shit. If you ask me why I walked into a room or what you told me 5 minutes ago, nope, it's gone. I can't remember birthdays, to pass on phone messages, and my life is a series of notes to myself tucked into pockets and purses. I hate this.
Counseling is helping a great deal with putting the current stressor in perspective and showing me that it will be OK.

Lack of sleep is very bad for you as it's when your body heals and processes the events of the day. If you don't get enough it will effect cognition and your physical health. Deal with that before worrying whether you have cognitive decline.

Personally I wouldn't bother with food supplements at this stage if you reckon you have a good diet that includes oily fish and leafy greens. Reason being if you're not actually deficient you're effectively pissing out the water soluble vitamins your body has enough of (waste of money) or storing the fat soluble vitamins that you don't need (potentially harmful). The fact you drink lots of water is good too as even being slightly dehydrated has negative effects.

OP, I feel for you, I really do! Yes, I'm quite convinced stress can cause the things you've described. I know that when I was menopausal and in a very stressful receptionist job my memory was awful...for example, one day one of our managers (we'll call her Louise) went to our branch office. she said goodbye as she went out of the door. About half an hour later she rang me from the branch office for some information. A little while after that a client rang asking to speak to her and I duly put the phone on "hold" and went trotting off to her office to find her... As so beautifully described by a pp, when I asked in the coffee room if anyone knew where Louise was, they all looked at me like

I'm particularly bad with names. Place names, people's names, names of films...I'm always having conversations like,
Friend: Which zoo did you go to?
Me: Oh, er - ermm - quite a big one, starts with C - ummm... (at this point I start to worry about forgetting so I lose concentration and my memory goes completely) It's near a town with an airport - S something - you know, off the M11... etc, etc.

What with that and the odd blip like leaving the butter on the coffee table and putting the remote in the fridge, or wandering around the house looking for my mobile while talking to my mum on said mobile, I do have my moments of doubt, but generally I seem to function OK. I do find I'm better the less I worry about it.

Ok I'm off to bed shortly.... Again....
I'm gonna try & be in bed by 10 every night this week & limit screen time too.
I bought a lot of omega 3 oils today.
Let's see what happens.......