Serious question - Has anyone really, seriously, seemed to lose the ability to multitask?

[bayleaf]

Or at least to remember essential bits of each on-going task - so if I leave a tap running in the utility whilst I go to do something else in the kitchen then chances are I'll completely forget it. Or if the phone rings whilst I'm loading the washer - it'll be hours before I rediscover that I never set it off....
Last night I went to lock the front door - hadn't got the key - started doing something else ( can't even remember what!) whilst looking for the key - clearly then completely forgot that I'd been looking for the key and went to bed leaving front door unlocked. And how many times a day do I walk upstairs and then wonder why I've come. OR go on the internet for some reason - just check my emails and ebay whilst I'm on - and then have forgotten WHY I came on in the first place.
And all of this is REALLY REALLY stressing me - I have already seen the GP about it as I really fear it is the beginning of Altzheimer's. Yes, I am only 42 - but my Mum got it in her mid fifties - or at least that was when we noticed it - nobody but me would really notice my current state as it would be easy to cover up MOST of my absentmindednesses. My GP says she doesn't think I do have it but she has referred me to a memory clinic - but that could take months to come through and in the mean time I'm terrified half of the time. And I'm not a natural worrier - far from it, I rarely worry about anything and am naturally a very happy sort of person - and I'm certainly not depressed, I had a baby 9 months ago after 7 lots of ivf and she's an total delight - so I feel utterly contented with my lot in life - and all the more terrified that it's all going to be taken away from me. I can't claim to be over worked or stressed as I'm still on mat leave - my 5 year old is at school and is a good and easy child - and I have all my cleaning and ironing done.....
Anyone ever had any experiences like this - or know anyone who did?

Me!

It was pretty bad when dd1 was about 9 months old.I'd be driving somewhere & end up taking a wrong turn & heading off to somewhere else entirely.I'd leave the cooker rings on,taps running,make cups of tea using cold water,you name it I did it.I even forgot dh's birthday,despite him mentioning cakes ect.I started a thread on here about it,it was so worrying.

I went to the GP to & he diagnosed stress,even though dd1 was the easiest baby ever & I had no stress that I knew of.

When I got pregnant with dd2,around dd1's 1st birthday,my memory improved,but now thast she is 1 year old,I find myself forgetting stuff again.I wonder if it is hormonal?

I'm terrible about getting sidetracked on the internet.I STILL haven't looked at the Twinlakes site!

I'm working today,but will be in after about 5pm,so if you want to give me a ring or email & swap symptoms,please do.

Post baby it is quite normal

I am 8yrs post baby and still get little bits when I'm tired (I had ME and always put it down to that....but I think it is actually normal)

Try some cod liver oil and evening Primrose oil ( or there are special ones for memory - someone on here will know them)

Might be worth getting your B12 levels checked aswell. Forgetfullnes is one of the symptoms of deficiency. See if you have any of the other symptoms
\link{http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/html/anaemia_b12.html\here}

God, yes all the time. In my case it is definitely a post baby thing. Always distracted by dd and ds so not fully concentrating while I'm doing things.

Have been meaning to thank you all weekend - but hadn't told dh I had posted this so needed to find time without him hanging around!
I really appreciate you all taking the time to post - it did help, Mirage especially - I shall be emailing you sometime this morning when I get 2 mins!
CADS, Katymac - yes I do think the baby thing is significant, mine, for all she is 'good'( ie happy!) is INTO EVERYTHING so can't be left for a minute which does use up a lot of mental energy.
I am taking seven seas probrain thing for memory - or at least I've started on them - I don't think I have the B12 thing having read the link - thank you Juuule.
I had a real 'low' in terms of worry late last week and found a website with a memory test ( paid) that looked pretty scientific - so I decided to do it.
Well I got myself in a right state as it was HARD - and sometimes I got so stressed and confused I just blanked out - and it really wasn't fun doing it. Then at the end a report flashed up - analysing the various tests I'd taken and all of them had some degree of memory impairment from the 'norm' for my age and educational level. Sat there feeling absolutely floored. At this point I hadn't paid - and as the test that gave me the worst rating was the one I thought I'd done best on I decided to pay and get my 'indepth analysis' - only for a completely different report to emerge - above average on everything! Then flicked back and realised the other report had been a general example - I'd just been in such a panic I'd not read it properly!!!! SO I sweated a bit during the evening - but it was well worth doing as it has made me significantly less stressed about it since. Hopefully I'll get the referral before too long and will be able to sort it out properly.
Thanks again for your support.

im the same..end up with a million half done jobs and then it all seems to much and i cave!

I've started taking Siberian Ginseng b/c my memory's like a sieve after having DD2. Dunno if it's age, having kids, trying to do too much at once, or the result of my boozy past.

Oh, this is very familiar... When I get tired, it feels like my head's so full of half-finished things that I can't concentrate on any of them long enough to get them finished - like trying to swat a dozen flies at the same time!

Hi Bayleaf (I remember you from the ivf board)
I have been feeling like this from the first week of my first downreg.
I thought I might recover a bit after ds was born and we'd got through the hard sleepless night part. But, no. I feel there is a permanent impairment. I used to have a sort of photographic memory for conversations that meant I hardly ever forgot details, requests etc. That is gone, to the extent that I can't now remember even having the conversation. Of course that leaks into all other aspects of life. I've tried using some alternative methods - basically, rote learning of what I need at the corner shop, so i don't stand there in the aisle desperately trying to recall the two items I came out for, that kind of thing.
And a Heavy Reliance on post-it notes.
I keep meaning to find out if there is any correlation between synarel/buserelin use and memory loss.

this sounds JUST like me at the moment. actually, sounds like me ever since having baby no.5....i think it is all just everything that goes on everyday with the kiddies filling our minds so much that the 'unimportant' stuff just never stays put IYKWIM.

for me, the most aggravating thing is that I
1, forget the kiddies names regularly, calling them their siblings names.
2, forget how to spell simple words.
3, forget what I need to to when upsatirs, and have to retrace my steps until i jog my memroy back
4, forgetting what the fourth thing is whenever I try to explain something like this

Doctor reckons it is stress it parts, and also just having to juggle so much, as most mummies do, aspecially those who also work outside the home.

HTH, at least to know that you are not alone in this.....

baby no:5!..i only have one and im like this! god im so crap at keeping my head if you all manage with more kids!

I have been worried as when at work I can forget things I've said I'll do etc., and really thought that it could be the beginning of something nasty!

But I did read that many women as they're approaching the menopause (and I'm 47 ) do find that their minds don't seem to be as 'elastic' as they were, but it does come back.

So there's hope

OH thank you, thank you, thank you - all of you - you don't know how wonderful it is to read that other people have felt the same.... For all that I feel slightly reassured by the 'test' online the Altzheimers thing is still a real spectre and hearng other people experience similar stuff is such a relief
Pruni - it hadn't occured to me that it could be ivf - but with 7 cycles there's certainly scope!

I know absolutely where you're coming from - this is me all over. (I've just discovered a load of washing still in the washer from yesterday!!) The crucial point for me was the other week when I got nearly home from work, and had to turn around and go back again (30mile round trip) because I couldn't remember locking the door. It wasn't that I wasn't sure whether I had or not - it was like there was a blank in my mind and I had absolutely no idea whether I'd done it or not. I've started taking cod liver oil - fish oil's supposed to be good for kids minds so I reckon it's worth a try!

My Mum reckons it's simply that with two children you're actually thinking for three (IYSWIM) (eg. Have I got my keys, does DD1 need the loo, has dd2 got her shoes on) so there's no wonder that things get forgotten or done on autopilot.

hth - you're certainly not on your own!.