Do you have a good memory?

[ofwarren]

I seriously do not.
I don't know if it's an autistic thing or a thyroid thing but my memory is seriously dreadful and it's upsetting.

My ASD older son can remember tiny details, yet huge chunks of my life are missing. There is some trauma there so that may contribute to it.

For some things, yes, especially strings of numbers (phone numbers, birthdays, car registrations etc), statistics (I can reel off player percentages in Scottish international rugby matches for the last 20 years!) and 'rote-learned' things, like the Periodic Table and poetry I learned at school.

I also have an eidetic memory for certain events - I can remember exactly what colour top somebody was wearing at a random party that took place 15 years ago (backed up by photographic evidence), for example.

When I was younger, my mum used to describe the way I would describe an event as 'like somebody telling you what happened in a film'.

However, it doesn't apply to everything - my short-term memory isn't great and I rely a lot on things like planners / diaries / reminders etc in my daily life and for managing projects at work.

Depends. For life events and information, yes. For knowing where I’ve left my keys or remembering to take medication, no. My long term memory is great but my short term memory is shocking.

I have a very good memory for early childhood. The earliest memory I can confidently date is from before I was 2.

My adult memory is more selective.

Very very good - for information that serves no useful daily purpose (but my real autistic "thing" is obsessively researching one topic after another)... where the fuck I put my car keys or what day of the week it is if there's been a bank holiday to screw things up... you have no fucking chance.

It's almost photographic when it comes to things like exam revision though.

I used to have a tremendous memory. Growing up, if you told me something once I'd know it forever. I used to remember everything I had said to other people too, and where we were when I'd said it. Like pp, it came into its own for exams - I'd be able to "see" where everything had been on the textbook page. Very handy given the comorbid ADHD - I could never revise until the night before the exams when in panic mode, but it allowed me to do well enough that nobody ever suspected ADHD.

It's been ebbing away though. Initially through chronic stress and long term, low key burnout I think, and now chronic illness has an impact too. I struggle to remember what's been said. It used to be that whenever I got a new debit card, I'd remember it after typing it out once, maybe twice. It took me five months to finally remember my latest one.

I'm in my mid thirties. I often worry that if I keep declining at the same rate I'll be nowt but blancmange upstairs a couple of decades from now.

I wonder if that's my issue too then 🤔
I do have hashimotos disease and am constantly under a low level of stress due to caring for one of my children who's got medical issues and on the pathway for autism testing too.
It is a worry like you say.