I'm genuinely concerned that my 15 year old dd may have something like dementia?

[trousersinit]

As far as I can remember her memory has always been exceptionally awful.if you ask her what she's done this morning or yesterday she gets an entirely blank look on her face and gets visibly upset when she says all she can see is black, she finds it extremely confusing not to be able to remember anything. We had always just thought her personality was to be a.bit forgetful but lately is has gotten worse. Today she genuinely could not remeber hwe holiday to Portugal a few months ago and was getting very frustrated by this, we had to show her pics and now she says the memory of.it is vague and blurry. She is extremely creative at English and can recall facts for history, but will have no clue what day it is often! Some points it's even so bad I genuinely thought she was stoned and even drug tested her! She says she constantly feels like she's in a dream and I have no clue what this is, or is this a normal teenage thing?

Have you been to the GP?

Have you been to see the GP??

X posts!

I'm considering it but I don't know what they could do, I don't want to worry dd unnecessarily of its something she'll just grow out of, she's already a massive hypochondriac!

Attention deficit disorder, innatentive type?

Food intolerance? ( I cant think properly if I have dairy. Makes my brain go very foggy)

TBH I'd take her. Even if just to reassure you and your DD.

I'd ask for some sort of check. How's here school work? Any problems with her short term memory and organisation?
Also try fish oils, if she will take them. Salmon and oily fish should also help.

Well she struggles extremely with maths, but is exceptionally talented at humanities, her English teacher said she is the most creative and able student she's ever taught so I'm unsure. Regarding the fish oils, in the last week she's decided to become vegetarian so there's no.chance she will, this vegetarianism hasn't made the while thing any worse though so I can't blame it on that

Well it's certainly not "normal" but it could just be the way her brain is.

Like some people can't remember faces?

don't worry about the fish oils, it has been pretty solidly disproved.

But it does sound as if she has short term memory issues and that could indicate a problem of some sort, so I would definitely get it checked out.

Have any of your teenagers been this spaced out? Really don't want to overreact, what's the worst it could be? I genuinely can't think of any cause for it, but then again, I'm not a doctor

That sounds like a cause for concern to me - especially if you've shown her the pics and she still isn't remembering. Take her to the GP and tell him/her what you've put in your OP.

agree with ladyrainy, forgetting the holiday doesn't sound normal, even for a spaced out teen

It sounds like my 20year old nephew, who was diagnosed with add as a child but never medicated. He's highly intelligent but its like he's constantly in a daze.

Could be something as simple as Iron or B12 deficiency. Hope your GP has some answers.

I think you need to see your GP and potentially a neurologist too. This sounds significant and I would not delay, especially if it's getting worse. I would be very careful not to underplay the description to the GP.

Is she depressed or anxious at all?

Can't remember where i read it but there's supposed to be a link between mental health & the formulation of specific memories. Made sense to me as i was like this as a teenager & to an extent now.

What you're describing isn't normal. There are some things that can cause dementia-like symptoms in children and teenagers (e.g. Niemann-Pick disease), but I doubt it's anything like that. Either way, get her to a GP and ideally with a referral to a neurologist.

Yep, get blood tests, iron and B12 as above and also thyroid function. All connected (and can also be an underlying cause of depression/anxiety too.) I've experienced this kind of memory loss and it is truly bewildering (and socially embarrassing). Her doctor might know of other causes to rule out as well, before going down the add assessment route.

I would ring the surgery and ask for an appointment or telephone consultation with the GP yourself before you take your DD. This would mean that you could be very clear and frank about your concerns. The GP cannot disclose confidential data to you but would be able to listen to what you have to say.

Yes! I agree . Try to talk to GP first, they are there to help and if they know the background should be able to deal with your DD sensitively! Good luck!

Definitely check with GP, but I agree with people saying it is possibly just how her brain is.

She needs practical strategies to deal with it, eg visual aids like calendars, diaries etc. However if she's coping with school she must have learned some skills like this already.

Re having nice memories of things, you could encourage her to write a diary - just a few short lines a night. Also putting together albums of photos of memorable occasions on FB or flickr. Captions underneath and dates help to focus the mind.

I am a bit like this though in a slightly different way. It can be very embarrassing and I have often forgotten something literally moments after it was discussed. It often feels more like a failure to connect the dots of reality more than a memory lapse. I also find remembering faces hard.

Ooh sorry, thread is a few days old. Hope you've been to GP and are reassured.

Thanks for the helpful comments everyone, we went to the gp and they found that she was iron deficient so placed her on some iron pills for that, hopefully will see some improvement

dear trousers
I'm very sorry to say it, but I think you may need to push your GP for a referral to a neurologist. Memory problems are not a recognised symptom of iron deficiency.