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Posted 8/21/2011 3:29 PM (GMT 0)
I use to be a pretty organized guy. Every thing in its place and such but lately things have gone to h--- in a hand basket , Things I know I have can not be found . This causes me a lot of aggravation when I need something . I get angry when I have to stop what I am doing because I cant find what I need to finish . I've tried to put things back in order but I seem to go in circles for a while and then the will is gone and I give up with the intent to try again later. I just can't get my mind around what needs to be done. Anyone else suffer from what I call , round in circles ittis ? If so , is there a cure or at least a treatment . How to you pump yourself up for tedious work that really needs to be done ?
Posted 8/21/2011 4:25 PM (GMT 0)
I sure struggle with this. In my case I feel chronically tired all the time which makes my motivation to do the daily grime things go way down hill. I usually procrastinate a looot or when my husband was home I'd have him help me. I find when Im feeling particularly yucky its hard to think of the little tedious things. It can even be overwhelming sometimes, especially when I know I need to do something but just cant bring myself to. I try to be patient with myself and if I start getting to down about it I usually discuss going on an antianxiety/antidepressant combo until Im feeling better.
Posted 8/21/2011 5:15 PM (GMT 0)
I'm guessing Sniper you're gonna get a lot of hits on this one. Of late it seems a lot of us has
little or no energy, and that's the stuff you need to have any kind of organization IMHO.
Yesterday, I fully intended to at least achieve something, clear away things at least look
at my poor suffering garden, but no, I sat around in pain and pouting. This morning I had no
choice but to sit, got up and vomited the half cup of coffee I just had


I'm gonna get me one of those little round thingys my mum had. "A round tuit"
I hope we all feel like getting around to it soon. Love ya
Posted 8/21/2011 9:14 PM (GMT 0)
Sadly these things ring true....

I want to blame the drugs we all take, but who knows.

If I didn't spend a large portion of my day trying to remember what the hell I went to the kitchen for, or what I came back to the bedroom for, then I would be worried...

Good Goobbly Gook, did I actually just say it would be weird if I remembered things?

Yeah, that is how used to being forgetful I am, something I never had a problem with before the last 11 years of alternating medications, not even gonna bore you with the hospital stuff, cause your post was about memory loss.

So yeah, you my friend, are in a very large boat with alot of other people....I ....can't quite remember all their names though.......(ok little memory joke there)

Anyway, I basicily stand in whatever empty room I am in for about 2 to 5 mins, if it doesnt come back to me, then I figure it will later. Sure enough, couple hours later....Whammo, oh yeah, was gonna grab that thing.

This place is like the TV show Cheers, "where everybody knows your name", a place to go where you are not alone when every professional you see (slight exageration) treats you like a number.

Gl

Jon

Posted 8/21/2011 10:15 PM (GMT 0)
My friend refers to this as the black dot syndrome....it's like a black hole, sucks up everything in it's path, except the dot roams around your brain and makes random stuff disappear, like "what did I walk in the room for" "what was the word I was just going to use". 

It happens to me a lot as well.  I also have to leave the room if I don't remember after a minute or so.

My DR has me a ginormous vit d and that seems to help me a bit.  There has been a lot of talk lately about large doses of Vit E to help with memory and later on subsequently, alzheimers.

Posted 8/21/2011 11:58 PM (GMT 0)
Through a sequence of bad weather and poor planning, I ended up with two back yard pool parties this weekend, a week full of wedding planning that will have me running all over the metropolitan area with my daughter and her Fiance while they are in town and then to cap off the week, I am suppose to walk a 5K to support a children's hospital with my friends. All I really want to do is crawl into my bed and sleep. I am only 2 days in to my 8 days of plans and already I have run out of steam. I am thinking that I will need to check myself in to the hospital next week to recover.

Even on a normal day, I am ready for a nap right after lunch time. Some days I have more energy than others. It just depends on the day. I tend to give in on the days that I feel like I need to rest. If I don't, I know I will pay in the long run.
Posted 8/22/2011 2:38 AM (GMT 0)
For tedious things, I reward myself.  If I sit down and write checks to pay the bills, I can have a nap.  If I go to the dump, I can have a root beer float (made with diet root beer), and so on.   For remembering things, I know what I tend to forget.  If I put something somewhere, I do so, I stand there and say to myself, now I put that dog leash in the dry sink drawer.  I repeat it again so that I can store it in my ever-shrinking pea brain.  I also keep note pads of all kinds of things to remember.  Especially at my computer so I remember passwords, and usernames.  I absolutely hate wasting my time looking for things so I do whatever I can to avoid such moments because on prednisone especially it makes me really angry at myself. 
Posted 8/22/2011 3:10 AM (GMT 0)
I remember one time I lost the TV remote, I finally found it in the fridge!! What amazes me, is
I looked for it in there!! Maybe your brain knows what it's doing sometimes:)
Posted 8/22/2011 4:44 AM (GMT 0)
i have much less motivation than i used to...i also find that my memory and general overall intelligence seem to have been degredated over the past couple of years...due to the meds? i don't know, but i definitely don't feel as smart, motivated or organized as i used to that's for sure.
Posted 8/22/2011 9:04 AM (GMT 0)
been meaning to organize my tools for a few years now. cant find the one i need at the moment, sometimes i just go buy another. then ill find the original the next day..

better than the russian who lost an entire sattelite.. the US just found it for them on the wrong orbit track.. think they will thank us?
Posted 8/22/2011 11:49 AM (GMT 0)
Sniper...the problem is you have a wonderful spouse! I blame my husband when I can't find something! :-)
Even in the early days of CD, I was dubbed an anal retentive type person (bad pun intended). I organized my clothes in my closet by color, I had a bulletin board with colored pushpins for various things (invites in yellow, bills in blue etc).
That has all gone out the window and I am trying to accept a lot of it. The best thing I found for it was SIMPLIFY. I am getting rid of more and more stuff so there is less to look through when I "lose" something. There is something to be said for apartment living - I had less stuff and less places to put it back in those days. Now hubby wants to put an addition on the house---oh great more places for stuff to collect and get lost!
Posted 8/22/2011 11:56 AM (GMT 0)
I see we are on the same page but this does not help the frustration when needing something you know you have somewhere but not being able to find it. Sometimes running out to buy another is not an option. I get the idea that some of my tools are with that lost Russian satellite , floating around in space somewhere . I don't know but next time I cant find something I will surely check the fridge . Memory loss and brain fog is one thing but what kills me is I don't feel like sorting out the mess in my shop. I don't feel like searching high and low for a tool only so I can put it where it belongs . That may be because I know next time I need it , it wont be there again. Maybe there are little gremlins out in my work shop ? Will a good shot of bug spray get rid of them ? I would gladly Flitz the place if my stuff would go back to where it belongs. Surely I will go out one day and find I have lost my shop . Then again , there is the chance that all is where it should be but I am out of place . Perhaps on a different plane . People use to say that someone could have one foot in the grave and one foot on a banana peel . Maybe my stuff is preceding me into the after life . King Tut took it with him after all . Maybe when I die all my tools will flash before my eyes and I will peacefully go to rest with these last words ringing in my ears , " so that's where it was."
Posted 8/22/2011 1:45 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Sniper,
I feel like this sometimes but i don't think it's to do with the meds,case in point...i've only been DX with Crohn's a few short months and therefore have only been on meds this long, I had the symptons beforehand for about six months and it was during that time that i lost motivation etc.....i'm putting it down to the disease itself...my theory is this...(for what it's worth) is that having something like CD that affects the body so much is bound to have a knock-on affect on the odd braincell...That being said i hope you get your Mojo back soon.
Posted 8/22/2011 3:28 PM (GMT 0)
Maybe we use up so much energy just walking, standing, making bathroom runs, figuring out what we can and can't eat, caring for our significant others, and trying to find some sort of normal in our otherwise abnormal lives, that by the time we get to doing things that should be done, all our energy and motivation have been used up and the only energy we have left is to take a nap! I live alone now, and I know there are many things I let slide that I never used to let slide just because I don't seem to care about it anymore. and noone else will be affected by what I do or don't do anymore. Stay out of your workshop for a while until you really miss it. Maybe then it will motivate you.
Posted 8/22/2011 5:15 PM (GMT 0)
I have never been well organized. The only improvement I have in recent years is I search more calmly so that folks nearby don't have to duck flying tools as I search for my missing watcha-macall-it.

Serious suggestion: Make your next project an organization project with a place for everything. You know pegs in the walls and the like. Even label them. "red claw hammer............."

If it works you can come organize my garage and shed too! :)
Posted 8/22/2011 5:56 PM (GMT 0)
I was just reading an article the other day about how decision making is tiring, even exhausting. Add some poor health, toss in some stress makes decision making even more difficult and thus even more tiring and exhausting making .... you get the drift of the vicious cycle.

Sometimes it pays to just walk away, Sniper. And sometimes it just feels good to throw that hammer against the wall (just be sure to duck when it bounces off and heads back your way!!!).

You've got a lot of your plate, Sniper. Too bad we can't just toss THAT plate out the window!!!!

((((hugs))))

Posted 8/22/2011 7:16 PM (GMT 0)
sniper, I've been battling this same thing for quite awhile, when I drop a drill bit on the ground, If I can't see it, I won't evan try hunting it down, I'm better off buying new one, I have double of everything as far as tools go, and that type stuff. I brother I lost my train of thought,

AG
Posted 8/22/2011 11:31 PM (GMT 0)
Actually Sniper I really really know how you feel.  My shop/garage is the same way.  It NEEDS cleaned up so that when I feel like making something I don't have to clean it up first, which then causes a loss of motivation to make the thing.  I actaully have 2 to 4 hacksaws at home.  When I need the thing I can't find it.  When I can't stand it anymore I buy a new one.  When I am done with the new one, I think, where is a good place to put this so that I will find it next time.  And lo and behold I find the last hacksaw in the very spot.  True story!  So I seriously change my thought process when searching for something.  If I can't find it where I thought it should be I look where I would think I would put the new one.  As for the motivational loss.....well I have had to make myself lists and set it up in small steps.  The list helps me remember all that I want to do and organize those tasks.

You could always find a volcano to toss yourself in to get rid of that brain cloud turn yeah   (hopefully you've seen the movie I am referencing)

Posted 8/23/2011 12:09 AM (GMT 0)
My case is a little different, Sniper. My husband keeps reorganizing his garage/workshop so I can never find anything! He actually rearranged all the tools in his large tool boxes (6 - 10 drawers each). You know it's bad when you can't even remember which drawer the screw drivers are in!

My college-aged daughter was looking for jobs to do around the house, so I jokingly said she could label all the containers in the workshop so I can find things! It didn't happen. Oh well. She did a really nice job power washing the deck though!

I also have huuuuge problems with motivation. I have multiple lists on my kitchen counter. A long range projects list, the weekly list, what I plan to do today, and don't forget the food shopping list. I never get any of it done. I cross off one thing a week, and end up just rewriting the lists. Then I can pretend I did something. I know lack of energy is part of the problem, and I think I have a certain level of depression, even when I am between flares.

Right now I am in a somewhat productive phase, so I am getting some painting done. Yay!

The best suggestion I have is to rewrite your lists so it looks like you did something! Haha

Sudsmom
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