Memory holes - cognitive effects of Lupron?

This week I had a bit of a mess-up at work. I entered a long-delayed capital request for a piece of equipment. But.... it was supposed to be for two pieces of equipment. My manager emailed me when he saw the request, and asked why I hadn't gotten the supplier's quote for two pieces before submitting the request, and why I didn't request two pieces as we had discussed.

The problem? I utterly don't remember discussing this. No recollection at all, until thinking about it hard with his challenge; then I can just vaguely remember the discussion. It's been a short time since we talked about it, maybe only two or three weeks.

Memory lapses like that are radically atypical for me. I just have never had them. Never. This kind of crap has the potential to be job-threatening. Sure, I use a day-planner and various systems to remember things, and I guess I'll just have to get more rigid about it, take more notes, and refer to them more stringently.

Is this part of Lupron's evil roster of side-effects? I've heard of "cognitive issues", but are memory holes in that category?

Kind of frightening, I have to admit.

It's the HT. You are discovering the exact same mental issues I had. There were just plain scary GAPS in my memory. My wife would refer to a movie we saw a week ago and I would have absolutely no recollection whatsoever. I was fortunate that for some reason nothing work-related happened. It was like that was in a different portion of my brain.

Sorry I can't give you better news. But it is not dementia!

Mel

Could just as easily attributed to "age" as to effects of HT. I have those episodes from time to time, and have never been on HT or any thing similar. Don't beat yourself up over it.

I am convinced it is not the same thing.

Really, the memory impact of HT is strange. It is not just a difficulty in remembering. It's not the kind of usual memory aging where you have to be reminded of things and then you say "oh, yeah, I remember now."

It is hard to describe. It is really like a memory item here and there has been totally erased. There were things that I just did not remember. Let me exagerrate slightly: It would be like we went to a nice restaurant a month earlier and I ordered filet mignon. Cheryl would remind me and I would not remember going. She would tell me where it was, what we ate, etc. I WOULD NOT REMEMBER THAT HAPPENING AT ALL. Now, in reality, it would be something for a bit shorter time span. Maybe we ran into someone we knew and then I would totally forget that. It was SCARY. In fact, HT seemed to only effect certain short-term memory items. It had no impact on my knowledge of mathematics and my ability to teach it (that was my biggest fear going in). In fact, I wrote and had published an article in a refereed mathematics journal while undergoing HT. So, it is a very selective kind of memory loss (a particular type).


I have been off HT for 9 months, and that issue has resolved, so again I conclude that it is due to HT.

Mel

Clearly, bad old jokes is another SE!

Mel

compiler said...
Clearly, bad old jokes is another SE!

Mel

Dr. Walsh lists this clearly as an SE of both HT and RT on page 654 of his book, "Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer."

142:

I don't even think that is a question. We know the memory issue is a definite SE.

As I said, I was extremely worried about my ability to do my job. I am VERY fortunate that for some reason the HT did not impact that part of my brain.

Mel

Break 60:

HT has numerous SE. I can almost guarantee anyone doing HT will get some/many but not all. Additionally, some will be worse than others. I'm not sure what was worst for me. I got through it. I know I got the hot flashes, but it wasn't too bad. For many, that was the worst SE.

Mel

One of the side affects of helping a parent with Dementia is that you can easily take on some of their symptoms. Hope no one has to go there like I've been...

Repetitive tasks are the ones that get us first. My morning routine includes taking my baby aspirin... about every other day I have no idea if I took it or not...

I talked to my GP about memory loss. I told him about the time I couldn't remember my house number... I tried for an hour and couldn't do it.. I knew the whole time I could look on my drivers license etc and get the number...which I ended up doing.

Doc said that fact that I knew I could look the number up was a very good sign.. On the other hand - he said if I have a day where I can't drive home from work cause I don't remember where I live - he said to make an appointment with him.

What's a kitchen?

I have been on Lupron For 8 years and believe it messes up your memory .
My wife or daughters bring up stuff from the past and truthfully it's like those events have been erased from my mind .also messes with short term memory. It's very hard to explain just like lot of my memory has been erased.