update on memory test: Morning all my... - Fibromyalgia Acti...

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update on memory test

bbstport profile image
26 Replies

Morning all my fibro friends i hope you are all ok .

Well further to my post a week ago about the memory test i attended the doctors surgery and he carried out a test which were questions and then he read a name and address and asked me to repeat it which i did. He said remember it as i will askk you again later. after some more questions he asked me for the name and address again - i could only remember part of it. I was in with him about 25 - 30 mins.

He said he wanted to do some blood tests. I went to see the nurse yesterday and she took the blood (by the way i am scared to death of needles but she was very good). I asked her exactly what the blood tests were as there were about 6 - 8 tests that they will be doing and i have to go back to the doctor next week. She advised me the blood tests were for DEMENTIA SCREENING. When i came home last night i could not stop myself looking at lots of sites relating to dimentia. I looked at the symptoms and i do have some of these so i have scared myself to death.

My fried said dont worry you are fine you are sound as a pound.

Hardly slept last night worrying about these tests and my follow up next Thursday.

Please can you all cross your fingers for me that the results are ok and it is something totally different.

Belinda

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26 Replies
hamble99b profile image
hamble99b

hi Belinda, I think with the fibro fog I wouldn''t pass a memory test. I forget what I was going to say halfway through a conversation.

were they reputable websites you looked at? sometimes there is a lot of mis-information.

even if it's a trusted site, just because some symptoms are similar it doesn't necessarily mean you have dementia, hopefully, the tests will rule it out.

sending you a hug (x)

sandra.

bbstport profile image
bbstport in reply to hamble99b

thanks for that and a hug on its way back to you sandra

Belinda

Angeldancea812 profile image
Angeldancea812 in reply to hamble99b

Glad I'm not the only one who forgets what they were actually saying.

DONT GOOGLE !!!!

Wags finger sternly ..... This is exactly what happens .... Like junior doctors in their first year they say they go through a point of thinking they have half of the diseases going, and as fibro does mimic so many illnesses you are bound to find some similar symptoms.... Look on it as a positive ... They are screening you quickly and obviously early as you are remembering you are forgetting which to me sounds just like fibro fog.......

Good luck and let us know how you get on

VG x

bbstport profile image
bbstport in reply to

thanks for that VG i promise myself all the time not to GOOGLE and then when there is no-one to ask i just do it as i live on my own i could have maybe spoke to dad but he is 86 and him hearing is not so good however i visit him every day and i would not want to worry him unnecessarily.

Hugs

Belinda x

ladymoth profile image
ladymoth

Awhh, you poor sausage - I bet we all have one or two symptoms of dementia, and it's good that your doctor is screening you thoroughly, but I bet he's confident that you'll be fine.

To be honest, if you managed to google to that extent, you are unlikely to have dementia, but as VG says, you can frighten yourself to death by reading medical papers.

I expect it's just fibro-fog. If forgetting your address was a sure sign, I'd have been locked up years ago. :)

Crossing everything for you

Moffy x

bbstport profile image
bbstport in reply to ladymoth

thanks Moffy x

Lima6MCT profile image
Lima6MCT

I often have problems remembering something said a few seconds ago if I've been distracted while someone's talking to me. The main reason I often just seem to "zone out" when people talk to me is usually pain related.

It may well be that while you were in with your GP it's just been a combination of factors like you were feeling stressed, "White Coat Syndrome", fibrofog & the fact you were being asked to deal with too much information in a short space of time.

I must admit I worry a lot about it as my Mum (and her Mum) had Altzheimers & my Dad had M I Dementia (he'd had a serious head injury plus a load of mini-strokes/TIAs) and I know how it affected them.

Hopefully the tests will come back & allay any fears for you.

bbstport profile image
bbstport in reply to Lima6MCT

thanks Lima x

hamble99b profile image
hamble99b

several years ago, my lovely Mum, sadly no longer with us, had been in hospital for quite a while.

when she was well enough to leave, I went to pick her up.

A lady in a starched white coat and carrying a clipboard approached Mum, checked she had the right patient, and lifted her clipboard.

quick as a flash Mum isaid -

"Tony Blair, 03/01/31, Queen Elizabeth the 2nd" [answers to a common memory test they'd asked her and other patients - pm's name? d.o.b.? who is the queen?]

the white coated lady laughed "well done love. But I'm from the canteen, you didn't tick if you wanted chips or mash with your lunch!"

bbstport profile image
bbstport in reply to hamble99b

wow that really made me laugh

Thanks for sharing that

Belinda x

spidey profile image
spidey

I often take a tea/coffee order from assembled guests, get to the kitchen and , completely blank, go back and ask again!!! Sometimes I reach for words in my head, I will say to my daughter, can you go and out the rubbish in the....big green thing, has wheels and a lid,

or into tesco and stand comeletely blank in the aisle I needed trying to think what it was .

that I was going to get.

This morning I put an alarm on my phone to ring a friend at nine. It went off, I stopped it, drank some ea and she has just rung me at ten saying you were going to ring me what are we doing today?

MInd you I am 58 and post menopausal. I don't know how old you are bbstport . Anotheing was that when my Dad died my memory was shot to pieces. Apparently that is common so I imagine any other sort ot traumatic event might have the same result.

I am guilty of googling ailments too by the way!!!!!

Try to distract yourself from doing it and from worrying about things. There is simply nothing you can do till you go back to the gp so try and take yori mind off it till then.

bbstport profile image
bbstport

Thanks for that Spidey.

I have lost my dear mum just under 4 years ago and that shot me to pieces however it was only in the last year i have had osteoarthritis is multiple joints, bursitis in hip, one leg shorter than the other etc etc and also Fibro.

I know there is nothing i can do till i see the doctor next thursday.

By the way i am 54 years young and had to give up work within the last year - i was off sick for almost a year.

thanks again

Belinda

Ginsing profile image
Ginsing

It is true we should not rush to google but we do dont we? It is unavoidable but you must really be patient and wait and see what the test say. My daughter is suffering sever memory problems she is 33 and cannot remember the day before - she is off to see the memory man wo ever that is - I cannot remember!

Gentle hugs to you hope everything is sorted out xgins

bbstport profile image
bbstport in reply to Ginsing

thanks for your reply gins and i hope your daughter gets sorted out with the memory man.

Belinda

mistymeana profile image
mistymeana

Noooooooooo! Please do not Google or fret. Would actually like to slap the nurse if she said it that bluntly. For anyone having problems with memory this is absolutely bog standard. The majority of blood results that come back are negative but, as with most things fibro, they have to rule out anything else just to be sure. If the worst comes to the worst and it is dementia related there is medication that can slow progress but I'm sure you'll breathe a huge sigh of relief when the results are in and wish you'd never heard of Google. By the way, the results come back electronically and are usually in within a day or two so you can always call your surgery Tuesday to see if they have them if you don't want to wait until you see your GP on Thursday x

bbstport profile image
bbstport in reply to mistymeana

thank you mistymeana

hugs

Belinda x

jayjayboy profile image
jayjayboy

I have a terrible memory, my friends and family talk about things that have happened in the past even as recent as days ago and I have no memory at all of what they are talking about. They tell me they know by the look on my face I have not got a clue.I write lists for myself to do things or there is no way I remember. I cannot ever remember what I had for dinner in the last week. But a doctor has said that if you know that you forget things then its probably not dementia, as people with dementia dont know they have forgotten things. ( If that makes sense).Although I am getting a bit worried about my memory, as I am sitting here trying to remember my anniversary and the date my mother died and I cannot for the life of me remember. You are not alone, I think with the pain and stress we are in it all takes its toll.

bbstport profile image
bbstport in reply to jayjayboy

thanks for that jatjayboy

Belinda

bumblebee57 profile image
bumblebee57 in reply to jayjayboy

jayjayboy, I dont only forget what Ive had for dinner in the last week, I forget IF Ive even HAD DINNER today,lol.

jayjayboy profile image
jayjayboy in reply to bumblebee57

Lol. You'll either be fading away to a shadow, or be wondering why you are so full when you are on your second meal.

bumblebee57 profile image
bumblebee57

Hi Belinda, I hope your tests will be good news for you, Im sure they will be. Ive always had a bad memory (also think Ive always had Fibro), but it seems to be getting even worse as I get older (Im 55 now). I hate it when you get into a conversation with a non- Fibro-sufferer about a bad memory, and they say "Oh Ive got a bad memory, I think we all do now and then". I just want to scream at them. Memory issues are one of my biggest symptoms. Its a bit of a joke with my family now.

Dorothy1952 profile image
Dorothy1952

My husband has a problem with his memory so we went to doctor and was referred to memory clinic he had tests and scored 29 points out of 30 but say he did not have dementia they think his problem may be a minor stroke in the past has caused his symptoms he tends to call people by wrong name or forget names of items so don't worry till you get firm diagnosis

bbstport profile image
bbstport in reply to Dorothy1952

thank you for that information

Ginsing profile image
Ginsing

Hi Belinda,

So sorry you have wound your self up over the tests lets face it it may be nothing at all.

To worry about.

I find my memory is increasingly poor and i feel like such a wasack take heart and hang on in there.

xgins

bbstport profile image
bbstport in reply to Ginsing

thanks gins

xbelinda

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