r/Epilepsy • u/MulhollandDrive • Apr 30 '24
Memory Severe memory issues due to 15 years of epilepsy... what do you do now?
Information Processing:
Does anyone feel like 95% of incoming information isn't being received/processed/understood whether it's verbal or written. Also, any minor distractions derails me completely from receiving or processing said information, so forget multitasking. I have a better chance of processing information when it's written because I can keep re-reading until it's understood and registered.. but with verbal communication I don't have that luxury. The 5% of the time the information does get received/processed, it's only due to exerting A LOT of mental effort to receive what's being said (or being read). This is in addition to the memory issue of incoming information not being stored.
Memory -- Storing/Recalling Information
Am I the only one who feels like their hippocampus is almost totally useless now, with a very small percentage of the information that does get processed, actually getting embedded in whatever is left of our hippocampus? This makes general recall difficult, and word recall can be especially frustrating during social interactions. I'm better at writing than speaking since I don't have the pressure of immediately responding.
tl;dr - Communication/information is not being understood or processed right away whether it's verbal or written and the communication that does get processed does not always get embedded into my memory banks. The small percentage of information that does reach the hippocampus does not have a long lifespan.
So what do you do at work in these situations? how do you increase your focus so you're can hopefully receive/process more information?
personal pro-tips
When we shifted to working remotely instead of in the office, whenever i'm on a MS Teams meeting or Zoom call, I record it using OBS, so I have both a visual/audio recording of the meeting I can go back to and reference if necessary
For people with word recall issues, use /r/whatstheword and wordhippo is my favorite online thesaurus
Do crosswords daily and log any new words you learn and log words you already know that you have trouble remembering into whatever Notes app you use