I was diagnosed with adhd as a young child, and still very often forget stuff. My short term memory can be terrible and I often immediately lose a thought or forget an idea after just a couple of seconds.
However, I’m often able to recall an idea by going back to what I was doing, which is something I never hear other people with adhd talk about. Sometimes all it takes is going back to the visual that triggered the thought or reading back a couple of sentences. This usually doesn’t take longer than ~10 seconds. Other times I have to retrace my thought process, which can occasionally take up to a minute… If it takes any longer, then the thought is likely to be lost forever and I always feel terrible when it happens. At times I randomly remember something days later, even though it had felt like the thought was truly lost forever.
Is this common among folks with adhd? I only ever hear people talking about forgetting, and never about remembering.
My memory is great.
It’s my recall that is actually shit.
So I remember shit that happened when I was three. But I will only ever be able to recall any given memory when it does not fucking matter. If I witnessed a crime, I won’t be able to recall anything during the trial; but 3 years later in the shower it’ll all come back to me.
Yes… I realised member everything in the shower… Even the things I remembered in the shower yesterday…
And have zero ability to get it into my digital journal…
Same! Showers are magical, although I feel like that’s true for most people. What I don’t understand, is that I am sometimes able to vividly recall the most useless information that my brain really should’ve just gotten rid of already.
This is why I use a list and I judiciously refuse to let people force things onto the list. It’s my list and if it becomes cluttered with crap I will not look at it and just make a new one (i.e. your boss telling you “X is your top priority but you’re going to need to do Y first because of a client deadline but the X ticket should be at the top of the column” fucking end me - I’ve had conversations like this and it makes me want to check my wall for studs so I can safely drive my head through the drywall).
My memory is absolutely rubbish, I have good friends I never think about until I’m with them and then I love every moment. When I’m with my family I have to deal with constant guilt over someone says “Do you remember Sandra who played flute in the band with you?” … and I smile and nod with no clue who Sandra is. I assume these are pretty common experiences since it seems to be quite a frequent expression of ADHD.
The second paragraph is especially relatable for me… All the friendships I have lost and would’ve lost if some friends hadn’t put so much effort into keeping in touch with me :(
I tend to put all my epic plans and wise ideas together, and just watch them fade from my mind in real-time as I go back to confusion. Then people wonder why I don’t get anything done. Like, how. Physical work is extremely easy compared to this.
I’m literally experiencing this while replying to these comments. I can come up with the greatest reply, and then watch it slowly fade away. Rereading comments does often help with remembering most of it, though.
Absolutely. I often find that re-tracing my steps makes the thought come back. It makes me wonder if the same set of stimuli would make me have the same thought even eg. a month later
Glad to hear I’m not the only one! I feel like what you’re describing has kind of happened to me before under certain circumstances. I can’t seem to recall a specific example, though :(
Yup, it is for me. Visual cues are huge for remembering stuff. I also set constant reminders in multiple places, and make copious use of timers.
I always like to leave my devices in really unusual spots, so I don’t forget to charge them. It works surprisingly well.
Oh that’s totally me.
Best way I can describe it is that my mind is the Google homepage. Give it input, and it will spit out everything it knows about that, but by default, it’s just a blank page waiting for a question.
I need triggers to jog my memory. Sticky notes are a lifesaver.
I love your analogy! I may start using it to explain my symptoms to people in the future.
