10 ms·

> Worsening “mental imprecision” was the key, rather than people simply being verbose, however. “Many individuals may be long-winded, that’s not a concern,” sai

> Worsening “mental imprecision” was the key, rather than people simply being verbose, however. “Many individuals may be long-winded, that’s not a concern,” said Sherman. For a minute I was worried I might be losing my mind. Thankfully I've always been garrulous, though I'm sure other people don't see that as a blessing.

notheguyouthink 10y ago
Worrying for me still, heh. I'm both long winded and imprecise as hell. I constantly forget names of things / people. Though, i do suppose it's limited to that. Ask me to remember what something is called, who acted in what movie, etc and i fail to remember the specific names. However i can remember the details of the movie, where i am, how to get places, where things are stored, etc. My memory worries me.
- ttrider 10y ago
  Well, I'm 45 now and noticed all the same stmptoms as you have. I went to a doctor and after 3 hours of testing he told me that no, I don't have Alzheimer, but yes I do have ADHD.
  - Declanomous 10y ago
    I have ADHD as well, so I wasn't really worried that the symptoms were indicative of Alzheimer's or dementia, but I was still a little worried.
  - empath75 10y ago
    yeah i have adhd. It's not that I forget things, it's that I wasn't really paying attention to begin with.
    - S_A_P 10y ago
      This! As Ive aged(Im 40 now) Ive become more acutely aware of it, but I also really don't have a way to turn it off, and then it can get me into some sort of metacognitive loop of why cant you pay attention better all the while Im thinking about that instead of paying attention...
  - mistermann 10y ago
    Can anything be done, as I have similar memory problems.
  - stevenh 10y ago
    3 hours? What were the tests like? Also, do you have any advice on how to get a doctor to listen to you for more than 3 minutes before rushing you out with a half-baked diagnosis and a prescription for a medication they barely know anything about?
- SomeStupidPoint 10y ago
  I can't remember names of people, but I'll remember their faces for years even if we just meet once or twice, and recognize them walking down the street. I always figured it's just what I regard as important or not.
- ashark 10y ago
  I have a terrible memory for names, and (relatedly?) have awful auto-biographiical memory, which is apparently a distinct thing from other forms of memory. I've got an average-ish memory otherwise. I'd have trouble giving you specifics of what I did last week, for instance, and I'd be lucky if I could come up with more than one or two things from last month. Last year is a blur—I could come up with a handful of details, mostly anchored to holidays since it's easy to prompt myself with "I know Christmas happened, what did I do for that?" and the like. Forming parts of my life into any kind of narrative is incredibly challenging. I hated those "what did you do over the Summer?" writing prompts elementary school teachers love to give the first week back. Maybe your situation is similar. I don't have a diagnosis or anything, but pretty sure I'm affected by this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overgeneral_autobiographical_memory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overgeneral_autobiographical_m...
  - jfoutz 10y ago
    When i was young, I had an excellent factual memory. I'd remember rules for dungeons and dragons, i could tell you the page, the paragraph and the nearby art to look for. As i got older i noticed that type of memory started to fade, and i'd remember things more procedurally - what things do rather than what they are. It takes me longer to find a rule in a book, but i have deep understanding of what that rule does, how it works. D&D is a silly example, but it happened for all sorts of things. I sometimes draw blanks on names or faces, but once i get the link back to a conversation we had, i can remember all sorts of details about the person. The memories themselves are probably built because of interest, a more interesting person is more memorable. But the transition from a fact based model of the world to a action based model of the world was kind of disturbing.
    - teach 10y ago
      I've read that many/most children have a nearly photographic memory up until age 11 or so. I don't have a citation for it, though.
  - programbreeding 10y ago
    I'm a longtime HN lurker that has never signed up for an account. I created one just now to reply and say thank you for linking this. I have always suffered from these exact symptoms and I knew something wasn't "right," but I could never put it in to words. You did for me. I'm bookmarking it now so I can talk to my doctor about it! Granted I'll forget about it for like 3 days, until I remember it randomly while doing something else, only to forget about it again before I ever commit it to memory. But still, thank you!
- matt_wulfeck 10y ago
  It's probably more common than you think. I've found that stress can have a big (and temporary) impact on my memory.
- kolinko 10y ago
  Quite a few adults with ADHD follow the same pattern. Do you lose stuff too, and get restless when it's other's people time to speak?
- WalterBright 10y ago
  I've never been good at names or faces. It's embarrassing as people usually remember me :-)
gpawl 10y ago
The headline was imprecise; perhaps the author has Alzheimer's.
rdiddly 10y ago
The title says being long-winded is a sign of Alzheimer's. Then this quote says being long-winded is actually not the concern. Then later somebody says subjects with cognitive impairment were (I'm paraphrasing) long-winded. Can somebody at the Guardian make up their damn mind, or are they suffering cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's?

notheguyouthink 10y ago

Worrying for me still, heh. I'm both long winded and imprecise as hell. I constantly forget names of things / people. Though, i do suppose it's limited to that. Ask me to remember what something is called, who acted in what movie, etc and i fail to remember the specific names. However i can remember the details of the movie, where i am, how to get places, where things are stored, etc. My memory worries me.

ttrider 10y ago
Well, I'm 45 now and noticed all the same stmptoms as you have. I went to a doctor and after 3 hours of testing he told me that no, I don't have Alzheimer, but yes I do have ADHD.
- Declanomous 10y ago
  I have ADHD as well, so I wasn't really worried that the symptoms were indicative of Alzheimer's or dementia, but I was still a little worried.
- empath75 10y ago
  yeah i have adhd. It's not that I forget things, it's that I wasn't really paying attention to begin with.
  - S_A_P 10y ago
    This! As Ive aged(Im 40 now) Ive become more acutely aware of it, but I also really don't have a way to turn it off, and then it can get me into some sort of metacognitive loop of why cant you pay attention better all the while Im thinking about that instead of paying attention...
- mistermann 10y ago
  Can anything be done, as I have similar memory problems.
- stevenh 10y ago
  3 hours? What were the tests like? Also, do you have any advice on how to get a doctor to listen to you for more than 3 minutes before rushing you out with a half-baked diagnosis and a prescription for a medication they barely know anything about?
SomeStupidPoint 10y ago
I can't remember names of people, but I'll remember their faces for years even if we just meet once or twice, and recognize them walking down the street. I always figured it's just what I regard as important or not.
ashark 10y ago
I have a terrible memory for names, and (relatedly?) have awful auto-biographiical memory, which is apparently a distinct thing from other forms of memory. I've got an average-ish memory otherwise. I'd have trouble giving you specifics of what I did last week, for instance, and I'd be lucky if I could come up with more than one or two things from last month. Last year is a blur—I could come up with a handful of details, mostly anchored to holidays since it's easy to prompt myself with "I know Christmas happened, what did I do for that?" and the like. Forming parts of my life into any kind of narrative is incredibly challenging. I hated those "what did you do over the Summer?" writing prompts elementary school teachers love to give the first week back. Maybe your situation is similar. I don't have a diagnosis or anything, but pretty sure I'm affected by this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overgeneral_autobiographical_memory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overgeneral_autobiographical_m...
- jfoutz 10y ago
  When i was young, I had an excellent factual memory. I'd remember rules for dungeons and dragons, i could tell you the page, the paragraph and the nearby art to look for. As i got older i noticed that type of memory started to fade, and i'd remember things more procedurally - what things do rather than what they are. It takes me longer to find a rule in a book, but i have deep understanding of what that rule does, how it works. D&D is a silly example, but it happened for all sorts of things. I sometimes draw blanks on names or faces, but once i get the link back to a conversation we had, i can remember all sorts of details about the person. The memories themselves are probably built because of interest, a more interesting person is more memorable. But the transition from a fact based model of the world to a action based model of the world was kind of disturbing.
  - teach 10y ago
    I've read that many/most children have a nearly photographic memory up until age 11 or so. I don't have a citation for it, though.
- programbreeding 10y ago
  I'm a longtime HN lurker that has never signed up for an account. I created one just now to reply and say thank you for linking this. I have always suffered from these exact symptoms and I knew something wasn't "right," but I could never put it in to words. You did for me. I'm bookmarking it now so I can talk to my doctor about it! Granted I'll forget about it for like 3 days, until I remember it randomly while doing something else, only to forget about it again before I ever commit it to memory. But still, thank you!
matt_wulfeck 10y ago
It's probably more common than you think. I've found that stress can have a big (and temporary) impact on my memory.
kolinko 10y ago
Quite a few adults with ADHD follow the same pattern. Do you lose stuff too, and get restless when it's other's people time to speak?
WalterBright 10y ago
I've never been good at names or faces. It's embarrassing as people usually remember me :-)

gpawl 10y ago

The headline was imprecise; perhaps the author has Alzheimer's.

rdiddly 10y ago

The title says being long-winded is a sign of Alzheimer's. Then this quote says being long-winded is actually not the concern. Then later somebody says subjects with cognitive impairment were (I'm paraphrasing) long-winded. Can somebody at the Guardian make up their damn mind, or are they suffering cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's?