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I have had something similar to this (heavy fog and inability to continue creative work) and I use coffee, bulk vitamins and regular walks with music to work th

I have had something similar to this (heavy fog and inability to continue creative work) and I use coffee, bulk vitamins and regular walks with music to work through it. I also started eating more fresh food and less frozen food, even if it meant eating-out fresh, because it was much worse when I was reheating a lot of tasteless frozen food. But no matter how hard I try, I have focused my career into an area that requires a lot of creative effort, and I think that this has given me nearly permanent long term memory problems. Over the years, my relationships always get irritated that I don't remember anything. Actually, I thought my memory was normal, until I started to contrast it with people around me who worked in hospitality and such.

senectus1 5y ago
This is all sounding very familiar to me :-/
- axaxs 5y ago
  Same here. Mid 30s and my memory is completely shot. Here's hoping it's not permanent or an early sign of things to come :(.
  - TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
    Sleep. Get enough sleep every single night, not just some nights. Sleep cements the memories of the day.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- redisman 5y ago
  Do you use any drugs?
  - senectus1 5y ago
    coffee, tea I used to drink a bit but not much compared to some and not anymore. Never smoked or did any other recreational drugs.
havernator 5y ago
Middle aged here. Almost, but not quite, no autobiographical memory. Been that way since I was really young. So that’s fun. Often I remember that something happened. Order gets wonky, even a week back. Sometimes I can kinda remember an image or a snippet, but not reliably. I gather most people hold on to a lot more than that. Fine with facts and such. Never a problem in school. I do have trouble remembering the names of characters and details of incidents in books I read, shows I watch, et c. Not as bad as my autobiographical memory, but not great. And yeah, it’s frequently annoying for my wife, too. “Tell me about a time when…” questions in interviews are interesting. I have to prep things from my notes ahead of time or I literally won’t be able to answer them. I’ll not be able to come up with a damn thing. The most stressful questions in elementary school were ones like “what did you do over summer break?”
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- cercatrova 5y ago
  Can you visualize things in your mind as if they were physically in front of you? People with aphantasia cannot and they often can't remember visual events from the past as a result. Perhaps you have it too.
  - crooked-v 5y ago
    As someone else with similar issues, I'm pretty deeply aphantasic. The best mental visualization I can manage of even simple imagery (think "a red triangle on a black background") is roughly comparable to a half-transparent blurry watercolor, and I can't clearly picture faces at all (though I don't have any particular trouble with recognizing people when I see them).
    - underwater 5y ago
      Is that really aphantasia? I understood it to be the absolute absence of any mental imagery. Your description actually sounds similar to my own experience. I'm capable of summon up imagery with effort when I need to, but it's never very clear or frequent.
650REDHAIR 5y ago
This hits close to home.
ramraj07 5y ago
Sounds like you're trying to take care of yourself but one suggestion is to be rational about things - not sure why everyone hates on frozen food as if it's pumped with chemicals or something. It's literally the best way you can get the food on the table other than cooking it yourself. A frozen veg medley is healthier than a McDonald's burger right.
UK-Al05 5y ago
Frozen vegetables are some the cheapest ways of getting decent nutrition.
- hrnnnnnn 5y ago
  And if they're frozen soon after picking they can be more nutritious than fresh vegetables that have been out of the ground longer.
alexpetralia 5y ago
I wonder if you may have aphantasia, and I also wonder if it may be more common (selected for even) amongst engineers. If I say: "imagine a red triangle", can you do it easily? Is it red? Does it visually exist in front of you? I have asked many people this, and many people say it is laughably easy. This tells me it is "normal". I can't do this. I also have a terrible episodic memory. But my semantic memory is fantastic.
- aetherspawn 5y ago
  I can not really imagine a whole object at once, I can only easily imagine the features/edges individually, although I know that they form a triangle.
  - justinclift 5y ago
    Not sure if it's a useful data point, but my ability to construct things in my head improved dramatically after I'd been messing around with CAD for a few months. My guess is it just got my brain to improve it's ability with that stuff, and the side effects helped in other areas (like this) too. :)
- icedchai 5y ago
  It exists but not in my visual field, so not in front of me. I can imagine it in my visual field but that is distinct from it actually being there, which may not make much sense unless you do the same.
rraihansaputra 5y ago
Just echoing the other comments on this tree; hits very close to home. I admit I might have some other triggers, but it's just been so persistent from growing up until now, and it's getting worse the moment I switched my work to mostly developing/programming instead of talking to people.

senectus1 5y ago

This is all sounding very familiar to me :-/

axaxs 5y ago
Same here. Mid 30s and my memory is completely shot. Here's hoping it's not permanent or an early sign of things to come :(.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
  Sleep. Get enough sleep every single night, not just some nights. Sleep cements the memories of the day.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
redisman 5y ago
Do you use any drugs?
- senectus1 5y ago
  coffee, tea I used to drink a bit but not much compared to some and not anymore. Never smoked or did any other recreational drugs.

havernator 5y ago

Middle aged here. Almost, but not quite, no autobiographical memory. Been that way since I was really young. So that’s fun. Often I remember that something happened. Order gets wonky, even a week back. Sometimes I can kinda remember an image or a snippet, but not reliably. I gather most people hold on to a lot more than that. Fine with facts and such. Never a problem in school. I do have trouble remembering the names of characters and details of incidents in books I read, shows I watch, et c. Not as bad as my autobiographical memory, but not great. And yeah, it’s frequently annoying for my wife, too. “Tell me about a time when…” questions in interviews are interesting. I have to prep things from my notes ahead of time or I literally won’t be able to answer them. I’ll not be able to come up with a damn thing. The most stressful questions in elementary school were ones like “what did you do over summer break?”

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
cercatrova 5y ago
Can you visualize things in your mind as if they were physically in front of you? People with aphantasia cannot and they often can't remember visual events from the past as a result. Perhaps you have it too.
- crooked-v 5y ago
  As someone else with similar issues, I'm pretty deeply aphantasic. The best mental visualization I can manage of even simple imagery (think "a red triangle on a black background") is roughly comparable to a half-transparent blurry watercolor, and I can't clearly picture faces at all (though I don't have any particular trouble with recognizing people when I see them).
  - underwater 5y ago
    Is that really aphantasia? I understood it to be the absolute absence of any mental imagery. Your description actually sounds similar to my own experience. I'm capable of summon up imagery with effort when I need to, but it's never very clear or frequent.

650REDHAIR 5y ago

This hits close to home.

ramraj07 5y ago

Sounds like you're trying to take care of yourself but one suggestion is to be rational about things - not sure why everyone hates on frozen food as if it's pumped with chemicals or something. It's literally the best way you can get the food on the table other than cooking it yourself. A frozen veg medley is healthier than a McDonald's burger right.

UK-Al05 5y ago

Frozen vegetables are some the cheapest ways of getting decent nutrition.

hrnnnnnn 5y ago
And if they're frozen soon after picking they can be more nutritious than fresh vegetables that have been out of the ground longer.

alexpetralia 5y ago

I wonder if you may have aphantasia, and I also wonder if it may be more common (selected for even) amongst engineers. If I say: "imagine a red triangle", can you do it easily? Is it red? Does it visually exist in front of you? I have asked many people this, and many people say it is laughably easy. This tells me it is "normal". I can't do this. I also have a terrible episodic memory. But my semantic memory is fantastic.

aetherspawn 5y ago
I can not really imagine a whole object at once, I can only easily imagine the features/edges individually, although I know that they form a triangle.
- justinclift 5y ago
  Not sure if it's a useful data point, but my ability to construct things in my head improved dramatically after I'd been messing around with CAD for a few months. My guess is it just got my brain to improve it's ability with that stuff, and the side effects helped in other areas (like this) too. :)
icedchai 5y ago
It exists but not in my visual field, so not in front of me. I can imagine it in my visual field but that is distinct from it actually being there, which may not make much sense unless you do the same.

rraihansaputra 5y ago

Just echoing the other comments on this tree; hits very close to home. I admit I might have some other triggers, but it's just been so persistent from growing up until now, and it's getting worse the moment I switched my work to mostly developing/programming instead of talking to people.