Posted by beardedlady on March 24, 2002, at 14:54:00
In reply to Re: SAM-e price » jazzdog, posted by IsoM on March 24, 2002, at 13:33:13
IsoM(etric):
We used to have a saying here: Drink Diet Coke, Lose Your Keys. I don't know if there's anything to aspertame and that strange kind of memory loss, but you can always test yourself by avoiding aspertame.
I don't know a woman (except for one, and we're not speaking at present) who doesn't have this problem. I can assure you it has nothing to do with your meds, as most of the folks I know are non-medicated. Although it seems to be mostly age related, I think it has much to do with multi-tasking. These days, we are cooking while we are on the computer and talking on the telephone, with the t.v. in the background. We don't do things with consciousness! When we set our keys down on the table, are we thinking, "My keys are on the table"? Nope. If we did, though, we'd remember where we put them.
Try this experiment for a couple of days. Tell yourself, out loud, what you are doing with the objects you misplace. I find that when I do things with purpose--when I pay attention to little details and don't do things out of habit--I don't lose anything.
Like you, I astound myself with the things I remember. I can have conversations with strangers and remember the name of the coworkers who annoy them. I can remember the names of my students (30) by the end of each class, and, even though we only meet once a week for 15 weeks, I remember their names every week.
That's because putting our keys down isn't important. It's a habit. The other things we do with purpose. We pay attention to people when they speak to us. We concentrate.
Other than caffeine (and you have to be drinking it at the time or just before), I don't think there's a drug or a pill that can help you with it (even Ginseng or Ginkgo, whichever is supposed to be the one). But it's one thing you have control over--at least right now.
beardy : )>
P.S. The reason that woman doesn't have the memory problem? She doesn't EVER do two things at once. She CAN'T. We used to talk on the phone all the time, and she had to stop everything and sit down on the bed to talk. I was always doing laundry, making dinner, running up and down the steps. She was sitting.
poster:beardedlady
thread:99358
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020322/msgs/99894.html