Lately, my forgetfulness is causing me anxiety. For example, the other day I went to the Y for my yoga class and put my coat and pocketbook (aka a purse for those of you under the age of sixty) in a locker and put my lock on it. Halfway through my yoga class, I had this niggling thought that maybe I hadn’t really remembered to lock my locker. I didn’t want to leave the class in the middle of a downward facing dog, so I assured myself that yes, I had definitely locked my locker. When the class was over and I was heading back to the locker room, I reached into the pouch of my yoga bag to retrieve my key, and lo and behold, I withdrew my lock. My heart started racing. I knew my pocketbook had to be missing or at least been rifled through, and all my credit cards stolen. How could I have been so forgetful? I scolded myself. I raced to my locker in the slim hope that my coat was covering my pocketbook and nothing was missing. I got to my locker, and there was my lock. On the locker. Locked. I had used the lock I keep in my pocketbook when I’m not going to yoga and don’t have the lock I carry in my yoga bag. The lock in my hand was from my yoga bag.
A few months ago, as my husband and I were still sitting at the dinner table after we’d finished eating, my husband looked at the stove and said, “Did you mean to leave that burner on?” Rather than responding with what I really wanted to say (Of course, I meant to leave it on. I’ve always wanted to set the house on fire.), I sheepishly jumped up and turned the burner off. Now, however, every time I leave the house, I wonder if I’ve left the burner on. I’m thinking of serving only cold cereal every morning so I don’t have to worry about it anymore.
I read somewhere (can’t remember where) that certain cholesterol-lowering medications can cause memory loss. Since I’m on one of those medications, I’ve thought of asking my doctor about lowering the dosage. If I could only remember to ask him. Or maybe I did remember. Wonder what he said.
Coming East 
Glad you are doing yoga (my latest passion!), and hope you are taking some form of Omega3 vitamins. That will help with thinking straight! 😉
Yes, Rufina, I take one of those huge fish oil pills every morning. I love my yoga class. I couldn’t go today because my husband needed to take my car to get to work today because his car is in for service, so I did yoga at home on my own.
Then, you might like this about a home-based yoga practice:
https://300dayjourney.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/everything-old-is-new-again-yoga-and-me/
And this:
http://300dayjourney.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/finding-my-yoga/
At least, I hope you do! 😉
p.s. I love classes too!
Thanks, Rufina! Can’t wait to check them out. It’s so cold today, I’m not going to venture out. I’ll do some yoga at home again.
I can relate to this all too well. The problem is, I’m not on statins. So, what’s my excuse? Just age, I guess.
No, Robin, you are just so incredibly brilliant and know so much, you can’t possibly keep everything in that head of yours! That’s what I tell myself all the time.
Ah, forgetfulness, the scourge of age. Ah, forgetfulness, the scourge of age. Ah, forgetfulness, the scourge of age. Ah, forge……….
Did you say something, Al?
I always use the term pocketbook! Anyway, I think my forgetfulness mainly comes from insomnia…and loss of hormones 🙂
Plus, my brain is pure-tee full to the brim!
I think you hit the nail on the head, Sally. We are just so darn smart, we have too many things in our head. That’s the price we pay for being brilliant. Glad I know someone else who uses the word pocketbook. Now my daughter has another person to laugh at.
Seriously, you call that thing pocketbook? A new word for me!
I am in my late 40’s and already catching up with you with super speed. I am having problems remembering names of people and objects. Many times, I have this person’s face in my head and just can’t think of the name! You are not alone, my friend. And i always have to come back to the house thinking I left the burner on, too.
Judging from the comments, Jiawei, I have a lot of company. Reassuring! You never hear the word pocketbook used for purse anymore. My grandmothers and mother always used it, so that’s the term I grew up using and never changed. My daughter laughs at me once in awhile when she hears me refer to my purse as a pocketbook.
I’m in my late 20’s and I have what I call ‘absent-minded professor moments’ – where’d I put my keys, my water-bottle, and phone tend to be the three questions I ask.
I don’t remember being so absent-minded when I was your age, L.Palmer, but maybe I was. I have seen an increase in things I forget, but maybe that’s because I have more to remember!
I cannot work when I am cold… so I have a little space heater in my office. (it’s my one concession to old age). Every night when I go home, I say – aloud – “I am shutting off the space heater.” That helps me remember that I did it. But it didn’t prevent me – TWICE- from waking my husband at 1:00AM and making him come with me to the office to check the space heater.
Oh, my, NQO! I can put myself in your place. That would have been me if I had needed a space heater in my office.
For some reason, since I moved into my new house (about 10 years ago), I’ve had trouble leaving the burners on. George got me into the habit of saying out loud, “Burners Off.” He’s a CPA with a very organized mind. I swear he has checks and balances hard-wired into his brain. My brain is just crowded and stuff pops up every which-a-way. I’m not forgetful at all.
By the way, my daughter-in-law told me that a lot of women don’t need cholesterol lowering drugs. There’s the LDL and the HDL (good and bad, or is it the other way around?) Now there’s subsets of the bad: the round and the sticky, or something like that. Round isn’t really bad at all. Most women have lots of the round and don’t need drugs. (I have plenty of round, but I don’t know if that’s true in the cholesterol area, just in the hip area.) I must ask my doctor next time I see him. I hate being on any maintenance drugs.
I may check into that, Adela, because I have tons of the good kind. I didn’t know you have a George of your own! And I love that he makes you say, “Burners Off!” I am going to start doing that…if I remember.
I’ve always worried that I left the burner on. Or the iron, or the coffee maker, or the curling iron, or left the door unlocked or the gate open or… It’s nutty!
I hope you can manage your cholesterol. My husband is a thin guy who eats right and gets lots of exercise but be struggles with it. The doctor has prescribed niacin and red yeast rice for now. Statins may come later.
If statins are the problem, Shary, wouldn’t I forget to take them? Guess I can’t blame them. I hate anxiety!
Tell me someone who is not guilty of the same kind of things. I think it has as much to do with how much we have on our mind as memory loss, at least that’s what I tell myself!
But I seem to forget more now that I’m not as busy, Lulu. When I was working, I seldom forgot anything that had to do with work. Maybe I need to get a job.
I’ve forgotten to put bananas in my banana bread before…
Now that is just plain sad, Daughter.
I forgot my purse twice on the way to work in the past month. I’ve never done that in my life! The first time I went back to get it, the second time I didn’t because my co-worker wasn’t going to be in and I would be late. When I got to the office I sat down and thought “slow down Lisa, slow down.”
Guess it isn’t an age thing then, Lisa, ’cause you are a young chick. I feel better.
I can’t believe Dianna went to Barnes & Noble without us.
Yeah, some friend, huh?
Sorry, I forgot what we were talking about…
You are so bad, Pouring My Art. LOL
I am not a real bad… I just play one on TV…
Your memory may be challenged, but your humor is sharp. I’ve locked the keys in my car, with the engine still running!
You may have me beat there, LD. LOL
It happens to me too. I think everyone has this happen from time to time. It’s a side effect of our busy modern lives. No worries! By the way, I’ve started up my blog again 🙂
Yay! I’ll hop on over and take a look.
How could such a tiny person as you need cholesterol medicine? yes, yes, I know, the health profession thinks we all should be taking that stuff, whether we need it or not. Might be worth a try to stop it for awhile, unless you’re cholesterol is so bad that it would be risky. Or, maybe you can’t remember how bad your cholesterol is;) ?
It has to be hereditary, HG. We eat well (I have a VitaMix, for goodness sake!) and I exercise, but my total cholesterol is still high. Thankfully, my good cholesterol is also sky-high.
Dealing with my hubby’s memory loss I find it is contagious… I sometimes am afraid I will revert to one of the people who used to come to the center I worked as an admin in. It was an adult daycare center, we always knew something was up when ladies would come in with their bras on the outside of their clothes. I am so afraid that I will be walking the dog sometime and look down to see that I have done the same thing! Great post, you are not alone in this… DAF
I’d laugh, DAF, if I weren’t afraid of the same thing!
I wrote about yoga just now– http://cyclingrandma.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/breathing-out-the-upsetness/
don’t worry – we all have lapses like that!
Just left a comment on you blog, CyclingGrandma.
🙂 I can identify! I blame it on having so many things on my mind, that it’s just impossible to keep up with all of it.
By the way, I was in Barnes & Noble earlier this evening and thought of you and Patti!
Did you play with the Legos, Dianna?
Not tonight! 😉 Wouldn’t be the same without you and Patti….!