help....memory/reasoning | ADHD Information
I'm there too.....it takes me twice as long to tell someone something.....because I can't get the right words. But it does make for interesting conversations. When I get stuck for words, people try and help out. You never know what words they will come up with. lolAbsolutely! Karen, you especially have described to a 'T' what I experience, although all of you above seem to be in the same boat. And it has been getting worse as I get older. Although, not working and stimulating my brain as much as I used to could have something to do with that.
I have one friend who, bless her heart, always seems to know what word I'm searching for immediately. And I don't mind at all when she helps me out.
It sure makes our conversations flow more smoothly, plus I know that she's actually listening to me. 
Other times, with other people, I get emabarrassed at my arms flaying while I try to describe what I'm trying to say. I try to laugh at myself, as well. However, some people just give up and turn away...how rude!
I have had this problem since my 30s. I have found that
when I'm on Zoloft, most of it goes away. I was on Wellbutrin
once and it got worse. I just went off Zoloft about a week ago and the
problem came back with a vengence. So in my case it may have something
to do with low seratonin. Who knows!!
What's the name of that kid's game where people try to guess who someone is motioning? Not pictionary, that's where they try to guess what they're drawing...
Here I go again....
[QUOTE=autumnstar]What's the name of that kid's game where people try to guess who someone is motioning? Not pictionary, that's where they try to guess what they're drawing...
Here I go again....
[/QUOTE] I had it...lost it...had it again...lost it, arrrg...oh, I got it, its ...sh*t! lost it AGAIN! SHARAIDES!!!! I got it that time!!!!!
( that was an actual "play by play" too!)
Thanks everyone for at least making me feel less alone in this. I really had no idea how common it seems to be among us. I don't recall this as being listed any where for ADHD. I know the difference between being constantly forgetful and absent minded vrs. this....totally unable to fit the pieces that I actually do know and remember together and speak it out loud correctly.
Someone above pointed out that sometimes the mind is racing too fast to pick up the details into speech. Yes...that happens for sure for some of those times but often I just simply go blank. I will also use the wrong words to name common things but I wouldn't know it unless someone points it out to me. At the time..I would have thought I was correct. Sometimes I write a word down and it doesn't seem familiar to me...like a foreign language or it simply looks spelt wrong although it isn't. The word "said" gets me fairly often!
I really wish I knew what the hell does this to my brain. For a while there I was considering the possibility of it being the beginning of Alzimers or some such thing. The truth is, I have no idea and it frightens me to think about it. But when I wrote this I never considered that others here would be in a similar boat and that has helped me feel better and less alone...although I wouldn't wish this on anyone of you so its a double edged sword.
Thank you for your support. Much appreciated!
Yes, it's certainly easier when you are with a partner for a long time, then you have that low level telepahty/shared thoughts so even though you can't think of the word she'll be able to know exactly what you mean. Then again there is a downside like when you get a ticking off for not doing one of the thousands of things you are meant to be busy at "cause it slipped your mind"........Hey autumn Star, the game you were thinking of is Charades, I thinkCHARADES
Karen,
I don't know "what this is" but whatever it is, I have it to. Drives people around me nuts. I'm always "losing words". And like you, I can mentally see the object, person, etc. Growing up, most of my family would do it, I can clearly remember my family calling things "the whatchamathingy" or call someone "yahoo" (long before Yahoo was a household name).
In high school, I had absolutely no short term memory. Somehow I reconstructed my memory back since then but I VERY frequently lose words, names, etc. I find that it's best if people just 'get what I mean' without saying anything to me or if they just casually offer the right word to me. My husband has occasionally picked on me about losing a word and it just makes the situation 10 times worse for me.
I often blame it on my brain going so fast that it can't be bothered picking up the details AGAIN. 
This is just another reason I want to get diagnosed, so I can tell my husband that I really CAN'T help it and that he needs to make sure not to pick on me about it. You wouldn't pick on someone who was walking in crutches and they couldn't open the door, would you? You'd just open it for them and go on your way. That's what I need, for people not to make a big deal out of when I do it!
Autumn
I have been diagnosed with ADD and anxiety. However, none of these address an issue with my memory/reasoning that is increasingly getting worse and is very frightening to me. Often in conversations when I am refering to an object, I cannot find the name for it in my "mind" although I clearly see a mental picture of it. I get tongue tied and sometimes use inapropriate words when trying to describe the object as an alternative to drawing a blank on its correct name. Or I may just call it by an incorrect name all together and be totallly unaware that I have. It happens often. Its like sections of my mind with information are temporarily closed to me and if I push for the info..I just get confused and my thoughts get jumbled.
My hubby gets a kick out of correcting me when I inadvertantly use a wrong name for an object. He jeers me about it when he clues in I'm "lost in translation". Embarrassed, I fumble around in my mind trying to describe what I really ment to say and I end up with several adjectives that vaguely descibe what I cannot identify by its name alone. I think its so much worse for me when I am aware that I am stammering to locate a word for something I clearly know but can't come up with. Its exactly like slowly loosing your mind and knowing it, as it happens.
I'm only 38 and I think this is worse than forgetting things in general ( or several things 
) I am after all ADD. But when I forget the name for a pressure washer and in sheer frustration..point in its direction and say... "it's big kind of, yellow, a hose goes into it, pushes water and it plugs in" ....struggling in my mind for each description (hopefully accurately)..like pieces of a clue.
My favorite is when I asked my hubby, "let the...you know...it breathes and we feed it...has fur..into the thing." I ment "Can you bring Teddy (my dog and companion of 12 years) in the house?"
However, we also have another dog and 2 cats that fit the same description so he ran down the list of pet names until he hit the right one and all I could do is nod...yes. Even then I still couldn't reconsile in my mind, hearing the correct name and being able to speak it as the correct name. I simply felt like I was in a mindless void for a short time. Then after, I just felt foolish. The correct name was easy...I knew it well. I feel this every time it happens and its getting to be all to often.
Anyone with any ideas on what this could be?
K in Canada
Karen N38525.10625Yep, same here.... My reasoning isn't going though, it's still intact, but short and long term memory? Out the window......Luckily I rely on my ability to describe things and large.........amount of words I know to jump around the same topic.... That's why often I use strange and large words.... sometimes people think I'm trying to act smart, but really I'm trying to avoid looking dumb.
oh yeah, the word I was looking for is vocabulary....
The name for these problems is simply 'word-finding difficulties' and is a well-known executive dysfunction of ADHD. It gets better with medication. Mine certainly did.[QUOTE=shinsetu_hito]Well lots of agreement but no solutions. There has to be one. I tell myself I'm too smart: like Einstien failing math, but that's just some BS I make up to avoid getting depressed.[/QUOTE]
Actually, Einstein wasnt' great at math. It's known that others had assisted him during his lifetime with this. Great physicist, ok math guy.
Oh yeah! Also, I used to live with roommates and I
had to describe where stuff was (where is the
cocoa?) and I had to describe the upper left hand
cupboard, say. I could never think of the word
cupboard -EVER!!!! I always said something like
"up, near the door, in the... thing, same place as
sugar, thing with the door..." until they found the thing
or I ran out of patience and got the thing for them
(then I would remember the word "cupboard").
I guess one time I said "up, like in the thing
with...(etc.)" and this one guy kept making fun of my
weird ADDirections by asking me "up-like?" (GRR!)my lost words: doohicky, gimmick, [mumbled] mehfehmehnehmuh (so it sounds like you sorta know what you're talking about.....people seem to find it amusing and ignore the fact you keep forgetting basic stuff.
For people: sparky, sir. Or if third person 'mehfehmehnehmuh'
Well lots of agreement but no solutions. There has to be one. I tell myself I'm too smart: like Einstien failing math, but that's just some BS I make up to avoid getting depressed.When I listen to polititians or scientists on TV I sometimes feel awestruck over how in the world they manage to find those perfect words. I try to say something intelligent and the right words come to my mind 3 hours after the conversation ... arrrgh
What drives me crazy is that alot of the time I can't find the right words. Other times, I am like a "fountain of perfection". I have these words come to my speech - I can't even really say that they come to 'mind', they just sort of are coming out of my mouth. I logically don't know what the word means but if I look it up - it's the perfect word for what I'm trying to say.
TOTALLY WEIRD 
When I was 13, I started to write poetry. I think this is a prime example of Hyperfocus... I would get in what I'd call "poetry moods", I would totally zone out, all I wanted to do was write what was DEMANDING to come out. It's like I was simply a printer spitting out the copy. I would totally be absorbed in writing the poetry - most times I never had to do any rewrites or corrections to the work, just rewrite it so it would be readable. if something would distract me, I would be this major b!tch until I could get back into the "zone". Luckily these "zones" only lasted about an hour. But it was rough if it lasted for several days - no one wanted to be around me
This went on through high school. I have at least over 200 poems, maybe even close to 300. Many times, I would be writing and writing - when I knew I was done (I just KNEW) then I'd reread it and wonder "where did this come from".
Again Totally Weird...
autumn
This is so me. (IE Can some one bring me.....a.... that you Know.....on the kitchen counter.....please hurry.....milk is getting on the carpet.)
I'm sure you can find the thingamajig over there on the whatchamacallit.
forgetting, using "wrong" words, mixing stuff up.... all
the stuff described above is my experience!! I hate it
a lot of the time.
Best solution is understanding friends (I had one
who got angry at me everytime I did this - and he had
ADHD too, which maybe is partly an explanation).
Next thing that I think is helping me a teensy bit, is
doing crosswords! They use a particular coded way
of describing the word they want you to write, but it
varies. It helps to put the "feeling" I get (that tip of the
tongue, but for specific words... grrr. hard to describe
but you probably understand!) to words, the ones
they use to prompt you, and then to a specific word,
which is of course the answer they want you to
guess