i am 26 i am having a very hard time remembering things..for instance i cant remember the first time i had sex..i remember with who just cant remember what i was feeling..i have trouble remembering what time of day my children were born and what they weighed or who was there when they were born...the funny thing is i cant remember the end of my sixth grade year..i relized that when i was in about 8th grade...i cant remember alot of little things that my children have done or other small things in my life...people get mad at me because of the things i cant recall...i have started keeping a journel..what is wrong here...i plan on going to see a doctor..is this happening to anyone else?

What a great question! I was a psych major, so everything to do with the brain is interesting to me.



Your memory problems of things done during the period when you were drinking as a teen would certainly have interfered at the time with your brain's ability to store memories. Any chemicals in your system will interfere with your ability to pay attention, sleep, and then store the memories during the sleep cycle where that happens.



It sounds like you have memory issues at times other than that as well, though, so it could be that the drinking at such a young age damaged something that is involved in your brain's ability to store memories overall. Depends on how much you drank, how often, and your individual genetic profile and family history.



It is also possible there is something else, unrelated to the drinking, that is going on. I'm sooooo glad that you said you are planning on seeing a doctor. I am not able to give any kind of guess on this kind of medical condition, other than to say that any kind of chemical imbalance in the body affects the brain and memory. In addition, anything like depression, anxiety, etc., will specifically affect your brain's ability to store memories, and sleep disorders, etc., will affect your brain's ability to get to the later stages of sleep and store memories.



I am also dismayed at my inability to remember things. I haven't actually TRIED, but I'm a writer, and I would love to write a novel based on my life experiences, or autobiography, and I'm not sure I could remember enough to do it. I'd have to reinvent a lot of it based on my memories of the big picture. Maybe we're not supposed to remember details? Maybe memory is a primitive survival mechanism that is meant only to keep us from sticking our hands in fire, jump into murky water, etc., and we expect too much of it?



A journal is wonderful. Hand it down to your great great great grand children!!! I wish I had one of my ancestors!



** peace **

i have never heard of this before, but i have heard of people getting Alzheimer's disease (severe memory loss)  at a very young age; not to worry you of course, definitely consult a doctor, perhaps your life is just too stressful at the moment, have you tried meditation?

I guess so. I have memory problems, too. Just keep on trucking, dude.

I think this happens after you have kids, your memory starts to fade. jk, I think its normal not to remember things that aren't important, or things that happen a number of times.  ex. if you have 4 kids, how are you going to remember who was in the room with you each time, if there were different people each time?  I have to stop and think, what time were they born again?  I remember the aproximate time, but forget the minutes.  Don't worry about it, I'm sure you are fine.  There was one more thing I was going to tell you, but.. uh, um,  it will come to me....