Is it common to have trouble remembering important details?
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Is it common to have trouble remembering important details?
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I forget medical info all the time. When was my last dentist visit? I dunno. Which kid had their tonsils out? What’s my blood type?

Wife asks “remember when I had strep last year?” No…

Has anyone in my house had COVID? I think so, but which one(s)?

I forget vacations we took, what states I’ve been to.

Terrible at remembering people that I’ve met even a bunch of times.

Horrible at work. I’m on top of what’s happening now, mostly, because I have notes, but what happened a year ago? Gosh.

It’s really frustrating living like this, but I don’t know how much might be my ADHD and how much is just me having a bad brain.

trashcan
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6•4M

I can relate to this and I’m unsure if it’s part of ADHD but I’m sure it contributes. Sometimes I wonder if I have a less extreme version of SDAM.

Autobiographical memory may differ greatly between individuals. Hyperthymesia, also known as hyperthymestic syndrome or highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM), is a condition that affects an individual’s autobiographical memory, essentially meaning that they cannot forget small details which otherwise would not be stored. It forms one extreme, in which a person might recall vividly almost every day of their life (usually from around the age of 10). On the other extreme is severely deficient autobiographical memory (SDAM), where a person cannot relive memories from their lives, although this does not affect other memory capabilities or general cognition.[SDAM is a severe autobiographical memory deficiency, but without amnesia.

Clay_pidgin
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6•4M

Huh. Maybe I’m on that spectrum. I barely remember anything from before I was 20 and as I said up top I have some really big gaps after that too.

I wonder how you would find out for sure.

trashcan
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4•4M

I’m not sure how well known or studied it is. Trauma can also cause gaps in memory.

Clay_pidgin
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2•4M

Well, thank you very much for pointing this out.

trashcan
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2•4M

I did a little more digging and found a research study FAQ

How can I get assessed for SDAM?

There is no formal assessment for SDAM – this is a topic of current research. If you would like to participate, please take our survey. You may be contacted about participating in further in-depth testing.

Not sure how up to date that is.

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