I can spell.
I really can, I swear.
Spelling has always been somewhat of a strong point of mine.
Yesterday I was typing something and went to type the word "cushion" but suddenly forgot how it was spelled.
I racked my brain.
I went to Google.
I sounded it out and typed in "cution" hoping that Google would tell me the correct spelling. No luck.
Finally I had to go to my teenage son to ask him to to spell CUSHION!!!
I was so embarrassed.
How could I forget how to spell a word that I've known how to spell since the first grade???
This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened either. Although it's only occurred in the last couple of years. When I get the correct spelling it's a "DUH!" moment and the spelling locks back into place.
These recent moments of sudden brain death coincide with not being able to come up with the simplest words while I'm speaking or writing. I'll ask my husband something like, "What's the word for those places they raise animals and grow food?" and he'll be like, "Communes?", "Bio-domes?", "Ranches?"...... "FARMS???", to the latter one I'll reply, "YES!" and he'll think I'm nuts.
Is this a sign of the onset of Alzheimer's? Is my brain just getting lazy? Or has it reached it's capacity and things are starting to fall out?
Does this happen to anyone else?

I can spell.
I really can, I swear.
Spelling has always been somewhat of a strong point of mine.
Yesterday I was typing something and went to type the word "cushion" but suddenly forgot how it was spelled.
I racked my brain.
I went to Google.
I sounded it out and typed in "cution" hoping that Google would tell me the correct spelling. No luck.
Finally I had to go to my teenage son to ask him to to spell CUSHION!!!
I was so embarrassed.
How could I forget how to spell a word that I've known how to spell since the first grade???
This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened either. Although it's only occurred in the last couple of years. When I get the correct spelling it's a "DUH!" moment and the spelling locks back into place.
These recent moments of sudden brain death coincide with not being able to come up with the simplest words while I'm speaking or writing. I'll ask my husband something like, "What's the word for those places they raise animals and grow food?" and he'll be like, "Communes?", "Bio-domes?", "Ranches?"...... "FARMS???", to the latter one I'll reply, "YES!" and he'll think I'm nuts.
Is this a sign of the onset of Alzheimer's? Is my brain just getting lazy? Or has it reached it's capacity and things are starting to fall out?
Does this happen to anyone else?I do this all the time, especially when typing, (if that's what you call my index finger chicken pecks on the key board). anyhow I don't have ADD, and am great at spelling when i write. for some reason it comes out wrong when typing. I don't get it.

I am generally great at spelling (but make lots of silly typing errors when I type too fast). However I have this too with even simpler words with cushion! It's not that common but it is strange when it does happen.

Even stranger is when I want to write or type one word and a completely different one emerges! For example, I might want to write/type 'ultimately' but 'opposite' comes out instead :confused:

Or 'automatic' instead of 'sensible'.

(These aren't actual ones I've done, because I can't remember any that I've actually done).

Yup, I get moments like these too.

The harder I try to remember it, the worse it gets so what I end up doing is trying to relax myself. Most of the time the word comes to me when I do that.

Oh thank god it's not just me!!
Thank you for posting!
Naomi - I do that "word subsitution" too! ALL THE TIME when I'm typing!
Words that have nothing to do with what I meant to type. Must be another part of my brain carrying on a dialogue and a word leaks out :rolleyes:

Well, I'm pretty similar, and I'm 21! Let's hope it's not Alzheimer's. :D

I actually always had SOME spelling issues, whether writing by hand or typing. I think I know how it "feels" to write certain words, so I'm okay with those. But anything I haven't got the "feel" of, I can't spell. PERIOD.

I'm really active on some feminist boards; I probably spend hours a week discussing theory alone. And up until just recently, I could not spell "patriarchy" to save my life. I had to cut and paste from dictionary.com every single time, after plugging in enough attempts to get close enough. I just worded everything so I didn't have to say "patriarchy." (Which, if you're a radical feminist, is pretty hard to do!) That's bad enough...

But recently, yeah, I'm suddenly finding it hard to spell stuff I could before. I'm also mixing up to/too and there/their/they're, etc...and I used to roll my eyes at people who couldn't keep that straight. (Assuming they weren't LD anyway, but a shocking number of people use the wrong ones even without that issue.) Now I have to proofread my work for errors I never made before in my life. Whaaat?

I also have the word retrieval problem you're describing. It's common in ADHD people. "That...thing...thingamajig...googly..." And you're trying to say, "frying pan." Or "bicycle." Yeah. Though my mother is used to me enough that she can interpret what I DO come up with.

(For example, when one of my cats developed some bald patches in the fur around her ears, I got really worried. So I went to my mother and said, "Mom, Manhattan has HOLES in her ears!" She knew what I meant, though.)

I'm not sure if that's gotten worse or not, but I think it might be. I'm "blanking" more and more where, when I open my mouth to say something, nothing comes out. I have something to say, open up, and WHOOSH, it's completely gone. I'm a journalism student, and too many times in interviews now, I rely on my digital recorder while I frantically try to think of a question to ask next. If I'm not ready when they stop talking, I will end up sitting there for a solid minute going, "Ummm..." into the silence and looking like I have no idea what I'm doing.


Why is it getting worse? (For you and me.) I don't know, and I wish I did... I've also always had problems with letter/number reversals, and those are now worse: I practically can't take notes during interviews anyway. I actually charged someone at work an extra 54 cents on debit because I typed in her total as $8.71 when it was $8.17, whooops...didn't notice until it was too late. I've even gotten letters mirror-reversed, which I've NEVER done. (My mom noted this when I wrote down an address for her, and the S in "S.W." was backwards. I didn't notice until she did.) What the h*ll...

I read that there's a loss of cognitive skill that happens in your early twenties, and it maybe it happens at whatever age you're at too? Um... *trying to remember how old you said you were* Er...menopause? Oncoming menopause? *DUCK* I've heard it can make things worse...

Otherwise, maybe just a general loss of ability? It happens to everybody over time, I think.

If that's not it - if anybody has any ideas - I wanna know! I like being everybody's "editor!" I don't want that to change because it takes much more effort to see mistakes.

Bean -

I learned at an early age the method behind how words came to be spelled the way they are, so I could guess correctly how to spell a word I'd never seen before. Learning Latin helped a LOT with that. My father majored in, among others, English and he was always VERY strict about his children spelling correctly and using words properly in speech (I was nothing but a source of shame to him!) :p but I did learn a lot.

Your descriptions of "sudden word handicaps" are right on the nail. I couldn't have explained it better myself and they all happen to me too.
That WHOOSH thing drives me NUTS!

If I'm saying, or writing, a thought and another radically important thought pops into my head that I should mention, I continue finishing my first thought, thinking there's NO WAY I'll forget the latter one.
Well...guess what? :rolleyes:
WHOOSH!

As far as not being able to pull simple words out of my brain, I used to wonder if my brain was just getting soft due to lack of reading, but I read so much on this board now that there's no way that could be it!

Your number reversal is interesting. I do that with letters. I'm not dyslexic but sometimes my brain sure likes to pretend it is. For instance, the other day I was staring at a nickname for several minutes on a different board trying to interpret it -
It was "batsignal" but I saw "batsingirl" and for the life in me I couldn't figure out how she could get bats in her!

I just typed that I'd never actually written a letter backwards like you did the S, but then I had to edit, because I've done that with N before. It's like my fingers forget where to start the letter. Pretty much like your S, but sideways ;)

I read that there's a loss of cognitive skill that happens in your early twenties, and it maybe it happens at whatever age you're at too? Um... *trying to remember how old you said you were* Er...menopause? Oncoming menopause? *DUCK* I've heard it can make things worse...LOL!
Yes, (good memory!) I went through early menopause in my mid 30s due to a radical hysterectomy. I'm 42. It could be that the whole system is just getting old :p

It's an odd feeling when I'm typing along and the next word to go down is suddenly yanked from my access and a large metal wall slams down between me and my words. *DUH!* *drools on self*

THE WORDS ARE IN THERE! I SWEAR!
...maybe I need a special pass...or something like a library card to access them....

I do this too, but not so much when I type as when I'm writing.:o


Smv

Is this a sign of the onset of Alzheimer's? i really hope not because it happens to me quite often, also sometimes happens to me whilest typing, i can't remember how to spell "their" or something like that and it kinda scares me a lil lol

Hmmm... as Alice [the robot] in the chat room on another ADD/ADHD group says "Many people spell Hmmm with three m's." ;-)

I actually am a terrible speller but have improved tremendously since starting Ritalin last July. For example, for more than 40 years, I always had to look up holiday to see if it had two "L"s or not. Now with Ritalin, that and many other words are committed to memory. I am actually learning to spell at age 55. :-)

Some things that are getting worse like using the wrong homonym for example. I now will often use two when I mean too or to or substitute one of the others in the wrong usage. Its and it's are two words I now confuse although I know the correct usage and never had trouble in the past. It's almost impossible and too difficult for me to get its usage correct consistently now. That frustrates me tremendously. I think it's getting worse but honestly it is too hard to tell for sure. I am almost certain that I didn't have this trouble when I was younger. ;-)

I can't remember things that took place last week or last year or ten years ago. I can't even remember the names of people I worked with six months ago. I once met a former long-term girl-friend who I had a "serious" relationship with and I COULDN'T remember her name. Nothing will anger a former lover than when you can't even remember her name. :-(

Surprisingly enough, I can remember some strangely insignificant incidents, even a meal I had 30 years ago. I can't tell you what I had for breakfast yesterday. I can also remember other insignificant incidents and of course the terrible ones like Nov. 22, 1963 etc. Usually things I can remember are tied to other items I can remember more easily. For example, I bought a new 1970 red Toyota and that Christmas I traveled across Canada and spent time in Vancouver.

I also am reversing the order of words or numbers often. Often I also will put things in wrong but similar containers. For example, I might throw my dirty socks in the waste basket or toilet instead of the laundry hamper. I recognize the mistake immediately but this frustrates me tremendously.

Best wishes,

- Vic

I am and alway was a bad speller. It is not the most important part of writing.
Once, one of my greatest bosses ( I was his admin. assist. secretary)
was dictating sentences for a yearly mkt. report, while I tried to keep up and type he was saying. I was really doing bad and it was my first week. I explained I would go back and correct spelling "he said if you can't spell a word two different ways you are just not a creative person, so don't worry about it" He was great guy! I learned you don't have to be perfect on typing & writing to be very intelligent. We all have different ways of showing it.


I also have the word retrieval problem you're describing. I start sentences, sayabout half and then just stop. In my mind I finished talking. My 11 year old is constantly pointing this out to me. It happens a few times a day with him. I guess everyone else just understands or says nothing.
It seems to be getting worse, I use the wrong word, or don't finish a sentence. I heard on Opra one that menapausal women for the names of things, nouns. I think she is right. I can never remember my new neighbors name, I will tell my husband "you know what his name and point towards his house, he always remembers. Or I call my sons friend by the wrong name
for about 2-3 months, and I know his name I just get stuck and call him the same wrong name every time. I hate this it makes me feel really stupid. As far as my other problems I am not sure all I know is I did not do this 6 years ago (I am 45).

So it is menapause, Alzheimer's or the onset on Mad Cow?

I did this just the other day with "hindsight" ! I was sitting there going is it " high and sight hmmmm but I thought it was one word...?" Finally I humbly asked my BF. So embarrassing.
I also frequently forget words like "drawer" for instance. I will say " I think i put that in the .....uhhh...that thing. Okay honey, in the kitchen there are those things and if you tug on them there is stuff inside and ....er...what are those called?"
He always tries all these complicated possibilities thinking that I wouldn't forget a word like drawer or cupboard...but I do!

I agree with you that the content is definately the most important part of written material, but there are only 2 ways the author has to make an impression - the content, and the way he spells. Nothing pulls me out of something I'm absorbed in reading like a misspelled word. It's like slamming on the brakes. I don't judge the person but it really interrupts the flow of his writings. I make plenty of mistakes myself, but I do try to make what I write free of errors so people will be able to "hear" what I'm saying, and have their concentration knocked loose by poor spelling.
I'm definately understanding of people that have a hard time in that area though. Math is my struggle and I'd look like a complete retard if any of you saw me attempting it! :D
I LOVE what your boss said about a creative person being able to come up with more than 1 way to spell a word! What a nice man!

I can relate to you finishing what you're saying in your mind before your mouth is done relaying it and *POOF!* it's gone!
I think thoughts in flashes of images - not words! I think we all do that. And having ADHD, those flashes of images are ever changing and coming and going fast!

I heard on Opra one that menapausal women for the names of things, nouns.You forgot the word "forgot" - That is so ironic in this thread! lol
And it's a PERFECT example of our brains working faster than our fingers can keep up with. When I do bother to proof read one of my posts, I see I do that ALL THE TIME.

I do the same thing you do with names. I'll do it with other things too, for instance - my husband switched jobs quite a while ago and FOR THE LIFE OF ME I can't refer to it by the new name! Finally I had to give up. I call it the old name and just say, "You know what I mean!" :p


I am and alway was a bad speller. It is not the most important part of writing.
Once, one of my greatest bosses ( I was his admin. assist. secretary)
was dictating sentences for a yearly mkt. report, while I tried to keep up and type he was saying. I was really doing bad and it was my first week. I explained I would go back and correct spelling "he said if you can't spell a word two different ways you are just not a creative person, so don't worry about it" He was great guy! I learned you don't have to be perfect on typing & writing to be very intelligent. We all have different ways of showing it.


I also have the word retrieval problem you're describing. I start sentences, sayabout half and then just stop. In my mind I finished talking. My 11 year old is constantly pointing this out to me. It happens a few times a day with him. I guess everyone else just understands or says nothing.
It seems to be getting worse, I use the wrong word, or don't finish a sentence. I heard on Opra one that menapausal women for the names of things, nouns. I think she is right. I can never remember my new neighbors name, I will tell my husband "you know what his name and point towards his house, he always remembers. Or I call my sons friend by the wrong name
for about 2-3 months, and I know his name I just get stuck and call him the same wrong name every time. I hate this it makes me feel really stupid. As far as my other problems I am not sure all I know is I did not do this 6 years ago (I am 45).

So it is menapause, Alzheimer's or the onset on Mad Cow?

ADDrift -
EXACTLY what I do!

btw I'm agreeing with the mad cow diagnosis...either that or bird flu :p

By the way, is there spell check or do I have to look it up. My typing could
drive you crazy because of my spelling, I go fast and forget words. As
you found already, I did not do that on purpose, I did not go back and proof.
It is a funny one since we were on the subject.

Later on.:rolleyes:

I WISH there was spellcheck here! But alas, there isn't - that I know of anyway. You could always type it in a different writing program that has spellcheck and then copy and paste it here, but who wants to go through all that!

I know you didn't do it on purpose honey - that's why it was humorously ironic. It was a perfect example of exactly what we're talking about struggling with here :D

btw - after hitting the POST button I hit the EDIT button many times to correct my errors. If someone followed me around the board and caught my first drafts - they'd know what a dolt I am :p

I do know how to edit in word and paste, but that takes so much time.
But you have me thinking more about it when I type. I have not typed
much in the last 4 years. It will be good exercise for my brain.


Hey Marmalade_man,

When I read about your memory problem, might is very similar. I can't remember where I put something yesterday, or someones name. But I can tell you things that happened when I was 2. (Years ago my mom could not believe this but I would give her perfect desriptions of the room, where we lived, items of furniture, people etc.. and she finally believed me)

And for some odd reason, I am not good at numbers but I can remember prices. From what we paid for the house, what my shoes and clothes cost.
Maybe it is because I am such a bargain hunter. I can buy 300.00 in groceries at the super Walmart, and if something does not have a price I can
almost always tell you it was 2 for 5.00 or 1.97. It is weird. But don't ask
me what I paid per gal. of gas today. I never pay attention to that until
I notice it cost over 20.00 to fill my little gas tank up. I just never look
at the gas prices.

Gotta go and hurry cause I have been beading and talking in this forum most of the day. Now to the wifely duties.

Ok I am really getting out of these forum, gotta clean, do laundry, vacuum
etc... If I keep on repeating this maybe I will get it done. Right?

ROFL!
Can you repeat that looneygirl? :p

Yeah, suddenly loosing words, or spelling them wrong, or substituting an odd word . . . these things all got worse when I was menopausal. I thought I was heading for the looney bin. It didn't help that I had just moved from a small town to a big city - my granddaughter was at that age they all go through where she'd suddenly pipe up with "Where are we Gramma? Are we lost?" And rather than admit that sometimes I really was lost, I'd turn it around and ask her where we were and if we were lost. Half the time she knew where we were. I usually figured it out at the next major intersection, but it did cause my heart to go flibbity-flub for a few minutes.


All those problems pretty much went away when I started taking the fish oil supplements about 4 months ago. Last month I ran out and bought a different supplement - but about a week later I found myself really lost and stopped to buy some fish oil (Omega 3) at the first WalMart I came to.

Numbers have always been tough for me, but at the same time I started having trouble with words the problem with numbers got a lot worse. I worked the holiday season at J.C.Penney Portrait Studio a couple of years ago, doing call backs and confirmations. I don't know how many times I got a wrong number and realized I had misread the number or simply dialed wrong. Very frustrating for me.

LOL.. I represent that remark !!! Frequently I suddenly forget a word that I want to use -ie if I want to use it in a sentance and structure the sentance so I can use it , how can I suddenly forget it ? alas , I trudge on and in haste use a differant one.
here is a spellcheck site I use more than I will tell.....hey pardon the play on my nick..
http://www.spellcheck.net/

William! Thank you for the spell checker! I bookmarked it and moved it to the very top of my bookmark links :D
I love how it checks whole bodies of text!

Its the children... some may have it, but the children make it worse. Remember Bill Cosby talking about children and brain damage.

When you find yourself saying boogers don't belong in the vcr.. it's hard to get back on track. Those wonderful gifts... suck the cool right out of you.

Hey. That actually makes sense.
First they sucked the life force from me through the umbilical cord, then by nursing, and now by attacking my brain cells. Subtle little devils.
How much longer 'til I'm drooling into my Malt O Meal?

soon....very soon.

I don't have children and I already have that problem. Does having 24 children count if I didn't give birth to them??? ;)

I not only forget how to spell a word, but I'll forget how to write a letter. Really bad for me! I'll have to sit there and say "How do you write the letter Aa?" I sometimes have to seriously think about it!!!!!!! :faint:

Chloe, I'll make room in my Malt O Meal bowl for your drool too :D

I do this constantly! It can be a simple 3 letter word and suddenly I can't remember how to spell it. I also lose words, like you said, just can't remember the name of something simple. Remembering peoples names is awfully hard for me, even people I've been close to in the past.
I do the wrong word thing while typing constantly too. A completely "off" word that has nothing to do with the word that should be there, and it just comes out.
I also have noticed that I will sometimes skip the entire middle parts of sentences while typing. For example, I will have the first two words of a sentence, and the last word, but nothing in between. Like my fingers couldn't keep up with my brain, or didn't get the message to type it out, or something:p I definitely have to proof read, or I will sound like I can barely speak/type.
It's all so frustrating, scary sometimes, and makes me feel stupid, even though I know I'm not.

I do this as well. It happens all the time. I think with words its fairly common for both ADDers and non-ADDers to experience this. I've seen this happen to so many people, many I know for fact are not ADD.
This doesnt just happen to me with words though. It happens with actions, probably even moreso. LIke this morning I got home and forgot how to turn off my car and sat there with it running for a while until I figured it out.
I don't know if this is entirely the same, though. I know that forgetting how to turn off a car is procedural memory which is often a little rusty in ADDers, but with words I don't know if its the same.
But regardless, I'm in the same boat!

Thanks! I knew I could count on you to look out for me! ;) Chloe, I'll make room in my Malt O Meal bowl for your drool too :D

I hate when I forget how to do simple things like that!!!!

I do this as well. It happens all the time. I think with words its fairly common for both ADDers and non-ADDers to experience this. I've seen this happen to so many people, many I know for fact are not ADD.
This doesnt just happen to me with words though. It happens with actions, probably even moreso. LIke this morning I got home and forgot how to turn off my car and sat there with it running for a while until I figured it out.
I don't know if this is entirely the same, though. I know that forgetting how to turn off a car is procedural memory which is often a little rusty in ADDers, but with words I don't know if its the same.
But regardless, I'm in the same boat!

I am a GREAT speller :-) I also seem to substitute cats when I try to fish too fast..the things..umm..things..words come out way house for some silly boat :-)

see....LOL...I think we all do it..I am amazed at what words appear when I am typing a post, and I have a great response in my head, yet I can't type it out correctly, and I can appear standoffish and abrupt and even rude when I really don't mean to...That's why you usually get short and sweet from me! (I love the power of the edit button)

PS I can never remember how to spell yacht..or is it yacth..or yathc LOL..you know...the boat!!!

Aww I bet we'd get 'ya Tracy! We all have that thing where we can appear rude to others - but other ADDers seem to "get it", ya know? They get what we mean behind the words :D

I have never been able to spell mostly because half the letters look and sound pretty much like the other half.......

I have the word retrieval problem......I can see the picture of what I want to say but it can talk a few minutes to find the right word to go with the picture....like the "farm" example given earlier!!!!!

I so relate to this. It's as if my brain stutters and I really only notice it in conversation. It's embarassing because I know I seem like a spazz because I'm constantly having trouble spitting out a word that I know I know.

If you have an ADD Doctor, you may want to mention to them that you have "word finding problems".

I have almost the same thing... Yes I have to force myself to fins certain words... But I also have trouble with loosing ideas. Sometimes when I write things I get flashes, like in and out, and it's like it was there one second and then it's gone! It's really frustrating. It feels like my brain goes faster, too fast, than my hands to write it...

Also, I would like to add that it is normal that we can relate to Alzheimer's ddisease. The chemical in the brain mal founctionning in Altzheimer's disease is the same that is mal function in ADD and ADHD effected people: the dopamine. It is a neurotransmitter thing...:confused: So don't feel bad... And as they say here in the Province of Québec: Don't capote!

Chameleon, I forget words all the time. LOL I'm an English teacher, too! My students are very patient with me *winks*.

As far as spelling goes, it's always been an area of strength. However, there are days when even a basic word looks wrong to my eyes. Then, if someone else asks me to spell that same word, without thinking, I can rattle it off. If only I could do this with math...

I hate math... I like games with numbers like the Sudoku things... But math.. I hate it... I also do not calculate my expenses because it is math... It takes me for ever to figure out how much is 2+3... :p

Chameleon, I forget words all the time. LOL I'm an English teacher, too! My students are very patient with me *winks*.

As far as spelling goes, it's always been an area of strength. However, there are days when even a basic word looks wrong to my eyes. Then, if someone else asks me to spell that same word, without thinking, I can rattle it off. If only I could do this with math...Wow so then it's definately not due to lack of brain exercise! Thanks ms_sunshine!

I have almost the same thing... Yes I have to force myself to fins certain words... But I also have trouble with loosing ideas. Sometimes when I write things I get flashes, like in and out, and it's like it was there one second and then it's gone! It's really frustrating. It feels like my brain goes faster, too fast, than my hands to write it...

Also, I would like to add that it is normal that we can relate to Alzheimer's ddisease. The chemical in the brain mal founctionning in Altzheimer's disease is the same that is mal function in ADD and ADHD effected people: the dopamine. It is a neurotransmitter thing...:confused: So don't feel bad... And as they say here in the Province of Québec: Don't capote!omg I didn't know that! That makes me feel so stupid! Are we all gonna have Alzheimer's when we get old???
Have you ever heard of the phase Alzheimer sufferer's go through where the artistic part of their brain sparks alive and for a short time they can all paint like Michelangelo? Even if they've never painted before!Once that part of the brain dies out though their artistic abilities are gone. Scientists think it has to do with the stimulation of that part right before it dies. It really frustrated me to learn this because it means we all have it in us - without training - to be amazing artists. And it makes me wonder what other abilities are heightened right before that part dies.
Could there be a link between these sparks of genius and our areas we shine in?

If that is true then I must be a true artistic genious, I am ADHD and left-handed! ;) :D Left-handed people are supposed to be more creative and artistic also.

Although I can forget how to writespecific letters or retrieve words, etc...I have always been good in languages. Go figure! ;)

I have a similar problem with words but it isn't during writing it's during a conversation. It started a few years ago (atleast that's when I begand to notice it) and has gotten steadily worse. In the middle of a conversation I will forget the word I need to use to describe something or name something that is relatively common knowledge. I simply have really bad word retreival even for a story of description I"ve dictatd a hundred times.

It can be very embarrasing and I don't know why I have such a hard time rembering words. I have blanks in the middle of a sentence. I"m only 20, so I hope my brain isn't deteriorating already!

Does anyone have thses blanks when talking?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ only ;) one!

oh YES - I do ALL of this every single day! forget words when I'm talking or writing, forget how to spell words like "the" and "up", forget how to turn on my car, or how to put it into park... forgeting stuff with my car scares me the most - i'm just waiting for the day when I have a passenger who gets freaked out about it! Just imagine you're on a date and your date goes ".... uh... hang on, I forgot how to turn off the car.... but it'll come to me in a sec!" Oh yeah. very slick.

"drawer" is one I regularly forget too. Also I think it happens to me a lot more often than people around me realize, but it comes out in the form of little hesitations which could be passed for being distracted or even just pausing a little in the sentance. One that happened to me this morning: "yeah one sec, let me just get you a ..... uh... fork..." I'd COMPLETELY forgotten what the word for "fork" was. It was only about 5 seconds, but that's pretty significant considering I was racking my brain sorting through every other kind of silverware I knew for clues.

Oh yeah and I'm 23, so I really hope it's not brain deterioration either!! It does seem to be happening more than it did 2 or 3 years ago though.

Phew!~

It's so weird, and rediculous that I forget words I"ve known forever. How can I start a sentence knowing what I want to say and then get to one word and I have to rac m brain for it. And when I remember the word the people I"m with alway wonder why the hell I had trouble thinking of that word

oh YES - I do ALL of this every single day! forget words when I'm talking or writing, forget how to spell words like "the" and "up", forget how to turn on my car, or how to put it into park... forgeting stuff with my car scares me the most - i'm just waiting for the day when I have a passenger who gets freaked out about it! Just imagine you're on a date and your date goes ".... uh... hang on, I forgot how to turn off the car.... but it'll come to me in a sec!" Oh yeah. very slick.Oh that really tickled me. I lol'ed in real life :D

I'd like to know what the hell our mind is doing when that happens??? Is it off? Or is it off busily communicating with the Universe??? Can't I be in on the conversation?? :p

"drawer" is one I regularly forget too. Also I think it happens to me a lot more often than people around me realize, but it comes out in the form of little hesitations which could be passed for being distracted or even just pausing a little in the sentance. One that happened to me this morning: "yeah one sec, let me just get you a ..... uh... fork..." I'd COMPLETELY forgotten what the word for "fork" was. It was only about 5 seconds, but that's pretty significant considering I was racking my brain sorting through every other kind of silverware I knew for clues.ROFL! god you crack me up. I wonder how an ADD comedian would fair? Would a lot of people laugh if he described his ADD all the time like this? I'd laugh my *** off "That's SO funny - because it's TRUE!"

probably forget his or her material :D

Yes I get this word loss even more when talking and it seems to be getting worse with me too. (I'm 17) :eek: :(

@ naomi,

u need to correct ur sig to something like: http://multiconnection.tripod.com/greenconnection/index.htm

just to let ya know :p

and yeah, i seem to be getting worse too though i'm gettin on a bit bein 21 n all ;)

time we had a stand up ADHD comedian....I am sure WE would all laugh..LOL..maybe all the so called *normal* people wouldn't find it so funny, but I am sure we would think it hilarious....hehehe

Imagine the routine...
" this one time on band fork...I mean..band........umm...gee...what's the word...uummm...oh yeah..CAMP!!
we were blah blah blah....etc.."
:-)

Is there anyone who can offer any insight into why our brains blank out during a conversation? Is it simply that our mouths are moving faster then our brains? It can't be. I don't talk that fast. If it's this bad now, what will it be like when I"m 30?

There are a lot of comedians that I would suspect have ADD...

Lewis Black and Robin Williams for a few.

@ naomi,

u need to correct ur sig to something like: http://multiconnection.tripod.com/greenconnection/index.htm

just to let ya know :p

and yeah, i seem to be getting worse too though i'm gettin on a bit bein 21 n all ;)
But that's exactly what my sig does say :confused:

Imagine the routine...
" this one time on band fork...I mean..band........umm...gee...what's the word...uummm...oh yeah..CAMP!!
we were blah blah blah....etc.."
:-)
I hate that. :p

There was one time I was talking about the price of something. What I meant to say was: "It cost two thousand dollars."

What came out of my mouth was: "It cost two thousand calories."

<sigh>

@ naomi,

wtf i swear i did the full version, for som reason it replaced it with ....'s

try this instead and say something like goto the green section:

http://multiconnection.tripod.com (http://multiconnection.tripod.com/greenconnection/index.htm)

sry bout givin u the worn info, i'm such a tool

@ naomi,

wtf i swear i did the full version, for som reason it replaced it with ....'s

try this instead and say something like goto the green section:

http://multiconnection.tripod.com (http://multiconnection.tripod.com/greenconnection/index.htm)

sry bout givin u the worn info, i'm such a tool
I think the forums might have shortened the website address - some do that to save space if a really long website is listed.

I clicked on the link and it's working fine, the linked page showed up like it's supposed to.

So is it okay as it is then?

I have just joined here and I was uh, oh, you know, kinda, uh, SCROLLING! Yes, that's the word! scrolling through and I found this thread. What a relief! My mother and sisters and I have had this all our lives and we thought it was just a genetic mishap. It's really embarrassing to have a friend introduce you to her middle-aged niece and instead of saying, "I'm glad to meet you" it comes out, "Beautiful!"

I do this also when I write. I call it "dysgraphia" because I'll transpose letters, leave letters out (even when signing my own name), write the wrong homonym (when I know the correct word). This happens mostly when I'm physically writing, not when I'm using a keyboard or adding machine. (I'm an accountant and you bet I add everything up that I've written down TWICE to make sure I didn't mess up when I wrote.)

My doctor assures me this is not a sign of early Alzheimers. I forget that I'm "that old"--it wouldn't be particularly early at this point in my life. Whatever.

I am following up on this thread I started months ago, I have not been in the forum for over a month because of kids, work, baseball etc… It is so helpful to know I am not

the only one with this problem. I still have the problems and my kids still tease me about it. But at least I know I am part of a group. If anyone has any infor. About natural

Remedies that might help this I would love to know, I have heard of the usual ginkgo

and over the counter stuff. I just don’t want to add anything on top of my ADD meds

if I can help it. I love reading all the responses.

i also forget words alot.. it usually only happends (or happends more) when im stressed or depressed or something similar. i often freak out that i have a brain tumor or some crazy desease like alz.. lol

I am not alone! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Praise be to God!
Lol and God bless!
:)

I do this OFTEN!!! Last night I could not figure out how to spell "could". I had a vague idea that there was a silent consonant in it, but I just blanked. For about 5 minutes. Then I relaxed and it came to me. Phew! Word retrieval is hard for me, too. I am a fairly intelligent person who shies away from conversations on an intellectual level because the words just don't come. I feel more in my element when I write, and I always aced my term papers. I also have difficulties with word reversal, but my troubles come when speaking. The other day I said to my husband, "I need to shave, my hairs are leggy...." Huh? I hope that once I get started on meds this will improve.....

Reviving this one so I can network with other people with this problem.

I'm 23.

Anyone finding any relief? Is it getting worse?

This hindrance has got me preeeetie dang upset right now.

In addition to forgetting the meaning of general words I read here and elsewhere. I'm tired of having to look them up, I thought I use to know them. Just seems to me that it's getting tougher to translate and decipher things I read over and over.

Haha I don't really have this exact problem. Usually I just forget what the word is all together... Which is even more embarrassing!

I have blanks too..but not all the time..once I got confused with goldfish and silverfish much to the amusement of all..they're pretty different..I think stress, excitement or doing/thinking about 6 things at once and absentmindedness (what exactly does this mean?) can be a factor in the wrong words coming out. It can be a bit embarrassing at times. Hint:surround yourself with people who will laugh with you not at you ie. ADD forums.

I remember writing to my doctor about 10 years ago and not being able to recall how to spell thigh (rendered as 'thie') .... how embarrassing !

I got Merriam Websters Dictionary bookmarked on my computer at work for a reason!
I do this too, especially when writing memos.
And I don't trust Bill Gates to know how to spell correctly (spell check).

I can spell.
I really can, I swear.
Spelling has always been somewhat of a strong point of mine.
Yesterday I was typing something and went to type the word "cushion" but suddenly forgot how it was spelled.
I racked my brain.
I went to Google.
I sounded it out and typed in "cution" hoping that Google would tell me the correct spelling. No luck.
Finally I had to go to my teenage son to ask him to to spell CUSHION!!!
I was so embarrassed.
How could I forget how to spell a word that I've known how to spell since the first grade???
This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened either. Although it's only occurred in the last couple of years. When I get the correct spelling it's a "DUH!" moment and the spelling locks back into place.
These recent moments of sudden brain death coincide with not being able to come up with the simplest words while I'm speaking or writing. I'll ask my husband something like, "What's the word for those places they raise animals and grow food?" and he'll be like, "Communes?", "Bio-domes?", "Ranches?"...... "FARMS???", to the latter one I'll reply, "YES!" and he'll think I'm nuts.
Is this a sign of the onset of Alzheimer's? Is my brain just getting lazy? Or has it reached it's capacity and things are starting to fall out?
:confused:
That has happened to me many, many times!!!!! Maybe your brain is just getting lazy? I do not have ADD/ADHD, but I teach ADHD children...

Chameleon, if you are in your thirties of forties you can be starting perimenopause like I did I thought I was going crazy. I began to cry at the smallest thing, couldnt find the word I wanted when speaking or writing. I had what they called fuzzy thinking, I was irriablte more than normal. I just began the hormone therapy and I love it. I take the smallest doses of both estrogen and progesterone... You may want to check it out.

I have always been so good at spelling. Always! I am 22 and I still am mostly but sometimes that happens to me, I will forget the simplest word. Yesterday I couldn't remember how to spell the word "wear". I even typed it the right way it just didn't look right to me. I can never find the right word for anything, I know I'm not dumb but I'm insecure because I feel like sometimes a speak like an uneducated person. I'm glad to know now that its been bc of ADD all along. I just feel like I'm gonna have to be on ADD meds my whole life just to be ok bc I WAS NOT OK without them.

and NAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doggone it, just walk a person infront of me, and the name goes WWWWhooooooooooooooooooshhhh!!!!!!!!!! outta my head. Esp. when they're out of the usual environment I see them in. It's so embarrassing.

But the spelling thing, yeah, that, too, it's so annoying. With normal words that you KNOW you know.