Forgetting everything

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I get terrible memory issues. I can't remember who works on a particular project at work, what the rules are for working on systems I've worked on for years. If someone's mother died I forget this information and assume that I don't know whether they're mother are father are still alive. I forget their family members names like wife, children. I forget where countries are, what day it is. It's like when things become impossible the trauma of it just destroys all my memory. It's just really awful and I'm sick of it now.

Does anyone else get these memory problems? Do you consider it part of your diagnosis / condition? What can be done about it?

Even though my academic background would suggest otherwise, I remain convinced that I have an intellectual disability. Irrespective of my mental well-being, I have an astonishingly shocking memory.

For instance, this morning I couldn't think of anything when my father asked me what I got up to yesterday. My mind was completely blank when the question was posed. It's hardly a surprise I feel like a complete imposter of a human being.

I know it's well publicised that a healthy lifestyle can improve one's memory, but for me I haven't noticed a significant improvement. Despite the fact that I walk over 10,000 steps everyday, take an abundance of vitamins + eat a fairly clean diet, I still have the working memory of a zombie.

I always feel like my friends and even brief acquaintances remember more about my life and other people's lives than I do. I come across as uncaring because if you tell me something about your life, by the next conversation I won't remember, while other people remember things I've told them about my life between conversations.

For me I think it's an auditory processing issue. I work in theatre and I can memorize scripts extremely quickly. My sense memory is strong. But conversations, I can never remember.

I usually forget things that people tell me to do. If my mom tells me to run the vacuum while she is gone, I forget it unless I write it down on my white board. I also forget what I tell people and very often, I end up telling people the same stories and facts over and over again.

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This

I have a theory about my own memory problems. Because I don't talk much and share experiences with others, I don't remember a lot of events. I think memory is tied to sharing. Some people are no longer in my life, so I forget all the memories I shared with them.

A few years ago I took a cross country trip with my family. They can remember each town we visited, the hotels, and other things we did. I remember much less. I don't know why exactly that is. I don't think it relates to my theory above. I just don't remember things that aren't that important I guess. I don't have the room in my head.

On the other hand, I can tell my BF where he left he keys, or my son where his blanket is, or I can list all the animals I saw today and what they were doing.

I do think memory problems or enhanced memory of certain things is tied to autism, for me personally. I feel odd when discussing it with NT.

Yes, it's part of the executive functioning problems that many people with an ASC have.

I have exactly the same problem as you at work. If I don't use a command all the time and repeat it hundreds of times, I forget it instantly. I've found a wiki helps with that situation. I usually set one up at each company I work and add instructions on how to do things. It also comes in handy if anyone new starts work.

At home, I use a couple of whiteboards (just like TheSilentOne), notepads, a large writable calendar, a bullet journal and always make a list if I'm shopping (it has to have the products listed in the same order as they are found in the supermarket).

My memory is very inconsistent. Sometimes I remember what someone has said to me and or what I did the day before, and other times I have something like amnesia. Sometimes my memory can be jogged and other times it's a total blank.

I usually forget most books I read and movies and TV shows I watch. I can usually remember key points and events of the story, but most of it becomes a blur.

Of course I don't know I have forgotten something until it comes up or someone brings it up or points it out. Sometimes I feel like I have juvenile dementia.

I get scary circular amnesiac repetition when I get obsessive.
I keep a journal to try and keep a lid on this, and when it's happening, I can literally look back over the last week and I may have written the same thing every day, almost word for word, then the next day written the exact same thing as if I had only just thought of it for the first time, not remembering at all having thought these things six times before.
It just repeats, over and over, and I won't remember having thought or written anything about it.
This happens as I noted when I'm obsessing. When there is nothing else to take my attention away or fill my thoughts, I dwell on the same issue over and over - and I guess the amnesia is a mental defense mechanism?
I don't know, but I know that if the amnesiac repetition gets high I'm in obsessive trouble.

Lately, it feels like I spend the entire day intending to do something, but immediately forgetting what I intended to do.

Isn't it normal?