Bad Memory question

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I'm aware that a lot of people wish AS can do stuff like remember phone numbers easily or car license plate numbers but I'm the exact opposite.

For example when I worked at a theater and people would order sodas I had to write down everything because I couldnt remember something as simple as 1 large coke 1 medium sprite, by the time I finished pouring the large coke I would have forgotten what size they wanted the sprite in.

I feel like I have mind fog most of the time. I have to repeat verbal instructions in my head over and over again or i'll forget almost instantly, If the instructions are written I have to re-read the instructions repeatedly because I'll forget what I was supposed to do halfway though what it was I was trying to do.

is it possible this could be AS related or do I possibly have something else wrong with me because my memory isn't normal.

My long term memory I believe is above average though which is odd. I can see a 5 second clip of any movie and give you a name if it's something I've seen it before...even if I havent seen the movie in 15 years and only once.

Leo, I have a poor short-term memory and brain fog also. I have HFA. I'm not sure if it's related because I have chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) also which causes fatigue and cognitive dysfunction (poor short-term memory and brain fog are common in CFS). My long-term memory is also better than average like yours. I don't know why that is either. I'm trying a few treatments for it and will let you know if anything works well. The gluten-free/casein-free diet helps but it's difficult to follow.

Yes I have poor short term and long term memory (I can't remember before around 7-8 and anything in the past is very misty). I have cognitive problems such executive dysfunction and inability to see images in my head (except in dream) i.e. literal mind blindness.

My recall is odd. I don't have very good recall on demand. My random recall is much better. My lateral memory is better too.

I have the symptoms of CFS but have never been taken seriously by doctors, especially being a man. I don't have it serve as some people who can't literally get out of bed (though I struggle in the mornings), but do feel the weighed down feeling. I get by with it. I now equate CFS as a sensory issue, particularly sub-surface/internal sensors. It is actually a relief to come to this conclusion it make a lot of sense there is an obvious relation to ASD.

My short term memory, especially when it comes to verbal instructions is absolutely terrible and I too have to repeat the instructions incessantly in order to remember them. However, my long term memory is excellent and I still have vivid memories from over 20 years ago.

I also have very few memories from before about 9. I have a few flashes like film scenes especially when I look at old photos. From around 11 my memory became photographic and I almost remember too much.

It's interesting to hear about the chronic fatigue, as I've also had glandular fever like symptoms my whole life. I called them the 'one sided mumps' when I was a kid, but whenever I've been tested for glandular fever it has come back negative. Epstein Barr virus was also mooted as a possible but not definite cause.

I go back to about 3, but just in spots.

I get into a 'fog' situation when

People give me multistep instructions
When I'm introduced to someone (I blank out as soon as the name is mentioned)
People are yelling at me.

Thank heavens for databases...

Short term memory is awful...my long term memory is better than I want it to be some days...like an elephant that never forgets.

It seems that some people with AS have Auditory Processing Disorder, which can cause short term memory problems. Of course I wouldn't know whether or not this has anything to do with your situation.

I'm exactly the same. My short term memory is so bad that sometimes when I think of a question to ask, it's gone before I can say it out loud. On the other hand, I have amazing long term memory, just like you.

I don't have ADD/ADHD, I'm often very patient.

I think we have short term memory (especially with verbal instructions) because we analyse it too much and the information gets passed around and eventually confused in our head, like a solitary game of Chinese whispers. That's my theory, anyway.

A lot of this might have to do with the fact that a lot of people on the spectrum are visual learners. Here, read this article. "I Think In Pictures, [but] You Teach In Words."

That said, I have serious short term memory problems. Unless I make an effort to put a mental hold on the thing in question (and even then it's iffy), then I'm very highly likely to lose it. However, I do have a peculiar memory for random things that I notice in my relative environment.

I've only been diagnosed with ADD/HD and I have the same problem.

In the lab where I work, I have to ask about the same tests that I asked about the day or week previous... how to process or collect it.. even though I've been doing some of these for the past 5 yrs!

I cannot remember someone's name immediately after I am told it.

When people start to tell me things I have to work really hard to keep my attention focused on what they are saying...
otherwise it's like I just went to sleep and suddenly woke up to see them talking to me... I can't remember hearing anything they were saying.

Writing things down and/or repeating everything back to someone as they are saying it, helps me out at times.

BUT...

Show me something or if I drive to a place once... I'll remember it forever!
I don't remember the names of the streets I was on, but I can visualize the whole way to that one place.

I suppose you do not work at the theatre anymore, but this idea came to me...

Buy some poker chips and use them as color-coded identifiers for the things people would order...
Red for Coke
Blue for Pepsi
White for Popcorn
etc.

With a visual system like that, maybe you could remember orders better?

Perhaps something like this can be applied to other jobs as well?

In my job, I draw blood into different colored and sized tubes.
To be accurate with each lab order, it is best for me to stand by the patient, read the orders off the labels in my hand, and pull each colored tube I need out and set them down on a surface where I'll see them.

Most of the time for inpatients and E.R. patients, I draw blood with a syringe and then transfer it to the tubes.
This is when I really need to have my tubes laid out.

It's a pretty bad feeling to have stuck a patient... put all the blood into the tubes... and at some point after, realize I didn't include one particular tube and the ones I did fill can't be used for that particular test.
This means the patient has to be stuck all over again!
That SUCKS ... for me AND the patient... and their family... and the doctor.......

I can remember stuff like numbers quite well but I wouldn't be able to take orders and have it all my head. It depends on what I'm remembering. My memory isn't good in general.

Brain Fog - Cognitive Dysfunction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dysfunction

See also

ADHD predominantly inattentive
Depersonalization disorder
Excessive daytime sleepiness
Post-chemotherapy cognitive impairment
Sluggish cognitive tempo
Mild cognitive impairment
Lyme disease

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