Caregivers, are you getting scatterbrained?

Happens to me all the time. What is truly sad is when my almost 94 year old mom reminds me of something that I forgot! Annoying! If it were only a reminder, that’s fine. When it’s a reminder with a put down or insult, I just want to scream ‘Shut up!’ God help me if I lose my temper and do tell her to shut up. Then she tries to make me pay for it for days.

For me, the timer on my microwave is a help. If I am interrupted in a task, I put on the timer (guessing how long the interruption will take). I also keep a post-it pad and pen near the microwave. If I need to, I will jot myself a note and stick it to the microwave. When the timer goes off, I have the note there to pick up where I left off.

Saying that, it took me 45 minutes to empty the trash last week. Seems like I found another task in each room as I emptied the trash (switch the laundry in that room, clean the soap scum off the counter in the bathroom, etc). And, yes, I did leave the trash bag in a couple of rooms and wander off to a new task.

Definitely scatterbrained!!

As I tell my husband, when I hit menopause, I found 20 pounds and lost my mind :)

So many things i need to do. But when I'm distracted, i can't get it all done. And my to do list stays the same.

GETTING scatterbrained?  Hahaha.  My kids once told me they would never know if I started to have dementia.  I had trouble multi-tasking.  I could never get a turkey dinner to be ready all at the same time.  Now it is hopeless to even try.   Sleeping more than usual, and expecting less from myself and husband.  We are blissfully getting old!

Stress will do this.

Oh, boy, do I ever know what you are talking about, and I am not even directly hands on caring for someone. I am only trying to do accounts and accounting and bills, and handling other stuff. Don't ask about the towed truck!
There are, for me, two things going. One is age. I am 77. I was not thinking as I did when I was 30s before all this happened. So I was in the stages of--you know--leaving the room to get something,getting to the other room and forgetting what I was there to get, going BACK to the room and then remembering.............you know the drill.
However, add in this whole other thing, someone you love kind of crumping on you, and all the anxiety mixed in? It is other worldly. If I am at all anxious, if the control slips, my OCD hits like a hurricane and I am in the eye of it, paralyzed, unable to think, unable to move. I have entered the realm where it is true diagnosable dementia. You know, the butter in the cabinet and the cereal in the fridge. And it is the anxiety that does it. I am incapable of multitasking.
When I get myself in a good place, the zen of gardening or putting murphy's oil on the floors, I again come to a person who can function. But let a letter come in the mail "We lost the papers on the truck and are putting a lien on it"? Ha! Blown away again.
It is, in the beginning, such scary stuff. I AM getting older. Not as old as the bro I am trying to help, but OLDER and we have all our lives teased one another that he is only 7 years ahead of what is coming for me. We are like twins born 7 years apart.
You're OK. You are OK. Try to find what you can to relax. Give yourself at least some moments of peace. For me it is garden, a little painting, sewing kimonos for friends, listening to some true crime podcasts. I can restore my soul and my mind a bit as well.
Don't worry. You're OK. (almost certainly, hee hee. But where are those car keys)

Yes! I was speaking to a social worker the other day and just sort of drifted off without finishing my thought. The nurse had to finish for me. I got distracted by something and completely lost my train of thought. I have so much on my mind these days. Haven't learned any tricks to help yet though.

With leaving your tasks only partially completed, it is no wonder you forget about them. Your brain gets busy thinking about something new and poof!, what you were doing is gone.

You could have a little bit of burnout? Tired? All make forgetting quite understandable.

Oh yes,, I get distracted sometimes going to another room to get something,, see something else.. on it goes. The I find my self back where I started.. without what I went for! But I probably watered some plants, grabbed the trash, tidied up a room.., so I guess its all good. But frustrating! I sometimes repeat what I am going after, sounds silly but it works for me!