BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors

Subject: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: gnu
Date: 15 May 12 - 07:54 PM

I put my BP pills on the kitchen counter before I go to bed. After I take my pill in the AM, I put them in the cupboard. It's not perfect but so far, so good.

On garbage day, I put the dry garbage bag by the bedroom door.

I put things that have to "go somewhere" IN FRONT of the door.

Any tips?

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: GUEST,999
Date: 15 May 12 - 08:05 PM

Yeah. Keep doing that.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Bobert
Date: 15 May 12 - 08:34 PM

Here's the deal...

You wanta keep yer mind sharp then forget routines... Hide your med from yourself... No, have someone else hide them from you... Then every day ya' gotta grind up some gray matter...

The mind is like a garden... Gotta keep it tilled up...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: gnu
Date: 15 May 12 - 10:38 PM

Keep doing what?

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Wesley S
Date: 15 May 12 - 10:44 PM

I've been told that if you keep your head stationary and look up at the ceiling for a moment - then look down - that it's easier to remember what you've forgotten.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 May 12 - 11:13 PM

Use the alarm clock on a cell phone. That's what I do. You list as many alarms you want with specific titles and call sounds. I three times per day for one med, a rooster crow twice per day to remind us to turn up or down the supplemental O2. It really helps. I also have my week's meds in separate day containers with Morning, Lunch, Evening, Bedtime.

As to other things I also have a list for the day, written the night before.

There are scads of mental exercises online, too. I think I found one at AARP. My grandson and I both enjoyed the games.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: GUEST,999
Date: 16 May 12 - 12:08 AM

I take three meds. I can't recall what they are, but there's two of them, that I know for sure.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Bert
Date: 16 May 12 - 12:46 AM

I was reading on BBC news the other day that curry with turmeric twice or more a week will help prevent memory loss. Seeing as I love curry I will give it a try.

kat, you need to jump up and down a few times and if you don't rattle you have forgotten to take your pills.

Songwriting is a good mental exercise too. When I get as good as Amos I'll know I'm getting close.

Oh! and never ever lock a door without the keys actually in your hand.

Try and laugh a little every day Here's a start

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: GUEST,99
Date: 16 May 12 - 01:01 AM

OK,I got it. I take three meds during the day, unless I get the times mixed up, in which case I take three days to take the meds I usually take every day three times during the day I take the three meds. IF I forget, then I go back to day one and take the meds three times but only once during the day. The second day I take the three meds three times because the missed two days really fuck me up. THEN, on day four, I start at day two, which I haven't yet mentioned because I forgot there was a day two. It's really simple once you do it a time or two. Or three. Day five is a sonamabitch because who, he who is on first but is off base and can be tagged out, took HIS meds on day four. What you may ask (what's on second) didn't take his meds, and now I don't know, who's on third but we know really is on first because he's who, doesn't take his meds. Don't ask, because I don't know.

May seem odd, but I don't know is on third and who on first knows what, so who's on second. Good meds. G'night, gnu.

PS

Don't forget the stuff in front of the door.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Bert
Date: 16 May 12 - 01:06 AM

Forget about the meds, you forgot one of your nines!

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: GUEST,999
Date: 16 May 12 - 01:12 AM

Bert, love your music, and thanks for making it available. Happy Birthday, btw.

BM

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 16 May 12 - 01:49 AM

We hear that cryptic crosswords are a good prophylactic against Alzheimers. I am fortunate in loving them ~~ have always been a main hobby of mine ~~ so I do several a day anyhow; and continue to hope they may guard against -- whatever the hell it was I said back there.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Ebbie
Date: 16 May 12 - 01:53 AM

lol You guys are just too much.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Bert
Date: 16 May 12 - 02:22 AM

That may be true in England Michael, but in the States most crosswords work on the principle of "how badly can I misuse this word so that nobody can recognize it".

Give me the Daily Telegraph crossword any day.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Megan L
Date: 16 May 12 - 02:41 AM

how coincidental my niece sent me an email full of optical ilusions to exercise my brain she had read it helped prevent alzhiemers.

found it here Anti-Alzheimer exercise

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Fossil
Date: 16 May 12 - 05:41 AM

If you are looking for something, say what it is, out loud several times. Apparently this helps your brain tune into what you're looking for and stimulates the pattern-recognition centres in your brain.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Bobert
Date: 16 May 12 - 09:03 AM

Music is the best way to keep yer mind sharp... Play everyday and you won't lose yer meds and you won't have to take yer garbage to bed with ya'...

But seriously, I saw this piece on the TV a month or so ago where an Alzheimers patient who couldn't talk could sing perfectly when music was played for him...

Something in there, I'm sure...

BTW, Glen Campbell was on the front page of the Charlotte Observer this morning but I haven't gotten around to reading the story but I'M sure there's something in it related to this discussion...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Megan L
Date: 16 May 12 - 09:35 AM

Bobert I witnessed the power of song for myself. It was a sunday service in a local home one lady grunted and cursed the whole way through all the modern hymns they sang. some of them got upset but one of the older men in the group looked at her then quietly began singing "Jesus loves me this I know" He had barely got the first words out when she sat up straight and sang along as clear as a bell. He looked at the other members then told them we are having a change of hymns he then pulled an old redemption hymn book out of his bag (Redemption hymn singing was very strong on the island for many years) and began singing with his new friend joining in every one.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: GUEST,Guest MikeL2
Date: 16 May 12 - 11:00 AM

Hi Michael

We have the crossword bug too. Now that we are both retired my wife photo-copies the crossword pages and we make it competitive !!!

Seems to have woked so far !!!

regards

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 16 May 12 - 11:09 AM

I find 'going through the alphabet' a good way to remember someone's name. You'll eventually get to the first letter of it and the rest will follow. Also, if I just can't recall something, I deliberately push the whole thing out of my mind and refuse to dwell on it. About 30 minutes later, the memory arrives unbidden. Luckily I don't have to take tablets, but those plastic boxes with the days and times on seem a good idea. You set it up in the morning with all your pills put into the correct compartments. Then you can see what you have and haven't taken. I agree with MtheGM, a good cryptic crossword or two keeps the cogs oiled! Also, a walk in the fresh air gets the mind buzzing along.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 16 May 12 - 12:06 PM

Well this thread reminded me that I hadn't taken my beta blockers this morning.

I also have my week's meds in separate day containers with Morning, Lunch, Evening, Bedtime.
If I don't use one of those I totally loose track.

Like Gnu I put things that I have to take out with me in front of the door so that I can't leave the house without picking them up.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 16 May 12 - 03:18 PM

Memory jogging? Sorry, but my memory won't jog anymore. I can occasionally coax a brisk walk out of it, but its usual pace is more like a slow shuffle.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: gnu
Date: 16 May 12 - 03:49 PM

Bert... the 9... BEST joke yet! Made me laugh.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 16 May 12 - 04:48 PM

I forgot what I came in here for.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 16 May 12 - 04:53 PM

Two old ladies at a coffee morning.
"You look familiar dear, but I've forgotten your name. Is it Ethel?"
"Er...um...how soon do you want to know?"

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Owen Woodson
Date: 17 May 12 - 06:55 AM

That's all very well, but how do you remember what the memory jogging tips mean?

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 17 May 12 - 08:03 AM

Different people seem to remember things in different ways.

My late mother did not remember things visually, to the extent that she could not grasp the idea of icons on things like phones. She would memorise what each button did but when she replaced the phone it never occurred to her that the little picture on a button meant the same thing as the same picture in a slightly different position on a different phone.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 17 May 12 - 12:05 PM

Being older than most, with more meds than I can remember, much less remember to take, I keep a Word document (with an icon on the desktop to get to it quickly). At the top of the document a link goes to the "insertion point" where I add each day's "medication activities"

Just below the insertion point I have a list of all the meds:

{ DATE \@ "d MMMM yyyy" \* MERGEFORMAT}{ DATE \@ dddd}
{ TIME \@ "HH:mm" \* MERGEFORMAT}

(The { } indicate a field, which has to be "inserted" rather than typed.)

I can copy the line for each med just above the "insertion point" where it Displays:

17 May 2012 (Thursday)
10:49        Med Name

The date, day of the week, and time are whatever's current when I open the document

When I take the med, F9 with the line for the med taken selected updates the fields for that med to the actual time taken, and Ctl-Shift-F9 "unlinks it" and changes it to plain text so that it won't keep changing.

That way I have a complete "log" of all the meds taken that prevents me from ever omitting one, or worse, taking the same one twice because I forgot I already took it.

The method is COMPLETELY INFALLIBLE – except for those 5 I forgot yesterday, but they're okay since I took 4 of 'em twice by accident the day before.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Elmore
Date: 17 May 12 - 01:40 PM

I've been frightfully absent minded forever, so I'm not so concerned about the aging process. Meds can be a problem though. I take classes for old geezers at a local college.the interaction with others, and the mental stimulation of these classes is a life saver.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 May 12 - 03:13 PM

"The method is COMPLETELY INFALLIBLE – except for those 5 I forgot yesterday, but they're okay since I took 4 of 'em twice by accident the day before."

Pitiful. lol It is amazing what we survive.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 May 12 - 04:15 PM

Ah, yes, I remember jogging. Only in my day they called it cullooping and you did it wuth 4 culoops to the gallon. Of course that is before gallons turned into litters and you had to get cats to bring them up. It was only like yesterday when I was saying that crocodile hunting was my favourite pastime but my wife just poo-poo'd the idea. Poo, now there's an intersting thing. In 1962 you could poo all day for half a penny but then they decimalised it and you could only get ten poos to the groat. It was round about that time that...


Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Gurney
Date: 17 May 12 - 05:17 PM

Try learning new songs. (Just try, it only takes a few months!)

Cryptic crosswords, as Michael says. If you've never done one, fill in the answers next day and work out WHY.

An efficient memory jogger: If you need something from another room, the car, the shed etc., say in a loud, proud voice, "I need a hammer" (whatever.) You can then remember what you came for when you get there! This works. You actually remember HEARING yourself say it!

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: gnu
Date: 17 May 12 - 06:19 PM

When I was a teen, I could remember very well everything I read. If I read it five times in a row, I could repeat it verbatim... pages of text. I could see the pages in my mind. I knew where every fact was by page, paragraph and sentence. Now, If I need to remember something important, I repeat key words to myself five times. Usually works. I think.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Bert
Date: 17 May 12 - 08:29 PM

Thanks, 999. I missed your post first time around and have just caught it.

And thanks gnu as well.

I guess I need some memory jogging tips.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: JHW
Date: 18 May 12 - 07:35 AM

Is it only me who comes on to the computer, does my emails, looks at Mudcat and the Weather then shuts it down without looking up what I switched it on for?

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 May 12 - 07:44 AM

Yes, JHW, but one has always done that, eh? At least, all my life I have gone upstairs to fetch something, thought of something else that needed doing while up there, and then come down again without having got what I went up for. Perhaps I have always been old?

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 18 May 12 - 08:41 AM

Some great memory jogging tips here ...


Now how do I remember where I read them?

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 18 May 12 - 03:30 PM

I always make a list before going to the supermarket... and inevitably leave the wretched thing on the hall table.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 18 May 12 - 07:05 PM

MtheGM says "...gone upstairs to fetch something, thought of something else that needed doing while up there,..."

That's called the "butfirst" syndrome, and is quite common. Everything you start to do requires that "butfirst" you have to do something else in order to get to the original plan, but first there's another butfirst to do before you can get to the first butfirst. This cycle sometimes seems endless.

The related syndrome seen frequently, but not exclusively, in the elderly is the "hereafter" effect, where one walks into a room and has to stop to ponder the hereafter ("What the $@%%#! did I come in here after?)

The combination of the two, as you've described it, is actually quite efficient, since there are nearly always enough "butfirsts" that eventually the "hereafter" doesn't really matter since one nearly always discovers sufficient "butfirsts" that are more important.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 18 May 12 - 10:45 PM

Eliza, you might try putting your list in your purse each time add something new to it, unless you switch purses often. If you have a metal door, you could use a magnet to attach the list to the door, possibly right at eye level on the doorknob side, or put it lower so that it overlaps the doorknob. Another idea is to put it on the floor near the door so that you would have to step on it to go outside. Then you might pick it up instead of stepping on it.

Now that my cell phone has a Notes app, I keep my lists there. I have a list for the market, the pharmacy, the library (titles of books I want). etc. The cell phone is always in my purse except when I charge it. Then I run an extension cord to the pile of clothes I will wear in the morning and put it on top of the pile. In the morning before I get dressed, I can't miss my cell phone on top of my clothes and move it immediately to my purse. When I get to the store I delete each item from the list as I put the item into my cart.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 19 May 12 - 06:05 AM

Excellent ideas, ChanteyLass! Especially putting the list on the floor near the door, as I'd certainly pick it up (I'm quite tidy!) But the great catch with all these ideas is to remember to do the thing which will help you to remember. I forget to look at lists, so if the thing sat happily in my handbag, there it might stay while I trundled round Tesco's trying to think what we need to buy. I've found a very good solution to that... I go round every aisle and look at every single thing on the shelves, and my dear husband decides if we need something or not. He's still enchanted with supermarkets as he'd never seen one before he came here to live, so he loves shopping (so far!)

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: gnu
Date: 19 May 12 - 01:58 PM

Putting thingd in front of the door. Someone mentioned that before, I think, but I can't recall who it was.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 19 May 12 - 03:58 PM

My wife's constant back pain reminds us to make sure our private medical insurance is up to date!

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: JHW
Date: 20 May 12 - 06:55 AM

Here I am on this thread again but I dare say if it had fallen off the list that would have been that

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 20 May 12 - 01:46 PM

My wife, an early 1940s born old Northlander (Buenos Aires) no less, needed no memory jogging to be able to arrange her own DEXA (bone density) scan last week, which was recommended by her consultant back surgeon, who referred her to our local NHS hospital for the scan as the none of the local private hospitals have the facility to perform this.

She discovered that the waiting time for the scan is 4-6 weeks at the NHS hospital, and that is after first collecting a form for completion and returning it to the hospital - more like 6-8 weeks! They then apparently notify you of the appointment time by letter - oh yes?? How can they possibly know my wife's diary???

My wife took no more than 10 minutes to find a private hospital in London that can perform the DEXA scan and made an appointment for 4 days later. Having had the scan in the morning, she saw her consultant back surgeon in the afternoon.........with a report of the scan provided in duplicate by the private hospital - The London Independent, and was admitted to our local private hospital 2 days later for a Lumbar Epidural.

Memory jogging???

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 20 May 12 - 02:00 PM

Well done to your wife, Bonzo! I send my best wishes to her and hope her back pain can be swiftly sorted out.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 20 May 12 - 04:20 PM

Thanks very much Eliza she is taking it as easy as she allows herself - the big problem is that her spine is very curved, and I don't think a replacement is on the cards, but despite this she is the happiest person I know - she has a VC in multitasking!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: GUEST,Frank
Date: 21 May 12 - 02:02 AM

JohnInKansas, your post above about the "hereafter" reminds me of the time many years ago I took a young lady to Lovers' Lane.
I said "do you believe in the hereafter?"
She said "Why?"
I replied, "if you aren't hereafter what I'm hereafter, then you'll be hereafter I'm gone."

Today I would have forgotten what I was hereafter.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: GUEST,999
Date: 21 May 12 - 12:09 PM

Don't know how I've missed this thread 'til now. If ya need any memory tips, just ask me; I'd be glad to help.

Subject: RE: BS: Memory jogging tips for seniors
From: frogprince
Date: 21 May 12 - 01:23 PM

Um...999? I hate to tell ya, but...   : )

(Personally, I clicked on an interesting looking thread a while back, and discovered that I had started it myself a couple of years ago).