I am 22 years old & have bad short and long term memory... HELP!

Of course, this is “not” normal. So, let’s just take a serious look at what we know about it first, ok?

The basic problem is that you loose your short and long term memory for no apparent reason. And, you have substantiated that , for yourself ,through personal experiences. Also, you have verified that to be “true”… through conversations with others as well…such as maybe your mother, your sister, your boyfriend, or others. They can also verify your problem. So, at this point, let’s just consider that it “is” a serious problem of some sort.

What could the cause for something like that?

Well, at the onset, it seems that you are not under huge stress, you exercise well, are not over tired, and othewise are fairly healthy…so we can pretty much rule most of that stuff out.

It would be just my own personal assumption that what ever is causing the situation could come from something that we may find under one of two headings.

1). A physical problem with your body. 2). A mental problem with your body.

I can’t think much beyond these two headings what “else” such a situation would come under. So, for now, let’s at least deal with these two.

A PHYSICAL PROBLEM

If it perhaps ‘were’ a physical problem, what type of physical problem could cause such an event ? Well, I went back in my mind and I recalled all of the instances that I have ever personally come across in my life …and I would list them this way:

a). Blunt force trama to the head area in the past.

   Perhaps falling down as a baby and hitting your head.
   Maybe a car accident where you might have gotten a bump on the head.
  Maybe you got punched in the face in a fight in the past.
  Some other physical happen that may be causing periodic amnesia.

b). Chemical poisioning.

   Some chemicals can cause nervous and brain disorders (certain glues, etc)
   Sometimes medicines can cause damage to the brain.
   I understand that some of the side effects of birth control pills in the past have
   been as gross as blindness, and loss of memory.
   There might just be a possibility of a high "lead" content in your body from, oh,
   I don't know... maybe the paint where you live...or "lived" as a child.
   I understand that "mercury posioning"  (sometimes from eating tainted fish)
   could result in a similar response.

c). Other body physical abnormalities.

   Sometimes a blood clot in the brain could cause such happenings.
   Your blood pressure, or perhaps cholestoral count may be way off.
   I also understand that a brain tumor can also exert pressure on the brain
   and quite often that will affect many areas of your memory and thinking.
   Your body may be experiencing dehydration, or you might have an infection
   of your tri-geminal nervous system of your brain...sort of like a virus.
   Maybe an abnormal amount of hormones for some reason.

d). It might be genetic.

   I have heard tales in the past where sometimes a person is normal, but
   because of heridetary factors, they develop mental problems later on in
   life as they get older that were characterist of some of their ancestors before
   them.

MENTAL PROBLEMS

a). Probably the number “one” problem that I seem to see in case studies of

    people that have a similar problem... but where the problem is actually
    a mental issue... is where, as a child,  the person has experienced a really
    tramatic thing happen to them in their life.    I understand that in such cases,
    the brain will quite often shut down to protect itself from remembering those
    bad memories.    Quite often this is reported in happening in cases of 
    rape, or the child experienced a murder...or what ever.   Something really 
    frightening.

Well, what to do about the issue. Well, I suppose you might want to take each thing, step by step, and begin with a family doctor. They may even want to do some blood flow sonagrams on you, or perhaps even run an MRI.

It is perhaps best to deal with the issue from the “physical” aspect first, because if it is a supression of bad memories… that may be much less physically threatening right away than, well, say a brain tumor.

If you have finally exhausted all your resources with the medical profession, and nothing can be found, then you may want to look in to regression hypnotherapy. A professional regression hypnotist can take a look into your past to see if a mental trauma has happened to you in the past that your brain may be trying to block out.

Not to freak you out. These are simply ideas of what could “possibly” cause what you are experiencing.

The problem here is, of course, real…so it should not be just brushed off. It could, in fact, be symptoms of a much more serious condition somehow.

The very worst part of the entire thing is “not knowing”. It could be something simple, or it could be something catastrophic. So, the sooner you get on the wagon and deal with it directly, the better off you will be.

As you are going about dealing with this issue, may I suggest one easy thing for the moment ? Start keeping a diary, read it every day, and write in it every day. If for no other reason, keep track in it of what you “eat” each day, and every day that you experience the “memory loss” thing…exactly what turned up that you could not remember. You may eventually start to see a pattern form and it may become a valuable tool for you later on for resolving this whole mess.

I hope this helped out in some small way. Don’t drag your heels on this one, get it checked out by professionals. Good Luck !

:-)