Mania and Memory Loss - Bipolar Disorder Message Board

Jovial206 · 11-12-2005, 08:05 AM

It's been awhile since I've posted. Hi, everyone.

I know that when someone is manic and eventually goes back to the "normal" stage, the individual sometimes does not remember a lot of what took place during the mania. Does the mind ever block out events from the normal stage that took place before the mania as well?

mudhound · 11-18-2005, 05:37 PM

The wife tends to forget some items from time to time. Right now, she is doing well.

Picali · 11-19-2005, 01:02 AM

Hi Jovial

I think the mind can block out anything it wants to! I would imagine stress plays a part and, as being manic is very stressful, I guess it takes a while for the stress to go even once 'normal' again, which could affect the memory. Are you referring to yourself or someone else? People also block unpleasant or difficult things (I did this for most of my life) and that must be a factor also.

Sorry, nothing concrete here. I've come to believe that nothing's definite where BP is concerned!

Best wishes

Picali x

coffeegirl2 · 11-21-2005, 10:30 AM

Hi~

It has been a while since I've been here as well. Glad you posted. This is a great question. I totally wonder this all of the time because this happens to me, and I wonder if I'm totally losing it!

Since my manic episode in 2002, I have have been suffering short-term memory loss. I forget normal things from before then, due to the trauma of what happened. My therapist/pdoc both say this is normal due to the stress of the event. It is from the stress. I have blocked out almost everything that occurred from the manic episode because it was so horrible, and due to hurting everyone. I have to inquire what happened from my DH mostly all of the time for the definite details so I can understand what actually happened and understand how awful I was, only, when I do, it ends up upsetting me extremely bad. So, that is a trigger for me as well.

There are those around me who will say.."Oh, yeah, I forget things all of the time"- only they don't understand. That is completely different. This is a different scenario. No. It is short term memory loss, blockage of memories, time frames of events, etc... from stressful events to protect ones self.

Do you have a counselor that you see often? The counselor I have now has finally made some sense to me. They helped explain a lot of this to me.

Take care of yourself. I hope that you are able to find some comfort in a good friend to talk to. My DH is a sounding board for me. He listens to me when I need to talk about my memory loss issues, though he doesn't always understand, along with the tdoc.

Coffeegirl

poetprose · 11-21-2005, 11:43 AM

Hello, Oh Yes I have memory problems, My "time frame" stinks, for example I may be talking to my hubby about an event saying remembering a couple of months ago when this happened..... Only to discover it was just a couple of weeks ago...... So I sit there and think about it , and honestly I can not beleive that it was 2 months ago......

Also after a full fledged mania, it took me months to get a good grasp of time I thought it was the lithium, although it could very well be the stress of the "trip"

regardless I deffently have memory problems