Forgetful and anxious at a young age

[rgiovarelli]

I am eighteen and enrolled at a small private college in Ohio where I just finished my first year. Within the last year or so I have been noticing things that have really made me nervous. I have been forgetting things all the time. Simple things, complicated things, everything. I am an English education major so I am really worried because I am forgetting how to spell simple words and forget the meaning of words that I have known or have to look up the definitions just to make sure they are right. I often can't remember what I did the day before, or even earlier that same day. I even remember things completely wrong. I spent 20 minutes arguing with my boyfriend yesterday about where the road I live on jogs. I have an obsession of proving I'm right (possibly to prove I don't forget everything) so I looked it up on MapQuest. Of course he was right.

On top of that I am really anxious and worried about everything which sometimes increases when I forget something. I don't have consisitent hours at my job so I find myself checking my schedule countless times each day, checking and rechecking what time I go in and leaving my cell phone right by my ear when I go to bed to make sure if I was supposed to come in to work the next morning, the call saying I'm late will wake me up. (I have never actually been woken up to find I missed work but once last summer I came home from vacation to find I forgot to ask for a day off and missed work that day).

I frequently check the door at night to make sure I locked it because I'm not completely sure I did. Sometimes I go to lock the door and it's already locked...which really confuses me. I am scared to death of cops. I don't do anything wrong (never go more than 5 over the speed limit, always make completely stops, use my turn signals) but I always think they are going to pull me over. This anxiety was given credibility a few weeks ago when I was pulled over for my license plate light being out. It was the first time I have ever been pulled over and there was nothing I could have done to keep it from happening, and yet I'm still paranoid.

When I'm home alone I often think that I hear a noise and someone is in the house. Frequently I will open the shower curtain when I go into the bathroom to make sure no one is lurking there.

My paranoia and my lack of memory have caused me to worry even more. Sometimes I think I may just be a hypochondriac because eveyone tells me (I have not gone to an actual doctor with these symtoms) that there is nothing wrong with me and I need to just stop worrying. How can you just tell yourself to stop worrying? How often do women of eighteen years have memory problems or are still afraid to be home alone at night?

Is there something wrong with me or is it all in my head?

[rgiovarelli]

Thank you so much for your post and redirection to a different forum. I really appreciate your advice!

[Sandman2]

   I think that stress or anxiety is more likely to be causing you to forget things as (say) compared to ADHD.  A lot of your other symptoms are definitely anxiety related.  Try googleing  "Generalized anxiety disorder"  and see if any of that sounds like what you have got going on.  I think you should post to another forum  -  like anxiety, to get their opinion.
  If you have never had these kind of problems before, it may be that being away from the comfortable surroundings of home- plus the challenges of your first year in college has triggered this.  At any rate, it is something that you want to deal with.  It may be that a lot of these problems will fade with summer.  But that could depend on how and where you spend your summer.  Exercise can be a great coping mechanism.  Combine that with a good self defense class and you should sleep better at night.
  So ya, there is something kind of wrong with you - and you know it, or you wouldn't haven't taken the time to write such a long post (excellent writing, by the way).    Fortunately,  it is fixable.  It might even go away by itself (if you never had the problem before), but I would deal with it.  Anyway, do post on another forum, I think they can help.  Good Luck to you!!