How do I deal with stress related memory loss?

I have issues with memory, focus, and chronic fatigue and need to know; how do I stop the problem from getting worse or reverse the damage?

Most of my childhood I can't recall and most of what I can recall I remember in the third person (remembering the story someone has told me and visualizing it).  From college on, my memory is spotty and I'm losing more of it all the time (people tell me things that I told them, but for which I no longer have any sense of familiarity).  When I can remember, it's in vivid sharp detail, when I can't it's usually totally unfamiliar to me.

I have undergone unusually high levels of stress for more than a decade now.  I used to take the online stress tests (where 0-150 was low stress, 150-300 was mild stress, and anything over 300 was at risk of stress related illness).  Over several years of taking these tests, I typically scored around 1,200 and 1,500.

I have tried numerous supplements (vitamins, ginkgo, and so on) and have negligible success. My physical health is affected as I have had numerous stress related illnesses (such as shingles and pleurisy, and others that I know I've had but can't recall at the moment).

At the moment I'm out of work and functionally disabled (I have intermittent severe losses in energy making employment difficult to find).  I need to figure out some solution to restore my functionality so I can quit missing my life.  I'm only 36 and I can't even recall when my children were babies.  I need help!

[Caryopteris]

You might want to see if you have any food allergies.  Have blood tests for Celiac disease.  

Do you have thick blood?  I do, and I am getting improvement in brain function with ginkgo biloba.  

If you cannot relax, consider getting relaxation therapy with biofeedback so you will learn what relaxation feels like and how to get there.  

Take L-arginine, calcium and D3 at night, magnesium in the morning, probiotics twice a day.  

[Dr Sharma]

Hello dear and welcome to the medhelp forum. I understand your predicament and how distressed you must be to be affected so strongly by stress and its effects. There are various other problems that can result from long-standing stress like hypertension, suppress immunity, and make you more vulnerable to heart attack and stroke, speed up aging. You can also become prone to depression. You will need the assistance of a psychiatrist to help you deal with this. Try to learn relaxation techniques like yoga, deep breathing and meditation. You need to learn to take charge of stressors in your life and not fall victim to these. There are nutritional supplements, free radical scavengers like gingko biloba, ginseng and other herbal preparations, which can be taken on your physician’s advice.  I would suggest that you get a detailed hormone assay too which can be addressed if you have any deficiency or excess. Have you been told by a physician that this is stress related?  Pleurisy and shingles could have been due to stress related decreased immune function. Wish you all the best.

[jcjessup]

I should clarify; by stress I do not mean anxiety or worry (most people seem to think of them as the same and worry is a wrong response to stress).  By stress I mean circumstances that you go through that are traumatic; like losing your home, being in multiple auto accidents, emergency dental surgery, coming down with shingles, being laid off of work, and moving cross country.  This example is from a 6 month period and isn't all that has happened, but is somewhat typical of what I go through.

Caryopteris - I do not know of any particular food allergies, but I do know that as things get worse I do have a heightened sensitivity to flavors and smells.  Often, things smell or taste like they have gone bad while everyone else is fine with it (and not just in my family).

What is biofeedback, can you elaborate?

Dr Sharma - I'm doing well with anxiety (there is some, but it's well handled), but the physiological stress these situations bring causes a significant physical drain.  Most of these things are external stressors that I cannot take charge of, they are simply bad things that happen, but I understand what you mean from the perspective of anxiety and a victim mentality.

It is my understanding that my stress related illnesses have been due to a depressed or decreased immune function.  I have tried a number of different vitamins (including gingko) but have only had temporary benefit (I start doing better and then am more aware of how decreased my capacities are when the effects wear off after about a month of taking them).

I have not had any hormone tests (to my recollection), but will check into that.  Are there any tests I ought to seek out specifically?