Memory Problem

[MDHP]

HI to Everyone,
I think I have some mental or neurological problem. My problem is related to my academics. I cant concentrate. I cant concentrate at all. I am student of senior secondary higher school with science i.e. physics, chemistry  and maths as main subjects. Whenever I study a lesson, I forget it after some time i.e after 2-3 days completely. It seems that I cant store any thing in my mind. If I try to study that lesson again, I have to start it from the beginning. Its not that I don  try to concentrate or I don understand and only memorize without understanding.I always do my best efforts. I don think that maths or science are tough subjects. I find them easy and interesting. Its only I cant recall what I study. My mind completely goes blank in exams. Due to these problems, I am failing in my class from last two years. Every time I study with my whole heart for whole year but in the final exam, again I cant recall anything. I also consulted some reputed doctors, but I cant find any help from  them. One of the doctor told me that I am suffering from OCD because according  to him, too many thoughts always strike in my mind every time I study and so I cant concentrate. I even consulted a psychologist who told me that there is a deficiency of two elements in me since birth. I talked to my classmates and they told me that they don have such problems. They completely recall what they study and remember it.
I really don know what my problem is, I mean is it a disorder or mental disease? Its a peak time for my career and my studies are not going well.
PLEASE HELP!

[ggreg]

Dear MDHP,
Oh, good, I'm glad you eat well and that you use tutors.  So, a neurologist just might be able to narrow down what sort of learning or memory issue you have.  I am impressed about your piano playing, please keep up with that.  Also, the part of the brain that does that activity is a completely different part than the science and math part.  A lot of times, when I get fed up with some acitivty, I'll go and do a creative pursuit (I like to paint) for a couple hours, and I'll feel a lot better, because art rests my mind.  When I was eight years old, I began writing poetry out of the blue, no courses for it at that age (of course), just a knack I have.  Thus I ended up being a writer for a living.  So, I hope that even tho you find science and math and thermodynamics and the laws of motion interesting, that you will also cultivate your creative abilities.  I can't help but wonder what sort of career you are looking towards.

I DO have one more thing to say, in response to some clarification you gave to me about the sequencing and retrieving of your memory.  I used to be quite bright when it came to keeping my thoughts organized, and I could do several tasks at once, talk to two different people at once, and never lose my "train of thought."  As I am now older, disabled, on medication, plus I hurt all the dang time from a car wreck, well, I get things mixed up and cannot focus certain times of the day or sometimes just certain days.  For example, just the other morning, I fixed the dogs their breakfast, got my coffee made, let the dogs out into the yard, took my soda and coffee into the computer room, and I suddenly realized I had forgotten to make my own breakfast.  It had to do with the sequencing of events, I got the order changed, so I forgot, because my organizational skills are nothing compared to what they were.  So, I had to stop and go back and fix breakfast.  This happens to me a lot, I'll leave stuff half done, because once my brain goes on one direction, that's it, I forget what I was doing just prior to that.

Now, that's a lot of words, but I wonder, perhaps you've got some sort of mental overload, to where you learn one subject, but if you switch right over to another one, well, there goes the first subject right out the window.  This might be an overload thing.  Another point of view is you may have most definitely learned one lesson perfectly, and indeed you really will NOT forget it, save throwing another one on top of it that you need to think about, so OF COURSE you're going to temporarily forget the first one.  This might be a sequence thing.  So, could be you need to (a) take long breaks between lessons, and (b) make a concerted effort to label, categorize, and sort of put a bubble around one lesson, and visually imagine that collective in your brain labeled "Theory of Relativity/Einstein."  The breaks between lessons will allow your brain's apparent need to soak in a subject before it will "stick."  The labeling and visually storing your subjects, you can thusly retrieve the whole pile of info just by thinking about it and thus remembering the label for it, and you can pull the file.  Just be sure to file away whatever subject you are currently on, in a purposeful and easy-to-remember way, BEFORE you go and pull the file for Einstein.  Clear your desk, take a rest, before putting anything else on the table.

Gee, I'm getting too long again.  And actually, I'm not so sure you CAN do what I'm saying, on account of you just might have some sort of brain problem preventing you from doing just what I'm telling you to do, i.e. categorize, store, and retrieve information.  Maybe the neurologist will find you have a little benign growth or an old bleed in that part of the brain and he can take out whatever the culprit is, and you'll think better after that!  This may especially be the case since you apparently didn't have this problem two years ago.  You might want to do a general search online for fun, and look at an illustration of the parts of the brain and what they do, and perhaps you'll find what part is broke on you!  Oh, and sorry I thought you had "examaphobia" (I made that up), but I'm just so anxious to help you out!  

So, you say you're going to visit a neurologist very soon, but sometimes once you have an appointment you have to wait even longer after that, so call right away so you'll be on the list.  Also, could be this whole thing will wind up being a "learning disability" of some kind, and the neuro might wind up referring you to some of those folks.  Or COULD be they'll all decide that some sort of as-yet uncovered psychological stress is preventing you from doing your science stuff, you know, something your mind is not willing to deal with at the moment, in which case you'll wind up in a psychiatrist's office.  But I KNOW that you WILL get help.  I just wish I could have flipped a switch and the light would have come on for you.
GG

[MDHP]

Thank You Very Much For Your Very Sincere Reply....
I will defenatiely visit a neurologist very soon and then tell you about. One thing I would like to tell you that I am perfectly good in all the other activities. For ex.  I never learnt playing piano from anywhere, but I play it very well on my own. I also take healthy diet and also do exercises. My problem of memory comes into play only in academics. I don have any FEAR OF TESTS or EXAM PHOBIA. Its not that I only forget at exam time only. Suppose I study a lesson of Thermodynamics, by completely understanding it and then memorizing it and then I study the lesson of Laws Of Motion. By the time I completed Laws Of Motion, I completely forget about Thermodynamics.  If I revise Thermodynamics in between, then I will forget about Laws Of Motion.
Above I gave only an example of two lessons. In actual, I have to cover the whole syllabus of all the subjects viz. physics, chemistry, mathematics and other subjects also. I even follow a systematic study time-table but in vain. I also engaged a personal tutor for me but that also does not help me. I am sure that I have some problem because normal students do not suffer from such problems.

[ggreg]

Well, on the neurological side of things, I personally think you should visit a neurologist, because he can do some office tests to determine how your recall and short-term memory is doing from a series of questions, and then he can also order a scan of your head to see if the problem originates in in your brain.  

Now, from a psychological perspective, let me see if I've got this straight.  You tell us two different kinds of memory troubles.  One is you say in two or three days, you have to go back and re-read the lesson you learned, that you have to start at the beginning because you've forgotten it.  Two is you say when you take an exam, you cannot recall anything that you've studied.  So, let me clarify those two items for you.  

On the first one, the three days later that you forget stuff, let us say that someone told you today that Albert Einstein is the person who came up with the theory of relativity, which the main equation for that is E=MC2, and this explains how time and space works, and that he began to understand relativity whilst riding on a train thru town and watched how buildings blurred as he went by them, but everything on the train stood still (these things are true).  

Do you really mean that in three days' time you would forget that stuff, if I were to ask you what theory did Einstein come up with, what is the equation for it, and what was he doing when he arrived at that theory?  I'm willing to bet that as a "common knowledge" thing, you already know most of the information I gave you, but when I draw it out with specific questions, you go blank.  So that, if perhaps if I was to ask you in a less specific way, like "What do you know about Albert Einstein's greatest theory?", would you then be able to tell me most of the information I gave you?  

This specific versus general information type question might be the problem, assuming you do well in a general question, but poorly in a specific testing situation, in which case a tutor can work with you on specific questioning techniques.  Also, it could very well be that for some reason, while you may actually learn SOMEthing along the way, you are not learning it very well.  So, a tutor can come to your home, or you can meet them at the library, and by golly, they'll make real sure you know your stuff, MUCH better than the average student.  I had tutors in music numerous times, and I was one of the best musicians all thru school and into college.  So, they're good to have around for all sorts of memory problems, they also allow for lots of practice, so, if nothing else, you'll learn by repetition.      
  
So, that leads me to the exam part of your memory problem.  It just might be that when you have a pop quiz in class or a quarter-final exam or ANY sort of test, that you do what LOTS of students do, and you freeze up.  I mean, just imagine if TESTING was THE problem, that you freeze up when you go in a room and are forced to answer some unknown questions, that will determine what sort of career and thus what sort of life you might have.  I CAN tell you that if you find science and mathematics interesting, and could probably talk to your fellow students about it throughout a school year term, but when you took a TEST, you could not recall anything about the subject matter whatsoever.  Well, that's fear of tests.

If what I'm saying is the case, that tests make you nervous, why, there's your problem.  If, on the other hand, you cannot even joke with someone about Einstein over the months of studying him and his theory, on account of you've forgotten everything about him, like if some kid said, "What WAS the name of Einstein's theory?" and you couldn't tell him, well, that's a different problem and does indeed have to do with a real memory problem, which a neurologist can sort out for you.

But if it's tests alone that bother you, I can give you a few tips.  There are a few main things to keep in mind about tests.  First of all, most students are sleep-deprived.  It has been proven by scientific study that the average teen NEEDS more sleep than regular people, in the realm of 10 to 12 hours per night.  The ONLY way around it is to go to sleep earlier in the evening.  If you got an 8:00 class, you gotta forget all those 10:00 TV shows and evenings with friends to midnight, and go to bed at 10:00, every "school night."  Also, I used to study right after my last class for the day, I would go in the library and study what I just got assigned that day, until I finished all of my homework.  THEN I would visit friends, go home and eat, and then relax in front of the TV.  Lastly, you have to eat really well as a student, to include LOTS of protein, even a hard-boiled egg per day, that alone will improve your learning ability, and that has also been proven by scientific study.

The other thing to keep in mind has to do with the TEST EVENT.  A few things you can do to overcome the stress of a test is:   (1) Take a reality check, notice how QUIET it is in the test room as the quiz is handed out.  Students are freaked out with what is about to happen, so you ain't the only one under stress.  (2)  Pay attention to the test itself.  It's going to be talking about things you're interested in, so the questions will jog your memory about all the fun stuff you learned about, so take some moments to recall the interesting info the question brings up in your mind.  (3)  Keep in mind that the test itself is not only just for you, but it is actually ALSO for the teacher, so he can see if there's anything he didn't teach very well for the last few weeks, becuz if everyone in the class failed questions 4, 5, 6, he'll know that part of the book was not understood by his students.  (4) Now, this one, I used to do it in classes I liked a lot and did well in, so it's not for everybody to try.  But I did it in several classes and it kept my mind off "THE TEST."  I would attempt to finish the test quickly, so I would be one of the top five people to finish the test first.  

So, use my talk here as a primer on what kind of forgetting you have and how to get around it, and also visit a neurologist so he can determine if you have a brain problem, and use a tutor no matter what so as to overcome any sort of mild learning issue.