I forget family member's first names and many other people at my church too

[shirl38//]

Hello,
I am a senior, I turn 65 in mid January. My father had Alzheimer's. He spent the last five years of his life in a nursing home. He lived a long life till age 93.
I was at my sister in law's house today, and two of her great grandchildren were there, and I could not remember the one's first name. I felt baffled, and I was sitting there trying to think of it, and I could not remember and then I was trying to think of the first letter in her name. I thought of letter P and I still could not remember and then all of the sudden, the name Paige came to mind. Her first name is Paige. The same thing happened at a funeral about a month and a half ago. One of the family members on my husband's side of the family, I could not remember her husband's first name. I knew it and I felt stupid. Later it came to me and it was Dan. Also people at my church. Should I see a doctor about this?

 

[BeckyJan]

Hello and welcome to Talking Point.

I think if this is worrying you then it is important to see a Doctor. Memory losses can be caused by many reasons other than dementia and it may be worth having a check up in case its a general health problem.

I think many of us as we get older can temporarily forget a friend or family name but this is not necessarily going to get any worse than that. I hope this is the case for you.

Before seeing a Doctor it may be worth you making notes of any episodes you have of memory difficulties and then take that list to him/her.

Best wishes

 

[Cat27]

Welcome to TP

As Jan says other health issues can cause memory problem.
See your GP & take it from there.

 

[marionq]

I would also suggest that by the time you get to great grandchildren a lot of family members have accumulated making it harder to remember them all. After reading your post I decided to go through my sister's children, grandchildren (8) and great grandchildren (3). I was struggling with the most recent ones and I have no memory issues. Sometimes your brain just selects what you need to know and shoves the other stuff on the back burner.