Excessive worrying over memory loss at 21

When you have anxiety or panic attacks, cortisol gets released into your brain which blocks the ability to make memories. Over time if youve had chronic stress and anxiety, you can pretty much overdose on cortisol which prevents memories from being made on an every day basis. On the other side of the spectrum, if you go through a reallllyyyyy stressful even then some other chemical/hormone is released which actually makes a memory even stronger than your typical memory. If you feel like you only remember a handful of things from your lifetime and they seem to be pretty important, thats why. Hope this makes you feel a little more normal, i know how horrible it is to not remember anything.

haha I was on effexor when I was in HS and dropped it suddenly. I couldn't walk straight for a couple weeks... pretty scary stuff!

I lost my memory when I was about 30 following head injuries in a car accident. It's no big deal. Even if you're confused for a while, the info is still in there, it just needs to be processed again.

The more you worry the worse it gets.

You are too young to worry about this.

To me it sounds like stress...

This sounds a lot like me. I'm in my early 20s now but from preteens to around late teens I was forced to take various psychotropics before my specific mental problem was even fully diagnosed (which ironically they say now it's something therapy at most might help but not meds). I've never done illegal type drugs, just a long history of this horrible mind scrambling stuff forced upon me when my brain was still fairly developing (why is it even legal for them to do that?!).

One of the major aftereffects was that my short term memory and somewhat long term memory too seem pretty fried. Among other awkward moments, I commonly forget what I was about to do just before I do it. I say things 4 or 5 times I already said without realizing I already said it, much to others' frustration. I also have a hard time visualizing things in my head. Also there's these huge "blank spots" in my memory from years ago; I hardly remember much of my teen/childhood times. I have taken to the habit of typing up things I don't want to forget just in case I don't remember them in the future.

I have a horrible attention span as well, and anxiety problems (especially when I go out in public; I have become agoraphobic due to withdrawing from society over time). I ended up developing a caffeine addiction several years ago because I discovered it's the only thing that will make me not feel all blah and temporarily improves my attention span.

I feel you on that. I lost a lot of memory after a head injury from a bike accident.

As for antidepressants, it is really important to stop those slowly as they can cause a lot of problems otherwise.
Also, like the first poster said, high levels of anxiety can effect your memory. That's probably a huge part of this. Manage the anxiety and your memory issues will probably improve.

You might want to look into some other therapies and support for managing this. You need to be thinking about your safety when looking for ways to manage anxiety.

Personally, I manage mine through my lifestyle. Exercise, diet, sleep, and doing things I love (playing music, surfing).

If your anxiety is really bad and you feel you need help (and depending where you are, you have coverage) you can check yourself into a facility. Sometimes that can be a huge help in starting sombody off on the road to recovery.

I've heard of milder forms of such anxieties. There's really no need to be stressed over death because everyone is bound to die. Try to see some light at that tunnel or channel your bad thoughts on paper. Talk back to them and know that your brain often if not always plays tricks on you. Stop alcohol, and other drugs, specially coffee if you are drinking that. It's surely dangerous for people at such states because of it's increasing anxiety levels. Get a brain-scan. There is a lot of technology that can give better prescription drugs than psychologist that sometimes can be faulty. I'm not recommending pharmaceutical drugs but if you can't handle it you should. Remember that if you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't, you probably can't. Get some faith, if not in you, in God please.

hi,

I am 27 and i can totally relate to what you are saying.BTW, were you were on any drugs that contained 'Alprazolam'? Are you still continuing your anti-dep medicines?

All these prescriptions meds actually start screwing you once you stop them. Their aim is to keep you stable while on them,increase your tolerance so that you will buy more and more.If you stop they will get pissed.