How have things changed for me over the years?

Jan. 31, 2021 (Chapter 1 Symptoms and Diagnosis & Chapter 6 Living with a Memory Impairment in my book)

I have been on this memory impairment journey for a little over fifteen years. In the beginning, I was a lot less vocal about what I was experiencing. I’m not sure why that happened but it might be because I wasn’t understanding what was going on. Another reason, could have been because I was forgetting things so quickly. I also think that a few times with a new symptom that I didn’t remember or recognize that I wasn’t even as aware of it. It wasn’t until these symptoms happened more frequently that I recognized them for what they are. Now I journal about my symptoms quite frequently.

I think that what has changed the most for me is that a lot of the time, I am able to manage the symptoms much better than when I was first diagnosed. I know that I can’t let my stress level get too high. It will just bring on more symptoms.

I have no problems talking about my memory impairment. I think that the only exception to this is when I first meet someone. I don’t want them to judge me because I have a memory impairment. I would rather that they get to know “me” before they know about the memory impairment. Besides, not everyone I meet needs to know about this. I think that only the people who I am close to need to know.