Selective amnesia?

It never ceases to amaze me what my brain hangs onto and what it rejects out of hand, spits on, calls names, and stomps on to keep it from coming back. For example, my mailing address when I was 9 was 3149 A Arizona Avenue, Great Lakes, IL, 60088. My phone number was 689-8798. That was 27 years ago. I know my current address if I think carefully about it, and sometimes I can remember my current phone number (though I did have to call my mother in an emergency to ask her what it was), but I can't remember the address or phone number of the last few places that I lived or worked beyond the city names. I have recently accidentally given out the fax number for a company I worked for in the 90s. And just recently, I learned a new Spanish phrase: "El caballo es saltando." How did I pick this up? I saw it once - ONCE - on a commercial advertising some new language learning program for which, ironically, I cannot recall the name. So why can't I remember things I need to remember, like school stuff? I'm reading a chapter on consolidated business statements, do you think that will come back to me on the test? I think not. I do alright with work from sheer repetition and familiarity, and song lyrics stick to me like white on rice, but I cannot for my life recall the name of the cross street which has a sign in front of my house. I live at the intersection of... uh, I dunno. See? Is it early onset Alzheimer's? It is stress? Am I not eating enough fish? (Actually, that's a given, in that I don't eat fish at all.) Am I just crazy? Depression? (That would not surprise me at all - I have all of the symptoms, and I have for years.) Hormonal fluctuations? Age? Low blood sugar? Inadequate diet? Chronic fatigue? Fibromyalgia? Stroke? (That wouldn't shock me either - that migraine I had in June made a part of my face go numb, and it still tingles...) What else affects short term memory loss? Why, I can't remember! There's a shock. I think it is most likely a combination of stress, depression, nutrition and lack of exercise, but the nutrition and exercise problems are nearly out the door with my footprint in their asses, so that just leaves the other two.

Oh, and the migraines. I forgot about those. They are pretty horrifying. They go through a very specific pattern on the same time schedule. The first thing is the blind spots. Then the pain and nausea come in about half an hour. I have to lay in a dark, quiet, cold room with no smells. Smells make me puke. Light makes me vomit. Noise makes me hurl. Warmth makes me blow chunks. Eating or drinking or swallowing pills (Excedrin Migraine leaps to mind) makes me have a friendly but animated chat with the porcelain god. All in all, I lay in misery (usually in my bathtub since that is the darkest, coldest, quietest place in the house) for about 8 or 10 hours, praying for death and hallucinating. Wondering how they will find my body. How long it will take them to figure out that I'm dead in my bathtub. Who will take care of my cat. What people will think of my stuff when they start to clean out my house. How the paramedics will turn off the alarm system when they have to break down the door. If the paramedics will be as good looking as King County paramedics are reputed to be. Ultimately, the upshot of all of this crap is that every time I have a migraine, my short term memory seems to get worse. They leave me baffled for a few days (Who am I again? And where are my keys?) and once I feel some vague clarity again, it seems only partial. I can't imagine that this is a good thing, but since I've never been able to work out my triggers, I can't imagine that I'll ever find a way to avoid them.

Well, that's cheery, ain't it?