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Pregnancy brain

post #1 of 33
4/29/10 at 5:01pm
Thread Starter 
we have a thread in the September DDC about this problem but I want to hear what some of you other ladies are going through with pregnancy brain...

It seems a lot of common things to happen are spacing out while driving or forgetting to turn the oven off.

My favorite way of putting it that I have heard is: Like sitting at a stop sign waiting for the light to change...
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post #2 of 33
4/29/10 at 5:11pm
I was just reading the newest issue of Mothering last night and there is a short article about how pregnancy brain is just a myth and has been dubunked. I don't know, but I still believe it. I'm an accountant and yesterday I had to use a calculator for 63-7.
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post #3 of 33
4/29/10 at 5:19pm
Thread Starter 
LOL it would be hard to prove to me that it is just a myth... just like cravings are supposedly a myth.

To be honest, how can you prove it one way or the other?! If you have it, you know it exists...
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post #4 of 33
4/29/10 at 5:26pm
Exactly. I'll post the short article tomorrow if you want to see it (it's at home and I'm at work) but IIRC, it says that they did a study following a bunch of women (maybe 1000) for 7 years and asked all sorts of memory and concentration-type questions and found no difference when the women were pregnant or mommies and before kids. I still think I have it now though.
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post #5 of 33
4/29/10 at 5:30pm
Thread Starter 
Oh that proves nothing to me! I can still play memory games just fine... its a selective memory problem lol.

I wont be getting my Motherings until July... I have the subscription but am not actually starting it until after I move... or I just KNOW I will miss an issue anyway! (I will be basically homeless for about a week and I know dumb luck would have THAT week be when the magazine comes lol)
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post #6 of 33
4/29/10 at 5:45pm
Sorry, I didn't mean memory games/questions, I meant they asked questions like "Do you have trouble concentrating?", "Are you more forgetful than you were 3 years ago?" "Do you find it hard to answer simple questions that you used to know?" Stuff like that. Not tests or games. Doesn't matter though. They can prove what they want, we're still going to sit at a stop sign and wait for the light to turn green.

So, back to the original topic, what are your pregnancy brain symptoms lately?
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post #7 of 33
4/29/10 at 5:46pm
Oh, I am a TOTAL believer of . . . wait . . . what were we talking about again??? I'm often surprised that I haven't forgotten how to breathe. Pffft . . . myth my fat backside!
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post #8 of 33
4/29/10 at 5:57pm
Thread Starter 
well todays big one is that I am on phenazopyridine (for the second time this pregnancy UGH)

and while I remember to take it on time every time... i forget that Im taking it and the very obvious side effect (bright colored pee)

Until I wipe... and then am shocked to see my pee that color until I remember that I am on the pills!
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post #9 of 33
4/29/10 at 6:10pm
There is no way that its a myth. I usually do not just stare into space not being able to think about ANYTHING. Its so frustrating because I'm trying to get things done and just lose all concentration. I forget what I am walking 5 feet into the kitchen for, where I am driving, and I almost always say "UHHHHH" if someone asks me "Do you need anything?" - yeah I probably do but seriously, I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ANYMORE!
I just try to laugh and say that the baby is stealing my brain! (And blood..hmmm maybe its less blood flow to the brain? hahhaha!)
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post #10 of 33
4/29/10 at 6:11pm
most of mine surround cooking. I am normally a very good cook/baker. But pregnant nope not at all. Hubby will tell you my general IQ drops but for me I don't notice that as much... I do lose things ALL THE TIME now that I am prengnant non pregnant I don't lose anything, EVER.

Cooking mishaps:
~had the broiler on for HOURS after dinner was done
~ turned the gas on accidentally without lighting the burner so that gas was pouring into the kitchen for about 45 minutes
~did something to my shepherd's pie so that the potatoes were like milk and all soupy
~forgot to put sugar in my ginger snaps
~can not for the life of me double a recipe without screwing it up
~ boiled the water for my hard boiled eggs till the pan was dry
~ put strawberry syrup on my son's hot dog instead of ketchup

i know there are more but I can't think of them right now... memory problems anyone
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post #11 of 33
4/29/10 at 6:32pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by rlandnl View Post
~ put strawberry syrup on my son's hot dog instead of ketchup
this sounds like something I would do on purpose to my little brother when I was a kid
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post #12 of 33
4/29/10 at 6:51pm
Meanwhile, this study was recently released:

Pregnancy adversely affects ability to recall previously seen spatial locations
Diane Farrar1,2, Derek Tuffnell1, Jo Neill2 & Kay Marshall2
1Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford, UK; 2University of Bradford, Bradford, UK.

Conclusion: Data support the hypothesis that pregnancy adversely affects ability to perform certain cognitive tasks, specifically memory for previously seen spatial locations. Increased EDPS and GHQ12 scores indicate pregnant women have lower mood and greater risk of depression.

http://www.endocrine-abstracts.org/e...ea0021p325.htm
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post #13 of 33
4/29/10 at 6:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monarchgrrl View Post
I was just reading the newest issue of Mothering last night and there is a short article about how pregnancy brain is just a myth and has been dubunked. I don't know, but I still believe it. I'm an accountant and yesterday I had to use a calculator for 63-7.
I'd need a calculator for that even when I wasn't pregnant! Can you tell math wasn't my strongest subject in school?
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post #14 of 33
4/29/10 at 6:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monarchgrrl View Post
Sorry, I didn't mean memory games/questions, I meant they asked questions like "Do you have trouble concentrating?", "Are you more forgetful than you were 3 years ago?" "Do you find it hard to answer simple questions that you used to know?" Stuff like that.
Yeah, and I remember from my intro Psych class that surveys (especially retrospective ones where they ask what you were doing X amount of time ago) are about the least accurate way to structure a study.

I like to say that pregnancy makes me stupid...I have a bad habit of changing subjects in the middle of a sentence, or misspelling a very easy word...But looking at my grades gives lie to the subjective feeling. I am consistently getting the highest grade in the class on my Psych exams, and my pregnant exams in Intro to World Religions outscore my pre-pregnant exam (mind you, this is a matter of an A+ versus a mere A, but you get the point).

I'll report back after finals next week.
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post #15 of 33
4/29/10 at 6:52pm
This morning I couldn't remember my phone number at the doctor's office
Last night while prepping the coffee maker for this morning, I turned it on and brewed coffee at 9 pm
I have locked myself out of the house twice
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post #16 of 33
4/29/10 at 6:59pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by porcelina View Post
Meanwhile, this study was recently released:

Pregnancy adversely affects ability to recall previously seen spatial locations
Diane Farrar1,2, Derek Tuffnell1, Jo Neill2 & Kay Marshall2
1Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford, UK; 2University of Bradford, Bradford, UK.

Conclusion: Data support the hypothesis that pregnancy adversely affects ability to perform certain cognitive tasks, specifically memory for previously seen spatial locations. Increased EDPS and GHQ12 scores indicate pregnant women have lower mood and greater risk of depression.

http://www.endocrine-abstracts.org/e...ea0021p325.htm
Several of the pregnancy brain things were also forgetting their way around an area they are very familiar with so lol I think that helps to prove that.



Oh also... adding or omitting a word such as not from a sentence can completely change its meaning. Even if you didn't mean to. Ive done this several times.
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post #17 of 33
4/29/10 at 8:50pm
Have driven by a friend's house who has maternity clothes for me (that I'm really starting to need) at least 6 times this week. SIX TIMES - how stupid is that?
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post #18 of 33
4/29/10 at 9:09pm
I've had pregnancy brain since getting pregnant for the first time in Sept 2004.

I'm on pregnancy #4 (baby #3) and I swear my IQ has dropped by quite a bit.
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post #19 of 33
4/29/10 at 9:36pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ellen Griswold View Post
Have driven by a friend's house who has maternity clothes for me (that I'm really starting to need) at least 6 times this week. SIX TIMES - how stupid is that?
Took me five trips to the store specifically to buy one thing before I remembered to buy it.

Restocked everything in my house that was getting low but kept forgetting to buy the one thing I REALLY needed! LOL
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post #20 of 33
4/29/10 at 10:51pm
I prefer to believe that there is no such thing as pregnancy brain. I read that if you do have it, you probably aren't getting enough rest or vitamins or calories or something relating to the pregnancy, and other than when I am tired (which happens when not pregnant too!) I don't really think I have pregnancy brain and don't like it when people automatically blame something dumb I've done or not done or forgotten or whatever on pregnancy brain. It feels to me like blaming something on being blonde (which people do when I'm not pregnant), just an excuse for something that everybody does sometimes
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