I haven’t been on here for a while, but had a question and thought I’d return.
The background to this is that I had two strokes six years ago, went almost completely blind two years ago due to the brain damage from those strokes, and have developed severe APD (auditory processing disorder) which makes things very difficult. On top of this, my memory and cognitive function has rapidly declined over the past year, which is likely what’s worsened the APD.
Back when I was last on here frequently, I posted a few times about using differing techniques (with differing success). And now, I was wondering if anyone has any experience or advice for rebuilding memory or slowing down memory loss in this specific case.
I used to be obsessed with Sudoku and logic puzzles, which I struggled with after the strokes but was improving at, and now with sight loss I’m unable to do them. I used to work hard on studying languages and mathematics, but I struggle a lot with them now despite having suitable resources. I’m retaining BSL (British Sign Language) which is a positive, and while I still have a little sight it is helping aid communication. I can write clearly enough, and to read I need a Braille display with fluctuating success. I have a screenreader (text-to-speech) turned on but with the APD I don’t find it helpful.
I guess mnemonic techniques are also what I’m looking for, so that when I receive the information I can retain it for longer. Or processing techniques. Anything at all would be appreciated
ETA: I don’t know if this is useful knowledge, but last week when two of my partner’s family members were visiting from Germany, we spoke a complete mix of German and English (I grew up in Germany, it was my first language), and I coped a lot better than usual. It wasn’t as taxing mentally while switching through the languages compared to speaking one or the other
Sorry to hear about what you’ve gone through. I guess there are multiple parts to the recovery process: things like diet and other health interventions to increase BDNF and neuroplasticity etc, and things you can do to exercise your memory functions, as well as practical mnemonic techniques for everyday life.
Thankfully the hippocampus is one of very few parts of the brain that seems to reliably produce new neurons for our entire lives, so if you’re treating yourself well, your long-term memory should continue to recover.
These days from a practical perspective I only use the Major system to memorise numbers, and the link system (not loci) to memorise sequences of things.
For a while I was doing (very slow) blindfolded 3x3 Rubiks solving and did use loci for that – actually that was fun so I might restart that practice.
You could also try short term / working memory exercises like Schulte tables and dual n-back (not using any mnemonics).
I used to think a lot about how to do Sudoku in one’s head.
There are 9x9 cells to think about.
But it would be good to have a flag that says that a row of 3 adjacent digits is solved or that a column of 3 digits is solved.
So I wondered how many loci would be needed to attempt a sudoku.
Sometimes, you know that a cell can only be 2 or 7. What sort of loci peg would that be stored at and how does someone strike out that rough note once the cell is solved?
I really don’t have anything to add that can help I’m afraid, since I’m lacking knowledge in the medical field, only offer my best wishes for the best recovery possible in your situation.
But I wanted to say that I found this tidbit fascinating. Code switching (constantly switching between languages) is considered taxing - or at least it’s one of the exercises you do to train when you want to become an interpreter, so I imagine it’s supposed to be taxing.
But at the same time, bilingual children mix languages all the time, usually depending on the context: for example my cousins when they were young were speaking English at home, but when they would talk about school, they would use French words here and there in the middle because they were talking about events that happened in a French-speaking environement. So maybe adding German into your English was easier because it’s your childhood language and you were talking with people you associate with your childhood?
@Hari-P
It’s taxing if you do it on purpose, (now I’ll say this in German, the next sentence in English) but if it comes out naturally to you, of course is less taxing.
Last year I took a lesson on the anatomic pathway of the memory (store and recall) and very interested about experience to “mnemotechnic therapy” to Prevent, limit and recovery the cognitive decline in aging.