Living with Fibromyalgia and ADHD: Constantly Learning

Yes! Mine got way worse after I had COVID-19. Not only do I not retain information, but it takes me 3x longer to do anything that requires attention. And forget multi-tasking, especially more than 3 things at once. Certainly makes cooking a challenge. I often burn/overcook dinner. Lol. If I want to try a new recipe, I have to study it ahead of time and allow a lot of extra time to prepare it. I'm thankful that i haven't worked outside of home in a long time. I don't think I would be capable of managing a job on top of my conditions and Dr appointments.

This is part of the reason I had to quit working. I was a manager in charge of money and procedures full time and I could not retain information like I could at the start of the job. I was so frustrated because I knew I should know this information after being taught several times, but it's like my brains memory storage was full and any excess knowledge was lost after I slept. Fibro loves to cohabitate with other things, like adhd, and it's like they feed off each other. It sounds weird to say (or type) out loud or worse, trying to explain to your doctor why you think the dumb must be infecting your brain in a way that sounds medically relevant.

Oh my! I've been on a new project for a few months and I've been getting mad at myself for not retaining the information and needing to relearn how to do things. I told myself it's just because it's a more technical project but actually this explains it so well.. light bulb moment!

Yes, I definitely feel this. Fibro fog hits me hard, so unless it's a hyperfixation it's hard for me to retain information or habits. Even things I enjoy or things I know I need to survive are hard to maintain.

CONSTANTLY! I have been so freaking frustrated at how much like a seive my brain has been since my fibro diagnosis. It used to be that I would get distracted, but once I looked up how to do something, I'd pick it up again almost immediately, but now it feels like I have to have everything explained to me multiple times by nearly everyone around me. If it doesn't fall into the special interests I have for my autism, it isn't going to stay in my brain. It's REALLY annoying, and I beat myself up for it a lot.