Thanks Sandy you’re absolutely right. Sometimes I think I’m ok as I must be using the new connections. But I so easily get over ambitious and try to do things that I haven’t finished the connections for. Patience is a virtue.

I’d never thought about if dehydration brings on bad moments with me. And yet I’m pretty sure I don’t drink enough as I’m always thirsty. Thanks for sharing this as actually there’s a few potential triggers I’ve not considered that I could be looking out for.

In the kitchen…food prep, cooking, all the steps necessary to creating a meal…often impossible. At some point, the overwhelm comes on. Ditto if I’m talking with someone, and another person enters the conversation. It’s as if an electrical charge zaps my brain, and everything goes awry.

Grocery shopping…I can’t count the number of times I’ve suddenly stopped in an aisle, blank. It’s as if my powers of agency and comprehension have just…stopped. Regressed to infancy. There seems to be an “Off” switch to executive functions and cognition.

What helps? QUIET, in and for every sense. Stillness. Warmth. Spaciousness. Someone/something/somewhere familiar and safe. Touch — gentle and firm at the same time — almost always returns me to calm. I ask myself if I’m hydrated (amazing how a glass of water can start the regulatory process — and how much damage dehydration does), and if I need to eat. Is my body cold or overheated? Have I been on my feet or away from home for too long? So often, the most basic remedies are the best.

Multitasking is pretty much impossible now. ONE task at a time is sometimes too much 😉 (Sequencing continues to be a challenge…)

Here’s another one — getting dressed! Sometimes I lose track of what goes on, when, and where. I have to laugh at that one.

So…quiet, rest, getting myself away from stimulation and chaos, making sure I’m warm and boundered (dropping awareness into the body, and wrapping up in a blanket or getting into bed; taking a warm bath), listening to my soothing songs, cuddling with my husband…and in the most desperate moments of panic, certain medications help (they’re a last resort).

The “screwing up” graphic at the top of your article had me howling with laughter! Thanks, Michelle. Humour is such great medicine…

Ah yes,if I need to try to take in any new information I can’t do anything else at the same time. If others try to ask me unrelated questions I have to tell them to ask again when I’m finished with the subject in hand. Otherwise my brain just gets jammed.

Yes I had good concentration but now ideas pop in, do a jig and then wander off leaving my thoughts in chaos. Grrr…..