Keep burning stuff

[Annegirl]

I keep leaving pans to burn on the stove, I start making lunch or breakfast and then one of my children call me, they need help with something and I only remember I had something cooking when I smell it. Am I just absent minded? It's happening every few days since I got the facial tic. So I think it's somehow stress related?

[Badmemories]

I get more scatterbrained when I am under stress. So, that is probably what is happening. Have You thought of a plan to keep that from happening? You could set a timer (maybe on the stove ) When You start to cook, set it for how long the dish would probably take, then the alarm would go off when the dish should be done. That alleviates the chance of having a fire.

[Annegirl]

Hey that's a really good idea Badmemories,! Thank you so much for that suggestion. I will do that from now on!
don't know why I didn't think of that 

[Badmemories]

Your welcome... just validates how crazy things get... My electricity was shut off in My house. Me not even thinking..  didn't think too much about it... then I went in there the other day and realized that the refrigerater was also off... too late lost about 20 lbs of meat! 

[schrödinger's cat]

Are you Freeze types? I'm asking because I am, and I've been known to do some reeeeally absent-minded things. BUT! if this is simply just a side-effect of CPTSD, then... hm, it still matters, it's still inconvenient... but it's not something that says things about my character/willpower/discipline, you know?

Sorry to hear about the meat. Yikes. In medieval times, they used to bury rotting meat and let the maggots eat off all the decayed stuff, then they dug it back out, used a LOT AND LOT of spices, and ate it. ... Live expectancy wasn't too rosy at those times, but hey, no ressources were wasted.

[Annegirl]

Yes SC freeze fawn are you a freeze type also?
Badmemories I did that all day today and didn't burn anything except overheated a pan because I forgot to put the timer on, but I'll get in the habit.

[schrödinger's cat]

Yes, definitely a freeze type.  I remember the first time I got out of my Freeze-induced foggy-mindedness. I was... twenty? Twenty-one? Wow, that was so glorious. I remember thinking: "...and this is how you normal people feel like ALL THE TIME???!!" Punctuality, completing tasks, not forgetting things... all were within my reach! And it was so EASY! When I was a teenager, the Freeze fogginess was really really bad. Or maybe just bad compared to the high standards my FOO would have liked to see me achieve.

[Annegirl]

Yes, definitely a freeze type.  I remember the first time I got out of my Freeze-induced foggy-mindedness. I was... twenty? Twenty-one? Wow, that was so glorious. I remember thinking: "...and this is how you normal people feel like ALL THE TIME???!!" Punctuality, completing tasks, not forgetting things... all were within my reach! And it was so EASY! When I was a teenager, the Freeze fogginess was really really bad. Or maybe just bad compared to the high standards my FOO would have liked to see me achieve.

Wow!!! I'm really happy for you, well done for getting out of it, did it just happen one day and never go back?

[schrödinger's cat]

It went away when I left home. (So obvious in hindsight.) I still Froze during the ten years after that, but it was really mild.

Then a series of stressful life events made me vulnerable enough that a "friend" triggered an EF that lasted for months. She's a bit of a narcissist. Then another difficult life event happened, and ever since then, it's been recovery - setback - recovery - setback... There are two years of my life I mainly sleepwalked through, the Freeze got so bad. I'm better now. Not nearly there yet, but compared to the really sh*tty two years, this is gold.

[Annegirl]

Oh you sound like you have really pushed through a lot. Well done. I hope I will feel similar soon.

[Badmemories]

I am a freezer type.

[schrödinger's cat]

Do you know, I have this silly joke stuck in my head ever since I read this thread. Because I read the first few posts and thought: "oh hey, join the club", and ever since then, I keep thinking: The first rule of Freeze Club is, don't talk about Freeze Club.

Thanks, Annegirl. Pushing through is hard work, but what really helped me move out of the fog were happy coincidences - finding a few texts on "emotional abuse" and "characteristics of children from dysfunctional families", and then finding other things, and then finding out about CPTSD. ... For me, the fog gets worse when I'm in denial, and it lifts when I'm out of it. Still scatter-brained and absent-minded though, but not nearly as bad as it was in the eighties.

Do you think your diet influences the fogginess? I'm asking because mine got a lot better after I cut down on simple carbs, and there's another thread about CPTSD and food that helped me understand why the fog always lifts if I eat plenty of vegetables and enough meat. Also, the fog lifts if I remember to drink enough water. So I'm wondering if this is just me (I have a food intolerance against histamine) or if it's something others experience, too?