Short Term Memory

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Does anyone else have a bad short term memory? I do. I can put stuff down and walk away and come back about five minutes later and totally forget where I put it. I do this all time.

I forget what I am talking about midsentence all the time, there may be reasons for this other than autism tho...

To some degree but it used to be much worse and like you I'd do that too. I know now that being too emotional or nervous me it worse.

My short term memory is not good at all.

My memory is shocking.

If something is not in it's usual place, I can forget where it is, even if I just had it moments ago.
I forget dates all the time.
I have been driving the same route to pick up my kids for the last 6 months and can just now do it without the GPS as I discovered a pattern in the route.
I can't remember what I had for dinner last night without really thinking about it.
I forget names as soon as I'm told.
I forget how to spell words I should know, and sometimes even semi forget which way around a letter goes.

I cope by using my phone as my memory. Calendar, Google Keep (notepad) and Camera / Gallery are my best friends.

Yet I know 5 programming languages, and have 1000's of functions memorized, I can code for hours without reference, I can remember cheat codes for games 20+ years old...

Yes, I also have a bad short term memory. Although, I don't think it is the correct word to use "bad", because when we are "bad" at something, our brain tends to avoid it or send out signals to you saying "this is taking a lot of energy, or this isn't comfortable, how about we do something else?".

The neurotransmitter associated with our short-term memory is dopamine.

I will refer you to a book titled "The Introvert Advantage", by Marti Laney. Many AS-people tend to be extremely introverted. The book has good explanations why we avoid short-term memory activities, and prefer utilizing our long-term memory. Of course, we must use the STM to get to the LTM, which is why if you stick with something long enough, you can find your 'zone'. It takes me roughly 20 mins of uninterrupted reading to find my zone of concentration, and the information isn't painful to take in anymore.

With physical activities, like cooking, I am hopeless. My mind wanders and everything ends up burnt, or the pot boils over, or whatever I put in the microwave is forgotten and I find it the next day. I stick with ready to eat snacks, or sandwiches. I also have to write on a whiteboard on my fridge that I have had something to eat, or I will forget -- 'was it today or am I remembering the food I ate yesterday?' Checklists are a daily necessity.

Yes

Yes, me too. I write reminders for myself but forget to read them. If I don't eat lunch at the same time each day I'll forget to eat.

Um, what was this thread about again? I forgot.

Not as worse as it sounds, but not as better in general either. It's more like into the 'below average' range for me than 'bad'.

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My short term memory could be better.

I have very poor short term memory.

My "train of thought" can get de-railed easily, but I can remember that I forgot what I was about to say.
As for things I did recently, I have fairly good short-term memory, unless I'm on my third pitcher of beer or more.
I've been trying to change my drinking habits so I can start remembering all the "good times" when I go out. The new plan is to stop drinking beverages with alcohol after more than two hours of beer, and switch to something like O'doul's or "mocktails" like orange juice and 7up for the remainder of the evening.

My short term memory is quite weak, but if I am relaxed or at ease it improves.
If someone interrupts me I will completely forget what I was speaking about and have to go through the keywords from my previous points to remember the rest of my sentence, this can take quite some time .

Avoiding stress, or dealing with it healthily helps my memory issues more than anything else I have tried.