answer:If you’re over 40, this is probably just in the natural course of things. I started to panic about it when I was about 42 and suddenly couldn’t remember things I knew very well, from familiar words to the names of actors. By now I am used to it and have adopted lots of little tricks and props to help me along. It’s only going to get worse, so we may as well be cheerful about it and find the humor. I told my husband recently that one of these days we’re only going to need one conversation. We can have it over and over and it’ll seem fresh to us. If it’s really sudden and severe, though, that’s a different matter. I went through a very stressful period when I was locking myself out of my car at least once a week, leaving home without my purse, etc. That’s not normal and does call for a little attention. When the chaos eased up, so did my memory problem.