5 ms·

I actually had a similar incident with memory loss some years ago. It wasn't because of a tumor but from severe central sleep apnea, that as near as I've ever

I actually had a similar incident with memory loss some years ago. It wasn't because of a tumor but from severe central sleep apnea, that as near as I've ever been able to figure out had been going on for about a decade and was taking a significant toll on my body and brain. The way he describes the memories coming back to him is much more eloquently put than I've ever been able to manage. I hadn't hit a point where I had lost the ability to reason, but it sounds like the memory loss was comparable. There was a period of about 2-3 years where I just hadn't been able to recall much that happened recently or long ago. I wasn't quite as fortunate (I think) as him with the recovery of memory, there are still people and relationships that I don't fully recall and likely never will at this point, but the things that did come back came back in that same kind of jumbled B before A kind of way. It was incredibly frightening for the first few months like that because memories would just pop into place and I'd realize that I didn't recall them before and feel like I just wasn't me during that time, I was some incomplete version of myself and had no idea that I was missing parts of myself. It's an incredible experience to get those things back but it's awfully frightening looking back onto the times when they weren't there and not being able to help the thought that a large part of you just wasn't there for years at a time, and if you're really the person that was there before, during, and after the whole thing. That did lead to a good deal of depression for myself during some of that, after realizing things that I did that just didn't look or sound like me because of everything I was missing. It sounds like he had a lot of help from his friends and family which was tremendous in getting him to this point. I also likely wouldn't have fared nearly as well without mine.

panic 11y ago
It's interesting that both you and the author mention recalling things and simultaneously knowing that you hadn't recalled them before. When you remember something, it rarely brings to mind the specific situation in which you last remembered that thing. But apparently, somehow, you remember that you have remembered it at some point, enough to be startled when you haven't!
- simcop2387 11y ago
  In my case it was a lot of the memories from things in college, things I knew I didn't remember from classes and things. A few things from the jobs I worked around that time too. I could usually tell it was something I couldn't remember before simply because it didn't fit anywhere for a while, just the middle or end of something that happened and didn't connect anywhere. Sometimes it made me feel like I was going a bit crazy and wasn't sure of what they were right away. Smells and sounds seemed to be the biggest things that surfaced things, sights less so. There were a few times where I'd remember a song I heard during that time and it took me a year or so to figure out what the hell the song was, those in particular drove me the most nuts because I've very little talent for music so until I remember more than a word or two from it I couldn't figure it out. It was actually something that was hard to talk about at first simply because it's so bizarre and unfamiliar that you can't really seem to express it in a way that feels right.
  - darkmighty 11y ago
    Woah this shows how sleep plays a role in organizing memory, if your condition was restricted to sleeping. Interestingly the effect was similar to the other guy (memories fine but indexes missing). Did you contact any researcher/anyone contact you?
    - simcop2387 11y ago
      No, I've never had researchers contact me, but it's a fairly well known (as far as I know) result of chronic, severe sleep apnea: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/05/07/sleep-apnea-memory-loss.aspx http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/05/0... http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-deprivation-effects-on-memory http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-deprivation-effec... Those are just some articles from this past year but the specialist that I saw for sleep problems when this was all diagnosed wasn't surprised at some of the memory issues I had been having given how severe it was; O2 saturation was dropping down to around 80% for a large portion of the night, and never above 90%. I was also having 0-30 seconds of REM sleep a night from what I was told in the sleep study. Both the terrible O2 and lack of REM sleep account for what was likely happening to my memory. Sleep is definitely a huge deal when it comes to memory.
reacweb 11y ago
How did you cure your "severe central sleep apnea" ?
- simcop2387 11y ago
  Not cured, but treated. I'm currently using a BI-PAP machine that's made a world of difference (as long as I keep my beard trimmed). It's just like a CPAP but will use different levels of pressure for inhaling and exhaling to help trigger the body's autonomic responses to breath. In my case the settings are as high as this particular machine will go, i completely forget what the units are now, 13 units for exhaling, 16 for inhaling.
rajeevk 11y ago
I have been suffering from similar problem but not that extreme from last one and half year. I hope people here will provide some info that would be useful to me. Doctors are not helpful. My problem started when switched my job in April 2014. Before I was perfectly fine. The office space was not properly ventilated. Initially (from the very first day) I used to feel very drowsy in the office and fine outside. After few days the problem became permanent even I am not in office. I was feeling like mentally blocked. Also started feeling disinterest in everything. After a month in that office, I had to travel to USA for a month in the same company and there I got severe itching and doctors there gave me some antibiotic. After taking the antibiotic, my problem even got worse. Then I had severe headache and severe metal fatigue. After returning from the US, I had to go on unpaid leave. It was feeling heavy brain fog, feeling extreme stress and metal fatigue all the time. I had visited three neurologist. All of them prescribed anti depressant. I even took an antidepressant (setraline) and it made me even worse after taking two and half months. I had got few check up done in August including MRI. The doctor told me that the MRI is normal. I have also visited few ayurvedic doctors and the ayurvedic medicine worked to some extent. In fact I am continuing the ayurvedic medicine till now. The ayurvedic medicine at least not letting the problem to get more worse. I had difficines of vitamin B12 and D and taking injection for B12 and supplements for vitamin D. Later I consulted a psychiatrist but again no help. The psychiatrist got me the EEG test which was normal. On the net I found a guy ( who is not doctor by education) describing about anti oxidants and its role in brain fog. I consulted him and he prescribed different kind of stuff (mostly for antioxidant functions) that seemed to help a bit. At present I feel little better than but the problem still very significant. Neurologists have nothing other than antidepressant to prescribe and antidepressant has worked negatively. Right now taking Ayurvedic medicines, vitamin supplements and antioxidant supplements. I have not got the sleep test done yet. None of the doctors I visited asked to me to do that. Right now I am planning to get that done too. Is there any test that I can get done?
- iscrewyou 11y ago
  When you said it happened after you changed jobs and new office was not ventilated and you were feeling drowsy, I first thought maybe it was carbon monoxide poisoning. However, if it is still happening, I am not so sure anymore. Source: Not a doctor. Just scared of carbon monoxide poisoning. You know, going to sleep and never waking up.

panic 11y ago

It's interesting that both you and the author mention recalling things and simultaneously knowing that you hadn't recalled them before. When you remember something, it rarely brings to mind the specific situation in which you last remembered that thing. But apparently, somehow, you remember that you have remembered it at some point, enough to be startled when you haven't!

simcop2387 11y ago
In my case it was a lot of the memories from things in college, things I knew I didn't remember from classes and things. A few things from the jobs I worked around that time too. I could usually tell it was something I couldn't remember before simply because it didn't fit anywhere for a while, just the middle or end of something that happened and didn't connect anywhere. Sometimes it made me feel like I was going a bit crazy and wasn't sure of what they were right away. Smells and sounds seemed to be the biggest things that surfaced things, sights less so. There were a few times where I'd remember a song I heard during that time and it took me a year or so to figure out what the hell the song was, those in particular drove me the most nuts because I've very little talent for music so until I remember more than a word or two from it I couldn't figure it out. It was actually something that was hard to talk about at first simply because it's so bizarre and unfamiliar that you can't really seem to express it in a way that feels right.
- darkmighty 11y ago
  Woah this shows how sleep plays a role in organizing memory, if your condition was restricted to sleeping. Interestingly the effect was similar to the other guy (memories fine but indexes missing). Did you contact any researcher/anyone contact you?
  - simcop2387 11y ago
    No, I've never had researchers contact me, but it's a fairly well known (as far as I know) result of chronic, severe sleep apnea: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/05/07/sleep-apnea-memory-loss.aspx http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/05/0... http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-deprivation-effects-on-memory http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-deprivation-effec... Those are just some articles from this past year but the specialist that I saw for sleep problems when this was all diagnosed wasn't surprised at some of the memory issues I had been having given how severe it was; O2 saturation was dropping down to around 80% for a large portion of the night, and never above 90%. I was also having 0-30 seconds of REM sleep a night from what I was told in the sleep study. Both the terrible O2 and lack of REM sleep account for what was likely happening to my memory. Sleep is definitely a huge deal when it comes to memory.

reacweb 11y ago

How did you cure your "severe central sleep apnea" ?

simcop2387 11y ago
Not cured, but treated. I'm currently using a BI-PAP machine that's made a world of difference (as long as I keep my beard trimmed). It's just like a CPAP but will use different levels of pressure for inhaling and exhaling to help trigger the body's autonomic responses to breath. In my case the settings are as high as this particular machine will go, i completely forget what the units are now, 13 units for exhaling, 16 for inhaling.

rajeevk 11y ago

I have been suffering from similar problem but not that extreme from last one and half year. I hope people here will provide some info that would be useful to me. Doctors are not helpful. My problem started when switched my job in April 2014. Before I was perfectly fine. The office space was not properly ventilated. Initially (from the very first day) I used to feel very drowsy in the office and fine outside. After few days the problem became permanent even I am not in office. I was feeling like mentally blocked. Also started feeling disinterest in everything. After a month in that office, I had to travel to USA for a month in the same company and there I got severe itching and doctors there gave me some antibiotic. After taking the antibiotic, my problem even got worse. Then I had severe headache and severe metal fatigue. After returning from the US, I had to go on unpaid leave. It was feeling heavy brain fog, feeling extreme stress and metal fatigue all the time. I had visited three neurologist. All of them prescribed anti depressant. I even took an antidepressant (setraline) and it made me even worse after taking two and half months. I had got few check up done in August including MRI. The doctor told me that the MRI is normal. I have also visited few ayurvedic doctors and the ayurvedic medicine worked to some extent. In fact I am continuing the ayurvedic medicine till now. The ayurvedic medicine at least not letting the problem to get more worse. I had difficines of vitamin B12 and D and taking injection for B12 and supplements for vitamin D. Later I consulted a psychiatrist but again no help. The psychiatrist got me the EEG test which was normal. On the net I found a guy ( who is not doctor by education) describing about anti oxidants and its role in brain fog. I consulted him and he prescribed different kind of stuff (mostly for antioxidant functions) that seemed to help a bit. At present I feel little better than but the problem still very significant. Neurologists have nothing other than antidepressant to prescribe and antidepressant has worked negatively. Right now taking Ayurvedic medicines, vitamin supplements and antioxidant supplements. I have not got the sleep test done yet. None of the doctors I visited asked to me to do that. Right now I am planning to get that done too. Is there any test that I can get done?

iscrewyou 11y ago
When you said it happened after you changed jobs and new office was not ventilated and you were feeling drowsy, I first thought maybe it was carbon monoxide poisoning. However, if it is still happening, I am not so sure anymore. Source: Not a doctor. Just scared of carbon monoxide poisoning. You know, going to sleep and never waking up.