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My mother had an episode of transient global amnesia [1] that lasted for about 12 hours. It was the strangest thing. For those 12 hours, both her short- and lon

My mother had an episode of transient global amnesia [1] that lasted for about 12 hours. It was the strangest thing. For those 12 hours, both her short- and long-term memory were almost completely impaired. It was terrifying when we thought it might be a stroke, but once the whole differential diagnose was done and we realized it was probably just TGA, we knew we just had to ride it out. We spent the few couple hours answering the same round of question for her about once every minute. She'd occasionally get really scared and upset, but then she'd forget what she was upset about! We'd ask her questions and she remembered the most basic autobiographical details (married, 3 kids), but just about nothing else. We'd ask, "where did you go to college?" and she'd say, "I went to....I...don't know!" Obviously, pretty disturbing, but we just had to trust it was temporary. Eventually, the duration of forgetfulness started extending, and then by night, she said it was like a fog was lifted, and she could remember again. As described in the Wikipedia page, she hasn't experienced any aftereffects, other than not remembering much of that particular day. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transient_global_amnesia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transient_global_amnesia

oflannabhra 10y ago
My mother experienced the exact same issue while I was attending college. It was preceded by an intense migraine the night before (including vomiting). She called me early that morning very confused why she wasn't at school (she was a teacher). She didn't remember the night before, or why she had stayed home, or where my dad was (he had left for work). I was seriously alarmed, but she had no other impairments other than her memory. She was lucid, had clear speech, etc. I eventually pieced everything together (my dad is a doctor and he diagnosed her over the phone). I then spent the rest of the day on the phone with her, answering the same cycle of questions. I eventually had her start writing those questions and answers down, but she kept losing the paper! Eventually we moved it to the fridge, and a close friend of hers was with her. Similarly, it lasted about 24 hours, eventually faded, and had no adverse after effects. It truly was like Memento, though. Definitely one of the more surreal medical issues I've been exposed to.

oflannabhra 10y ago

My mother experienced the exact same issue while I was attending college. It was preceded by an intense migraine the night before (including vomiting). She called me early that morning very confused why she wasn't at school (she was a teacher). She didn't remember the night before, or why she had stayed home, or where my dad was (he had left for work). I was seriously alarmed, but she had no other impairments other than her memory. She was lucid, had clear speech, etc. I eventually pieced everything together (my dad is a doctor and he diagnosed her over the phone). I then spent the rest of the day on the phone with her, answering the same cycle of questions. I eventually had her start writing those questions and answers down, but she kept losing the paper! Eventually we moved it to the fridge, and a close friend of hers was with her. Similarly, it lasted about 24 hours, eventually faded, and had no adverse after effects. It truly was like Memento, though. Definitely one of the more surreal medical issues I've been exposed to.