Transient Epileptic amnesia
 

Is there anybody out there who has this condition? I was diagnosed a few months ago and still don't know much about it. Basically, I wake up not knowing what I did yesterday, very confused with no short term memory so I ask the same questions over and over again, which must be very irritating! This can last several hours. I only know what I've read on the internet, which varies depending on which site you visit. My consultant gave a name to my condition, but wouldn't get involved in any discussion about it. My doctor just increased my epilepsy medication. It would be so good to be able to talk to somebody who understands.

Reposting your original New Member intro from 8-26-2012 on the Epilepsy Support Group
 

AIMac,

Please clarify for some of us what you refer as "an RTA".
I'm unclear on just what it is that was the precipitator of your head injury.

Many thanks,
Theta

I think RTA may mean Road Traffic Accident.

AIM,

I think you may be having seizures during sleep that prevents your brain from properly storing short term memories from the day before as long term memories. This may be a result of a sleep disorder or poor blood flow to the brain when you are sleeping.

When I have a bad night's sleep, I have similar memory problems. Rather than frustrating anybody, I just accept that I don't remember much of yesterday.

There may be other things at play. Tell us more about your injury and ongoing symptoms and we may be able to help more.

My best to you.

Memory
 

IMO memory can be over rated. When every day is a slog thru pain and confusion being obsessed with ones previous ability to recall is counter productive. I felt better and stressed less when I stopped worrying about it.

I still forget. If I have something in my hand and put it down, I know I may forget about it completely. This comes into play in a professional setting. But if you are here hopefully healing is your priority and not working. I am going on 3 weeks return to work.

The memory issue can be a big deal but I am restricted on duties and refuse to put or allow myself to be put in an unsafe position. In my line of work protocol and safety standards must be met. If not then my health and life as well as others are risked.

What I know all to well about memory is with a good safety net. Such as spouse, friends, family and hopefully one or more DR's memory matters very little. Where it does seem to matter is work performance. But then again if ones life centers around work and only work it does not leave much room for anything else. There is a world out there that has nothing to do with work and one only needs to step into it.

Can not stress how important it is to just be able to be in the moment and be aware. So many little success's and joys will happen and if we are not paying attention they will slip away while we are unaware.:)

It's not so much that I can't remember things, it's that there is no memory of them. I don't keep asking about yesterday because I don't know that I can't remember yesterday. The first couple of times I can remember knowing that I had no memory of the previous day, but since then it's always a complete blank. I just lose how ever many hours.
TEA is a recognised syndrome related to Temporal Lobe Epilepsy as the temporal lobe is to do with memory. There is no cure so it's something I must live with. It would be so good to find somebody else who has the same condition. Maybe I could find out what the future holds for me.

Your future is bright. There are many memory compensating skills for you to learn. The first is simply learning to not depend on your short term memory. I simply tell people that I have no clue to what happened yesterday. Even my wife forgets that I have memory problems.

Research shows that using smart phones to keep track of events and ideas can be very beneficial for people with memory problems. If I am working on a project and need to walk away, I make a note of where I am in the project and what the next step should be. This helps prevent me trying to do the same work over again.

Hope you can find similar skills. I ma sure the are plenty of ideas here for living with poor memory.

My best to you.

Thanks for your reply and encouraging comments, but when I say I have no short term memory I mean that I won't remember what you just said to me, what I have just done, whether I've eaten, let alone what it was and if I enjoyed it! It's the same as it was immediately after my head injury. I spent 2 weeks "asleep" in rehab. When I "woke up" I had no memory of any of it. It is just like being asleep and when you wake up you can't remember anything. Not even your dreams.
My general memory is getting steadily worse. I do write myself cryptic notes to remind me of things, but then can't remember what they mean! My husband is very patient with me but does get irritated when I can't remember holidays etc. The difference is that if he reminds me of what we did and describes the place I can then remember.
My main concern is that other people seem to associate poor memory with stupidity and often bypass me and talk to my husband. My doctor has actually done that! "And how is your wife"!

I would confront Dr. directly about that. We all deserve respect and that is very disrespectful treatment. I kept a health journal for months, but I wrote everything in it. While my memory is no where near as bad as you describe. It is totally unreliable.

It took me about 3 months to figure out how bad it is. I have spent days trying to remember people I know/knew and drawn a complete blank. No names, faces, or any aspect. My wife has seen me turning in circles in the living room from being confused and not knowing what I was doing.

After months of going nuts about this I learned to let it go. It has caused some issues with bills and lawyers.... But all in all I am still here, the world still turns. I am having more good days than bad. So IMO memory is over rated or maybe I have forgotten how critical it is. Either way I am less stressed I know there is nothing I can do about it. I have a digital recorder and I write lots of notes. But I forget to use one of just lose the other.

My Transient Epileptic Amnesia
 

I have had Transient Epileptic Amnesia since 2009, and have suffered 29 seizures since then. They are always the same - I wake up in the morning and can't remember what I did yesterday. In the worst event, I did not know wy wife of 39 years. My neurologist has me on gabapentine and oxcarbazepine, which seem to lessen the severity of seizures, but I still get them. He tells me he is working on a new treatment plan, so we will see. I am only the second Transient Epileptic Amnesia he has worked with in 18 year of practice, so you can see it's pretty rare, and the docs don't have a lot of data to work with.

gr630,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Did you know there is an Epilepsy forum? Here is a link, http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum11.html

I have occasional bouts with morning amnesia. I think they are due to my Central Sleep Apnea. I can be messed up for hours after waking up from a bad sleep episode with CSA. I usually need a good nap with good breathing to recover. When I have these episodes, I wake up wondering where I am, what the day is, even unable to differentiate between dreams and real life. It is very common for me to need to work to remember the previous day. I usually slowly rebuild my memory of the day.

I wonder if TEA has other causes other than epilepsy. Has your neuro put you on a brain nutrition regimen? It could be helpful.

My best to you.

I have had it since this past June 2013. It's so rare, neurologists don't acknowlege it as it's own condition. My doctor just calls it temporal lobe epilepsy. However, when I read descriptions of TEA episodes on the internet (example - The TIME Project) I know beyond a doubt that I have it. My doctor has me on Keppra, which has slowed the episodes down a bit, but has not stopped them. I have to convince her to let me try Lamictal.

Tea
 

I've had a similar experience with my doctors. I had my first experience in the spring of 2011 (my last semester of college) and every doctor I saw kept calling it panic attacks or assuming I was on drugs (even though all tox screens came up clean). It wasn't until about a year later that a doctor diagnosed me with epilepsy and I have responded pretty well to lamical. However, my doctor had never even heard of transient epileptic amnesia (she was calling my experience complex partial seizures) and I have had a difficult time convincing her that my experiences are real. For example, my episode last between 20 minutes and an hour or more and she insisted they could not be longer than 5 or ten minutes. I have many witnesses who can verify the episodes, but she still barely believes me! If anyone knows of a good neurologist in Massachusetts - let me know! I am in the market :-)

sorry I'm so late to the game/ I first had issues about 5 years ago. I wrote this and saved it as a draft in my hotmail account just incase I ever forgot.

here's my story. (I wrote this about 5 years ago)

Basically, over a 5-6 day period, every 2-3 months, i have these intense lapses in memory. Can't remember who I am, what I am doing and can't talk really for 15-30 seconds at a time (worst is 3-4 minutes). During this time I have intense deja vu (or my brain tells me I am), and I swear I can tell you exactly what you are about to say before you say it, which to me means my brain is jacked up.


I am completely NOT kidding about this. Usually if there's a bathroom around I can make it into there and just wait it out. at the worst, I feel like vomiting.

when its happening, I cannot think straight. its really a horrible feeling. I have no clue where I am and what is happening. I can still drive when it happens. but most of the time I pull over. I was driving today to the bank after meeting a friend for Pizza. It happened as I was pulling out of the drive through, and it took me 10-12 minutes to figure out who i was, where I was going and then where the library was (my work).

I didn't think I was epileptic and I don't know that its a seizure. it happens pretty much on cue every 2-3 months, and a day before it starts, I know its going to happen. Then it happens on and off for 5 days on average. it started Friday and today has been the worst. Usually day four is the worst and it gets better and is done within 5-6 days.

by wednesday I will be fine. I can keep my eyes open. if i type, however, you'd see just mumbo-jumbo.
having a blast now. not as bad as usual,
i just have to put my head down.

stomach didn't hurt as bad on that one.my head is hot though. sweaty.feel like putting my head down.

I have had the suggestion by one person to go to a neurologist. i am scared to death to. i am sweating like a pig now. today it's been every 45 minutes to an hour and a half. probably the peak I've ever had it. Sucks to be me.

The tough thing is that it only happens every 2-3 months. I'm just so down when it happens. I always fear I will be around someone and talking to someone and say something stupid. I happened to be opening up 3 CDs at local banks today, while driving a rental car. All okay so far! It's called managing the problem. Twice I just had to pull over and wait it out.

My pulse doesn't go up when it happens.

Part of me just doesn't know where to start, or what to say. this is probably the best I have done putting it into words. when it happens, it is as though I know what you are going to say before you say it. ive hidden it for years. I have felt alone for years. ive been ignoring it for years hoping it would go away.

I hit my head trying to jump down a flight of stairs when I was 12 (I know....stupid)....and had 6 stitches on the front 1/3 of my noggin. However, I think I remember times before this that I had very intense, very re-occuring dreams, since I was in the 8-9 years of age. re-occuring
dreams at night...same dream-like euphoria I experience now.

I pleaded with my wife to believe me. She didn't until she saw me sweating profusely one night and I wouldn't respond to her.

She believed me I had an issue, but then I had to threaten going straight to a neurologist if she wouldn't let me talk to someone....just to get advice...she trusted these people at our church, and I had them lovingly confront her about it.

She's still not happy about that. That convinced her that I was serious enough about it. She "permitted" me to discuss the issue with her parents.
I've studied thus enough to know what it likely is. Her parents tried to downplay it, saying it was stress, work, lack of sleep, not working out, eating poorly, and caffeine...

So, when I lost my job in July, I slept more, worked out every day, cut the caffeine, had NO stress, and enjoyed life. They suggested I talk to our family doctor who is a friend. He put me on ADD meds and I had more in October and again in January.


Again, that was 4-5 years ago. Since then, I still have them, but lately they have not been half as bad. I am throwing away my pills....my wife thinks I am still taking them. They are Methylphenidate and Citalopram. When I take them I feel worse. If I have a few nights where I get poor sleep, it starts up the following day.

I will say this. The dreams/experiences are so euphoric, so amazing (yet frightful), that I tend to miss them when I haven't had them for a long time.