Amnesia

[genelady]

I am a 61-year-old female who has had 2 episodes of temporary amnesia. The first was about 3 years ago, and lasted 15 minutes. The second time, I lost all my memories (eg how to read, my age, my address) for about an hour. Nobody noticed anything wrong with me either time, and I can clearly remember the experience of having no memories - it was like someone had built a brick wall between the reasoning part of my brain and the memory part.

After the second episode, I had a few memory glitches (different from my usual senior moments) – eg briefly thinking that my address was the one where I lived 30 years ago. A few months later I experienced a sharp pain above one eye, and felt briefly like my mind was detached from me.

An EEG and CT Scan ruled out epilepsy, stroke, dementia, and brain tumor. The neurologist I consulted had not heard of amnesia like this. The nearest he could come to my experience was Transient Global Amnesia, which he said might, or might not, be related to Transient Ischemic Attacks. Just in case these episodes were TIAs and because I have high cholesterol, I’m now being treated for that.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this or have any suggestions as to what might have caused this amnesia?

[deborahl]

I just had a similar episode to what you describe. I have been diagnosed with a generalized anxiety disorder and take prozac. Recently while driving I had an onslaught of strange dreamlike imagery and when I emerged from it, I felt confused and couldn't remember the past three days. I went into the school where I teach and couldn't remember my students who all seemed like strangers to me. I also felt as if I were sleeping or in a drugged state. I've sometimes been driving in my neighborhood and suddenly lost all familiarity with it and felt as if I were back somewhere I used to live years ago. I worry that this is some sort of dementia. I'm wondering if you are also on an SSRI and if this might be related to years of SSRI use?