Sudden Memory Loss

[saber174]

On three occasions now, my dad has woken up and not remembered a fairly large chuck of time (usually about a year).  He wakes up completely confused and scared.  Each time he ends up calling me or my sister and we get him rushed to the hospital. After about a half day- a day, he starts getting the memory back and feels perfectly fine.  
The hospital runs a gamete of tests that all show nothing and he is discharged, only for it to happen again.  After about a week he has all but his full memory back with the exception of about a week leading up to the memory loss.  He has never got back the week before each episode.  What could be causing this? Is there anything we can do to prevent it from happening?

[saber174]

Thank you for the information.  However, my dad did have a clot previously (2 years ago) and he is on Coumadin.  The last time this happened (2 months ago) they did check for clots and there were not any.  Any other ideas?

[caregiver222]

The problem is typical of a so-called "transient ischemic attack" when blood supply to specific parts of the brain are interrupted.  The intermittant interuption is a clue that action should be taken to prevent the condition from deteriorating further.  The blockage could be from a clot of a spasm, complicated by a narrowed blood vessel probably due to fatty deposits.You dad should probably have been prescribed a baby aspirin a day and 1000 mg a day of omega-3 fish oils at a minimum, plus a daily quality vitamin tablet. He needed evaluation at a stroke center rather than an ordinary hospital, and a 3 T (Tesla) MRI. Before fooling around with aspirin he needs a clotting time test (PTT). This problem could be caused by a bleed or a clot, but it is more likely to have been a clot.