transient epilepsy amnesia

[Masey]

Husband has transient epilepsy amnesia. He is 67. He has forgotten a whole week of vacation about 1 1/2 yrs ago. This yr. he has had 2 noticeable times on waking and lost 24 hrs. of memory each time. He is now on meds. He had been told he has Alz. Is there someone else that has this?

[epileric]

Sorry to hear about your hubby. I can only imagine what it must be like.

I don't have problems with Alzheimer but I do have lots of problems with memory due to seizures & the required medications.

I'm just realizing how common memory problems are in people with epilepsy.

[Masey]

Hi epileric. This is all so new to us-had no idea that epilepsy brought memory problems with it! We think that he was misdiagnosed with Alzheimers by family Dr. We are in hopes that the meds. will control this. All the research I have done sounds like it could.

[Masey]

The medicine my husband is on is Keppra.

[epileric]

I was on Keppra for a short while. I was OK with the initial dose but when we upped it to try & get to a therapeutic level I had trouble reading more than one sentence. I'd have to read it 3 or 4 times to remember it but if I tried to read the next sentence the first one would be forgotten.

Is your family doctor aware of the side-effects of keppra & is he treating the epilepsy as well? You should be seeing a neurologist for that.

[Masey]

He is seeing a neurologist now and he is the one that put him on Keppra at the lowest dose possible. This was to control seizures of the left side of the brain. When he has one of these seizures, it causes amnesia. He will not remember the last 24 hours. So far he had done ok with Keppra-did not know it could cause memory problems.

[epileric]

It can but doesn't necessarily. It (like all anti-epileptic drugs) effects everyone differently.

I do forget things after my seizures though. How much I forget depends on how big or intense the seizure was.

[Masey]

Thank you very much.
I am glad that I have found this site.

[Cint]

Hi Massey,

I have temporal lobe epilepsy and take 3000 mgs. of Keppra a day. I had a left temporal lobectomy years ago, so my memory is bad, also. And like Eric said, when experiencing a seizure, it can also effect memory for up to days, depending on the intensity and type of seizure. I've had tonic clonic seizures where I could not remember my kid's names for hours or things in my own home, or recognize my own home sometimes after a seizure. I thought I was developing Alzheimers but my neurologist told me it was from my damaged hippocampus. And I definitely have trouble with word finding and remembering names on a daily basis (aphasia), but that can be from meds/temporal lobe epilepsy.