memory

[serendipity324]

I know there are memory issues with E or the meds. And everyone's experience is different. I've had memory issues. forgotten words. forgot where I put something. forgot what I was going to say. I've gotten used to the idea of it happening I guess. Lately, I'm completely forgetting doing things, like a trip to the store. taking a shower. going in the bathroom and rearranging things. all I thought may be due to some seizure activity. Today something weird happened. it freaked me out....my husband and I were at a street fair, we were looking at a chest of drawers, he says " I like that, I would get it for the basement. but there's no where to put it"....so normally my mind/brain would go to picture the basement. right? I tried to..I couldn't remember what it looked like, I felt like I was forcing myself..I couldn't remember it, or even my house..how to get in the basement..thinking that would jolt it back. I was feeaking out inside. I couldn't voice it..but it took about 5 minutes for me to be able to find it in my memory. it just freaked me out.

[jyearta]

I can so relate.
I have been stores going to purchase an item for a room in my home, I try (like you) to picture that room but all that comes is a room in a house we lived in last. 12 years ago. It seems the harder I try to picture, I cann't get the correct image into my mind.

I thought it was just me.

[RunningGirl85]

That type of stuff has happened to me as well (I actually just posted on something related), though maybe not as much as remembering a picture of something, but basic things that should come automatically, and usually do.

A few years ago (before ever being diagnosed with epilepsy, or being on any anti-epileptic drugs) I had this weird thought that the road I lived on was a one-way street, so I drove on the wrong side of the road... I'd lived there for years. That's not the only time time stuff has happened to me like that, either, especially while driving (forgetting basic rules of what I should be doing), though I can't drive now for a few months anyways. This was all before meds, and I always just attributed it to being sort of spacey sometimes (like misplacing stuff), but the memory thing can be really freaky.

[valeriedl]

I have alot of memory problems. I try to keep things in the same place and put them back where they belong when I'm done using them, but that hardly ever happens!!!

I have a huge problem remembering words. I can be looking at the thing and can't think what it's called. I'll even forget my cat's names. I used to have to boy cats so I'd just say the one with the long hair or the short hair. Now I have a girl and a boy, so it's easier to figure out which one is which.

I love it when I'll call a help line for my computer, pone, tv and things like that. Half the time I'll forget what the word is for what's wrong with what ever it is and have to play a nice guessing game with the poor help line person.

Alot of times after I have a seizure I'll forget what I did that day, or maybe even the day before. It's not as bad as it was when I was first diagnosed but it still happens.

I can't remember which roads are which and how to get places any more. I don't know if it's because I haven't driven for about 9 years now or if it's from the epilepsy.

I've had problems picturing things too. I won't beable to figure out what color my house is on the outside or the rooms inside. It was driving me crazy the other day because I couldn't remember if there was a shower in my parents bathroom in the basement, I lived there for 20 some years too. I finally had to ask her, and yes there was.

We've all sort of made a joke out of my memory problems. It's easier to laugh about things than it is to be upset about them.

[Maidenminx]

I feel like someone has gone into my memory and renamed all my files and shifted them so I can't access them like I used to. It's freaky, infuriating and often embarrassing.

[serendipity324]

thanks. it's nice to know tht it's not just me. that not being able to remeber my house was such a new thing to me in this.

[LJ-Bain]

I can never remember what day it is. I can memorize the date but not remember that it is...wait for it....Saturday.

[LJ-Bain]

Serendipity....that would be totally scary to forget your house. Who knows...maybe you were even having a partial at that time and didn't even know it. Or post-ictal.
I never like to think that the problem is me. I still like to think of me as separate from the seizures. Like a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde thing, or a bad sandwich that I ate thats lingering on.

[RachelinAZ]

Yes. Over time, my memory has gotten worse. Way worse. Both long and short term memory. My neurologist told me every time *I* have a seizure, brain cells die (this is for me... I am not sure it works that way for everyone).
I do not remember my oldest son, the first three years of his life. Period. I actually don't remember a lot of things. Even a photo will not trigger the memory It really stinks. I thought my youngest son's birthday was May 28th for 3 years, it is the 25th. I have NO idea where I got May 28th from. At one point, I had to pull out his birth certificate.... I was angry at my husband for telling me *I* was wrong. :/
I am forgetting my Gram, mom and sister's voices (Gram and mom passed away in 2008, my sister in 2010). I am forgetting memories of them I think that is what has been so hard. People tell me "Well you have your memories" NO, I don't. I get so frustrated.
Some days I forget the *simplist* of things. Or how to spell something simple. Or I spell something, and it doesn't look right, so I have to ask my husband. AND WHAT ANGERS ME, is I have lived in our current home for... 4 years or close to 4 years, and I still have to think (some days, harder than others), which way to go to the bank, or to the doctors, or the store. And that scares me. It really scares me.
I wish others (my oldest son! my husband!), do not get it.

I will never, ever stop taking my meds again (I've always been "doctor approved" to stop them), just for the sake of not wanting to lose more memories.

On a good note... I can watch movies or read books I've seen/read several times, and it's almost always like new to me :/ It is good, but other times, my husband tries to talk to me about something and I am clueless. And there are times I DO remember the strangest things LOL.

[serendipity324]

Serendipity....that would be totally scary to forget your house. Who knows...maybe you were even having a partial at that time and didn't even know it. Or post-ictal.
I never like to think that the problem is me. I still like to think of me as separate from the seizures. Like a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde thing, or a bad sandwich that I ate thats lingering on.

my daughter said the same thing when I told her about it later..that maybe it was a seizure, or that I had had one and was coming out of it. hmmm....

I like to think of it being seperate from me too.
LOLing at the bad sandwich analogy!

[serendipity324]

Yes. Over time, my memory has gotten worse. Way worse

Rachelin, oh it is scary and frustrating.
I can't imagine your sadness in forgetting voices of your mom and sister. one of my best friends died in 2006, I still can hear her voice & laughter...it would be sad to not hear it anymore.
I was really upset one day recently when I was talking about my neice and couldn't for anything remember her name...forgetting tv shows, actors, sports figures and movies I'm getting used to..but not my neice's name.

anyway.. {{{{{{hugs}}}}}} to you.

[Sten]

My wife had a VNS implanted recently. She has been improving steadily until three weeks ago when the seizures picked back up. She is in the hospital now because she has developed a pattern of going out of the house and hurting herself, then being found unconscious in the house hours later. The last time was this week, and when I found her, she was almost dead. Has anyone ever experienced a blackout of this type surrounding seizure? She says she can't remember hurting herself.