Brain surgery long ago but still memory loss?

[kissxoxo84]

I had brain surgery 17 years ago when I was 11 to my left temporal lobe. I have been seizure free ever since but my memory has always been horrible, way below the average person. Me and friends actually joke about it because some of the things I cant remember are just so far out and unusual. I always did bad in school because I couldn't remember anything I read to study for tests, and I still cant remember anything I read. The only subject I'm good at is math because its more figuring out and not so much memorizing. I always just assumed I wasn't that bright, but seeing how bad it is compared to the average person I thought I would look it up and see if my brain surgery could possibly be the reason. It's like any new knowledge I learn is thrown out the window because I cant remember anything. I do read about surgery to the left temporal lobe causing memory loss but could that still be the case 17 years later? onder:

 

[Cint]

I had a left temporal lobectomy 20 years ago and my memory is very bad to this day. My damaged area is the hippocampal area, the area of speech and memory. Is that where your surgery was?

Here's an interesting article from the American Epilepsy Society:

It's About Time: Long-term Memory Outcome Following Temporal Lobectomy

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1867081/

 

[Nakamova]

Hi kissxoxo84, welcome to CWE!

The surgery may have targeted the areas of the brain responsible for encoding new memories, so your ability to memorize may be impaired. It might help to see a neuropsychiatrist for an evaluation. Through testing, they can get a decent sense of what areas of cognition and memory are affected, as well as give you strategies and workarounds to deal with any issues.

Best,
Nakamova

 

[Cint]

The surgery may have targeted the areas of the brain responsible for encoding new memories, so your ability to memorize may be impaired. It might help to see a neuropsychiatrist for an evaluation. Through testing, they can get a decent sense of what areas of cognition and memory are affected, as well as give you strategies and workarounds to deal with any issues.

I had the testing for memory and developing new strategies for memory done by a neuropsychologist and was seeing a neuropsychiatrist to develop strategies for depression after the lobectomy. That is quite common after a lobectomy on the Left side.

 

[jingle]

I'm left temporal lobe too ..... first surgery was Feb 2006 and second was May 2007. I had neuropsych evaluation before first surgery, 6 months later, then 6 months after last surgery. whew
Then ........... er, ah, what were we talking about? I can't remember

 

[Cordero]

kissxoxo84
"It's like any new knowledge I learn is thrown out the window because I cant remember anything."

That's exactly how I feel. My husband keeps encouraging me to go back to college but sometimes I just feel like it's a waste of money because I'll forget a lot of it.

I almost had the temporal lobectomy surgery but my doctors said that the section they would have to operate on is too close to my memory. So, I ended up getting the Responsive Neurostimulator Device implanted in my skull with electrodes attached to the area where the seizures are coming from. My seizures still aren't controlled but are less.

Memory has always been bad and I don't know if it's mainly the meds, surgery, or the seizures. Maybe all of them. Have you tried vitamin supplements?