Memory Issues

How long do your memory issues last after your seizure?


  • Total voters
    113

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

i think the memory problems the most frustrating and upsetting there is...you get these plonkers saying where what when,if you could tell them then memory no be problem..the mmory problems are strange sometimes have flashes of things long gone then something two mins ago i forget no memory of
 
i feel ya they were doing a concussion test on me last night dont remember it or events from yesterday.guess i was not so nice to my wife after clustering all day while she was at work.need patience clinton is what i need to keep telling myself
 
So...... since Rebecca had a seizure Friday evening,(mentioned in another posting) how do you know for sure that the soda brought on the seizure? How do you know Rebecca doesn't have an aura? The aura is actually considered part of the seizure.

I have diabetes AND epilepsy, so I have experienced hypoglycemia(in the low 30's) and hyperglycemia (in the 500's) and neither have brought on a seizure, yet. I understand that one's diet is very important, but how do you know for sure the seizures are brought on by hypoglycemia? How low is her glucose level? Do you have her test it regularly? What does the endocrinologist have to say?

How do you know if her seizures aren't hormonal?

As far as my seizures, I've had them morning, noon and night, and depending on severity and the meds I was on, parts I remember, and some not at all.

Sorry I had not seen these post before today

You have very good questions Clint

You are right... I don't know, either do the doctors for sure. It is all a guessing game for the most part. I have kept copious notes, and I work extremely hard to connect the dots. I am not an expert, I am however very intuned to my daughters situation. I never mean to assume what works for her will work for anyone else. I do however, work very hard to share our story, in the event that it will spark some curiosity in others, to consider all options.

She does tend to have hormonal seizures too, however there is a organic connection between insulin production and hormones, so in my understanding the two go hand in hand. The more we have worked to balance the two, and keep a healthy nutritional plan, the more control she has had over her seizures.

Her Endo and Nutritionist both say that whatever we are doing is obviously working. They have looked over my journal notes, made copies of them, and tell me to continue doing what we are doing. They agree that my approach makes sense and it seems to be producing positive results.

I have always worked from the approach that healing the whole body, and giving it the nutrients that it needs will enable us to see healing in many areas. This has proven true in more than one child.
 
I believe I experienced a nocturnal seizure last month. I woke up at 530 am,in my own bed, in a full out panic and extremely disoriented, almost like I was in complete shock. After realizing where I was I tried to recall how I ended up waking up at 530 am. The last thing I recall was at 530 pm the day before, to this day I still don't have any memory of that night.

Anyone else experience something like this?? Short term amnesia?? I think I had a couple more nocturnal seizures on back to back nights a week after that event, am single so I don't have someone who can testify to it. But the same panic and disorientation but with no memory loss.

I had my first grand mal 6 months ago and have had many auras the past couple of months. May have to set up a camera to catch what's going on at night.
 
David
Been there done that a bunch of times. When it come to my seizures the only way I know that I've had a T/C is either people telling me or the mass of bruises that appear from nowhere with insane body aches. I have no memory of my seizures, I usually lose time before and after. The longest time period lost was 24hrs.
 
Totally ditto Seizingbeauty. (I LOVE love love that name.) My Tonic clonics end with me waking up in the hospital a day later. I never remember if i even knew it was coming. But one time I woke up on the kitchen floor with a bloody, black eye from the counter i think.
 
This is a very interesting question. When my first episode happened I didn't really have that much memory loss other than not remembering anything on the day of. I had no problems with things that happened the day before (this was the party in July). In January when I woke up not remembering who I was I didn't remember any circumstances surrounding that instance but I don't recall if I had issues with the day or not, it's hard to say. My memory has deteriorated since. Partially because of the seizures and medication.

My episode in February caused me not to know a lot of things. I didn't remember what I was doing before my seizure and I didn't know what I was supposed to do after my seizure either for a while. My seizure in April was a shorter one and I didn't remember what I had been doing prior to the seizure and I was a little confused afterward but kind of figured it out as I was going along because of logical deductions.

I was seizure free until June when I woke up confused and that didn't last too long. I have no memories of that day, however. Then I was seizure free again until this past Friday when I seized and I lost all memories of that day and I lost a lot of time. I thought I had gone back in time and it was 2012 again and I also thought Bush was the president but had no recollection of my name/birth date or any important things. I also was unaware that it was only 7 pm and I had been at the hospital for only about an hour. I thought I had been there a few days and I didn't realize that it was the same day until about 8 or so when we were discharged.

My seizures I've had the past few days I don't lose time so much as I'm tired and I get confused easily because my brain feels overworked and I'm tired and my head aches so I lose my short term memory. I've lost some long term memory but mostly I just lose short term memory and it's really bad when I'm talking to someone and they say something and right after they say it I have to get them to repeat what they've said. I also forget people when I've had seizures. Like the one on Friday I had no idea who my dog or my dad was, which was sad. I also had no idea what reality was and kept having issues with a lot of things, my brain was so freaky and the memories that I can still remember freak me out.

Do your memories get worse with every seizure? I've always wondered that. It kinda seems like it but at the same time I'm either in denial or overly optimistic that it won't LOL.
 
Oh Sassy. When I got a brain infection about 7 years ago it was horrible.My dad was Gone. I did not remember that. I did not remember I had a son. I slept a lot. Take your time.2 years down the drain. Now I just don't remember faces, names.Talking to your Dr. My epileptologist ,he told me that I have had to many siezures and and that's whywe start to lose our memories.
 
To describe what I experience it's more like information sometimes isn't quit soaking in and at other times it's like too much information at once...which is typical I assume??? Lately this experience has been more noticeable than usual...however it seems that I also experience a third entity besides lack of information (I prefer to call it that instead of memory loss) and information overload...it's like I'm being engulfed by some dark fog or I'm trapped in some kind of bubble...it not only effect my memory but all my senses...I feel like an antenna...either I'm not tuned in to the right channel or I'm tuned into too many channels at once...you get the picture...but besides the apparent and ongoing temporary fluxation there seems to be some sort of medium and/or conduit for the "imbalance"...a presence or extra sense I would like to ultimately describe it as...I feel as though I am ahead of time or behind time...like trapped in some weird Bermuda Triangle...quite literally my entire navigation system is offline until I somehow become aware of the fluxuations and have a heightened sense of awareness...then poof quite literally I'm in a black hole...again...it never seems to stop...I've come to understand this entity by analyzing it and learning more about it each time I experience it...along the way I discovered a hidden message that life is pretty much in constant motion...moving in all directions and no directions simultaneously...in other words...reality is an illusion until we learn how to steer the ship in the right direction...such as if this post is not in the proper place I will gladly move it! :D
 
My brain is not the same brain I had 10 years ago. I exercised more. tired now. My son is doing well. I used to speak about epilepsy and raising money for it. Now I just get confused. When my boy was raped, we almost had to go to court. I was told I was not smart enough to testify. I used to be so smart. I guess I'll just have to live in the moment. The moment of love.I love my son so much each time I put him on the bus, I cant wait until he comes home.
 
Stilldancing_98, that is an awesome post. Ditto on the memory /brain stuff. I am working on acceptance and finding ways to be happy with where I am at instead of wishing to be somewhere else. AND ditto on the love of child! My boy is my most awesome amazing treasure.
I am so sorry that you were told that crap about how smart they thought you were.
 
It's great that we can all share our horrific stories and experiences of living with this damn condition. I've always wondered how I cannot be aware of holding a red hot iron on my belly and then wrist, or the end of a red hot hairdryer on the palm of my hand and then right breast, requiring plastic surgery to sort my fingers out. I think there is a big connection with hormones, with Catamenial epilepsy, a woman's monthly cycle affects their seizures, since going through the menopause, I have Atonic seizures, which are terrifying, and effect "middle aged women" OMG!! Three times last week, I just collapsed to the floor, no convulsions, just incontinence, and waking up in the back of an ambulance or worse still, staggering about in a daze, with no memory whatsoever of just before it happened, only us guys on here can understand how terrifying it is.
Our Episodic memory, is what seems to be most affected by epilepsy, where we just completely forget chunks of our lives, and I am looked after by a professor at Queens Square in London, and he said that with every seizure we have, a little bit more of our memory is erased, as human beings, our abilities to make new memories diminishes after the age of forty anyway, so we've got it all against us haven't we?? I haven't read about many people with epilepsy having their Implicit memory affected by epilepsy, this is where we would forget how to clean our teeth or use cutlery for example. I get so frustrated not being able to recall seeing The Eagles at Wembley Stadium in 1996, or when I was on holiday in Hong Kong, I hardly remember a thing about a whole fortnight! Both my brain surgeries wiped out memories of the preceding decade, so I really am stuck in the 1980's, it's bizarre, I'll look at a photo with me in it from the 1990's, but I still don't really remember, even though it's there in front of me!!
I would encourage people with epilepsy to keep a diary as I do, and take a lot of photos, as my professor also told me, the memories are always with us, and the brain is like a filing cabinet, it just needs someone or something to open the right drawer, pull out the right file, and the memories come flooding back. Sometimes anyway, I've never been able to recall that concert!!
Best wishes to you all, keep smiling, and lets all keep talking on this wonderful website, only we can understand each other. Love Lainey XX
 
Speaking of memory; Yesterday i had a big blank spot, in the middle of the day. I was on the phone with my girlfriend in Wisconsin and suddenly i could not remember how to log on to facebook to 'skype' with her. I did not know why my kitchen was such a mess. (completely spaced out that i had been repairing a wall behind the oven, just 2 hour earlier. She called my ex , who brought me to the hospital. I spent hours in the E.R. getting blood work etc. They did not know if i had a small stroke or a petit mal seizure and not known it. Or something..
I wake this morning with a headache and slept in. All i can think is that my brand new high blood pressure meds caused this in some way.
 
I was at work today and I had an episode and I kept thinking this woman had sweet tea. Three times I filled it up as sweet tea and the woman, I swear she wanted to strangle me by the end of it all, kept sweetly reminding me it was unsweet tea. Luckily I had everything in the computer and sent so I didn't forget to ring in their order or space out while ringing it in. And at least I didn't black out but I got all fuzzy and woozy weird and that poor woman!

The last table I had, I forgot to bring them their bread until their food came up and I... oh it was terrible. Now I'm having to go through my school notes, again, to make sure I have everything remembered and such. It's annoying that I keep having to go through this. I just keep waiting for another big one to hit because I know it'll probably happen and I'm scared for where it'll hit because I don't want to freak out my classmates or teachers or coworkers.

I'm going to contact the doctors office and get an appointment with the new doctor who my former GP told me to see and let her know I want to be seen by an epileptologist to see if I can get a faster result as far as a diagnosis and better treatment, etc, so I can get started on that six month road to being able to drive because it's killing my parents (and me) not to be able to. I need to be a lot more proactive in my care than I have been and losing my memory is disheartening. I don't have as many pictures as I want and so I don't remember things very well. It's sad.
 
Wow Sassi, i relate. I had a strange episode yesterday that did not feel like a seizure but i was suddenly confused and had no memory for basic things like how to get to my facebook page. I am worried about memory loss because I've lost so much already. Not sure where to go from here but I am working on just not worrying anymore.
 
Had a tonic clonic (grand mal where I'm from :rolleyes:) last week and when I made it back to our world I had remembered most everything up to seizure time and after... strange part for me here is that as time went on I started forgetting what actually had happened a good chunk of time before and after. So to read of others not remembering this time frame in their world also, I start feeling better. With neuro surgeons chopping out memory in my life (10 years back) it is just nice to know I am not getting worse, it's just the freaky seizures robbing me of some memory I just might not really want to have 8)

I do understand though that if it started getting too much worse than what I have to deal with, one certainly will have stress jumping at them.
 
Oh yea, I could have mentioned, two hours of my day was spent with the Brain Injury Outreach Team, and they are a huge plus to steps in the forward direction for me :p Even if they hear me talk of the real crappy stuff jumping my way, they push forward with positive thoughts of it all.
 
cadsgj, I am sorry that happened to you last week. It sounds like a great group to check in with today. I hear that memory loss issue loud and clear. I am realizing now just how much is lost (little by little) that I had no idea was gone.
 
Janus, what was the outcome of the tests? Was it a complex partial? I'm hoping not a stroke. :(
I lost a chunk of time yesterday, which is typical of my complex partials. I never know I went anywhere until I realize I wasn't supposed to be in the room I found myself in. I'm not sure how long I wandered around the house...but apparently I tried to straighten up the kitchen (which wasn't messy to begin with) and ended up putting things in weird places. And my cat that was outside, was back in. I had a heck of a headache and ringing ears the rest of the day, which is also normal for me after a complex partial. I'm just glad I didn't leave the house and I kept my clothes on. :)
 
Janus, thx. I know we all have our seizures in different ways and that popped into my mind after I read the post where you mentioned you "had no memory for basic things like how to get to my facebook page." Goodness, as I read that it sounded so familiar to my life and the times I know a seizure is potentially on the way, or when I'm lucky is falls short of coming. :rolleyes:

BrandiBrat, I felt so in your place when I read your post. While I usually do not loose total memory when I have complex seizures, what I do remember most is realizing that I am getting ready to leave the world, and slowly I loose all relationship outside myself, seeing everything which means nothing... the seizure hits for who really knows how long, then slowly I come back. So some things in reality, I usually remember :)

Oh, and to any who wonders, I always call it "leaving the world" because for me in my mind that is just what it is. During my complex partials, I always feel like I am in a different world, looking down and around at the world I was in before the seizure hit. Then i slowly come back :embarrassed:
 
Back
Top Bottom