Spooked by Amnesia

[ozzuk]

I think it's just getting older, or how different our memories work. I'm 47, I really struggle to remember anything much about school or the people there. Perhaps part of me just doesn't care. I see the odd school 'connection' pop up on FB and I've no idea who they are. Other school people seem to know and discuss others regularly.

I get quite mixed up over anything +5-6 years ago, again I just think my brain is prioritizing.

[bigandclever]

Rupert58 said:

I wouldn't recognise Emily Pankhurst

Emmeline

[Jimmy No Hands]

At 33 I got probably 60% of them. I think I would've only got Warhol due to him being portrayed relatively accurately in that recent Men in Black film

Genuine surprise by people not knowing Hepburn, Kobain, Mandela or Ali though!

[J4CKO]

Jimmy No Hands said:

At 33 I got probably 60% of them. I think I would've only got Warhol due to him being portrayed relatively accurately in that recent Men in Black film

MIB 3, from ten years ago ?

[Mobile Chicane]

Prosopagnosia - the inability to recognise faces - is a common aspect of various autism spectrum disorders.

Meeting someone outside of the context in which you would normally see them, you 'know them from somewhere', but can't place them.

If you've experienced this your whole life - no worries. If it's a recent development, you need to see a doctor.

[EVOTECH3BELL]

I can't remember watching the whole of the UK office.

[mike80]

Mobile Chicane said:

Prosopagnosia - the inability to recognise faces - is a common aspect of various autism spectrum disorders.

Meeting someone outside of the context in which you would normally see them, you 'know them from somewhere', but can't place them.

If you've experienced this your whole life - no worries. If it's a recent development, you need to see a doctor.

I get something like this, it is annoying when you can't place someone. Or, I recognise people based on a hairstyle for example, rather than a face, which is great until they change it... in the link Andy Warhol is a good example, quite recognisable because of his hair (and I saw a news article on him last night...), but if he had cut it all off I would probably have no idea who he was.

I also sometimes don't "see" people - I can be walking along and until someone speaks me I would barely register they are there. Can be embarassing, I'm sure some people think I'm being rude, but I genuinely haven't noticed them.

I'm pretty normal, honest...

[Derek Smith]

I was given a dementia test during a routine blood test. I was asked and I agreed but then got a bit nervous. What if I was in the early stages?

I passed. I was relieved.

I started to look up age-related loss of memory. It seems it gets to most people, with the age of onset and the severity being the variables. It's something to be concerned about, but it is not Alzheimer's.

Lots of things can contribute to memory loss, such as alcohol abuse, smoking, probably obesity and enjoying yourself as well. Temporary memory loss can be cause by low oxygen, dehydration, lack of exercise and more. Stress was mentioned, head injuries and lots of other stuff, so a spate of forgetfulness should not, of itself, be something to worry about although getting it checked seems the sensible option.

I used to remember names and faces using a sort of mental tick-box. Once I retired, I stopped using it as it was unlikely I'd have to arrest too many of them. My ability to remember faces and especially names all but collapsed. Make of that what you will.

[Jimmy No Hands]

J4CKO said:

MIB 3, from ten years ago ?

Well.. sort of recent. I suppose. Maybe I have amnesia.

[jdw100]

I had an hour or so of amnesia after one of my, typically bonkers, focal aware epileptic seizures.

Really scary, the amnesia part.

I suddenly couldn't remember name of a friend..grabbed my phone and I couldn't find the info...it just wasn't in my brain anymore.

Names meant nothing, her first name felt kind of right (wife says it wasn't) but info for second name was gone.

Totally different to having forgotten something; it was just missing, a complete gap.

I cycled through more names and couldn't match them up in my head at all.

I'm not an anxious person but this really got me worked up. My wife had to force me to go to sleep. Not hard after one of these events.

When I woke up - all was back. However, I still have three narratives about what happened - my memory was clearly impaired.

Felt a bit odd out for dinner last year: went to pay and couldn't remember my PIN.

This is not a 'oh I've forgotten my PIN' this felt very different; I can't find a way to describe this absence of knowledge.

If this is how dementia feels - fk that; I'd rather die.

[Derek Smith]

jdw100 said:

I had an hour or so of amnesia after one of my, typically bonkers, focal aware epileptic seizures.

Really scary, the amnesia part.

I suddenly couldn't remember name of a friend..grabbed my phone and I couldn't find the info...it just wasn't in my brain anymore.

Names meant nothing, her first name felt kind of right (wife says it wasn't) but info for second name was gone.

Totally different to having forgotten something; it was just missing, a complete gap.

I cycled through more names and couldn't match them up in my head at all.

I'm not an anxious person but this really got me worked up. My wife had to force me to go to sleep. Not hard after one of these events.

When I woke up - all was back. However, I still have three narratives about what happened - my memory was clearly impaired.

Felt a bit odd out for dinner last year: went to pay and couldn't remember my PIN.

This is not a 'oh I've forgotten my PIN' this felt very different; I can't find a way to describe this absence of knowledge.

If this is how dementia feels - fk that; I'd rather die.

Doctor.

On the one hand, if it is, there are treatments that delay onset to a degree and make living with it a bit more comfortable.

On the other hand, it might be something else entirely.

Either way, get someone to check your symptoms.

I had an uncle who had a stroke after a close friend of some 40 years died. He suddenly started to forget things. We all said it was stress. He died. The PM revealed the blood on the brain. No other obvious symptoms. Perfectly operable (drainable?). Why did they tell us that? Great bloke, and I let him down.

[jdw100]

Derek Smith said:

Doctor.

On the one hand, if it is, there are treatments that delay onset to a degree and make living with it a bit more comfortable.

On the other hand, it might be something else entirely.

Either way, get someone to check your symptoms.

I had an uncle who had a stroke after a close friend of some 40 years died. He suddenly started to forget things. We all said it was stress. He died. The PM revealed the blood on the brain. No other obvious symptoms. Perfectly operable (drainable?). Why did they tell us that? Great bloke, and I let him down.

Its an effect of the seizure.

Focal aware ones, for me. Full tonic-clonic and I don't remember anything anyway.

Sorry to hear about your uncle.

For me its just one of those things. The focal aware ones cause some really crazy st.

Its why you can never trust memory or even your perception of the now.

I have seen things that would freak people right out, if they weren't aware of why they were happening.

People have glitches and don’t realise they happen. Anyone that has had a ‘vision’ from a god or similar…I’d say 99% some sort of neural misfire.

I’ve seen a 3m tall black figure in the corner of a room and been forced to my knees by the sheer visceral terror. I’d swear its real (to me). Friends in room next door would tell you a person would have had to go past them to sneak in to that room. Etc etc…

Imagine that story to an uneducated or religious person…or having it happen to one..?

[Derek Smith]

jdw100 said:

Its an effect of the seizure.

Focal aware ones, for me. Full tonic-clonic and I don't remember anything anyway.

Sorry to hear about your uncle.

For me its just one of those things. The focal aware ones cause some really crazy st.

Its why you can never trust memory or even your perception of the now.

I have seen things that would freak people right out, if they weren't aware of why they were happening.

People have glitches and don’t realise they happen. Anyone that has had a ‘vision’ from a god or similar…I’d say 99% some sort of neural misfire.

I’ve seen a 3m tall black figure in the corner of a room and been forced to my knees by the sheer visceral terror. I’d swear its real (to me). Friends in room next door would tell you a person would have had to go past them to sneak in to that room. Etc etc…

Imagine that story to an uneducated or religious person…or having it happen to one..?

Thanks for that. That's tough.

I've taken witness statements that have been all but fantasy, but are believed by those telling them. I chased a pickpocket who ran into a parking meter, at full pelt down Ludgate Hill. He broke ribs all down one side and punctured a lung. Two people said they saw me push him into the meter. I'm sure they believed it. A woman saw a lorry hit a cyclist on a pedestrian crossing, knocking him into the air. What actually happened was that the derailleur slipped into the rear wheel, locking it, while the cyclist was going downhill, approaching the A259. The lorry driver saw what was happening and blocked two lanes, so protecting the rider from being run over. Yet the woman was adamant about what she saw. It's common. It was such a well-known phenomenon that a fellow PC told me when I had just joined and was trying to work out a plan to interview a suspect, 'If you can prove it without his plea, you can't prove it with.' He reckoned that even suspects confessions are suspect. I felt a bit superior to the common herd until . . .

I used to literally return to the scene of a crime just before I went to court to clarify what had happened. This might have been a year after the event. I knew what had happened in one case, but when I got to the location of my arrest I discovered my memory was wrong. It could not have happened the way I remembered it. it was bewildering. I remembered it clearly, even down to the offender's shoes.

I believe you are right. Many people go through what you've described, in a mild form, brought on by stress and their body's reaction to it. They often stick with their stories even when they see the CCTV or hear the tape recording of their telephone call. 'I remember specifically saying . . . ', or 'You've doctored the tape.'

I know it doesn't help, but I sympathise with your plight. All the best.

[randomeddy]

garyhun said:

Yep! I’m 59 and can’t remember half the stuff I used to; not quickly anyway

Me, same age, same thoughts. It can be annoying.

I have been trying to remember!? if I was bad with names when I was younger but lately I have been terrible with names.