These are the details leading up to my amnesia episode on 28 September 2021. My husband just returned from a 2 week hiking trip. On that eve, I left the house in my jeep with my daughter to go pick him up at the airport. Funny thing, on the way back the , I got confused with the GPS, I was lost. When I got home, I jumped back into work, went to the barn to take care of my horse, back to jumped back into work. I walked into the bedroom and saw my husband's luggage on the floor, I asked him why the luggage was there. He replied, "I just returned today from my trip." Me, "You went on a trip?" At this point I have no memory - My husband grabbed my daughter and off we to the hospital. I don't remember being in the jeep, the route we took, walking into the ER, any of the doctors, none of the tests, IV hook-up, what color my Jeep was, who the President was, what day of the week it was, or what year it was. My sentences looped over and over again, where was I, how did I get here, what was wrong, my daughter said I repeated "Bizarre" over 80x. Little did I know how "smart" my brain was until it simply turned off. I was not "disconnecting from work"! When I was walking the dogs, I was thinking about work, when I was at the barn with my horse, I was thinking about work, when I was running errands, I was thinking about work. My brain made it easy...it turned everything off to give "me" a break, if only for 10 hours, and I am thankful for it. Everyone, STOP and smell the roses everyday.
I have had several episodes of it. Usually people only experience it once, but my father also had it more than once. Sometimes I'm aware that it's happening and sometimes a few hours just disappear. I have a great neurologist. Also, since you don't forget anything about your life, you're able to contact a loved one to help you and take you to a local ER. It's ranged between losing a short period of time to several hours. It's not fun but I'm glad I don't forget who I am even if I'm not sure how I wound up where I did wind up. One time I was videotaped during an episode at an event. I seemed normal even though I lost any memory of the afternoon and evening.
2
This happened to me about 6 years ago. I was in my early 70's. I went on a vigorous bike ride and when I returned, my husband noticed I was disoriented. He took me to the emergency room and I spent the night in the hospital and had numerous tests which showed nothing. I remember nothing from the time I was getting dressed for the ride until I woke up in the emergency room. I was diagnosed with TGA and was released from the hospital the next day.
1
Thanks for telling this story. My mother experienced TGA back in the '80s during a speech she at a women's group. She completed the speech but apparently it appeared she was on auto-pilot. Afterward she could manage walking and talking but was completely confused—where she was, why she was there, etc. The organizers got in touch with me. We tried to stay calm and got in touch with my father, a family physician. He told us to wait it out. My mom was so sweet and scattered throughout the episode. It was scary but she recovered completely within a day or so.
1
I saw an airline pilot once in Singapore who had an episode -- he was fine, but understandably, the airline wouldn't let him fly home. I wonder if there are any legal strictures on activities, e.g., driving, like there are with epilepsy?
Happened to me about 10 years ago. I went upstairs to take a bath, but then came back down and asked my husband “ What day is it?” I asked him that one sentence over and over, he took me to the hospital. I woke up with an IV in my arm. I’m not allowed to have IVs in one arm because of lymphodema, and realized I couldn’t even remember what arm that was. My local hospital sent me by ambulance to Boston, 50 miles away. A few hours later I was fine, came home alone by train! I was referred to a neurologist for follow up.
1
Physician here- I have diagnosed TGA at least 5 times and all my patients had been doing upper arm exertion- shoveling snow, flycasting with a heavy spay rod or weight lifting- which does align with the suggestion of some type of blood flow issue in some patients. Negative work up for other causes and all did fine.
2
Summer of 2017. I was leaving work at 4:30 to go to a 5 o'clock reception. When I got to my car, I realized I beginning to have a visual migraine, so I returned to my office to wait it out.
I don't remember anything after that.
When I "came back to myself", I was in my office doing who knows what. I actually became aware that I turned in my chair to return a file to a drawer . . . that wasn't in my hand, and that was something I was working on at home. I felt disoriented, unclear about why I was in my office and how come the clock said that it was after 5:30.
I found an acquaintance, still in the building, who had been a registered nurse. She checked me for signs of a stroke and helped me. My husband came to take me to the ER. I felt unsure and freaked out. I was checked out by a neurologist, CT scanned and more, and released around 9:30 with a diagnosis of TGA. When my mind came back, it was like a watertap, slowly returning more of the day that I didn't quite remember, but never that hour plus gap. Very disturbing when it happened. I kept wondering what would have happened if I had been driving.
2
I'm not a doctor but I think if you are experiencing the symptoms of TGA you need to have your vitamin B-12 and vitamin D levels checked and take a D3 supplement.
1
This, I remember. We were in the emergency room, and my wife shouted, "look at your notes." So I looked down and saw a note pad. And there on the pad (in my own handwriting) was the answer to the same question I had just asked her multiple times apparently. Only then, did I start to lay down new memories. This was about five hours after a stumble, fall, ride to the hospital, and a CT scan, none of which I remember doing.
3
Several years ago, I was a twice-a-week 1st-grade classroom volunteer. My tasks rarely varied. One morning, my teacher (by that time, my 3rd year with her), redirected me to an unfamiliar task, to complete in anticipation of her return with the children after their breakfast in the school cafeteria. Hours later, the teacher, my daughter (an ER physician), my son-in-law and I sat together (the children at recess) to hear the teacher’s detailed narrative about my “strange” behavior that prompted her call to my daughter. That was the first I learned what had transpired! My daughter was confident I’d [only] had a TGA. Nonetheless, she drove us to my MD’s office. An EKG and routine office neuro exam obviated the need for additional “investigation.” Altogether a very weird experience!!
2
TGA can also be caused by short-acting benzodiazepines such as Halcion, especially when used in conjunction with alcohol. There are case studies describing TGA in individuals who used Halcion to help the get to sleep on transatlantic flights, for instance.
2
I had an episode several years ago where for about 20 minutes, although I could remember all the necessary details of my life (date of birth, home address, the names of my children, etc.) it was as though those details belonged to someone else. Kind of like there was a part of my consciousness experiencing amnesia and another part holding an easily referenced data sheet.
5
A fascinating event for a human to experience, similar in weirdness to sleep paralysis, and yet very hard to research and offer an explanation.
This is an exceptionally well written article, with the author often answering a question that came to mind as I was reading, in the very next sentence or paragraph.
Thanks for this, it was wonderful.
Oh, have you done something similar on sleep paralysis?
7
I have been an ER doc for close to 40 years. Have probably seen about 10 cases over that time span. Most neurologists I have spoke to about it think it is a seizure variant (i.e. non-convulsant, focal seizure in part of brain where short term memory occurs). But hard to prove.
8
My boyfriend (now husband) called me one Friday evening, repeating the same phrase over and over. He had gone out to get wood for his stove and set the carrier down on the hearth. But he couldn’t remember anything else. I was sure he had had a stroke. I called 911 and met the paramedics at his house. Our experience is exactly as described. I was terrified until we learned it was TGA, he was terrified afterwards.
8
This sounds like the permanent yet frustratingly random condition inflicted on the ability to make new memories by ECT.
4
Happened to me after a rigorous swim practice, ironically on the morning of Trump's inauguration. Kept repeating one question over and over to my teammates during this amnesia episode: Who was president of the U.S? I told the doc in the hospital & his answer: Maybe you don't want to know who is POTUS. I laughed, but clearly, this was a major anxiety in my head at the time; and while the T.G.A. passed in 3 hours, the anxiety over who was president increased with each day for the next 4 years.
22
Happened to me during a CT scan. Triggered by injection of contrast med.
Lasted about 6 hours. All tests negative. Still don't remember anything following the contrast injection.
Spouse said it was the worst experience of her life to that point.
9
@PAH
Weird I had a CT where they made me drink a contrast medium that got me stoned out of my mind. They insist they did not add any drugs to it. I'm pretty sure it was some kind of opioid, the euphoria was the same.
2
mine was learned, in the " concentration camp" alka polio hospital, in the 1950s. When sequestered from parents and family in an authoritarian situation was standard medical practice.
3
Twelve years ago, TGA was a positive experience for me but a frightening one for my husband. It lasted for about seven hours that I still don’t remember, after the police came to tell me a close friend had committed suicide. If my husband had been home when they came, I doubt I would have gotten TGA, and fortunately he arrived home before the police left because they didn’t recognize that anything was wrong with me. We spent hours in the ER, and I only remember tiny bits of that. It feels like my brain decided, hey, I’m not able to deal with this, so I’m checking out for a while — a little respite. My husband reports that when I didn’t know the name of the president and they told me it was Obama, I was so happy and excited and said, dazzled, “He won??!!”
14
This happened to me one time, funny afterwards. Your memory goes haywire, so to speak.
3
Of course my TGA episode shook up my wife and the dear friend who drove us to the ER (a ride I don't remember.) But there was a humorous side to it. When my Primary Care doctor made rounds the next morning, he asked, "What happened?" Before I could answer, he said, "Now that's a stupid question. You don't remember." We both chuckled. I've been fine since.
10
For every part of the body, countless things can go wrong with it, some common, some rare like this one.
My sister is a hypochondriac.
She now believes she suffers from it after reading this article.
3
I'm years late to this article. But I regularly get TGA. Gnerally betwwen 1-12 episodes per year, although I haven't hd one in 6 moths now. For me recovery is pretty quick...I fell hungover the next day but by the next afternoon I feel fine. I never worry about them becuase I have had them forever...my family says since before I could talk.
The craziest story I have is from being in TK MAXX on high street Kensington and having one. I apparently used the staff only stairs to go out the back of the building where upon I apparently thought it would be a good idea to ask a police officer with a machine gun "Who am I?". The officer was guarding the Isreali embassy if I remember correctly. Thankfully the police were super nice and helpful...and called the security at the University I was a student at and they drove me home.
8
I had an episode of TGA a few days ago. It started in the middle of the night, and apparently I refused to go to the hospital (he was pretty freaked out and thought I was having a stroke) until he called my therapist at 5am. Off I went, where a close friend met us and apparently I knew her but was sobbing that I didn't know where my youngest son was (freshman year at college). I didn't know he had graduated high school, even when shown photos of the ceremony. I don't recall having a CT scan, but began to "wake" slowly as I was being wheeled to a hospital room. I've been very tired for several days, and I now recall most of my life other than the eight hours or so of this episode. Interestingly, a large box arrived today with sheets and a comforter, which I recall looking at online recently but have no recollection of ordering.
5
This happened to me in Oct. of 2019. Funny that I remember the day. I had had a nice day with a cousin ... we had lunch in the city, went to see a play. Back home, I wrote a very lucid email in the evening (which I went back to re-read later to make sure it made sense). After that, there was some very mild exertion and I felt a kind of weird (but painless) "click" or "zap" in/on my head. And funny thing, I seem to remember thinking to myself, "I hope nothing bad is going to happen." And then ... I don't remember anything. My husband later told me I kept asking or saying the same thing over and over ... he would answer me, and I would ask the same question (something about why are there all theses boxes and piles of laundry ... we were doing some home renovation at the time). He later told me I had sounded like my father, who had suffered from dementia and would repeat the same things over and over. He wasn't worried ... he was bewildered/impatient more than anything. (Later, he apologized.) And then, the episode was over. It's like I came to from an altered state. The next day, on the advice of my doctor, I went to the ER and was tested. Everything was fine. Saw the cardiologist and neurologist for tests/evaluation -- everything checked out. And they gave me this diagnosis -- TGA. It was the strangest thing. I hope it doesn't recur.
4
My episode was in September 2018. I was outside. I started to get very hot. I felt like I was burning up. I told my husband there was something wrong; that I was very hot and confused. I went into our air conditioned home, took a Valium and had a nap. When I awoke, I felt fine. The next morning, I started to become confused again. At my age, 65, we worried about a stroke. We went to the University of Michigan ER which took 15 or 20 minutes. By the time we got there, my memory was much worse. I have a very faint recollection of being with a team of doctors who ruled out a stroke. After that, my memory was completely gone. I did not know my husband or son and at one point I didn’t know my own name. My memory was gone for approximately 20 hours. I spent Sunday night in the ER. and was admitted to the hospital on Monday morning as my memory was returning. I had a PET scan, MRI and EEG and many blood and other tests. All showed no problems. I was given cognitive tests and did not do well. I eventually was able to ace them. I was sent home on Tuesday with a diagnosis of TGA. I could not comprehend a conversation for a few days after I got home, just statements and questions. But I could converse by text??! My short term memory is not what it was after more than a year. I am fully functional and can drive but can no longer multitask like read or study and listen to the TV at the same time which I always did and miss very much.
3
Repeat attacks of TGA are rare. However, I am one of those rare persons who have had three incidents over a ten year period, none now for five years. I’m an 80 year old non-smoker, non-drinker who still referees high school basketball. The symptoms you describe are extremely accurate. And the situations can also be hilarious. My first ER doctor who diagnosed the condition immediately was named Avila. Maybe twenty times over the course of six hours I asked him if he was related to the Cleveland Indian second baseman from the great Indian teams from the late forties, early fifties. (He wasn’t.). Another incident occurred while I was visiting my grandson who thought I was messing with him (which I am won’t to do even when not experiencing a TGA episode). The third incident had my daughter messing with me telling me the grandkids came to visit me in the hospital knowing that my mind was a total blank page for six hours.
3
the republican party has had TGA since 2016 which will last until a democrat is elected
9
@Declan O'Kane
That's exactly the sentiment that I sent out to some of my correspondents. Great minds and all that rot.
And not to forget (operative word here), the Dems will forget to remember how horrible the Greedy Old Party really is and some will allow them to take the reins, yet again.
4
@rip Why do you have to bring politics relating to a condition that very scary and disturbing to the ones who have experienced this elusive medical mystery? I have had two episodes and am very nervous this will happen again; being alone,when I’m driving; at work (risking losing my job) or being alone with my small grandchildren! I don’t appreciate the hUMOR !
4
Either everyone in the US reads the NYTimes and comments, or the incidence of TGA among NYTimes readers is high.
4
By the amount of responses to this article, 143 at last count, it looks like this event or malady is common considering that only readers of the New York Times AND experience this are responding . I had to get my retro active amnesia the old fashion way: a car accident (MVA) where I was knocked unconscious and taken out of the backseat and to the ER, only to awake three days later after deep coma, and then the foggy drunk feeling was to commence for the next 2 years .
1
@Capt. Pissqua but many of the replies don't fit the TGA criteria; some are concussion or seizure disorders; even the author thinks she may have had it but the criteria including repetitive questions for extended period in a continuous loop are not met.
3
@Jeanne Bourget My repetitive questions finally got the best of my long-suffering wife. She told me to wait two days, and then I'd be able to remember. Two days later she told me what she'd told me, which was news to me because I didn't remember what she'd told me. That's pretty much what TGA is like -- I guess. That's what the docs -- and my wife -- tell me.
1
If you fall and hit your head (off a bicycle as per Ms. Brody or off a horse as per another commenter) and then can't remember things, that's a concussion and not TGA. As mentioned in article, TGA is a diagnosis of exclusion and one of the exclusions is head injury.
11
My husband found me on the stairs crying my eyes out. I couldn't remember moving to the UK five years previously or packing again to move elsewhere. When he asked why I asked three questions over and over, I apparently suggested a trip to A&E and then went back to asking the same questions. I woke up in the stroke ward. Later, he found TGA on Wikipedia and drove back down to ask the doctor if that could be it. He said "What, are you a medical expert?" A spinal tap and an MRI later, the doctor decided he was right. It did take a few days to shake off the aftereffects though.
7
I am currently recovering from my second episode of TGA; recovery for me has not been benign; ongoing headaches, tinnitus and very foggy mentally, 12 days post event. After the first event it took a couple of months before I felt completely back to my old self. I have a history of migraines and post event it felt very much like I had had a severe migraine and apparently during the episode I complained of a headache and nausea.
Though it is not associated with serious conditions such as stroke and heart attack, it is not a walk in the park.
8
@Jeanne Bourget. I’m sending you sympathy for that 2nd attack—I also had two attacks and thought only one would ever occur. But perhaps no more will happen. My second one was 15 yrs ago. Migraines are common among people who get this scary memory loss. Also tinnitus. Sometimes I wish I could buy a new head!
7
Slightly related, I’ve had a mental request in for two names since yesterday, waiting for a relationship to appear. This article did the trick- ‘Paul and Deb’ popped up in seconds. So, I did not have to ask my wife to refresh my memory about the couple who...
1
My late husband had this when he was 55 and I wrote about it for the NYT. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/19/health/cases-memorable-for-the-loss-of-memory.html
3
@CandiceRReed: This happened to me ... when, I don't KNOW. (I wish I had written it down.)
I was driving downtown in my little town when all of a sudden everything seemed so UNFAMILIAR. I guess I kept driving around the block or something...I don't even remember coming OUT of it.
It was ABSOLUTELY the WEIRDEST thing I ever experienced!
2
Contrary to the article, I do have a few memories of my experience with TGA. Perhaps I was experiencing the beginning of recovery, which was many hours later in the ER.
I found myself standing, alone, on 6th Ave in Chelsea, with no idea of how/why I was there.
Confused, I found a small yogurt shop opposite The Joyce, where I could sit.
A helpful young waitress, noting that something amiss, found my ICE contact.
When my twin sister arrived, I had no idea of how she'd located me, but I do recall a big grin on her face.
She later explained that she just knew it wasn't serious.
She found our repetitive dialogue very funny... personal versions of "Who's on third?"
The following snippet was repeated, exactly, many times:
"What's today?"
"Wednesday"
"No... I mean, what's the date?"
"June 13th"
"JUNE 13th? So we must have just had a birthday?"
"Yes"
"Did we do anything?"
"Yes! We went out to dinner."
And a memory which is classic New York:
"Do you remember that we went to the theater last night?"
"We did? What did we see?"
"Porgy and Bess, with Audra McDonald."
"Did we like it?"
"You liked it more than I did."
I determined, later, that I was in a physical therapy session when the TGA occurred. My therapist said that I left 10 identical messages on her answering machine, asking the identical question: "Did I just see you?"
The aftermath proved quite a challenge. Like a dog with a bone, my mind kept trying to make sense of a truly NONsensical event.
8
While serving as an ER nurse the past forty years, I've noticed that all of my TGA patients have been people who think a lot - several were professors.
16
THAT is scary. I’m glad I only think a lot but not in a profession that requires it.
I experienced a TGA October 2017 and the process happened exactly as she described it. My husband told me that when he came home from work I was sitting on the couch. He said when I asked what was I supposed to do he thought nothing about it. When I kept asking the same thing over and over again, he called my cousin and they took me to the hospital. When I "came to" (around 1 am), I discovered I could not recall what I had done the previous day. Even though I stopped asking "what was I supposed to do" I kept asking where am I? How did we get here? Where is my mother: Where is my sister? The doctor's wanted to keep me overnight for observation so before my husband left he wrote down the answers to the questions I kept asking. When I woke up later that day, I found that I needed to refer to that sheet several times because I kept forgetting. It took about a week before I felt like I fully came out of that fog. L.J. I don't remember a thing about that day which is sad because I had picked up my mother, bought a cake, too her to her sister's apartment so we could celebrate.
My cousin later told me she was very afraid for me when we were at the hospital. I took a while for me to get past this. After reading this article today, I realized I haven't thought about this in over a year. Wow, I guess I did move on after all.
2
I have had TGA 3 times, but no episodes in the past 3 years. In the first one, an ambulance was called and I wound up in the ER. Symptoms were no memory, confused thoughts, and general blahs. BP apparently went up to 200. Had CT scan and MRI. Nothing. Oh, I had been bending over for a time, cleaning algae out of a pond. Second time, of which I remember little, my husband drove me to the ER. Same routine. CT, MRI. Two nights in hospital. Third time it happened I had been loosening tile and working quite hard at it. Husband recognized symptoms and told me to sit down. Daughter came to sit with me. Was ok in a couple of hours. Strange experiences.
4
The temporary loss of memory also occurs with petit mal seizures which you don't realize you are having. In this case it can happen many times. I experienced these when I was under work stress. Took a long time to diagnose because I couldn't remember having them, I just knew I had a memory lapse of a few minutes. I quit the job and they went away never to return.
3
TGA is quite obvious to a seasoned neurologist given a history of isolated perseveration and an otherwise normal or unchanged neurological exam. It should be a clinical diagnosis, and no tests are needed( health care is already too expensive, in part due to lack of good clinical judgement). An explanation to the patient is enough, including the information that it is not a harbinger of a stroke or any other disease, and that it might recur.
It does not cause one to fall off a bike. It is likely unrelated to the mundane activities in manifold lists, including minor trauma.
8
I get referrals to TIA clinic and the diagnosis of TGA so classical if there was a witness and patient to talk with I make it over the phone. if I have doubt I get them in and do a TIA MRI and sometimes see hippocampal changes. that and exploding head syndrome are my favourite diagnoses as a stroke physician.
2
This guy Declan O From Brighton scares me enough to never go to Brighton for a diagnosis of “exploding head syndrome”. Wow!
2
My wife had an episode that caused me to call 911. The paramedics were immediately on top of it, stating no, not a stroke, but probably TGA. Off we went to the ER, where I was assured by a very nice physician that this would pass and it did. The precipitating events were common: we made love and afterwards she went off to the jacuzzi. When I related this to the physician, he said “I guess it wasn’t memorable.” I burst out laughing. No further episodes and no after effects.
11
I experienced this after a blow to the head (car vs. bicycle accident). I still have no memory of anything for about 24 hours before the accident until either 2 or 3 days after. (I recall the 1st event that I retained, but can't establish the day that it occurred.) I'm told that I was perseverating -- repeating the same things over & over -- at least in the early part of that time.
It was reported that I did make apparently rational decisions during that time, and my signature exists on papers that I have no memory of having seen.
I think the ability to form memories came back all at once, or nearly so, rather than little by little over the 2 or 3 days, but I cannot know this with certainty.
My medical records indicate that when asked what year it was, I responded that it was 1984; it actually was 2016. What I was thinking, I don't know, as that occurred prior to my memory formation returning.
4
a blow to the head would make me doubt it was TGA.
4
First let me say WOW, I thought I was alone & have been trying to find info on this for years!!
It happened to me twice (yes for me it was sex related), the 2nd way worse then the 1st, even though my Dr said it would never happen again. I can recall many events around 1st episode and nothing around the 2nd episode. With the 1st I couldn't recall some past events (eg: Dad passing) but I recall not recalling. The 2nd one I have no recollection of at all other then the same odd feeling I had the 1st time as it happened. I just hope it isn't an indication of something way worse to come as I age.
2
I have suffered from three episodes in three years. Every imaginable test was done. While I am extremely grateful that nothing worse was found, these episodes can leave one with weeks/months of excruciating headaches, anxiety, brain fog and memory issues as a side effect.
I believe reoccurrence is much higher than stats show as many do not seek medical care for reoccurrences. A thousand of us are in a FB group and we also have a website: https://tgaproject2019.wixsite.com/tga2019
We are trying to get more research and awareness to this non benign condition.
7
I frequently see patients with TGA in the ER as part of my job (teleneurology). I always ask them who the current president is, and when they cannot answer, as is often the case, I tell them to enjoy the blissful ignorance while it lasts. Never fails to get a laugh from everyone else in the room
26
I had to laugh. A few months ago I fell hitting my head on concrete. Witnesses said they heard my head crack. Fortunately this occurred right in front of Kaiser Hospital. When I regained consciousness I was asked who was president. "Hillary Clinton of course." Short pause, "wish I weren't kidding." Yes, many laughed.
4
Two years ago, I started taking Lyrica and a few days later, flew to another city to meet a sibling. I have no memory of this trip; I look at the sightseeing photos I took, and they're utterly unfamiliar to me. I wasn't with my sib much; he was there for a conference, and he never remarked on any odd behavior. I only "came out of it" while on the plane. The Lyrica had been giving me significant muscle twitches/jerks, and I woke up on the plane ride home with a big jerk (scaring the passengers around me), but that's literally all I recall from that trip. Scary. (FWIW: No longer taking Lyrica.)
2
This may have happened to me. I got myself to the ER at Beth Israel because I felt strange. A while later, after having been admitted, I found myself sitting up with no sense of why I was there. I was asking the doctors what happened. "You just had a seizure," they answered. I went home hours later but the next day I was uptown at Columbia Presbyterian, the doctors stumped by my condition. After numerous tests and an overnight stay, they still didn't know what had happened at Beth Israel nor the next day. "Perhaps you just fainted," the neurologist suggested. I have no idea. Worse, the doctors don't either.
1
Even though this is a relatively rare event I know five people who have experienced an episode. Since my circle of friends does not amount to 500,000 people. Perhaps it is more common than one realizes.
12
In 2015 I experienced an event which I later discovered to be TGA.
On some level I must have experienced something was wrong because I texted my son that he should come over immediately because something was wrong with me. I have no memory of doing this .Evidently I was then showing signs of continuing asking the same questions which scared him so he called 911. I was taken to the hospital where I came back to normal consciousness.
Roughly three hours had passed which I have no memory off.
Detesting hospitals I had to sneak out the back door because the staff were refusing to release me.
According to my sister and roommate I had made disturbing phone calls while I was left alone at the hospital.
I went to see my GP that week and she ran the test for stroke, blocked arteries, an MRI and everything came up clear.
The most disturbing part for me was that not one Medical personal could give me an answer as to what happened to me.
A year later I awoke from sleep and in that first moment before I opened my eyes the words world amnesia came to me. They meant nothing to me but I knew on some level it was important so I got up and googled it before i could forget. And low and behold there it was : Transient Global Amnesia! It was in black and white perfectly describing what had happened to me, which I had absolutely no memory of, but through witnesses and text messages I had sent during , had been able to reconstruct.
What a relief that was! I pray it never happens again.
5
What I found most comforting after this happened to me was that apparently, although it can recur, it usually does so only once. It was a bit scary for a while to realize that if it happened when I was in an unfamiliar place by myself I would be completely helpless.
2
57 yo Wife had event that lasted 3 hours. Classic symptoms as described in the article, however she had two symptoms not mentioned.
She had severe ataxia (as if she were very drunk) and she became very sleepy and hard to keep awake.
I am a Pharmacist and as the event was occurring my first and second thoughts were 1) Stroke and 2)drug overdose. All tests at ED were normal and tox screen was clean. Most of my research on TGA does not mention ataxia and both neurologists consulted said that was unusual. Has anyone else experienced these symptoms?
2
@William Jernigan
This week I suffered from a TGA...it last about eight hours...Everything in my tests was clear...Two days after the episode, I seem to be doing OK except for a headache...The next day I woke up and was extremely tired, to the point that I could not get up… And I also continue to have a headache again… It is now the end of this day, and although I am not as tired as this morning, I still do not feel like I am fooling myself… And I do feel pressure in my head that was not here before… And was not here yesterday.
1
@Becky after headaches seem to be common as well as brain fog. If you need support, great FB group with 1k of us
@Becky I am experiencing the same recovery so I think we are typical; one day no headache, the next headache all day; also tinnitus, feeling very wiped out and brain fog constant; I am 13 days post my second TGA. Am learning one needs to just rest and get plenty of sleep and not take on challenging projects.
1
My wife had a TGA episode five months ago. She's 70, in good health, no metal or physical problems. One afternoon it was like Someone switched her brain to "OFF." She was at least agreeable to being driven to Emergency, where they asked her who was the president of the US. "Zachary Taylor," she replied, in all seriousness. I was afraid she'd had a TIA, but, no, TGA. They kept her overnight, and by the morning she was pretty-well back to normal, though a 12-hour span is largely missing from her memory. There's been no sign of a repeat, but our lives have been changed. This was--is--a very frightening condition.
3
What I find interesting in the comments is that TGA is more common and doesn’t necessarily have one particular precipitating cause. Maybe it is a normal, if disconcerting, function of the way our brains work. If so, it may explain some reported spiritual reveries. I am thinking, for example, of some of the religious reveries attributed to some Catholic saints and mystics.
3
@Stephen Hyland my daughter said something similar in the week after my episode, because what I was trying to describe sounded like a short stay in a special place somewhere between life and after-life. The feeling of isolation during and after was profound, and I feel as if I've had access to a level of consciousness most don't. Not that I'd want to go back there! And I don't seem much wiser about stress reduction and nutrition...
3
@Stephen Hyland Let's not assign this a supernatural cause just because science cannot (yet) explain it.
1
I once saw this firsthand in a patient I cared for as an EMT, one of the most curious cases I have ever seen. It was as though their memory reset every five minutes and ran through the same loop -- asking the same questions again and again, sometimes pausing as if to reflect on the situation, only to reset and begin again. They didn't seem to mind at the time, but a few weeks later they got in touch and told us how disturbing it was to 'wake up' with a day long gap in their memory. Hopefully one day we can get to the bottom of TGA, but in the meantime, it's great that folks are becoming more aware of it.
8
@Joshua S. This is a perfect description of the cardinal feature of TGA. Not for nothing is it called “broken record” sign.
1
It may well be that most people suffer no residual effects, but for an older friend, two T.G.A. events within a few months of each other seemed to launch the onset of her dementia soon after. Prior to that, her memory and cognitive abilities were normal. The T.G.A.s had no precipitating factors that her family was aware of, and she was told that likely all would be well. Sadly, that has not been the case.
4
Although there is no correlation between TGA and heart/stroke events, I am curious to knw if this is a precursor for dementia. My father had a TGA incident and within 10 years was diagnosed with Progressive Supra Nuclear Palsy. Was this coincidence or is TGA a marker of later cognitive issues? I hope researchers are looking in to this.
5
@contralto1
No, not a precursor for any other conditions, according to all research I’ve found.
1
I had symptoms of TGA in June, about a week after undergoing an upper endoscopy. I was driving to a restaurant with my wife and kept asking the same questions about who we were going to meet. I continued to drive and reached the restaurant. During the episode my daughter, who is a physician called and ordered me to nearest ER. All the tests were negative, the only abnormal finding was that my blood pressure was high. I recovered in about one hour. I was told by a neuroradiologist that if done in time frame MRI will show a spot In hippocampus, part of brain dealing with memory.
2
@FACP - your experience resembles my experience. Several years ago, at around age 60, I visited my father for several hours the drove back to my office. I remember telling my secretary I had no memory of the drive back. I also phoned home and told my husband the same thing. He called my sister, an RN, who called her daughter, a doctor, and they insisted they take me to the ER where I was found to have dangerously high blood pressure. I spent the night in the hospital while my BP was lowered with IV medication and I was monitored all night. In follow up testing including an MRI, nothing was found although I continue to have mild hypertension at 65.
Nothing like this has ever reoccurred and my health remains good.
2
This, as well as visual migraine (both eyes, no headache), can be frightening and cause significant loss of quality of life. Are more studies being done on both? I have not been able to find much on visual migraine.
4
Author writes:
" ... had not hit my head ..."
But how do you -- or how does one -- know for sure if one cannot recall the circumstances of the incident?
6
I experienced TGA after a particularly intense Masters swim practice & apparently told one of my teammates (I don’t remember this) that “something happened to me in the water.” Clearly part of my brain was aware of an event taking place. Most interesting, this was Trump inauguration day & the question I kept insistingly re-asking in the locker room was “Is Obama still President?” So clearly there was also an anxiety component to this condition. My doc diagnosed TGA over the phone, but insisted I go to a stroke unit for tests, to be certain. When I explained what happened to the hospital medical staff that morning they unanimously replied with nervous laughter, “Perhaps you don’t want to know (who is President).” It’s amazing what the brain can signal. In retrospect, I realized the TGA reflected my deep concerns re: the future of our country w. Trump assuming the highest office. My deepest fears, sadly, have been realized re: who is President.
22
Seeing all of these reports of individuals having multiple TGA events (like me), why do neurologists continue to tell patients that this is a unusual, one-off event and not to worry about having a second or third or . . . ? These Dr's need to be reeducated or some training needs an update. Or maybe just publication of some statistical analysis of recurrence rates, regardless of causation.
8
@Stephan
BTW, TGA has been used as a storyline in a number of TV shows including Doc Martin.
@Stephan
Agree about the incidence. TGA has been described as being “underreported,” and I’m sure it is.
1
Posting this 2015 essay about my TGAs, which turned out to be symptomatic of partial seizures. We insisted to the ER doctor at the time that TGA was a description, not a diagnosis. And we were right.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qJPhsGgX4yhIbWwWLjqfP5gbvKQKZxeCaARlioT_FlU/edit?usp=sharing
6
I was diagnosed with a TGA after an episode that lasted less than an hour when I was in my late 50s. Unfortunately I was alone throughout the incident because I was teleworking. The last thing I remember prior to the indicent was getting down from my high drafting table and chair to pick up a pen that had fallen on the floor. I "came to" sitting in the chair in front of my computer, which had locked, meaning it was at least 15 minutes since my last keyboard or mouse input. I was able to input my password with no trouble (stored in long term memory) but had no idea what I was supposed to be working on. I had no bruises or other trauma associated with having fallen, hit my head, etc., and knew enough to look in the mirror to see if my pupils were equally dilated, check for nystagmus (none), and to see if my smile was lopsided. I then called my husband who drove home and took me to the ER for a head CT. No lesions etc. and my neurological workup was also normal. I believe the TGA was caused by vascular issues -- postural hypo- or hypertension from when I got down from my desk and got right up again. I have occasional postural hypotension (low normal BP and a low heart rate) plus I have a posterior fossa arachnoid cyst and Chiari II malformation, both of which likely affect blood flow in and out of my brain. My hunch is that TGA, especially brief episodes such as I experienced, is more common than we know.
14
Ms. Brody, when you are writing about a neurologic condition, you really ought to speak to a neurologist, not a vascular surgeon, nor a psychologist.
In point of fact, TGA is NOT a diagnosis of exclusion at all. With a good, careful history, the diagnosis may be made very confidently, with no testing needed at all.
And had you spoken to a neurologist, you would’ve been told one of the key features of the condition: the patient with TGA asks the exact same questions, over and over again, being unable to process and remember the answers. This history is almost diagnostic.
Scott Mintzer, MD
Professor of Neurology
Thomas Jefferson University
Philadelphia, PA
68
Good point. There is a correction at the end of the article.
6
@Scott Mintzer
If the NYTimes were a medical journal, maybe I’d care more about whether it’s a diagnosis of exclusion or not.
Just glad the condition has been brought to light and explained so us non-medical people can understand it.
15
@Scott Mintzer
If I were in the ER with these symptoms, I would want some tests run. And "good, careful histories" are often not possible. However, I do appreciate knowing that this is a strong pattern. Thank you.
6
My father spent about 24 hours under the spell of TGA 30 years ago. I was doing my residency in family practice and my dad was off skiing when he started acting wacky. In addition to many of the behaviors described by other commenters, he also became uninhibited. He was brought into our small Catholic hospital’s emergency room, took one look at the crucifixes in the waiting room and pointing to the closest Jesus announced loudly, “That’s what they do to you when you don’t pay your bill around here.”
During the examination by the neurologist - a portly fellow - my father started poking him in the belly like the Pillsbury doughboy.
This summer we celebrated Dad’s 90th birthday and he is doing great! He gave up skiing long ago but he still drives his age, rides his bike 18 miles/day, and loves nothing more than to tell jokes to whoever will listen.
30
I had TGA a couple of years ago, starting on a Monday morning after I had a colonoscopy the previous Friday. The colonoscopy sedation was Demerol and Versed. Versed blocks memory formation so you don't remember what happened during the procedure. I think I had a "relapse" of the Versed sedation. One plausible explanation is this: Prior to the sedation, I was in fasting metabolic state because you are not supposed to eat before a colonoscopy. In fasting state, you are metabolizing fat so triglycerides are in your bloodstream. Then they gave me the sedation along with a dextrose IV. Dextrose is sugar, which flips your metabolic state, causing your fat cells to reabsorb the triglycerides. Versed is fat soluble (also water soluble), so I suspect that some of the Versed was sequestered in fat cells. A couple of days later, after not eating during the night, my body releases fat back into the bloodstream for fuel, and out comes the Versed, which has the same effect that it did before during the colonoscopy - temporary loss of memory.
I had a couple of days in the hospital to do research on this. The ER physician nailed the diagnosis right away, but they did a bunch of tests anyway and they wanted the neurologist to read the obviously-unremarkable scan. When he failed to show for two days, I had to bust myself out.
17
@Duane Adams I think this was the Versed rather than true TGA. Versed is a bizarro med which I have take myself for colonoscopies and it not only blanks out the procedure, but leaves the next several hours and sometimes longer at least of memories moth eaten.
1
@Duane Adams
I had my TGA few days after EGD.
1
That is what I did exactly when I was in my car accident in 1974: I was trying to escape the hospital in my nightgown and I got the nurses to corral me up… One thing was I was running the opposite way to the elevators!
I was going to say something, but I forget what it was.
84
My event occurred in June of 2017. I meant to leave work early to attend a friend's art opening. When I went out to my car, I realized that I was beginning to experience the aura of an infrequent "visual" migraine. I returned to my office to wait it out, since the aura obscures my vision. I don't actually remember walking back in, just deciding to not drive.
An hour later, I became aware that I was in my office, I'd rebooted my computer and I was placing an item from my desk at home (not actually in my hands) in the drawer of my office desk, like a mime.
I called my husband and told him I was at work, but I didn't know why I was there. He became instantly alarmed and came to take me to the ER. A student in the building, who was a retired RN, helped figure out that I really had no stroke symptoms, except no memory of the last hour.
The neurologist at the hospital thoroughly did imaging and all the diagnostics. I lay there for 2 or 3 hours, alarmed and confused about what had happened. My memory of the earlier parts of the day slowly trickled back, except for that very blank hour after the aura began.
I felt haunted by it for a year, but now I am more curious about it than anything. I feel the aura was the precipitating event.
7
I am a migraine sufferer who has had two incidents of TGA. The first one four summers ago was so frightening to me it took months for me to get it out of my head. I was outside gardening when my husband says I came indoors crying and didn’t know where I was. I have absolutely no memory of it to this day. He was alarmed and took me to the emergency room where it was diagnosed. On the way there I came out of it so it didn’t last long, just long enough to scare me to death.
The second episode was last summer and I was driving home from dinner with friends. When I got near our home I suddenly didn’t recognize anything although, strangely enough, I seemed to realize that I wasn’t recognizing anything. I got agitated and upset (I was driving) and my husband was just trying to calm me down. I don’t really remember details, just that it happened. Both experiences were so freaky, I hope to God it doesn’t happen again, at least, not if I am alone. My doctor told me it was definitely related to my migraines.
7
@Amalia Barreda
Did they check you for seizures? (Might be worth doing if not.)
1
I’ve had three TGA events, each one shorter than the previous. I now recognize what it is. My second and third events were almost humorous (to me) because even though I knew I was in the middle of a TGA event, I couldn't help asking the same question over and over. Friends and family are very concerned and worried, so next time I think I won’t tell anyone when it’s happening and I just wait it out.
If only I could control when it happens, the duration, and what I forget, I’d wipe out all memories of Donald Trump.
128
@Michael Feeley Wow, there just isn't any subject anybody can talk about that isn't an invitation to take a swipe at Trump, huh? Trump has been on the national stage for several years, and is currently the president. That's quite a thorough memory wipe you are proposing there.
8
@David M. Brown It wouldn't be surprising if there were many people who'd willingly undergo a memory erasure procedure a la "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" to selectively wipe the entire Trump era from memory. I know I would.
94
@Michael Feeley I had to laugh at your comment about Trump. According to my daughter (I have no recollection of this, of course) when I had a TGA episode, pre-Trump, the ER doctor administered a "mini-cog" assessment of cognitive function. When he got to the question "Who is the president?" apparently I answered "Well I hope it's still Obama!"
21
I've had 7 TGA events; each followed by increasing longer periods of scrambled cognitive ability. My first, Dec 25, 2003 (52). I was surfing with buddies & I drove. Supposedly, I surfed as good as normal in spite of having no idea where I was, who I was, friends’ names. I’m told I was like a record player on skip. The words of one pal, “You can ask 100 more times and the answer will be the same, It’s Christmas day.” My second & third events also on Christmas, 3 years apart.
Supposedly there is no hereditary factor. I was surfing with my brother when he had his 2nd event. My sister was about to take me to the airport when she had her first event.
I’ve had residual symptoms; my conceptual problem solving skills are effected; after my seventh event it was 6 weeks before I had a semblance of an intuition.
I’ve insurance & did all of the testing to rule out strokes, seizures, heart, etc. I switched neurologists after bullying to have repeated testing that shown nothing.
My sixth event occurred while I was having a stress test on a tread mill, a technician, cardiologist & neurologist present. Towards the end I started to repeat myself and later sat hours on a bench outside the hospital entrance. Eventually I realized I’d a beeper key. The transcript indicated the doctors were focused on the data and not my behavior. I’d missed the best opportunity to have an MRI.
5
@RickLee This is the first I have heard of another TGA case with hereditary possibility. My father had TGA at the exact same age I did, and symptoms manifested were quite similar, and classic with no precipitating event, just came on spontaneously and disappeared gradually within less than 24 hours. We also share a very rare heart condition that is known to be genetic (we both tested positive for that). I've spoken with several neurologists both in clinical practice and research and found none interested in following up. I believe I have some residual effects; my Dad did not. I have not found neurologists interested in that either, and have encountered similar dismissive attitudes. There is a place in Scotland one might investigate, called the Time Institute, where it seems they have investigated the phenomenon more seriously.
My three events all occurred while driving and I suddenly realized I had no idea where I was in space or in time. Yet the first two times these events happened on a very familiar highway. A bit scare, I forced myself to mentally review the many places I have lived over the years, struggling to get back to the present day, as a way to determine my location. Then I began to rely on the exit signs to orient me. But the generic road names were not helping. Finally a definitive place name on the signs brought me back. That is how it worked the first two times. The third time this happened I was on a less familiar route with little signage. Fortunately I had some Mapquest directions printed out and laying on the front seat. This was very useful - especially since I was supposed to be picking up my child from a new location! There was no stress going in my life, no new meds, nothing unusual going on. In fact, if anything I felt "blissed out" by all the beautiful fall colors on these drives. I got an MRI after the third event but nothing was ever found. Each event lasted mere minutes and the psycho-motor aspect of my driving ability was never affected.
10
@Nurse Kathy
How terrifying. You showed showed great presence of mind, to 'think' your way through and out of your predicament. Your experiences, though, do differ from others recounted here in that theirs indicated some degree of cognitive/speech impairment, i.e. repeating the same question or statement over and over. Could it be that you evinced a different type of syndrome? As I've gotten older, I too have experienced those fleeting 'where am I??' moments, although they pass just as quickly as they come---not even enough time to try out my speech skills with those nearby. No matter the clinical name, it is terrifying. The only redeeming benefit is the brevity of the condition.
5
@Nurse Kathy
I have had this experience many times. We finally know that I have simple partial seizures.
3
I experienced a TGA event 3 years ago. It was unusual in several respects. The condition was discovered by my wife in the answer to some questions. I became belligerent when she said I was not alright and suggested we go to the ER (she suspected a stroke). She had a difficult time getting me to agree. The medical crew quickly diagnosed correctly but the event lasted about 30 minutes which was surprising.
Several comments indicate a migraine connection. I had severe migraine headaches in my 20s and 30s, stopping around age 40. (Divorce and new wife(?)) At age 60 I began experiencing migraine aura but rarely a subsequent headache of much consequence. I am now 89 - the auras continue, perhaps 3-5 per month.
3
I had a TGA four years ago, on a day when I was due to fly trans-Atlantic. I'm glad it happened while I was still at home and not in mid-flight. (Yes,I did postpone that trip.)
The ER doctor on duty didn't know what was wrong, but the neurologist who was called in knew right away, thanks to my classic looping repetition, complete with repetitive identical gesturing. My long-term memory functioned during the episode, and apparently I proudly rattled off my Social Security number, phone number, etc., like a champ when asked to do so. The phrase "Elizabeth, I don't know which way is up," which I'm told I repeated approximately a zillion times to the friend who kindly sat with me in the ER, is now a shared joke among me and my friends.
14
@Porsha: I mean no offense re this serious subject, but your post was cute!
2
How is this different than a dissociative episode?
3
There’s no dissociation. It’s simply a temporary ability to create new memories. My wife suffered an episode a couple of years ago. Couldn’t retain anything new for about four or five hours. Was otherwise completely coherent and present. She was also disturbed by the inability to recall. The looping described is very accurate.
9
Nice article, Ms. Brody. With regard to your experience with amnesia after hitting your chin, that was not TGA. TGA does not cause a bike accident, fall, fainting, or physical clumsiness -- just disorientation due to amnesia.
The cut on your chin which occurred while bike riding suggests you hit your head even if you don't remember the event. Amnesia from a head injury is not uncommon but is a different type of amnesia than TGA (in fact, a preceding head injury is an exclusion criteria for TGA).
Traumatic amnesia like that is a type of concussion (a concussion is defined as brain impairment -- headache, dizziness, amnesia, etc. -- after a head injury without abnormalities on brain imaging like CT or MRI). Concussions are therefore diagnosed based on clinical symptoms only, since CT or MRI scans are normal. (The only caveat is there are research studies looking at advanced MRI techniques that may detect some concussions, but a "typical' MRI will be normal in a concussion.)
18
I ve never heard of this before. It’s disturbing that now that I do know, there seems to be nothing to do about it.
I hope that older patients are not likely to be diagnosed with dementia if they have a TGA episode.
11
@Lawyermom It doesn't last long enough for that. Even if they were mistakenly diagnosed initially, within a day or so they'd be back mentally firing on all cylinders and could presumably make that clear to medical personnel.
2
I had TGA a few years ago. The ER doctor knew what it was immediately. I came out of it about 8 hours later.
5
Four years ago I experienced TGA after sex. Apparently not too seriously - my only symptoms being a brief headache, a short term memory loss, and some confusion with my surroundings. My partner, an ER doc, did not know what was going on and took me to a hospital. It was only after a complete neurological work up that it was diagnosed and then (I surmised) only for lack of a better diagnosis.
8
I wonder if anyone has researched whether people who have TGA have an increased chance of developing Alzheimer's Dementia. ( Both seem to affect the memory area of our brains; ie, the hippocampus.)
4
@Tourettes Syndrome Trump Variant
All the studies indicate TGA is not predictive of any other condition developing later. The caveat however, is that this is a very rare condition, so it’s not like they can study 100,000 people at a time.
My husband experienced this one night in an inn, where we had arrived after a 4-hour drive. I never reported it (except years later, to him) out of embarrassment, since it was minutes after having sex. He asked over & over again, "Where are we, and why are we here?" --- had no recollection of driving the distance, or any life memory except for knowing who I was. It seemed sure to cancel our vacation . . . when he managed to go to sleep and awaken cheerfully in the morning completely normal. I never wanted to stay in that inn again.
6
@Julie I think the sex connection is common. Note someone reported that in another comment, and my first (of two total) episodes was also that.
2
I had one of these events about six years ago. I was driving home from work for lunch and all of a sudden I was in a hospital room being questioned. There's a multiple-hour hole in my life which will never be properly filled.d
That's the minor part. The big thing is that afterwards, my life started falling apart and I didn't understand why. It was only in 2018 after I awoke during a seizure, that I was diagnosed as having frontal lobe epilepsy. My problem was not evident because it almost exclusively happens while my brain is trying to get some REM sleep.
Basically, for half a decade or more I was not well-rested and my brain just didn't work properly. That made job performance (and I'm a software engineer) suffer. It's really no wonder that I lost a couple of jobs during that time. What's really amazing to me is that I managed to keep my home and family.
I'm not trying to claim a once-and-for-all causal relationship here, but if you do get diagnosed with 'TGA', I'd strongly suggest looking deeper for reasons than my doctors did back then. A couple of scans and I was allowed to go home. In retrospect that seems like a big mistake.
28
I had a TGA episode in late 2016. It lasted about 6 hours and I remember none of it. My texts to a friend indicated I felt disoriented and asked that she come get me. I was in a gated community and provided her the numerical access code; my conversation with her online was completely normal. I was initially misdiagnosed as having a stroke, despite passing a CAT scan and answering questions with flying colors. Thank God a neurologist correctly identified my problem as TGA the next day. My friend was very rattled by my behavior since I asked her the same questions over and over and over. I now wear a medical bracelet to make medical personnel aware of my previous experience if it happens again. I admit it’s kind of fun being able to say “I lost my mind” and mean it when I tell people about my TGA episode.
6
@Susan I had a TGA a month ago and am thinking of getting a medical bracelet. Can you please tell me what yours says? Thanks
1
This happened to my father when we were in the middle of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The statement that it is scary to the individuals around is spot on. We paddled and portaged drove him to the hospital got the diagnosis and were back in the woods the next day. Yep, he was fine and remembered everything but that few hours.
4
Might have genetic properties, my late mother and her two sons have had them. TGA is only upsetting to those witnessing the event.
3
An elderly friend has experienced this several times in the past few years. Each time the hospital ran all possible tests..no cause known. It is terrifying for the person experiencing it! Once it happened after an upsetting experience.. other times.. not...just out of the blue.
2
My friend who drove me to the hospital said I was terrified, that I knew something was wrong with me and was super anxious to get to the hospital. Thankful that I recall none of what happened during the episode. Forever indebted to my friend!
4
I wanted to write a comment, but I've completely forgotten what I just read.
24
~ smile~
6
My TGA incident was triggered after a 3 day work trip when I had been bouncing between 3 different places to sleep, hotels and relatives. I came home, had sex and then jumped on my work computer.
Lovely day so far.
After asking 6 times the date my wife and cousin who had come over knew something was wrong. She even wrote down the date after I left the room, and then waited 1 minute. I came back. Again I asked. She held up the paper. “Wow, how did you know I was going to ask you the date”. I was told the next 8 hours were very funny.
I have zero recall. I only wished someone had recorded. Trip to Urgent Care and the hospital. MRI, neurologist..... admitted over night stay in hospital. When told I had TGA, I replied to the neurologist, “oh TGA! Had that in my foot once.”
Over and over wife and doctors explained and 30 seconds later I would say: “Hey, what are you guys doing here and why am I in this bed”.
I was very happy and should have been concerned but since I could not remember anything for more that a minute, I was oblivious.
Gradually the symptoms subsided. When I started to have any recall more that a few minutes I got a bit scared. When I realized my brain was not working correctly and could remember that fact I got bummed.
I had a few weeks of post traumatic stress wondering if this was happening again. It has not.
Reoccurrence according to the doctors is rare. The brain does learn how to break the loop.
7
In the fall of 1972 I was 2 months into an obligatory one year of adult neurology residency at Duke Hospital in Durham, NC. I had completed a 3 year pediatric residency followed by 2 years as a US Army Corps pediatrician during the midst of the Vietnam war. The one year of adult neurology training was then and now, a required part of the 3 year pediatric neurology fellowship.
I was on in hospital call on a Sunday, when I was summoned to the ER to see a man in his 80’s whose very concerned wife had brought him several hours earlier. He was a well known retired Duke history professor. They were having lunch together at a restaurant when, with no warning, he gave her a puzzled look and said “Who are you?” He was blissfully unfazed by his situation and as reported in Ms. Brody’s excellent essay, had absolutely no other abnormal findings.
I spent several hours in our departmental library finally finding a brief description of what had only recently been described in the neurology literature as Transient Global Amnesia.
I presented him to my departmental chief and fellow residents the following morning and the diagnosis was agreed upon. When we rounded on him a bit later he had completely recovered and was only distressed over his complete “loss” of the previous day.
As the article states, even the most sophisticated imaging and metabolic evaluations during an attack remain normal, adding to the many mysteries which remain in our understanding of memory.
Michael A. Sisk, MD
35
Jane:
Did you not see the movie, "21 First Dates"?
Big Al
3
This can also be caused by Claritin or Zyrtec. Read the package inserts. Temporary amnesia is a rare but possible side effect. It happened to me.
16
@newmoonmesa You appear to be perseverating! Lol.
I've had five or six (or possibly more) of these over the past 15 years mostly as a result of physical exertion. The first one they asked at the hospital who the previous president was. I smiled and couldn't answer. There were several "small" ones after that; I was disoriented for a while (what season is it? why are we here?) but understood what was going on and was able to wait them out, telling no one. I had a fairly big one several years ago- I went with my wife and daughter to a football game, where my daughter was going to receive an award at halftime. It was very stressful getting there with rain pouring down and trying to get close to the stadium to drop them off, then parking and running back. When I sat down I didn't know why we were there. A little frightening. After an hour or so I thought, ah, there's some kind of ceremony about to happen and by halftime when the thing was scheduled I'd figured it out. I had told no one, I knew what was happening and didn't want to make a scene. I try to be careful and now that I'm old(er) it easier to decline very physically demanding or stressful situations. It's part of life and no one knows what's going on.
6
Had an episode in May while at pilates and have a couple of things to add. I'm 63. I now keep a list of contact numbers with me, since I was unable to remember how to contact anyone who might need/want to know my whereabouts. During the ride to hospital by ambulance, I wasn't sure I was still alive--it felt like being in a parallel state, or something--and so the terror for me was quite profound, even though the attendant was calm and I was focussing on the breath. And so by the time I reached hospital, my blood pressure was up to 200 which needed immediate attention. My episode lasted 6 hours. If this happens to you, be sure to rest for a couple of days after; it's hard on the body and head. I'm still managing the brain fog (different from the memory blips of ageing), and the "emotionalism" I encountered--in hospital, I began weeping because I missed my dog!--is still more trigger-happy than I'd like. But that ambulance ride in limbo has actually led to some fantastic shifts in attitude, once I retraced what I could with my therapist!
11
Hazel Motes - I, too, was found to have dangerously high blood pressure when brought into the ER after (during?) my TGA event. Your comment makes me wonder if my very high BP at the time which had to be reduced with IV medication during an overnight hospital stay, was a cause or a result of TGA.
I have mild hypertension now, controlled by medication, but at the time of my event, I had normal BP for someone at age 60.
@Stephen Hyland I was told at the time that it was the result of the panic I was feeling, not knowing what was happening and suspecting I was about to die. I was given Atavan to lower it and kept in hospital until it came down. I'd had hip surgery 6 months before and had been monitoring BP; it was pretty good and getting lower all the time, and I've always had BP on the low side. I've since been advised by my old GP to start doing a little visualization--something that makes me smile, like my dog's face-- any time I get angry or upset, in case the BP rise is simply my bad way of responding to stress. But my TGA episode happened while I did a challenging pilates move for the first time, so I likely did a version of hyper-ventilation. I've since realized I had a mild episode a couple of years ago. Both came after periods of elevated work stress and inadequate eating.
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Both Ambien and Xanax can cause idiosyncratic reactions with qualities like TGA: a waking state w/o any physical symptoms that shows severely altered quality of consciousness, garbled language and/or processing new input.
This suggests a GABA effect, atypical dissociation probably involving the locus coeruleus.
This may be pertinent to the new fad promoting ketamine for hard to treat depression. It too is a dissociative agent and- as usage extends - may effect many people idiosyncratically, with untoward sude effects.
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@Sara There is no correlation whatsoever between drug-induced amnesia and transient global amnesia. There are many drugs that impair or reduce the encoding of new memories, and the mechanisms for this are generally well understood.
Locus coeruleus-CA1 projections are involved in transient global ischaemia but not in transient global amnesia. These two conditions are unrelated.
There is no known cause of TGA. There's no evidence to support ischemic, migrainous, epileptic, or neuropsychological causes, but there is an association between TGA and activities that result in jugular venous congestion due to retrograde venous cerebral blood flow (strenuous activity, sex, stress, Valsalva maneuver).
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Each of my TGA events happened 2 years apart trimming the same jasmine covered pergola on a ladder with a heavy gas powered hedge trimmer. A fair amount of physical strain. I pay to have it trimmed now.
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@W Wei, PhD
Hi Dr. Wei, I have a family member that potentially recently had a TGA episode (per ER doctor). This family member also has had extensive vascular surgery in the past. I shared your published comment above with one of the doctors and they suggested I reach out. Any chance you or someone you recommend could discuss this case offline?
It happened to me just 6 weeks ago. I went in for an ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration biopsy on my thyroid. There's 8 hours that I have no memory of. I don't even remember going to the hospital, checking in, have no recall of the radiologist or nurse attending me. It was after the procedure that, I am told, the radiologist and nurse reported that I was asking those same questions "Where am I? What am I doing here?" When my husband came in, he said the same thing - I just kept asking the same thing over and over. They sent me to the ER [of course I have no recall of that either]. The ER was so busy because of car accident victims, that he took me home. But he was so freaked out, my doctor was contacted and he told him to take me back to the ER. Again, like others, all the tests were taken - everything checked out fine. That's where they made the diagnosis 10 hours later. Obviously stress of the procedure/trauma caused it. But it's frightening to think it might happen again. What's worse is, they originally told me with this procedure I could drive my self home. What would have happened if I was there alone? Thankfully my husband was there.
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@Bonnie
I had my first episode while driving. My passenger told me later that my driving was normal and I had no problems following her directions: I was taking her to a place where I had not been before, and from there I was able to get on my way home. I came back to normal about halfway home. I've had several episodes since, all of them shorter, none of them stress-related, and at least 2 of them while driving.
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Happened to me in a gym after a ridiculously hard work-out. It lasted a few hours. My husband was summoned, and he made the diagnosis as I was taken to the ER. Because he was a neurosurgeon, the docs didn't put me through any imaging. I guess my legs swiped too much blood from my brain. Because no one was alarmed, it was kind of entertaining.
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@Ellen Love, Love, Love your attitude! Calming and Empowering at the same time!
Thank you for the article. I think my greatest concern is that this could happen when I wasn't with a friend. I wonder if when I read about a hiker who just wandered off the trail, if this might not have contributed to their getting lost.
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I have had 2 episodes almost exactly 2 years apart, both while trimming bushes in the backyard. Each resulting in a 2 night hospital stay. Being afraid that it will happen again, when traveling on business, I wear an ID bracelet with my home and wife's cell number on it. Earlier this year I had a heart attack in CA (I live in FL) and they used the ID bracelet to contact my wife. Life can be stange.
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Six years ago I was diagnosed with a TGA incident after a memory loss episode. Well after recovery I remembered that I was taking Ambien irregularly during the period. After hearing others who took Ambien and were sleep walking, etc. I am wondering if TGA's can result from Ambien as Jane Brody suggested in this article.
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@Bill Hettig
Absolutely. I took one ambien for sleep but before I got in bed noticed my friends fancy new car. I asked if I could drive it, off we went all over town lots of fun and laughing. The next morning at breakfast I noticed her new car and asked if I could drive it. She was shocked and thought I was goofing on her but I remembered nothing of our long drive the night before.
I am so glad you wrote this article. I've experienced TGA 3 times within 20 yrs & the first time was terrifying. As with the other readers, after thorough exams that revealed no abnormalities, I was fine. Went home & took a nap. Was fine when I got up. In my case, the doctors thought the episodes were brought on by stress (I am being treated for depression & anxiety.) But your article was very reassuring & I appreciate your research into this strange phenomenon.
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I had an episode last year while reading the NYT on-line. Suddenly the time on the upper left of the computer changed to over an hour later and I panicked as I was going to be late for class. I felt nauseated, tired and groggy for several hours afterward. When I saw a young neurologist he diagnosed a seizure, but the EEG was normal. My usual (and much older) neurologist who manages my severe chronic migraine, happened to come into the room and immediately diagnosed TGA. Usually it takes an outside observer to confirm the behavior, but they accepted the morphing of the time clock on my computer and my complete lack of memory for the time span.
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I had TGA about 7 years ago. Was fine all day, then suddenly started asking my husband the same question over and over again. I was 61. He took me to the hospital, I woke up in a bed there, having no memory of getting there. I have lymphedema in my right arm, so no injections, needles, BP monitors are allowed there. When I woke up I had an IV in my right arm, but could not remember which arm I had lymphedema in. It as a terrible experience. My local hospital sent me by ambulance to Boston, and when I woke up in the morning I was fine, got on a train, and went home.
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Well this is very interesting. I am at my desk having a bit of a lightbulb moment. I once fell in the street and have no idea how it happened. Very kind passers by came to my aid, I was not injured, but it appears I just fell down. I can remember arriving to the footpath before the fall and I can remember the aftermath of the fall, but nothing of the fall itself. It was very disconcerting. It was also disconcerting for those who helped as I kept asking what happened!!! I didn't remember.
Second occasion something like this happened - I was driving from my office to an important meeting. I turned off the road and headed in another direction. No memory of doing this. Complete blank. I was on the wrong road when I realised I was traveling in the wrong direction. It was terrifying to be in control of a car and have a blank period. I have since moved job and can walk to work but when I occasionally drive that particular road I am always reminded of that day.
I am, overall, both very healthy and fit. However I have severe migraine, which has now morphed into New Daily Persistent Migraine/Headache. Lucky Me.
I have a healthy lifestyle and am lucky to be cared for by excellent physicians. I have annual brain MRI's and no issues have arisen.
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I was at home alone when two police officers came to my door and told me a good friend had committed suicide and had left a note saying to contact me and my husband. Giving them our friend's family's contact information, and seeing my husband who luckily arrived home right then, are the last things I remember until about 8 hours later in the emergency room when I was sent home after being told I had experienced transient global amnesia. It was an easy experience for me — not so much for my husband, of course.
The next day I decided to do some prep for making dinner, and discovered that I had already done it before the incident.
It almost feels as though my brain was doing me a favor, giving me a temporary break from the bad news. But apparently while I was in emergency, they periodically asked me if I knew why I was there, and when I said I didn't, they told me about the suicide again, and I cried again. I recently read an article that suggested reminding people of something traumatic isn't the best technique.
Those 8 hours (and apparently a few hours before them) remain a blank for me. My husband has interesting (some of them funny) stories about how I behaved at the time, though.
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@Annie
"reminding people of something traumatic isn't the best technique"
So true. A friend found a great solution for her grandma with dementia, who would often ask as they gathered for dinner, "Where's Sarah?" -- her sister who had died years before. Instead of re-traumatizing Gran every day again with the news that Sarah's dead and Gran forgot (what a horrible thing to go through, over and over), now they just redirect her thoughts with, "oh, Sarah will be along later, did you get some of these green beans? What a lovely brooch you're wearing today..." etc.
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@Election Inspector Precious & loving re-direction for loved one with dementia.
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I believe that I've had two episodes. During the first I have a memory of things being fuzzy as I drove home after a workout and eating a snack. My next recall, and my husbands, is of sitting at the table asking my husband the same questions repeatedly, as another reader commented, "on a three minute loop". I didn't feel anxious, and didn't think I was having a stroke. However, when he suggested that we drive to the emergency room because "something is clearly wrong" , I agreed. One of the things I kept asking, was related to what time I had gotten home, as I kept checking the time on my phone, and then asking again. MRI and neurologist consult the next day resulted in a diagnosis of TGA.
During the second one that occurred, I found that I driven several miles in the wrong direction away from home on a very familiar road, after exiting an interstate, before I noticed. It was like waking up from a nap with no awareness of how I got there. It's been several years, and now I don't even think about it, except when I take that same exit. I look at a billboard there and still try to recreate that wrong turn and drive in my mind, but it's lost! If I had not been diagnosed with the first TGA a couple of years earlier, I would have been more concerned, but for several months after that I was more anxious about driving long distances by myself!
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My TGA episode was just as described; much harder on those around me than on me. After I resumed normal functioning -- arose to the surface -- I blocked it from thought. I did not want to think about a time when I was completely vulnerable. Now, ten years later, I am very grateful for the gift of awareness. I appreciate the tissue thin difference between being in the world and being a part of it.
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This happened to my wife about 15 years ago. We were on a tourist boat ride in Ocean City, MD. It was a "rooster boat" that shot through the water at very high speeds creating a large fan of water in its wake and soaking the passengers . At the end of the ride my wife and I were completely soaked in cold ocean water. She looked at me and said that she knew who I was, but she did not know where she was. It was like a tape recorder that just did not record. She behaved normally, but could not remember anything that happened only minutes before. We went to the emergency room at a local hospital; testing was all negative. About four hours later she was totally fine and back to normal. It was a very frightening four hours for me.
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In the 1990s, during a period of extremely high stress, driving around a local city I realized I could not recall anything I'd said or done more than a few seconds prior to that moment... and that this was continuing. In fact, I could barely even remember that I couldn't remember things a couple of minutes ago, if that makes any sense.
I did know that the brakes on my car were failing. That was a physical memory--my foot know it had to start pressing very slowly on the brake pedal far earlier than usual. But I felt no concern at all. None.
Hours later, I wound up in my own driveway, recalling only glimpses of where I'd been, and walked inside feeling vague but OK.
Half an hour later, I mentioned the brakes to my husband. His astonishment at my behavior astonished me! Only then did I realize something very odd had happened.
Not sure if this was a TGA or some kind of brief dissociative/fugue state (though I'd always known who I was and where I was).
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I have had several perhaps unusual, and certainly unexplained, failures of processing in the 30 pound carbon based computer that resides on top of my neck in my 77 years.
Perhaps the oddest one occurred when I was in my 20's. I was on my lunch hour from work in the heart of a big city , and had just come out of the bargain basement of a large department store. I was crossing the street on my way back to the office, probably with a prize like a 79 cent necktie, when I suddenly experienced total amnesia. I could not remember who I was, where I worked, or any specific details related to my life. I went into a phone booth and pretended to be making a call. Within 5 minutes I remembered everything, and then just went back to work. And that was that.
Even at the time it felt somehow appropriate, and amusing, for an office worker to forget his identity.
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This happened to me in August (when I was 49)! I swam across the Ipswich River in Massachusetts to get to Crane Beach and when I got out I had no idea how I’d gotten there or where we were. (unlike the spouses in these anecdotes, my husband wasn’t terribly concerned ;) I think dehydration and too much hi-test coffee were contributing factors? But same thing—perseverant questioning of the same four questions (where’s my daughter? My dog? My parents? Do I have permission from work to be here?) with same inflection, on a three minute loop. It wore off after four hours—during which I swam back across the river, walked a mile, did the Crossword in faster than average time, so it’s weird that it didn’t stand in the way of my remembering gross motor skills or trivia—but it’s a story I’ve dined out on all summer since.
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@Rory Evans Oh, your a doll! And lower reduce concerns to manageable.
The amnesia described associated with the bike accident sounds more like retrograde amnesia. Happens routinely after motor vehicle accidents or other trauma.
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@Dr. Harbaugh. Not a physician here, but a bicyclist. I think you’re likely correct. A little knock on the noggin erases the accident. Pretty usual. The bleeding chin is evidence of a fall and impact with something. TGA, as described, has some different mechanism(s).
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My mother has had more episodes than we can count over the past 20 years. She follows the same pattern of repeating things over and over and making no new memories. Some episodes are short. Some last for many hours and fade slowly, sometimes leaving her foggy for days. The first seems to have been triggered by emotion, but some just happen. Mom was hospitalized for the first three, because it was considered so unlikely to have multiple events, but now no one is concerned and we all just wait it out. My sister has also had one episode.
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@Marilyn Chappell
Multiple incidents might point toward Transient Epileptic Amnesia, which presents much like TGA and can be controlled with medication.
(not an expert but "been there, done that")
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While waiting to be seated at a restaurant, I became aware that my usual arithmetic ability had gone missing. I was concerned that this was the beginning of a stroke (although everything else felt normal) and I took my wife and myself to the local ER.
After several hours of evaluation and observation, I was discharged with a diagnosis of TGA, ALTHOUGH I wasn’t aware (and my wife didn’t notice) any gap in my memory. At some point during my ER stay, my sense of arithmetic calculations felt normal again.
I haven’t experienced this again in the subsequent six years.
This suggests to me that some diagnoses of TGA might be inappropriate, leading to an OVER estimate of this problem.
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It was physical exertion for me. A 30 mile hilly bike ride in the hills north of Baltimore this past August. It was a route I have done dozens of times. Looking back it was hot and very humid when I started at 6:30 a.m. And I probably pushed myself more than usual. (I have to remind myself I am 64 because I don't feel it.) Thankfully a cycling friend called an ambulance when he heard how confused I was after I called him when I got home. I have no memory of that morning. I do have a good memory of the great doctors and nurses at Good Samaritan Hospital here in Baltimore, as they kept me overnight. They made sure I was okay before leaving late Sunday morning.
When I got home I checked Mayoclinic.org for information on T.G.A.. I remember reading in the NY Times that Mayo Clinic is the best place for online health info. And it is.
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While I have always considered my husband to be a rare treasure, I now know that he is more rare than I ever thought. His first experience (of three, hence his rareness) with TGA happened in 2002. As we talked, it became clear to me that he could not remember any of the night before, when we had gone out to dinner, nor could he remember plans we had for the following week, when we would be going to a concert. I became more and more concerned as we talked, and insisted we go to the Emergency Room at our local hospital. He resisted mightily, as he felt perfectly normal. He wasn't, though, and I was terrified. So we went. As we drove, and as we waited for him to be seen (they got to us rather quickly...turns out if they think you might be having a stroke, you go directly to the fast lane), I asked him about our life. He remembered me and our children, but he did not remember my mother's passing the previous year, and he asked me over and over again if he had taken his meds that morning. It was, quite literally, the most frightening thing that has ever happened to us. After a CT scan and examination, the neurologist (our hero) told us he thought my husband had experienced TGA, and explained what (if little) was known about it. After about 8 hours, all of my husband's memories returned. The next two times we were better prepared, but not any less frightened.
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Thank you for bringing attention to this rare phenomenon. I suffered my first TGA in my early 50s. Yes, I've had three in all. They occurred about 2-3 years apart, and my husband was with me each time. After the first, he drove me to the ER, and the symptoms remained for a few hours. What you describe is exactly my experience. After my second episode, we just stayed home...no ER needed. However, when I told my neurologist, he insisted it was impossible to have a second TGA. So I fired him.
Just would like to add one more thing.....my brother has had a number of TGAs over the years. His seem to last longer. Perhaps there is a genetic basis. And I wonder also if these may be more common than we realize. If no one is with you and the episode is brief, who would know that it occurred?
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I had a TGA in August 2019. Since then I have joined two TGA support groups, including one on Facebook.
What is interesting to read among the people who have had a TGA - or 2 or more - is that it is not uncommon to have more than one, which contradicts the medical belief. We think it is because they go unreported since there is no treatment.
Also, recovery from a TGA often is months, as there is sometimes recurring brain fog and anxiety attacks. My own recover is still in process after 6 weeks.
Thank you for the article, great to see this in print.
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Oh it’s real, all right- The reason it may seem to recur rarely is folks may rather deny it as the experience is scary & may be hard to explain convincingly-
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@Anastasia Walsh's
Yes, and yes. Those reporting that it is unlikely to have a recurrence are contradicted by the facts and are wrong, and it could be that patients and their caregivers do not repeat getting (no) treatment since nothing is ever found from all of the expensive testing, and thus their episodes are not being counted by the medical community, which is astonishingly uneducated on this condition. Our primary, the ER room doctors, and the “neurologist” — I use quotes bc he was an idiot who prescribed bad medicine, a statin — had never heard of it!
Whatever happened to continuing education? Too busy taking vacays paid for by the pharmaceutical industry?
@RB Statins caused "space doc" Duane Graveline to have TGA. He couldn't remember he was an astronaut. Training required him to take them, but when the TGA returned Dr. Graveline quit them for good. Stopping statins stopped the TGA. He wrote the book "Lipitor Thief of Memory".
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I had TGA back in 1961, the result of falling from a horse. I did hit my head, but no concussion or brain injury could be found.
During TGA, which lasted about 4 hours, I kept asking what happened, over and over. I was taken for a head X-ray (all that was available at the time). The people around me were very frustrated, since I seemed 'normal' but simply couldn't hold a thing in my memory.
I finally did improve, and apparently had no 'lasting effect'. When I began to hold things in my memory, it was rather like 'waking up' to concerned people and having no idea why they were concerned. Very odd. I never had a term for it until just now.
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I was diagnosed with a case of TGA back in September of 2001. The doctors at the time speculated it was a case of my blood flowing backwards through a part of my brain and interfering with my memory. I can recall being told about perseveratively asking my wife where and why we were going as she drove me to the emergency room that night, with her fearing that I had suffered a stroke.
I was admitted and held in the hospital for three days, until finally I was discharged. While in the hospital I had felt completely normal and passed mental status examinations with little difficulty, I was surprised by the fact that once I was home, I could NOT organize my thoughts to write a sermon. Luckily I had the foresight not to worry and to just roll with the experience, figuring my mind needed time to heal from the assault, whatever it was. Within a week my language skills had returned and writing was no longer a struggle. While I am tempted to blame the experience on my emotions, having literally visited the 9/11 site a day before the TGA episode, my difficulty with writing led me to suspect some type of neurological involvement as well.
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