I am 59 years old, a male, and in pretty decent health, considering my family history. By that I mean I do have “controlled” High Blood Pressure, and Heart attack on the male side of my family. My father had his first heart attack at 43, so to some extent I have dodged that bullet. I did have to have my Prostate removed due to some random cancer cells that they found on my third biopsy, after monitoring my PSA for about 5 years. So all and all I feel, and function well and normally, and I DO feel pretty good, . . . . . . . . HOWEVER.
Big Elephant enters room, stage right . . . .
Ten Years ago, during a fairly stressful year I had a Very strange and Very unsettling thing happened to me. It is said that there are several known triggers for a Transient Global Amnesia (TGA) event, and I was doing one of those, I was making love to my wife. All was well during the “interlude,” for both of us until about ten or fifteen minuets after we were done. I was told later that I started acting strangely at this time, my wife thought I was funning around after we had, “Lit the Mountain on Fire” But I don’t remember that anymore, at all. As a mater of fact I didn’t remember the preceding two hours. I guess I was convincing enough, because when I finally started to remember things again, I was on the way to the hospital, and asking a WHOLE lot of questions. Basically I did not: remember where I was, where I was living, what I had been doing, and how I ended up in the car on the way to that place I just mentioned. Needless to say I was just a might bit freaked out about the whole thing. One of the stranger things about TGA is that ALL your higher Brain functions still work, WHILE the event is in progress, doing math . . . . no problem, Making lucid comments about whatever . . . . no problem. Remembering any of them . . . . . not gonna happen. During a TGA event you are no longer able to take a temporary memory and make it/them permanent, you just can’t, they are gone, never happened.
So at the hospital they checked me over: felt my toes, poked my ears, looked at my tongue, (and they get paid a lot of money to do what one of my granddaughters would do for free, and better than they did!) Basically after the MRI about a week later, “they” told me I had not had a stroke . . . . good for you, I knew that already. But they had to make the rent too, so. Basically the doctors learned, and knew, nothing ~ and so ends the ten year old portion of the story.
Enter, little sister elephant: stage Left (girls always enter from the left . . . more dramatic.)
On july 15th of 2012, it happened again . . . . . The one thing the doctors had told me, was that this was likely a “Once in a lifetime event”, well guess who was wrong. Same trigger too, except this time the memory loss covered a shorter period, not that it didn’t scare my wonderful wife badly again. It scared me, but this time I was ready, so to speak, I had read what little information was available on TGA, and immediately contacted my Neurologist (I have one of those now, mores the pity) and ASAP he ran some more serious tests: an EEG, another MRI, a Carotid Artery ultrasound, and he wants a sleep study. Insurance will not pay for a sleep study so that is out. No biggy, I sleep . . . . ok. So what do the MRI, EEG, and CA UltraSound show; well I have a beautiful brain (his words not mine) and it seems to be working very well, so the EEG shows, so why has it stopped doing part of its job, TWICE?
Very little is known about Transient Global Amnesia at this time, like the numbers of people that are effected per year. Unknown. The reasons for an Event? Unknown. The long term effects? Unknown. Except for the one main effect, Worry, over when the next event will, if ever, occur. Be reassured that, during an event, at least your motor skills and body memory appear to not be affected in any way, i.e: you could have an Event occur while driving to work, and other than the likelihood of NOT getting where you originally intended, you would at least not be a hazard to the public while wandering aimlessly in your car. But, get where you were intending to go, not gonna happen.
So why even write this post about [my] Transient Global Amnesia (TGA)? I just want to reassure people that though little is known about this “condition?” Life goes on, with little or no change, IF YOU DON NOT FREAK OUT ABOUT IT. So for those of us that have had a TGA Event, we sit and wait for the Medical Community to wake up and look for an answer. In the mean time Live your life, as you have been. Go forward, live life to the fullest. This Post also gives someone who has had there first event some information/reassurance that they are not alone. Be positive, and remember.
Jim
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