Magazine editor John Birmingham is sitting on the edge of his bed as his wife Laura, dressed for work and then a birthday gathering, wears a jacket with a large cloth flower on it and sits on the edge of her bed. I was surprised to find him staring at my clothes. Perplexed.
„Why am I wearing these clothes?“ she kept asking.
„I'm going to a party after work,'' he replied.
„But…what should I do?“
John got scared then. His wife ran a small business that made unique hats using handmade materials. She was passionate about her work.
„She kept asking me where I was, where I had been. Then she said, 'So what do you do?' So chilling.“ I thought, Okay, let's take her to her hospital. ”
At Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital, doctors administered cognitive tests to Laura. „Did she know her name?“ Year? Current president?
„Hillary Clinton?“ she guessed. The doctor smiled. „still.“
Finally, the neurologist made the following diagnosis: Transient global amnesia (TGA) is a sudden, short-term episode of forgetfulness most common in people between the ages of 50 and 70, affecting 3 to 8 in 100,000 people each year.
The main symptom of TGA is anterograde amnesia, or the inability to form and retain new memories. „[TGA patients]can only hold the world in their brains for about five minutes,“ explains Dr. Nancy Cicotte, director of neurology at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. „They're very confused. Their hallmark is that they repeatedly ask, 'Where am I?' what's happening? Some people with TGA retain knowledge of their identity and are able to walk, talk, and perform other tasks, but they also have no memory of their past. „They may not recognize someone who has only been married for a few years,“ Cicotte says.
Episodes usually last 4 to 6 hours, but can last as long as 24 hours. They get better on their own and old memories come back first. Only the actual term of the TGA remains cryptographic.
Laura, 74, remembers getting dressed on a spring morning in 2015. She looked so dreamy. She remembers looking at the clock. I thought: Is it night today? Is it day? So where am I? ”
Although the onset of TGA is a very worrying symptom for patients and their loved ones, which may be caused by a stroke or a brain tumor, neurologists describe it as a „benevolent syndrome“ with no long-term consequences. thinking about.
About 80 percent of patients do not have a recurrence, said Stephen L. Lewis, M.D., chief of neurology at Lehigh Valley Health Network and editor of Lehigh Valley Health Network magazine. The continuum: lifelong learning in neurology. The remaining 20% are likely to have one or two more attacks during their lifetime.2020 research published in JAMA Neurology We showed that TGA patients with a higher personal or family history of migraine were more likely to experience migraine recurrence.
Neurologists still don't know exactly how TGA occurs, but research points to temporary venous hypertension in the brain. This temporarily deprives her two hippocampi, which form memories in the brain, of oxygen. „What we don't understand is exactly what's going on at the physiological level,“ Cicotte says. „My blood flow is decreasing, why?“
Doctors know that TGA episodes usually have a trigger. It's a sudden jump into hot or cold water. Extreme physical exertion. intense emotional impact. Intercourse.
That's what happened to Joan Lang, 65, one afternoon nine years ago. She and her husband were enjoying some post-coital bliss at her home in Portland, Maine, when she suddenly asked when they should plan on putting the boat in the water this season.
They sold the boat the previous summer to a man named Forrest.
“I didn’t remember anything about it,” Joan says. She remembers little of the ride to Mercy Hospital, where her husband said she repeatedly asked, „What happened to me?“
He spent one night in the hospital and had „the strangest night I've ever had, completely untethered to my life. I slept, I dreamed, and when I woke up I didn't know where I was. I didn't get it. I remember being fed a cheese sandwich and the night was crazy, like this miasma. I didn't feel like I was back in my body until the next day.“
Doctors stress that while TGA is not a symptom or risk factor for stroke or other neurological disorders, people with any type of amnesia should get tested at the hospital.
Cicotte describes TGA as both a physiological phenomenon and an existential one. The hippocampus hums like a tiny tape recorder deep in the twin temporal lobes of our brains, recording who we are and where we are, regardless of our conscious will. We provide data that lets you know moment by moment whether or not there are any.
„The machinery our brains use to create new memories and access old ones is offline,“ Cicotte explains in an episode of TGA. „It's like a switch goes off. Maybe it's a protection mechanism.“
TGA is a source of fascination for neurologists, residents and laypeople alike, about how we have to learn about how memories are formed, encoded, disappear, and come back. It's a syndrome that reminds me of.
Although this experience is unsettling for many patients, the after-effects are positive for some.
Laura views her TGA as the moment when her brain and body hit the “pause” button during times of overwhelming stress. In addition to juggling the usual grind of constant decision-making with a staff of 20, she was also planning her trip to Peru.
She says the incident left her feeling deeply relaxed and blissfully happy. „All day long you're answering questions, dealing with problems, dealing with pressing issues. At some point, your brain needs space. I look at this incident as a recalibration. Masu.“