Amnesia: cause for concern?

[robotic]

lately, i've been completely blanking out.

a couple of weeks ago, my uncle came to the dubai and we met him and went with him to places - but i couldn't remember if we had just seen him at the hotel and waved goodbye. mom later told me that we not only ate lunch with him, but also went to a park. but i couldn't even recall. how weird was that?
also, back in 2005 when my cousin stayed over at our house, i couldn't remember grandpa was living with us at the same time too. when someone mentioned it, i was taken aback and wondered how i couldn't know. and most recently when we were looking for apartments on saturday, i couldn't recall the first apartment we had looked at, when i was asked about it at the end of the day.

i'm truly a young old person, haha, the greatest paradox ever. but seriously, is it normal? or am i developing some sort of premature alzheimers? i seem to blank out a lot, about events everyone else seems to remember. most events that remain vividly in my mind are usually either really old or traumatic memories.

[Powerful T]

Or it is possible you are being possessed by spiritual energy.

Ah well. You'll find out when you come out of one of your blankouts and find a pile of corpses at your feet and blood coating your hands.

Or it may be a medical disorder.

[robotic]

Or it is possible you are being possessed by spiritual energy.

Ah well. You'll find out when you come out of one of your blankouts and find a pile of corpses at your feet and blood coating your hands.

O_O gulp

[Powerful T]

O_O gulp

....ah.

I shan't be overcome with surprise if I see a report on TV about a ghostly-winged, red-eyed female tearing at some defenseless man's flesh, then rapidly running up a building and leaping off into the night after the Police in the area shoot at it, then.

[SunWuKong]

has it affected your school work?

[robotic]

has it affected your school work?

a lot. my schoolwork in general has been deteoritating, it sort of started after i had a depressive phase about a year ago.

[Powerful T]

has it affected your school work?


A primary concern!

[Martino]

I suppose it might be an extension of your earlier depression - are you feeling listless, loss of interest in what's going on around you? Maybe these events didn't register in your memory because you were distracted, worried? Or you don't take time to reflect or think about things as they happen to you?

Just a thought.

I would get it checked out, just to be sure it isn't something physiological/psychological, but really you could be just "absent minded"!

Keep us posted?

[SunWuKong]

a lot. my schoolwork in general has been deteoritating, it sort of started after i had a depressive phase about a year ago.

do you forget things that happened in class? or forget the work you've done and the things you've studied?

[eos]

i feel for you, sweetie. *hugs*

i forget things too and i'm not sure if it was the drinking, drugs, or my depression that caused it, but if it's affecting your schoolwork, you might want to talk to someone. after all, it doesn't hurt to talk to people, right?
good luck and keep us posted. =)

[bluemonq]

Have you been under stress recently? Any sort of events occured that echo past...traumatic...incidents?

[pikachupacabra]

Amnesia with no good reason (or bad reason i mean...) is DEFINITELY a cause for concern.

First step is to talk to your physician and perhaps see if there's anything possible bad going on with you neurologically, or perhaps if you have some sort of chemical imbalance.

Second thing is to see if you can talk to a therapist for any possible lingering depression...you'd be surprised how much just talking to one can help. I had anger management issues for years that got cleared up from therapy and I'm much happier, more laid back, and well-adjusted these days.


Good luck Anum!

[Arex]

If you were constantly under the influence, I'd say that was a likely cause. However, given your age I'm guessing that wasn't the case. I'd recommend notifying your parents and seeing a doctor as well. Good luck!

[didu]

i've had very bad short term memory for a while, sometimes, when i park my car and walk away, i'd forget whether or not i locked the car and have to rush back to check. this is very very worrying.

[Azn Retribution]

Ruling out any psychiatric disorders...

Do you drink lots of coffee/redbull?
what's your diet like? do you supplement with anything?
any drug/narcotic abuse or on any pharmaceuticals at this time?

abuse of stimulants such as caffiene, ephedrine or amphetamines can affect short-term memory storage and recall.

This is due to their action as diuretics by lowering AVP/ADH (anti-diuretic hormone) secretion, which is responsible for short-term memory storage and recall. (detailed mechanism is unknown but it has been confirmed that ADH is involved) further studies regarding supplementation of synthetic ADH (desmopressin) demonstrated improvements on the order or 66 - 76% memory storage and recall in healthy subjects.

[didu]

um, i don't drink coffee or redbull or any caffiene drinks at all. my diet is typical chinese diet -- meat, vegie, rice and sometimes noodles. i don't think i've got any psychiatric disorders either, but i've been rather stressed for more than 3 years now, due to my studies, this could be the cause i think.

[Azn Retribution]

how stressed?
like crazy anxiety/tension?
wouldnt be a bad idea to try a DSMIV evaluation at a psychiatrist.

also you should probably try a good multi-vitamin and a fish oil supplement Omega 3/6 EFAs.

[Powerful T]

This is due to their action as diuretics by lowering AVP/ADH (anti-diuretic hormone) secretion, which is responsible for short-term memory storage and recall. (detailed mechanism is unknown but it has been confirmed that ADH is involved) further studies regarding supplementation of synthetic ADH (desmopressin) demonstrated improvements on the order or 66 - 76% memory storage and recall in healthy subjects.

This is clearly science.

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/5087/scienceti2.png

[didu]

i wouldn't say i'm under extrem tension, but i do have trouble sleeping. maybe i should take some of that fish oil thingies you suggested. thanks for the advice. :biggrin:

[robotic]

Have you been under stress recently? Any sort of events occured that echo past...traumatic...incidents?

i've been feeling really heavy lately, with a burdening chest sensation. i've had people advise me to check for thyroid, because i've been panicking about dying and other weird pessimistic/paranoid tendencies (that usually spark from my phobias, like my fear of flying. i get scary "i feel like i'm going to die!" panic attacks brought on by turbulences, air-pockets and other normal functions of an aircraft). sometimes it gets to a point where i begin to visualize every event or interaction leading to mine or someone's demise. although this isn't by far ok at all XD i've always thought it was a somewhat normal reaction to the death of many relatives back in 2002-2003.

I suppose it might be an extension of your earlier depression - are you feeling listless, loss of interest in what's going on around you? Maybe these events didn't register in your memory because you were distracted, worried? Or you don't take time to reflect or think about things as they happen to you?

Just a thought.

yes, you're probably right.
i think things tend to fly over my head, maybe because of my preoccupation with other thoughts. a forgotten event only comes back by someone elses' recollection or after seeing pictures. sometimes i remember really minimal details (like when i was on a flight from toronto to london, and there were tourists from quebec on the plane with us sitting at the front, and when the plane did a sudden heart-stopping dive - everyone gasped. this was a few years ago, but it's still quite plain in my mind, whereas my brother, who was sitting beside me, doesn't seem to remember it at all. i've realized that it's not usually the significance of the event that makes me remember it, but usually the degree of reaction to it - and what kind of an impact it had)

do you forget things that happened in class? or forget the work you've done and the things you've studied?

i've realized that it actually depends ^_^
although i usually don't tend to remember a course's syllabus for very long (unless i repeat and learn everyday), i also tend to forget things that i might not be as interested in - maybe distraction does have a lot to do with these strange blank-outs.

I would get it checked out, just to be sure it isn't something physiological/psychological, but really you could be just "absent minded"!

haha that's partially the truth too.

i feel for you, sweetie. *hugs*
*more hugs!*

Good luck Anum!
thank you ^^


abuse of stimulants such as caffiene, ephedrine or amphetamines can affect short-term memory storage and recall.

This is due to their action as diuretics by lowering AVP/ADH (anti-diuretic hormone) secretion, which is responsible for short-term memory storage and recall. (detailed mechanism is unknown but it has been confirmed that ADH is involved) further studies regarding supplementation of synthetic ADH (desmopressin) demonstrated improvements on the order or 66 - 76% memory storage and recall in healthy subjects.

thats an interesting bit of information, thanks for the headsup azn_retribution!

=) thank you all so much for your input and concern. i will keep you all posted.

[robotic]

X_x freaky. supposedly low self-esteem 'shrinks your brain'
(ahah that might explain the amnesia)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3224674.stm

People with a low sense of self worth are more likely to suffer from memory loss as they get older, say researchers.

The study, presented at a conference at the Royal Society in London, also found that the brains of these people were more likely to shrink compared with those who have a high sense of self esteem.

Dr Sonia Lupien, of McGill University in Montreal surveyed 92 senior citizens over 15 years and studied their brain scans.

She found that the brains of those with low self-worth were up to a fifth smaller than those who felt good about themselves.

These people also performed worse in memory and learning tests.

Retraining

Dr Lupien believes that if those with a negative mind set were taught to change the way they think they could reverse their mental decline.

He said: "This atrophy of the brain that we thought was irreversible is reversible - some data on animals and some data on humans shows that that if you enrich the environment if you change some factors this brain structure can come back to normal levels"

Researchers are studying which psychological treatments work best.

According to Dr Felicia Huppert of Cambridge University - the early signs are that fairly simple techniques can have an enormous impact:

"There are interventions which talk about focusing on positive things in everyday life and savouring good moments even at times when life is difficult little tiny things may give you pleasure so there are skills involved in how to derive pleasure from the ordinary things in life".

'Reversed'

According to Dr Lupien, the fear of memory loss may be a self fulfilling prophesy as anxiety leads to negative thinking which leads to mental impairment.

"If you always think it's normal to lose something, then you will never work to increase it because doctors have always told you that. I'm saying that it is not normal.

"So this might impact positvely on the public by saying that its possible to impact on increasing your memory performance and by saying that it is normal to have a fulfilling life, we may be able to increase self esteem among the general public - and prevent a lot of these deficits related to age".

[eos]

oh bother.

omg...this reminds me: in freshman biology, my teacher was always lecturing us about using our brains instead of watching tv and doing other inane things. otherwise our brains would atrophy and turn into bone. now along comes this article.
take THAT, dr. williams!!! LOL

[Martino]

I forgot about this thread.

[eos]

anyone ever had a dissociative episode? well, you wouldn't know it, of course, but has anyone ever come up to you and said "what the hell? you just totally trashed my house and set fire to my car," and you have no recollection of it whatsoever? kinda like you snapped and went crazy for a while.

[robotic]

^^ woah.
that must be the epitome of the dangers of amnesia!