Amnesia?

[McCarthy]

Hey!

Most of you will know the game that I'm playing at the moment, its the 'is this an MS symptom' where otherwise vaguelly nonrmal but interesting events are scrutinised for MS behaviour. I guess its natural - I drop a pencil and wonder if I'm becoming more clumsy because of MS etc.

Well, I had a doozy last night. I woke up in the wee hours, looked around my room and nothing was familiar. Not the bed, not the cupboards, not even my wife. I thought to myself, "self, who is this person lying next to you?!"

It wasn't particularly scary, just a bit confronting and confusing. While I didn't think to question who I was, I suspect I wouldn't have known my own name. After a few minutes, stuff started to slowly "leak" back into my memory. I remember being profoundly surprised and amazed that I was married. Also, the things that I was remembering didn't feel like a proper fit, as though they were someone else's memories. It was the strangest thing :)

One of the things I do fight with as part of my MS is the memory issue, where periodically names and terms can't be retrieved properly, or I superimpose them. This is a completely new one though!

So, what do you think? Usual sleeping oddity, or possibly MS related? :)

[Jan J]

Yikes. That would scare the crap outta me. I think you should mention this to your doctor and not spend time here debating whether it's an "MS thing" or not. No one here can tell you that for sure.

[McCarthy]

I think you should mention this to your doctor and not spend time here debating whether it's an "MS thing" or not. No one here can tell you that for sure.

Well to be honest I didn't think it was that serious, it went away pretty quickly and the mind is a funny thing, especially when emerging from sleep. I had planned to bring it up next time I spoke to the Dr, you reckon its worth a visit in its own right?!

[willie]

Macca,
how long are we talkin'? Minutes or seconds before things started coming back?

[McCarthy]

Hard to say.

I think the episode was at least minutes long, although not 10 or 15.

Maybe 5-10 from waking to getting it all together?

[Pegakafarmgirl]

yeah,, you better get a hold of your neuro,, when I read this, the 1st thing that popped into my head was a TIA,, { mini/stroke} oh I am sorry if I am upsetting you, but its best to cover all venues,,

Take care,,

[Jan J]

I've had MS for about 14 years, and have never had what you are describing. My husband had an odd moment a few years ago that was labeled a TIA (he does not have MS).

Actually, you may want to Google transient global amnesia and see if it sounds similar to what you experienced. Apparently statin drugs can contribute to this. Are you currently taking any?

Either way, it does sound a bit worrisome. Please mention it to your doctor.

[MomtoM]

That sounds pretty scary, I think it warrants a call to the dr if your appt is far away. Because what if it isn't MS?

Take care,
Deb

[Lille]

McCarthy, it may have been a seizure with the jamais vu symptom. Perhaps you could write down exactly what happened, so that when you see your neuro all the details will be available for review.

P.S.: Just want to add that any brain lesion can become a site for seizure activity, and the temporal lobes are often affected.

[lady_express_44]

Your stories make me laugh out loud. :p :D

As I was laughing, the thought never occurred to me that it might be anything serious (which of course, it may be). I was just trying to compare this to experiences I have had before, and I can.

When I am awoken, by some external force (kids, noise, dog barking), it sometimes takes me a long time to become coherant. My kids will get 10 questions, like "what day is it?", "is it morning or night?", "who is this?", etc. This happens a fair amount to me, and often I go back to sleep without ever figuring out the answers to my questions.

There are also times where I actually get out of bed, I take a few steps (or even wander for 5 - 10 minutes), and although I am awake, I realize that I just can not "take in" any information. When that happens, I just go back to bed/sleep . . . there really isn't a whole lot of choice in the matter.

I have never been concerned about this because it started happening about the same time I began having severe fatigue. To me, it was just my warning that I am way TOO TIRED still, to make any sense of the world. Generally when I wake up the next time, everything is fine again . . . not always, but about 98% of the time anyway. Sometimes I need to sleep more ...

If this isn't "MS normal" for some people, I should probably get checked out too. It does happen fairly frequently to me though, and I'm still kicking (so far). :p

Cherie

[Matthew's Mom]

I've had a few instances where just for maybe 10 to 20 seconds at the most, I forget where I am or nothing looks familiar and it did freak me out.

Never lasted minutes though.

Maybe you were not fully awake? just a thought.

Good idea to mention it to your doc though.

Came back here to add I did a google search and there is some info on amnesia and MS.

Also found some articles, here's the title of one
Amnesia After Sex: More Than A Washington Phenomenon
It says some people will experience
a short duration of amnesia after bearing down such as in childbirth, moving their bowels or within hours of sexual activity. Something to do with the blood flow to the brain.

Pam