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Simple Partial Seizures & Long-term memory

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 05:26
Topic: New to Epilepsy.com

Hi, I am new to this forum.

I suffer from what are suspected to be Simple Partial Seizures. They are currently under investigation, and having had an MRI and EEG with nothing abnormal showing, the doctor is starting to suspect epilepsy, although nothing has been diagnosed as yet. I have always thought since they started that these simple partial seizures are just a minor inconvenience which I can live with, and as such I probably wouldn't want medication in case the side effects were worse than the actual seizures.

However recently I've started wondering if these seizures are cumulatively damaging my long-term memory. Sometimes my wife talks of things we've done, places we've been, and it's worrying that, for some things, I have no memory of them at all.

If this is the case then of course I'd want to take medication in the assumption that controlling the seizures might prevent further memory loss.

Does anyone know of a link between seizures (I believe they are temporal lobe based) and long-term memory loss? Or maybe I've just always had a lousy memory anyway?

Comments

Re: Simple Partial Seizures & Long-term memory

Submitted by AA051575 on Sat, 2008-12-13 - 16:08

I know this discussion was going on months ago, but I just joined this site because my seizures have gotten worse so I'm just now catching up on all of the discussions. I have (I think) simple partial seizures now, but my first seizure was a grand mal 10 years ago. I don't know which type of seizure caused it, but I have severe memory loss. My doctors have told me that short term memory loss is to be expected, but it scared me that I could not remember things from my childhood. I am so comforted after reading everyone's responses on here. More than one person has said here that their friends or family members accuse them of just not paying attention to things, or not trying to remember. I have been accused of that too and I actually thought it was true after I heard it so many times. But it's not my fault, it's because of the seizures. Unfortunately I have both short term and long term memory loss. :-(

I am so happy that I have found this site! I feel like I can finally go where people understand me. To all I would say listen to your doctor (if you don't have a quacky doctor who doesn't think you're experiencing seizures), and take your meds as prescribed. 

 Amy

I know this discussion was going on months ago, but I just joined this site because my seizures have gotten worse so I'm just now catching up on all of the discussions. I have (I think) simple partial seizures now, but my first seizure was a grand mal 10 years ago. I don't know which type of seizure caused it, but I have severe memory loss. My doctors have told me that short term memory loss is to be expected, but it scared me that I could not remember things from my childhood. I am so comforted after reading everyone's responses on here. More than one person has said here that their friends or family members accuse them of just not paying attention to things, or not trying to remember. I have been accused of that too and I actually thought it was true after I heard it so many times. But it's not my fault, it's because of the seizures. Unfortunately I have both short term and long term memory loss. :-(

I am so happy that I have found this site! I feel like I can finally go where people understand me. To all I would say listen to your doctor (if you don't have a quacky doctor who doesn't think you're experiencing seizures), and take your meds as prescribed. 

 Amy

Re: Simple Partial Seizures & Long-term memory

Submitted by Wiz on Sun, 2010-07-11 - 19:24
Hi Amy, I know this is a year and a half after your comment, but I just discovered the site. This memory thing is strange all right. I had brain injury with a fractured neck in '75, and chronic fatigue in '86. The seizures started during the chronic fatigue [the acute phase lasted about two months]. I can't remember faces or names or time related things. Appointments are a total joke, and my past is like someone took my past timeline, cut it up into small pieces and randomly reassembled the pieces. It's all there, it's just all mixed up. If I do something today, a week from now I won't be able to tell you if I did it a day ago, a week ago, or a year ago. The funny part is, I remember EVERYTHING I read, just fine. Another funny thing is that I lost my ability to read vanity licence plates [phonetic reading] and the ability to do crossword puzzles, although the game Scrabble is no problem. Go figure. Anyway, while I wouldn't wish this on anybody, it's nice being able to talk to some people who can relate and don't just nod their heads and pretend to understand. And you're right, go to a good neurologist and take your meds.

Re: Simple Partial Seizures & Long-term memory

Submitted by Dragool on Sat, 2008-12-13 - 17:31
I've been suspecting for a while (who knows how long?) that I'm having problems with my memory. I'm only 21 years old so it must be attributed to my seizures or medication. My seizures aren't well controlled at all. I have absence and complex partial and maybe more. I don't know. Do you guys feel as if time flies by? For example, I wear Invisalign (a retainer type thing instead of braces) and you are supposed to change them every two weeks. The dates are marked clearly on the packages. Thinking it had been two weeks, I reached for the newest box to replace them and found that the date was marked two weeks earlier. What I had thought had been only two weeks and actually been a month. Am I having so many seizures it feels like time is flying by? I'm making vacation plans with a friend and I had to book tickets. I booked tickets for the wrong date and she said she had told me twice the revised plans. I have no memory of these conversations. Does anyone experience things like this? It scares me. I feel like life is passing me by.

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