The day I lost my memory.
Transient Global Amnesia can be fun as a party game.
About a year ago I was suddenly struck with the idea that I should go down and talk to the security guy in my apartment building. I wasn't sure why, but it seemed like a very good idea. I remember that pretty clearly. Looking back, I know that I had gotten ready for bed, because my clothing was in the hamper, but at some point I must have gotten dressed again, fortunately.
I remember being in the elevator and not knowing how I got there or why I was going down.
I vaguely remember asking a guy where the security guard was, but I don't remember his answer or what happened next. I have a faint memory of getting in an ambulance, and I remember the ambulance guy asking me who the President was, and they tell me I answered "Jimmy Carter".
The next thing I remember is a nurse putting an oxygen mask on me and I said, "Oh, that feels a lot better!!"
It had been four hours and during that time my memory was on a two minute loop. As shown in the video below of a young lady having a similar experience, I would ask the same questions over and over, never remembering the answers. I had no memory of the previous 30 years, and I seemed unlikely to remember current happenings. The nurse, or who ever it was assigned to me, told me that she answered the same questions over and over and that I was polite, cheerful and flirtatious. In just a few minutes they released me after assuring me that it was unlikely to happen again. However, I am pretty sure it has happened several times, at least once while I was driving (I have since switched over to taking the bus).
I had Transient Global Amnesia, which sounds like a setup for a sitcom but it's completely real. For some reason, the connection between my conscious mind and my memory was simply turned off. Everything was in the short term memory and that wasn't working too well either. Somehow, without that information, I was still essentially me, I knew my name and my identifying information, I could answer questions in my field of study, and I knew social and political events from the first 30 years of my life.
When I got home it was morning and I asked around the building, wondering if I did anything inappropriate. Apparently I came downstairs, and again, politely and cheerfully told people that I didn't know where I was or why I was there but that they should probably call the security guard. I think I might have flirted with some of my neighbors because the ladies kept giggling with each other.
They don't know what causes it, and have only know of it for the last 40 years, therefore I think it may be due to the late 60s and early 70s. Because a lot of strange things happened to my brain during those times. It was a whole thing, you had to be there.
Anyway, here's the video, it really gets good at about 4 minutes. It's like a never ending party joke.
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That's scary.
Without our memories we lose so much.
Now, where was I...?
That's nuts! More scary maybe for the loved ones.