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Amnesia

Interesting. A lot of religions and spiritual-type people believe that human beings are spirits clothed in flesh. When someone dies, their spirit leaves the body.
In the above type of case, what could happen is that the serious car accident caused his spirit to jump out of his body, creating a vacancy, and another spirit jumped in, as he wasn't killed. The spirit that jumped in came from a life where he did indeed have a wife, kids, a dog etc etc. So after the accident he was literally a different person. Well, it's a theory....

Big Bill Robinson
 
Hello

I had a look through back copies of the Lancet but couldn't find any mention of this case.

Does anyone have any specific references?

Ta
Raven
 
Posted on Sun, Jul. 11, 2004


Amnesic episode may have put Highland man into 'twilight zone'

Medical experts weigh in opinions

BY BRIAN BRUEGGEMANN

[email protected]



It sounds like something from a soap opera.

Jim Schauster drives 4,000 miles, feeds himself during the nearly three-week trip, checks into a hotel for at least one night, drives back home, then doesn't remember any of it.

Experts on amnesia say it sounds as if Schauster may have experienced a phenomenon known as a fugue state -- an amnesic event where a person functions in a sort of twilight zone.

"They travel long distances in these states, and they don't realize where they've been until they come around and they see that they've got a ticket or a hotel bill or something on them," said Dr. Michael Kopelman of London, one of the world's top experts on memory loss.

Kopelman said he sees two or three patients a year who arrive in London with no idea who they are or why they're there. He said they usually snap out of it due to "some chance cue in the environment," such as one patient who saw a book title that reminded him of a friend.

Schuaster, 53, of Highland had been missing since June 18, when he showed up Tuesday morning at St. Joseph's Hospital in Highland. He said he was driving and realized he was in nearby St. Jacob, but he didn't know why, so he went straight to the hospital.

Lt. John Lakin of the Madison County sheriff's department said police have no reason to doubt him.

"We just have to go with what medical professionals are saying, that it may be some type of amnesia," Lakin said, "It is obviously the strangest missing persons case that I've ever been involved with."

A machine operator at a plant in Troy, Schauster said he remembers nothing about the time he was missing. Police found a receipt in his car showing he spent July 4 in a Motel 6 in Topeka, Kan. His car's odometer indicates he drove about 4,000 miles during the episode.

"When they come around from this, they have an amnesic gap of the period they disappeared in," Kopelman said. "They're often miles from where they started, but it's not impossible for them to find their way back home. Perception and topographical memories may be preserved."

Kopelman also said driving during a fugue state is possible because "procedural memory is intact."

Dr. Neal Cohen, a professor in the department of psychology and neuroscience at the Beckman Institute at University of Illinois, said such states also are known as functional or psychogenic amnesia.

"You're participating in the world just fine, but then you don't remember the person you just met; you don't remember what happened yesterday," said Cohen, who also runs an amnesia research laboratory. "You're sort of going around the world on automatic pilot."

Ken Paller, director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Program at Northwestern University, said a person in a fugue state could "still know who they are, still have memories up to a certain point. It wouldn't be a complete blackout of their life. They wouldn't forget how to talk or eat."

Police know Schuaster didn't use any credit cards during his absence. He apparently paid for everything with some cash he kept at home. He returned home with a duffel bag containing one set of clothes -- all apparently purchased along the way.

What puzzles the experts is Schauster recalls hitting his head on the pipe. They said such episodes normally are caused by stress. Also, they say a person who suffers amnesia from a head injury normally doesn't recall the injury.

"You don't end up with this sort of thing, typically, from a hit on the head," Cohen said.

Kopelman, who stressed he had not reviewed Schauster's case, said the episode could have been triggered by the injury if it was coupled with stress.

"It could have been the initial event," he said.

Schauster said Thursday he knows he bumped his head while working on a pipe in his basement.

"I remember cussing and thinking, 'Oh, great, what next?'" he said.

Schauster, who lives alone in the farmhouse where he was raised, also said he doesn't remember being under any stress.

"Maybe just mad from having trouble getting that pipe to fit, but otherwise, no, just the normal, everyday stuff -- nothing out of the ordinary," he said.

Cohen said he knows of one case of an adult man who lost a significant portion of his memory and is convinced it happened when he was hit on the head playing baseball in his youth, but doctors know his amnesia had to be triggered by something that happened much later.

"You'd like to know what was going on in this man's life prior to June 18," Cohen said.

Schauster said he met with doctors again Thursday. Tests have ruled out a stroke or seizure, and he apparently has no brain damage.

"For right now, everything looks like I should be clear to go back to work," he said.

http://www.belleville.com/mld/newsdemocrat/9136148.htm
 
Re: Who Is She?

FraterLibre said:
I don't know if I'm buying this.

Could you be a bit more specific? For starters what case are you refering to? The first one?
 
I must have subscribed to this thread but I'm damned if I remember.:confused:
 
Pete Younger: It is two threads merged so I suppose you may have subscribed to one half or something like that.
 
Missing Wisconsin Man Finds Self

Kevin Mura Has Type Of Amnesia

POSTED: 10:12 am CST December 14, 2004

A Wisconsin man believed to have been missing for three months has found himself.

Friends, family and the police searched for Kevin Mura for months and got no leads.

Mura recently logged on to the Internet and saw his picture on a missing adults Web site.

Authorities said Mura is suffering from a rare form of dissociative amnesia called a fugue.

People with the condition block out their own identity.

Mura's family believes Kevin may have traveled to four states before ending up in Iowa.

Relatives said he told a priest and psychiatrist he knew something was wrong, but didn't know what, until he went online.

"It's like a movie I can't wake up from. To hear that he had to find himself on the Internet. What made him even look?," Mura's son, Kevin Mura, said.

Mura's son went to Iowa after they found out, but said his father didn't recognize him.

Doctors said in most cases, people with the condition will regain full memory, but it can take several months.


----------------
Copyright 2004 by TheMilwaukeeChannel.com.

Source
 
Annasdottir said:
My point was that you cannot permanently lose all your previous memory from a head injury without suffering considerable damage in other areas of the brain, with accompanying outward symptoms.

Wrong, you can have very localised braindamage, like in the midbrain (hippocampus) where longterm memory is stored. This would not necessarily have to be accompanied by any other outward symptoms apart from the obvious confusion that comes with memory loss.

That's all I really wanted to clarify... :hmm:
 
Man with memory loss found on Brighton beach
Home Staff

The man found on Brighton beach with amnesia
Police appealed for the public’s help yesterday to identify a smartly dressed man suffering from memory loss who was found on Brighton beach.

The man, in his late 20s to early 30s was discovered unconscious between the Palace Pier and the Marina, by a passer-by on February 12.

It is not known how long he had lain there, but he was suffering from hypothermia and was admitted to the city’s Royal Sussex County Hospital.

He remains in hospital where he is said to be making a good physical recovery as police forces nationwide and the Missing People charity seek to help in finding out who he is.

Sussex Police said that he had no cash when he was found and had only a few personal belongings with him but nothing to enable him to be identified.

A spokesman said that he speaks good English without any apparent accent, and appears to have some general knowledge of southeast England.

The man has given two names to police but they are thought to be products of his imagination, they added.

He is 6ft, of slim build with straight hair.

When he was found he was wearing suit-style grey trousers, a Next black shirt, a pin-striped grey suit jacket and an Urban Island woollen jacket with a hood.

Inspector Roy Apps said: “At present there is no reason to believe that this is anything other than a genuine memory loss.

“We are hoping that someone will see his photo and description and can tell us who he is.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Sussex Police on 0845 6070 999.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 042099.ece
 
'I know you, you're my fiance!' Mystery of memory loss man found on Brighton beach solved after wife-to-be comes forward
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:19 PM on 26th February 2010

The mystery of a smartly dressed man found on Brighton beach suffering from amnesia was solved today after his fiancee came forward and identified him.
The man, who sparked a nationwide appeal for help in identifying him, has been revealed to be a 26-year-old from London. Police have still not disclosed his name.

He was discovered, unconscious and soaking wet, by a passer-by on the beach in East Sussex on February 12.
It is not known how long he had lain there for but he was suffering from hypothermia and was admitted to the city's Royal Sussex County Hospital.

Sussex Police said his fiancee saw newspaper reports about his plight and travelled from the capital to Brighton today to identify him.
A police spokesman said: 'Having made inquiries and considered all the circumstances, we are satisfied that this is so.'
His family have been informed but neither they nor the man have given authority for his identity to be publicly released, police said.

Inspector Roy Apps, who led the inquiry, said: 'We are grateful to the media for the publicity which has resulted in our solving this mystery.'
The man remains in hospital while doctors consider whether he needs any further treatment. Earlier, police said he was in a 'fragile state' but was making a good physical recovery.

The case has drawn comparisons to the discovery of a man, dubbed the Piano Man, in Kent in 2005.
He was found wandering aimlessly near the beach in Minster on the Isle of Sheppey wearing a dripping wet suit and tie, and all labels from his clothes had been removed.

Staff at Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, where he was first taken, gave him a pen and paper in the hope he would write his name or draw his country's flag.

Instead, he drew highly-detailed pictures of a grand piano, showing not only the keys but the intricate inner workings of the instrument.

When his social worker showed him a piano in the hospital chapel, he played classical music 'beautifully'.

After several months, he claimed his memory had returned and it emerged he was Andreas Grassl from Germany.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0gj6ZVqdL
 
The woman who wakes up thinking its 1994 every morning and then forgets everything the next day due to car crash injury
By Andrew Levy
Last updated at 1:19 AM on 11th June 2010

Every day, Michelle Philpots wakes up next to a man who has to convince her they are married.
When she expresses doubt, he takes out a photo album and shows her pictures of their wedding 13 years ago.
Only then does amnesiac Mrs Philpots accept she is talking to her husband, Ian, and that everything he has told her is true.

The 47-year-old's condition was caused by brain injuries sustained in two road accidents. She can recall everything up to 1994 but since then everything that happens on one day is forgotten the next.
Her case echoes 50 First Dates, the 2004 movie in which Adam Sandler tries to woo Drew Barrymore, who has no day-to-day memory following a car crash.

And it is not just loved ones Mrs Philpots struggles with. She uses hundreds of Post-It notes and reminders on her mobile phone's calendar to keep her informed of appointments and everyday duties.
Anything she has done or anyone she has met must be logged for future reference. And on the rare occasions she ventures out of her home in Spalding, Lincolnshire, she goes armed with sat-nav programmed with her address.

There are some benefits, however. There is no such thing as a repeat on TV and every joke is funny because it's the first time she's heard it. :D

'It's like I am living the same day, day after day,' said Mrs Philpots, who does voluntary work at a charity for people with disabilities three days a week.
'I love to watch EastEnders but I can't remember the characters or any story lines.' Her husband, a 46-year-old fencer, said the secret of the success of their marriage was patience.
'It can be very frustrating for me but I have to be patient and understand. I have to keep calm because I love her,' he said.
'I've known her for 25 years so I am lucky we met before she had the accidents because she can remember me. Luckily we have lots of photos to remind her, otherwise she would forget it all.'

Mrs Philpots suffered brain injuries in a motorbike crash in 1985 and a car accident in 1990. The couple have no children.

Dr Peter Nestor, a neuroscience specialist at Cambridge University, said Mrs Philpots was suffering from anterograde amnesia.
He added: 'It is reasonably rare but it does exist. You are capable of carrying out day-to-day things and don't forget how to do certain things like speaking.
'But if someone was to ask you what you did yesterday, you wouldn't have a clue.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z0qXMLlxXs
 
Very long article

Do you know this man?
He was found by the bins of a Burger King restaurant, with no clothes, no memories, nothing. Six years on, Benjaman Kyle is no nearer to answering the question that haunts him: who am I?
The Guardian, Saturday 10 July 2010

At 5am on 31 August 2004, staff at the Burger King in Richmond Hill, Georgia, prepared for the day ahead. Ovens were turned on, the floor was mopped and a female employee carried a bag of refuse from the restaurant, through the empty car park and towards the small outbuilding that housed the restaurant's bins. She opened the gate and screamed. Behind the bins, naked other than his underwear, lay the body of a man.

Who that man was is a question that still hasn't been resolved. He wasn't dead, he was unconscious and would eventually come round in the nearby Memorial hospital. When he did, he couldn't remember how he'd ended up lying beside the bins, but that was the least of his problems. It's easier to record what he did remember. He believed his date of birth was 29 August 1948, thought he might have been called Benjaman and had a few blurred, fragmented memories of Denver and Indianapolis. That was it. Of the 56 years he said he'd lived, he had enough memories to fill a day.

Unidentified and uninsured, he was an administrative nightmare for the hospitals and shelters he was sent to. They kept asking him the same question: "What's your name?" Finally he made one up. Benjaman Kyle. BK. Burger King.

It's June 2010 and Benjaman Kyle sits opposite me in a Richmond Hill diner. He's articulate, witty and the only American citizen officially listed as missing despite his whereabouts being known. While the diner's customers come and go and cars zip by in the morning sunshine, the identity of the man I'm talking to is simultaneously being sought by the local police, the FBI, an American senator, DNA experts and a private investigator.

"And me," he says flatly. "Don't forget me."

Of the initial months after he was found, Kyle has few memories. One is of a conversation between doctors while he lay slipping in and out of consciousness. "They were joking," he smiles. "Calling me the Burger King John Doe. That's when I decided my name."

When Kyle awoke, he had lost his sight. "My cataracts were gone and I didn't have insurance. I couldn't see more than a couple of feet," he says. After being bounced between hospitals in Savannah, 10 miles from Richmond Hill, Kyle ended up at a men's shelter called Grace House, where he roomed with alcohol and drug abusers, and was trapped by his blindness.

"You had to leave Grace House during the day," he says. "All I could do was sit in the courtyard and wait for them to reopen. One morning I crossed the road. I couldn't see if there were cars coming." He pauses and I ask if this was a suicide attempt. "Well, I couldn't see the cars," he answers.

Eventually, nine months after he was found, a charity paid for Kyle's cataracts to be treated. With vision came enough confidence for him to approach hospital and shelter staff with a new challenge, that of discovering his identity. "I didn't recognise the man in the mirror. And I kept asking, 'Is anyone trying to find out who I am?'"

etc...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... ry-america

A strange tale. Is it just a case of a man with psychiatric problems who's somehow dropped through the cracks of normal society? Forteans will no doubt consider more 'off-the-wall' ideas as well...
 
Who am I? Man with no memory, found injured in city centre, makes desperate appeal to public to identify him
Last updated at 2:57 PM on 23rd July 2010

Police in Edinburgh are appealing for help in identifying a man suffering from memory loss, who was found injured in the city centre on Wednesday evening.
A taxi driver discovered the man lying in the middle of Northumberland Street at around 11pm. He had suffered a head injury, and was taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for treatment.
As a result of his injury, the man cannot remember who he is, or how he came to be in Northumberland Street.

He is described as being of Asian or Middle Eastern appearance, in his early 20s, 5ft 3in tall, with a slim build, short dark hair, and a slight Scottish accent.

He has a tattoo on his upper right arm, described as being in a tribal style, with three dragonheads in a circular pattern.
When discovered he was wearing a navy blue rain jacket, a black short-sleeved casual shirt, dark blue jeans with 'G-KING' on the rear pocket, and black Velcro trainers.
He had cigarettes and a lighter in his possession, along with some cash, but no wallet, mobile phone or jewellery.

A police spokesman said: 'The man is conscious and talking to us, however he has no idea who he is, where he lives, or where he comes from.
'It is possible that he was assaulted and robbed of his possessions, and we would appeal to anyone who was in the area of Northumberland Street on Wednesday night, who saw or heard anything suspicious, to contact us immediately.

'We are obviously keen for any information that can help us establish his identity, and we want anyone who recognises him to get in touch as a matter of urgency.'
Anyone with any information should contact Lothian and Borders Police on 0131 311 3131, or Crimestoppers in confidence and complete anonymity on 0800 555 111.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0uaghH2uc
 
Read about this poor soul in the paper this morning, he's been identified but still has no memory of what happened to him.
 
'Italian? It's all Greek to me' says amnesiac swimmer
Police have uncovered the true identity of a man with amnesia found swimming off a Dubai beach eight months ago and treated in a psychiatric hospital.
5:46PM BST 15 Apr 2011

Italian Andrea Pecora, 31 and single, believed for months that he was a 25-year-old Greek footballer called Andreas Kostantinidis, The National newspaper reported on Friday.
It said that Pecora's true identity was finally determined after he remembered the hotel where he had been staying.

The mystery was solved when police found Mr Pecora's passport copy in the guest records of a hotel after partial memories finally came back to the patient at Amal (meaning hope in Arabic) psychiatric hospital.
"We never gave up hope. We knew that one day our search and investigation efforts would pay off," said Ahmad al-Merri, head of criminal investigations at Dubai police.

His mother, who is of Greek origin, told Dubai police she thought her frequent-traveller son was in Africa.

"When we told him some names from his family he went quiet and started thinking. You could tell they meant something to him, but he could not locate them," Merri said, quoted in the English-language Emirati daily.

In August, the man who was rescued from the sea in a state of confusion had told The National: "I would not forget my country: It is in my heart, just like my name."

His brother is expected to travel to Dubai to take Pecora back to Italy

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... immer.html
 
Long article:

'I woke up in the wrong life'
Naomi Jacobs went to bed a 34-year-old mother – but the next morning was convinced she was 15 again. She describes how she fought a rare form of amnesia to find her way back to the present
Tuesday, 14 June 2011

I opened my eyes with a start, breathing heavily, my pyjamas drenched in sweat. I must have had a nightmare, I told myself. But as my eyes came into focus, cold fear gripped my belly – I realised I had no idea where I was; my nightmare was real. Where was my lower bunk bed and my pink bedspread? Why wasn't my sister sleeping soundly above me? Why couldn't I hear my parents making breakfast downstairs? I scrambled from the king-size bed I'd woken up in, frantically looking around the room for something I recognised, some clues as to how I got there. Had I been kidnapped?

I didn't know it yet, but I was suffering from a condition that wiped all memory of my current life as a 34-year-old mother and catapulted me back into the mind of my 15-year-old self.

Cautiously, I walked out of the room into a hallway, hoping to move into a state of recognition. I called out, but the voice bouncing off the walls didn't sound like me. Troubled and disorientated, I opened a door into a bathroom. While the room was unfamiliar, what shocked me to my core was the face staring back at me from the mirror. It was me, but an old version of me, a version fast-forwarded in time. I was 15, yet I had an adult's face – laughter lines, crow's feet, dark circles under my eyes, which were now welling up with tears.

Panic kick-started my legs into gear and I sped out of the room and down the stairs, bursting into room after room I didn't recognise. I didn't know what I was looking for, perhaps for a giggling friend to jump out and yell "Surprise!", or for my parents to sit me down and explain what had happened to me.

I scanned the pictures on the walls – one, a portrait of a baby with a chubby face and a full head of brown curls; the next, a picture of the same baby sat on my future self's lap. The baby became progressively older as I moved down the hallway until eventually a black-and-white shot showed him holding a skateboard, aged nine or so. Who was he, I wondered? My heart fluttered as I recognised a face in another picture – my sister Simone, albeit a lot older since the last time I saw her. Each picture sparked a question, but the one that circled my brain insistently was – what if I'm no longer in 1992 anymore? Could I really have woken up in the future?

Amid the confusion, a name and telephone number popped into my head. I picked up the black phone I'd spotted in the corner of the room and dialled, but I didn't recognise the chirpy voice who answered. Nevertheless, I couldn't stop myself sobbing down the phone to her; I told her that I didn't know where I was, who she was and what was happening to me.

Fifteen minutes later, the same woman arrived at my door and, although I didn't recognise her, her look of concern reassured me enough to let her in. Katie – a friend I'd apparently known for years – remained calm and collected. She told me everything was going to be OK, but I could see the worry in her eyes as she took a small black box from her pocket – something I later learned was a mobile phone – and rang my sister Simone, who arrived soon after. They made me a drink, sat me down and explained that I just needed rest, that I was tired, overworked and that everything would make sense once I'd calmed down. They also offered to look after Leo, my son, who'd been sleeping upstairs the entire time. That accounted for the baby pictures, but didn't explain the absolute void of memory about my having a child. I spent the rest of the day curled on the sofa, crying over the confusion of it all, and for all the things I believed I'd lost – school, even my GCSEs, my best friends, evenings in the park and the comforts of home. I was still Naomi, but I certainly wasn't in Kansas anymore.

Despite Katie and Simone's assurances that everything would click into place, when I woke up the following morning, I felt more lost than ever. Simone took me to the doctor, who diagnosed me with transient global amnesia (TGA), brought on by a period of severe emotional stress. But I'm 15, what do I have to be stressed about, I thought to myself. Simone explained that I'd been through an emotional break-up on top of studying for university exams. I'd also had a stomach virus and tonsillitis. Transient global amnesia is almost a coping mechanism, which causes your episodic memory to shut down. While my semantic memory remained intact, meaning I could remember how to drive and regularly used phone numbers, years of my emotional memories had disappeared. I had prolonged TGA, for which there was no treatment. The doctor told me it could take anything from four weeks to eight months for my mind to root itself back in time – all I could do was wait.

My doctor insisted I didn't read newspapers, watch television or force myself to remember – my memory had to return naturally. But like any petulant teen, I couldn't help myself and curiosity to see how the world had turned out got the better of me. It was mortifying – digital television appeared almost cartoonish in comparison to analogue, and reality television, which seemed to be on every channel, was a complete enigma to me. The only Bush I'd heard of was George Senior and my sister had to painstakingly explain 9/11, 7/7 and the "war on terror". She described the increasing technological, biological and psychological threat to the planet and how it was Muslims rather than the IRA who were the new supposed threat to Western stability. Facebook, recycling, internet shopping... the list went on. I was dumbfounded, but learning about my personal history would prove to be even harder to swallow.

etc...

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 97036.html
 
That's a total nightmare. I hope she recovers swiftly because if that happened to me I dread to think how I'd cope.
 
Brain tumour surgery made me forget I had two children
By Paul Sims
Last updated at 7:42 AM on 20th June 2011

Before undergoing surgery to have a brain tumour removed, Karan Waller kissed her two young daughters and gave each a special cuddle.
When she woke after the operation she instantly recognised her husband, Ian, 35, and reached out for his hand.
But she was stunned to learn that they had two children, Charly, three, and Harriet, one.

Tragically, Mrs Waller, 34, had no recollection of giving birth, seeing their first steps or hearing their first words – and she could not even recognise them in a photograph.
‘I remember coming round after the surgery and my husband told me that Charly and Harriet were with my mother-in-law – but I had no idea who he was talking about,’ she said.

‘The nurse asked me what year it was and I was totally confused. I felt like I’d woken up in a bad dream. Nothing seemed to be making any sense.
‘He showed me photos of the girls, hoping I would remember them, but there was nothing. I was distraught.
‘Logically, I knew I was their mother, but I couldn’t remember what it felt like to be their mum. My children knew who I was, but I didn’t know them. I felt like an awful mother.’

Mrs Waller discovered she had a tumour in June 2009 when she suddenly collapsed at home in Runcorn, Cheshire.
An MRI scan later revealed a tumour the size of a lemon growing in her brain.
Although the tumour was benign, doctors warned her it could turn cancerous and referred her to specialists at the Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Liverpool.

They said the tumour had probably been growing since she was a child, and that it needed to be removed. In October 2009 she was admitted for surgery, which she hoped would bring an end to the months of pain and uncertainty.
Surgeons later told her they were unable to remove all of the mass because the tumour was growing in vital parts of her brain. They had warned her beforehand that memory loss was a risk because of the complexity of the surgery.

Mrs Waller continued: ‘Ian brought Charly to see me in the hospital. This beautiful little girl walked into the ward, and I recognised her from the pictures that Ian had shown me, but she felt like a stranger. I tried to smile at her, but I felt like crying.
‘I couldn’t remember how it felt to love her. It was like the operation had severed my maternal bond.
‘I tried to act as normal as possible with her, but I didn’t know what normal was.
‘It felt like I was being stiff and awkward. Charly hid behind her grandma. I was devastated that I’d upset her with my reaction.
‘Her dad finally persuaded her to climb onto the bed with me for a cuddle, but it felt so strange. All I wanted was to remember who she was.’

Mrs Waller, a local council worker, had also lost her memory of the months leading up to surgery. ‘When I was finally discharged from hospital ten days later, I was relieved to recognise my house, but when we got inside, everything seemed unfamiliar,’ she added.
‘A little girl came toddling over towards me. I knew she must be my daughter, but I just didn’t know who she was. I broke down in tears.
‘I had hundreds of photo albums. Ian spent hours going through them all with me. In time, I started to have flashes of recognition while looking at photos of Charly when she was very young. But with Harriet, there was nothing.’

Mrs Waller has come to realise that those memories are lost forever.
Instead she has tried to recreate the maternal bond with her children, now five and three, and is spending as much time with them as possible.
‘I couldn’t even cook their tea without asking what they liked to eat,’ she said. ‘The girls know that mummy can be a bit forgetful – and luckily, they now laugh if I have to ask them to help me remember things. Charly loves helping me.’

Mrs Waller still has two parts of the tumour in her brain and doctors have told her she could suffer damage to her speech and further damage to her memory if it was to be operated on again.
She has to have regular MRI scans and a check-up every six months. But doctors are pleased with her progress and a scan in March revealed that the tumour had not grown.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z1PoDwIkfI
 
rynner2 said:
Long article:

'I woke up in the wrong life'
Naomi Jacobs went to bed a 34-year-old mother – but the next morning was convinced she was 15 again. She describes how she fought a rare form of amnesia to find her way back to the present
Tuesday, 14 June 2011

etc...

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 97036.html
The same woman's story pops up now in the Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/86696 ... y-gap.html

(Perhaps they meant to publish it earlier, but forgot! ;) )
 
rynner2 said:
rynner2 said:
Long article:

'I woke up in the wrong life'
Naomi Jacobs went to bed a 34-year-old mother – but the next morning was convinced she was 15 again. She describes how she fought a rare form of amnesia to find her way back to the present
Tuesday, 14 June 2011

etc...

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 97036.html
The same woman's story pops up now in the Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/86696 ... y-gap.html

(Perhaps they meant to publish it earlier, but forgot! ;) )

Thing is, neurology hasn't really got any answer to what is going on in cases like this. Names like 'transient global amnesia' is just a fancy way of saying she lost her memory and we don't know why.

It's pretty spooky.
 
Who are you? Butcher repeatedly forgets his wife and daughters after suffering five amnesia attacks out of the blue
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:05 PM on 2nd August 2011

When father-of-two Bob Watt set off for work at the local butcher's shop five months ago, he had no idea he would end up 12 miles away... with no memory of how he got there.
The 44-year-old had suffered a sudden inexplicable amnesia attack and ended up walking for hours before ending up in a restaurant.

The married man said: 'The last thing I remember is leaving the house and the next thing my mobile phone was ringing.'
Mr Watt, from Aberdeen, was finally picked up by a passing motorist who gave him a lift to a bus stop and he caught a bus home.
He said: 'I'll never forget the look of horror on my wife and friend's faces as I walked off the bus at Aberdeen Bus Station.'

Since then he has had four further more serious memory lapses, where he has forgotten his wife Linda of 18 years, along with his two young daughters. He has also forgotten how to work the TV, DVD, microwave and washing machine.
After a string of tests, the baffled butcher is still unsure what triggers the amnesia attacks. Doctors believe they may be triggered by stress. Mr Watt has also suffered with epilepsy since he was involved in a car accident when he was 17. The condition is controlled with drugs.

Mr Watt said: 'We laugh about it now but really it is terrifying. I have had to relearn how to use anything that could be classed as modern technology.
'Out of all the appliances in our house, the only thing I haven't had problems using is the cooker.'

His worst bout came was when he was at home one day.
The father-of-two said: 'My wife was on the phone and I was coming out of the shower. She found me slumped in a corner in my dressing gown.
'I didn't know why I was there like that and I didn't know she was my wife. I didn't know why I was in her house and I wanted to leave. :shock:
'I found it strange sleeping next to my wife who I have been married to for 18 years.

'The most devastating part is forgetting my family and friends. This has meant having to be constantly reintroduced to people.
'The devastated look on someone's face when you tell them you don't recognise them is something that will also haunt me for some time to come.'
Mrs Watt, 44, said his life is like 50 First Dates - the Hollywood film starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore - because he has to repeatedly relearn who his family and friends are.

More tests are planned at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary but so far the cause remains unknown.

...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z1TswZ4Jkd
 
Who am I? Man wakes on beach and walks into police station with no memory of who he is
By Leon Watson
Last updated at 8:12 AM on 23rd August 2011

He was clean, tidy and didn't seem to be sleeping rough.
But when this man walked into a hospital carrying sunglasses, a walking stick and cigarettes no-one was more confused than he was.
That's because not only had he forgotten his own name, he didn't know where he was from or who any of his relatives were.

All he knew was that he woke up on a beach in Deal, Kent - and couldn't remember anything else.
Police trying to find out who he is have so far drawn a blank and in a bid to solve the mystery have now issued this picture of him.
Officers said the man walked into the minor injury unit in Victoria Hospital at Deal last Thursday, suffering head pains and amnesia.
He was later transferred to the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, but didn't have any obvious injuries.

The man is described as having an English accent and is in his late 50s to early 60s.
He is well-built and was wearing black Wrangler jeans, a white T-shirt and patterned sweatshirt at the time.
He also had a navy blue walker's coat on and was wearing beige walking boots.

Officers don't think he has been reported missing and his details have been circulated to police forces nationwide in an effort to identify him.
A Kent Police spokesman said: 'The man says he doesn't have any memory of himself, his family, home or any other personal details.
'He claims he woke up on the beach at Deal on August 17 and asked for directions to the hospital. However, he doesn't have any obvious injuries.'

The case is bound to draw comparisons to the discovery of another mystery man, dubbed the Piano Man, also in Kent in 2005. [...] After several months, he claimed his memory had returned and it emerged he was Andreas Grassl from Germany.

In February last year, the identity of a smartly-dressed man found unconscious on Brighton beach in East Sussex was solved when his fiancee stepped forward.
She saw newspaper reports of her fiance's discovery by a passer-by and travelled from her home in London to the coast to identify him.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ry-is.html
 
Man who woke up on beach 'suffering from memory loss' reunited with his family
By Lucy Buckland
Last updated at 6:20 PM on 25th August 2011

A mystery man who woke up on a beach claiming to only remember his first name has been reunited with his family.
Police have identified the 59-year-old who walked into Victoria Hospital in Deal, Kent carrying sunglasses, a walking stick and cigarettes, told staff his name was 'Frank' but said he couldn't remember anything else.

The man, who is not being named, claims he woke up on the beach at Deal the day before and asked for directions to the hospital, Kent Police said.
He did not have any obvious injuries, appeared clean and tidy and appeared not to have been sleeping rough, a force spokesman said.

Following a nationwide appeal for help in identifying him, police today said his wife and stepchildren have now come forward.
Kent Police said: 'The man is 59 years old and from Derbyshire. His wife and stepchildren have confirmed who he is and he remains in the care of a Kent hospital.
'For welfare reasons we will not name him.'

...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1W82EHVFL
 
Amnesiac cellist astounds doctors with musical memory
German musician who lost nearly all memory after contracting herpes encephalitis can learn new pieces of music
Ian Sample, science correspondent guardian.co.uk, Sunday 13 November 2011 15.30 GMT

A professional cellist who lost nearly all of his memory after a virus destroyed parts of his brain has astonished doctors with his remarkable recall of music.
The 71-year-old, known only as PM, had played with a major German orchestra before contracting the infection that devastated his brain's memory centres in 2005.
The illness left the musician with such profound amnesia he could remember almost nothing of his past and was unable to plan for the future. The only people he recognised were his brother and a care worker.
"He can hardly remember a thing. He has no memory of any personal or professional events," Carsten Finke, a neurologist at Charité university hospital in Berlin, told the Guardian. "He is living in the moment, more or less. He has lost his whole life."

Doctors made their discovery when they tested PM's ability to recall musical information and found he could identify the scales, rhythms and intervals of pieces they played him. The man went on to score normally on a standard test for musical memory.
But it was later tests that surprised doctors most, when the cellist showed he could learn new pieces of music, even though he failed to remember simple information, such as the layout of his flat, who his doctors were and what medicines he should take.

Neighbours said the man still played the cello in his apartment, but he refused to play in front of doctors, perhaps because he felt he was no longer any good, Finke said.

PM was struck down by a rare herpes encephalitis infection that leaves many patients with brain damage even if they receive urgent treatment.
The infection occurs when the virus – which is responsible for cold sores – travels along nerves that lead to the brain. The condition affects around one in half a million people each year.
In PM's case, the virus wiped out large parts of the brain's medial temporal lobes, which are important for remembering events and facts. Details of the case were described at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington DC on Sunday.

Finke decided to investigate PM's memory for music three years ago after a standard test revealed the musician had very severe amnesia.
"This was a unique chance to investigate musical memory, because we knew what sort of music he knew before he got ill," Finke said.
Working with professional musicians, the doctors created a battery of tests to probe PM's memory in more detail. In one, the doctors took well-known pieces of music composed before the cellist fell ill, such as Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and paired them with similar sounding pieces composed after 2005. When PM was asked to say which he knew better, he named the older scores 93% of the time.

In a later test, PM recognised 77% of pieces he had been played earlier in the day, suggesting he had some capacity to learn new music.
"It's easy to explain why he developed severe amnesia, but what is remarkable about this case is that he has intact musical memory," Finke said. "Given his severe amnesia, it is really astonishing that he could learn new musical material."

The case could help doctors understand how different kinds of memories are stored in the brain. Finke cites another patient who in 1996 lost all comprehension for music after having surgery that damaged his superior temporal gyrus.
"Musical memory seems to be stored independently, at least partially, of other types of memory," Finke said.
"If you contrast these two cases, you could argue the superior temporal gyrus, which is intact on the righthand side in our patient, could be the relevant structure that he uses to remember music."

Doctors now hope that PM's ability to learn music can be used to improve his rehabilitation. One idea is to use musical notes to signify people and various tasks, such as taking medicine or calling someone.
"He cannot remember most of the things we will tell him, but musical aspects he can learn and remember, so it might be a gateway to reach this patient and allow him to learn new things," Finke said.

Professor Alan Baddeley, who studies human memory at the University of York, said the case was similar to that of Clive Wearing, the British conductor and musician who became deeply amnesiac after contracting herpes encephalitis in 1985. Wearing can still play and conduct a choir despite having no recollection of his musical training, or much of his life before 1985.
"Dramatic cases like this make a point that memory isn't unitary. Musical memory is a skill, like riding a bicycle," Baddeley said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/ ... cal-memory
 
I know I came in here for something…doorways make you forget, say experts
Notre Dame professor says doorways cause “compartmentalizing” of the mind
By
KERRY O’SHEA,
IrishCentral Intern

Published Friday, December 2, 2011, 8:20 AM
Updated Friday, December 2, 2011, 9:41 AM

Notre Dame Psychology Professor Gabriel Radvansky has research that suggests people tend to forget things as they walk through a doorway into a room
Notre Dame Psychology Professor Gabriel Radvansky has research that suggests people tend to forget things as they walk through a doorway into a room

Have you ever walked into a room only to forget why you went in there? Or what you wanted to get? New research from Notre Dame professor Gabriel Radvansky proves that you may not being going crazy, after all.

The new research suggests that by passing through doorways, humans “compartmentalize” their thoughts. By compartmentalizing thoughts, memory sometimes lapses causing us to forget even the simplest of tasks.The research, reported by Notre Dame News, was conducted at Notre Dame and was published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Professor Radvansky conducted experiments on college students which required them to operate in two different settings, both a virtual room and a real room. The experiment called for the students to move an object across a room without passing through a doorway and in a second phase to do the same with the addition of passing through a doorway.

“Entering or exiting through a doorway serves as an ‘event boundary’ in the mind, which separates episodes of activity and files them away,” Radvansky explains. Thus, the passing through of a doorway triggers a mental reaction to compartmentalize thoughts, sometimes causing the memory lapse experienced when entering a new room.

Radvansky found in his study that “the subjects forgot more after walking through a doorway compared to moving the same distance across a room, suggesting that the doorway or “event boundary” impedes one’s ability to retrieve thoughts or decisions made in a different room.”
So, it’s the doorways playing mind tricks on you - you’re not going crazy! Will you remember this story next time you enter a new room?...
Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/I-know ... z1fOgPpNKQ
 
"In one, the doctors took well-known pieces of music composed before the cellist fell ill, such as Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and paired them with similar sounding pieces composed after 2005. When PM was asked to say which he knew better, he named the older scores 93% of the time."

I don't know where to begin with this as a useful test but I was very interested to learn about a neo-Vivaldi school of the 21st Century!

edit: removed misperceptions story. wrong thread.

edit2: literal corrected. on for of in last line.
 
Found in a snow drift, possible victim of violence. Less chance that this guy is faking it.

Norway police seek help to solve snowdrift man mystery
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26942132

The mystery man found in Oslo

Police in Norway have released photos in a bid to identify a young man found in a snowdrift near Oslo in December, apparently suffering from amnesia.

Police say they do not know where the man comes from but that he speaks good English with an East European accent.

A police spokesman told the Norwegian VG newspaper there was reason to believe he had been a victim of crime.

The man, who calls himself "John Smith" for now, agreed to his photo being released after inquiries drew a blank.

His fingerprints and photo were sent to East European police forces via Interpol but without success.

"The man did not possess any form of identification, and did not remember his name, origin, how he ended up in Norway or any other details of his life," the police said in a statement.

"[He] is of European origin, speaks very well English with a Eastern/Central-European accent, and understands Czech, Slovak, Polish and Russian languages. He is 187 cm [6.1 ft] tall, has blue eyes and dark blonde hair."

According to the police, he is aged in his twenties and was found in a snowdrift in an industrial area east of the Norwegian capital.

Amnesia, the partial or complete loss of memory, is usually associated with either physical trauma such as a blow to the head or some sort of psychological trauma.

It is usually a temporary condition and tends to affect only a certain part of a person's experience.

'Clear-headed'
Police prosecutor Sturla Henriksbo told VG that despite his apparent amnesia, the man could "reason and think clearly".

He said that aspects of the case had led police to suspect the man was a victim of crime but he did not elaborate.

His case is being handled by the violence and sexual crimes branch of the Norwegian police.

In 2003, a young Asian man turned up in Norway with similar memory loss and was dubbed Mr X by the media. The last thing he could remember was being in Switzerland and wanting to go to Norway to see one of its famous stave churches.

It was eventually established that the man was Japanese but only the return to his home country helped him piece together his identity.

Last year a court in the German capital Berlin sentenced a young Dutchman to community service for tricking officials into thinking he had lived in a forest for years with his father.

Robin van Helsum, 21, admitted making up a story that his parents were dead and that he did not know who he was or where he was from.
 
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