![]() TEA is a form of focal seizure, which is "the most common variety of adult-onset epilepsy" as opposed to the stereotypical tonic-clonic or grand mal seizure in which affected persons suffer a loss of consciousness and convulse. However, as TEA tends to recur at a median rate of 12 times a year, witnesses and clinicians may be able to recognize the condition retrospectively the median delay to diagnosis of TEA in the 2007 study was 12 months. In the largest study to date (2007) "Epilepsy was the initial specialist diagnosis in only 12 of 50 cases." Diagnosis is further complicated by the fact that only somewhat more than a third of cases present positive EEG readings after the attack. TEA is "almost always misdiagnosed" according to a leading authority. This diagnosis, however, is "seldom suspected by clinicians and remains controversial". Transient amnesia can be the principal manifestation of epilepsy. ![]() Of greater consequence than this brief gap are three common persistent memory complaints among people who have experienced TEA: difficulty recalling knowledge recently gained (accelerated forgetting) difficulty recalling events in one's personal life over a period of decades ( autobiographical amnesia) and difficulty with spatial memory, recalling routes or places and the navigational cues that are associated with them ( topographical amnesia), discussed below. Such unusual presentations "may be due to ongoing seizure activity (non-convulsive status epilepticus) or persistent post-ictal dysfunction of memory-related brain structures." Īs the amnesia resolves, the person may recall very little about it, although some memory may be retained of the fact of an episode. Much longer attacks have been reported in the 2007 study of 50 TEA cases, one lasted four days and one lasted two days. Some attacks may be less than five minutes in duration. They carry on conversations and can continue with activities such as getting dressed, walking, or even playing a game of golf. In most cases, however, the person responds appropriately to the situation they are in. Observers may, however, notice some pallor of the skin, a brief 'loss of contact' such as not seeming to be aware of the person witnessing the attack, or some automatic movements such as swallowing, lip-smacking or fidgeting of the hands. The physical appearance of the person is normally unchanged. There is, however, no loss of personal identity, and close friends or relatives are usually recognised. Also, the individual often finds it difficult to retain new information and may ask the same question, such as "What day is it?" or "What are we supposed to be doing today?" repetitively. Sometimes, the memory loss may affect events from much further back in the past. ![]() The website of the UK-based organization The Impairment of Memory in Epilepsy (TIME) describes an attack this way: ĭuring an attack, the person is usually unable to remember things that have happened over the past days or weeks. In half the cases reported, behavior includes repetitive questioning to attempt to orient experience as the brain fails to lay down new memories or recall a range of recent experiences. Frequently, however, there is no warning.ĭuring the attack the person's cognitive functions are not generally impaired perception, communication, attention are normal for most of the duration of the event. A quarter of attacks involve a brief period of unresponsiveness. Somewhat less than half the cases include olfactory or gustatory hallucinations, and slightly more than a third involve motor automatisms. In attacks that begin when an individual is fully alert, olfactory hallucinations or a "strange taste" or nausea have been reported. Three-fourths of cases are reported upon awakening. Some people report short-lived retrograde amnesia so deep that they do not recognize their home or family members, though personal identity is preserved.
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