Extreme Problems With Memory Loss

[PandaBear12212]

Lately due to the stress of my disorder, along with malnutrition due to anorexia, and complete sleep deprivation due to insomnia, I have been experiencing what's called Partial Complex Seizures. These are seizures that are non convulsive, and result in blacking out, loss of consciousness, and memory loss.

Basically I can not remember anything from the past six months except for huge events like moving to college. It is really affecting my school. Because I can not remember anything I learned in any of my classes. I have two exams tomorrow and even though I am studying my butt off now, 60 minutes later I forget everything I just studied. It is really stressing me out. I really wish I could get some sort of medical excuse since the memory loss is so impairing. Basically every time I have another seizure I lose more and more memory.

It is so bad at this point that I can't remember the names or faces of people that I am supposed to know well. I have hung out with people multiple times but since the seizures started I can't remember them at all.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with a test that I literally can not remember anything about. Has anyone else dealt with memory loss? I would appreciate feedback. Thanks.

 

[Ryn]

I would think you can get a medical excuse. Did you talk to the doctor who diagnosed you with the seizures about this? Though in your case I'm not sure if an exam extension or something similar would help, but perhaps they would have other ideas.

Does your school have a disability services centre you can get registered with? I don't have memory loss as severe as yours but I think most of us dealing with PTSD and school have trouble remembering, concentrating, etc., which makes exams and papers difficult - for me, registering with disability services was a good step. They can't solve all my problems, but they can make some accommodations like giving me a separate testing room, longer test time, occasional extension on assignments, and so on.

 

[PandaBear12212]

They said because their non convulsive and due to stress, sleep deprivation, and malnutrition they just said "eat more, sleep more." But I've been trying with not much success. Were you able to register for a disability because of PTSD? No offense just out of curiosity was it because you're a veteran? I just feel like they wouldn't grant disability to PTSD patients outside of the army. I really wish my professors would allow me one note card to right important formulas down and such.

 

[Ryn]

Hm, that's frustrating. I'm sorry. :(

No, I'm not a veteran; my PTSD is from childhood sexual abuse. And yes, the disability services at my school is open to all sorts of students with all sorts of problems, so long as they are properly diagnosed and documented by a professional. Whether it's panic attacks, OCD, learning disabilities... Most universities have some sort of system like this, I believe? I would encourage you to look into it. If you were to talk over some of your needs with disability services and your professors, there is a chance you would be allowed certain reasonable accommodations.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

There are a lot of us who are registered with disability services at our respective schools on the basis of non-military PTSD alone. I suggest visiting them/calling them soon as it takes time to get everything in order before you're granted any sort of accommodations. And I do believe that all schools are required by law to accommodate those with disabilities.

 

[PandaBear12212]

Hmmm, that would be extremely helpful. Too bad more time cant accommodate for memory loss :/ But I'll see what they offer to accommodate.

Thanks.

 

[Justmehere]

It sounds like the neurologist needs to increase your seizure meds. Did they do an EEG test? They have ones called ambulatory 3 day EEGs that an catch all of them so they can better tell what will help, It sounds like you may be having a lot more seizures than they realize and having so many can lead to brain damage and convulsive seizures over time.

I have a neurologic condition of a different kind. There is a great epilepsy forum if you google "braintalk" and they might have more ideas for dealing with seizure related memory loss

There are also seizures that happen in the same way, just like complex partial seizures, and can be caused by dissociation too.

For a period of time the doctors thought I was having complex partial seizures and after doing a 3 day EEG we discovered half of them were related to dissociation. I was on seizure meds for a couple of years - which oddly helped my anxiety and PTSD symptoms too - and then was able to stop the meds and I did intensive therapy and eventually all the seizures stopped.

I was so glad to finally be able to drive again when they stopped. Then an underlying neurological problem came up and I'm back to not being able to drive. :( How do you handle that part of things for you? Seizures stink. I'm so sorry you are going through this too on top of battling PTSD.

 

[PandaBear12212]

They didn't give me meds because they're non convulsive. They're trying to treat the cause, so they just told me repeatedly to eat more and sleep more. :/ Which really sucks because I am trying but I'm still losing more and more memory and this morning during my first class I heard ringing and I started seeing flashes of light. And I felt like I was about to faint. Yet I still had to go through two exams today, not remembering a thing.

 

[Justmehere]

I think you should see a new neurologist! They can get worse and worse due to a problem called kindling. And not being able to drive really stinks and there's a lot of good meds for them. If they are not doing any of that, it makes me concerned they are not taking it seriously because they don't think these are real partial complex seizure - and they sound very real. Lack if sleep and food can totally bring on complex partial seizures and it's very serious. I hope you get another neurologist soon - I can't imagine that not being able to drive is helping your stress. I'm so sorry. Not treating seizures that are causing such severe memory loss with no meds borders medical malpractice.

 

[PandaBear12212]

Thanks :/ I'm going in to the doctor tomorrow. We'll see what they say.