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A MyEpilepsyTeam Member asked a question 💭
Johannesburg, ZA

It tends to affect most of my personal life. It's quite embarrassing at times, working with a colleague for 3 years and all of a sudden you can't remember something like names. Going to your boss to ask or tell them or tell them something and just stand there because you don't remember. It's frustrating not to mention annoying.

February 20, 2018
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Answer Summary

Members connected deeply over the frustrating and often embarrassing reality of memory loss with epilepsy, sharing how they forget names,... Read more

Members connected deeply over the frustrating and often embarrassing reality of memory loss with epilepsy, sharing how they forget names, appointments, directions, childhood memories, and even what they just read or watched, with many noting that both seizures and medications contribute to cognitive challenges. Several members described practical strategies that have helped them cope, including writing everything down in journals and planners, using Uber instead of driving, taking memory-supporting medications like Donepezil, doing word puzzles and searches, using word association techniques for names, and keeping photos to trigger memories of the past. A recurring theme was the emotional toll of losing independence, including having driver's licenses suspended and needing constant supervision, yet members encouraged each other to stay positive, work harder to adapt, and remember that memory struggles are not intentional but rather an unavoidable part of living with epilepsy.

A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

Again, your meds can cause some extreme side affects even memory loss. Talk to your doctor. Depakote is the worst!

February 23, 2018
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

Stephanie, mine are called Absence Seizures. I can not know where I am, be extremely confused. Dorothy would know if I were going to have one by what my face and eyes looked like. I have to be near a bathroom. For some reason going helps lessen the seizure if it was minor. A major one could require my sleeping for 3 hours or so.
Lack of enough good sleep, not eating well or enough, and being overheated are all triggers. If I avoid them, they can be avoided. I am doing fairly well, however.
I have never been good with names, but do reconize faces.

Leslie

August 27, 2022
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

Memory issues only one of our big struggles, when it comes to Epilepsy and the meds we’re on.

February 23, 2018
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

Memory loss plays a big part with epilepsy. Sometimes I can’t even remember what I did yesterday and other times I can remember stuff from months ago.

October 30, 2023
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

I do not have a good memory at all. I don’t remember much about my past either, have You ever looked at pictures to remind yourself of the past? One thing that really annoys me is after graduating from college where I wrote a papers that are 20+ pages long and can’t remember a word of what I wrote. I looked at them a year after graduating. I don’t expect to remember those things after a long period of time. But these papers have high grades on them, I have to ask myself “did I really write this?” It is very difficult to live and learn without having a good memory sometimes.

August 22, 2023

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