I was born with Epilepsy. I guess I am lucky. I never had a special ed class. My memory is better than it has ever been in my life and I am going to be 55 in a couple of months. I have also been on Lamotragine for about 10 years and it works great!

I see. I just feel like it's getting worse but I haven't had a seizure for quite some time. During the period of my life when it started I had quite a few. It's odd I have large gaps of time I simply can't remember. Places my family have said I've been but don't remember. I've told my neurologist and they gave that standard memory test . I had a difficult time with certain parts others I did ok. my verbal skills have declined as well. .
Thank you

@A MyEpilepsyTeam Member - memory comes from the hippocampus area of the brain. The left side of the hippocampus gives us short term memory & the right side long term memory. Depending on where in our brains our "epilepsy activity" starts (more than 40 different locations have been ID'd by brain experts) largely influences our memory capability. I speak from experience.
My brain surgery in 2016 was on the left side of my hippocampus. And although I share the memory challenges that you speak about, I am extremely happy to say I've been seizure free for 9 yrs 5 mos. So any memory challenges I have are not on my priority list. Best of luck in your battle. Keep talking with other epilepsy warriors. It helps.

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A MyEpile...

Hi Deanne, Pretty much everything you described is where I'm at. I'm in the process of changing med to try to stop my cognitive decline. I'm not sure this will work. I lost years of my memory as I think many of us in this group have. It is very difficult but there are many people who struggle far more than I do. On a positive note I told my wife last week, "at least I can make new memories"

A common side effect of epileptic meds is that they induce negative reactions to memory. Some medications also have fewer side effects than others, so sometimes a change to a different medication may help. If it is bothering you too much, it's probably a good idea to mention this to your neurologist.