You can’t remember anything about today? It might be transient global amnesia – a rare form of sudden, temporary memory loss
- While on holiday, a man revealed to his wife he couldn’t remember anything about the past six months. Eight hours later, his missing memories came back
- Transient global amnesia is a form of memory loss that doctors can’t explain, but is usually associated with stress, strenuous activity, head trauma – even sex
Chris Hanson was preparing to leave his beachfront hotel on the last day of a Florida holiday when his mind started malfunctioning in a rare and mysterious way.
As he put on a shirt, he told his wife, Bobbi-Jo, that he wished they’d spent more time on the balcony. She was puzzled. She said he’d just been on the balcony, and they had eaten several meals there.
“I don’t want to scare you,” he told her, “but I don’t remember any of that.”
He did scare her. Afraid he was having a stroke, she rushed him to a hospital. Every 15 seconds or so, he’d ask the same questions. “Where am I?”, “Where’s my phone?”, “Where’s my wallet?”. He remembered who he was. He remembered Bobbi-Jo and their kids. But the last six months were a blank, and he wasn’t making any new memories.
He teared up when Bobbi-Jo reminded him that he had bought tickets to an Ultimate Fighting Championship event when they returned home to the US state of Colorado. He didn’t remember that, either, a sign that something was very wrong.
Eight hours later, a doctor asked whether Hanson knew why he was in hospital. For the first time, he said yes. A few minutes later, the doctor asked again. Hanson not only remembered why he was there, he remembered that the doctor had asked before.