Amnesia: Causes & Reasons

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Possible Causes for Amnesia

Acute Alcohol Intoxication

dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and DHEA sulfate (DHEA-S) will be inversely correlated with the magnitude of acute behavioral responses to alcohol (sedation, anxiolysis, amnesia [clinicaltrials.gov]

[…] significant impairments to coordination and balance significant impairments to judgment and reaction time dangerous impairments to skills necessary for driving vomiting blackouts (amnesia [medicalnewstoday.com]

Impaired sensations Inhibited sexual desire (ISD) Mood swings Nausea Partial loss of understanding Possibility of stupor Vomiting Amnesia (memory blackout) Unconsciousness [en.wikipedia.org]

Vitamin B12 Deficiency

This can consequentially lead to very severe symptoms of deficiency, ranging from depression over the destruction of nerves in limbs and the spinal cord to severe amnesia. [b12-vitamin.com]

Alcohol Abuse

[…] alcoholism manifest as follows: Wernicke encephalopathy: Ataxia, ophthalmoplegia (usually lateral gaze palsy), and confusion Korsakoff syndrome: Anterograde and retrograde amnesia [emedicine.medscape.com]

Hypoglycemia

[…] weakness; palpitations; irritability; nervousness; tingling or warmth sensation; hunger; nausea; and vomiting Neuroglucopenic signs and symptoms: confusion, drowsiness, amnesia [ems1.com]

[…] with diabetes treated with insulin who may show reduction in spontaneous movements and speech, somnolence, poor thinking and work performance, changes in personality and amnesia [patient.info]

Hypoglycemia symptoms include hunger, nausea, headache, rage, lethargy, daydreams, confusion, amnesia, dizziness, fatigue, irritability, anxiety, jittery feelings, adrenaline [drlam.com]

Substance Abuse

Higher doses can cause amnesia, paranoia and hallucinations, depression, and difficulty breathing. [emedicinehealth.com]

Head Trauma

Post-traumatic amnesia in a worker presenting with head trauma must be recognised by coworkers, so the cause of injury can be elicited early and the victim gets timely medical [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Concussion: symptoms of amnesia and confusion. Duration of amnesia is predictive of injury severity. [patient.info]

Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that absence of retrograde amnesia (odds ratio [OR] 4.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.8-9.7) was associated with noncompliance [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Brain Concussion

Some individuals with concussion also have post-traumatic amnesia, meaning a loss of memory for events immediately after they regain consciousness. [weillcornellbrainandspine.org]

A period of amnesia, or not recalling what has happened, is essential to the diagnosis of concussion. [brainfoundation.org.au]

There is often a brief period (seconds or minutes) of retrograde amnesia, meaning a loss of memory for the events immediately prior to the concussion. [weillcornellbrainandspine.org]

Endogenous Depression

This condition is called retrograde amnesia. You may also have trouble recalling events that occurred during the weeks of your treatment. [mayoclinic.org]

Chronic Alcoholism

Abstract Korsakoff syndrome (KS) is characterized by dense anterograde and retrograde amnesia. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Alcoholic Korsakoff's Syndrome; An Information Processing Approach to Amnesia. Academic Press, New York. Google Scholar Carlen, P. L. (1982). [link.springer.com]

[…] dependence ( Table 5 ). 16 The 10-question Brief Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (BMAST) and the five-question TWEAK (Tolerance, Worry about drinking, Eye-opener drinks, Amnesia [aafp.org]

Traumatic Brain Injury

This period will approximate the duration of posttraumatic amnesia. [web.archive.org]

This is the period of post-traumatic amnesia. The longer the duration of amnesia, the more severe the brain damage. [biami.org]

These problems become more common with increasing severity of brain injury as indicated by duration of loss of consciousness or of posttraumatic amnesia. [dx.doi.org]

Alzheimer Disease

Amnesia: A minimal model and an interpretation. In Cermak, L. S. (ed.), Human Memory and Amnesia, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 305–336. [oadoi.org]

Eventually almost every domain of cognition will be dismantled, but amnesia remains at the heart of trying to discover the cause of the brain's degeneration. [theguardian.com]

The long and short of it in amnesia. In Cermak, L. S. (ed.), Human Memory and Amnesia, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 43–60. Google Scholar Cermak, L. [oadoi.org]

Alcohol Dementia

These are the characteristics of anterograde amnesia. Research shows that anterograde amnesia results from a failure of memory formation and storage. [dementiatoday.net]

Alcohol-related alcoholic dementia, also known as Korsakoff’s Syndrome, is characterized by amnesia, volatile mood changes, and balance problems that can lead to falls and [helpforalzheimersfamilies.com]

Finally, the DSM-IV-TR requires evidence that amnesia is caused by use of alcohol. [dementiatoday.net]

Stroke

[…] of the limbic system, and stroke is the only etiology of amnesia that can delineate the entire pathway of memory and critical convergence points. (3) Stroke also impairs [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Papanicolaou, AC, Levin, HS, Eisenberg, HM, Moore, BD, Goethe, KE, High, WM Evoked potential correlates of posttraumatic amnesia after closed head injury. [journals.sagepub.com]

[…] with the associated deficits often illuminates additional aspects of memory functions. (2) Stroke produces amnesia by damage to critical convergence white matter connections [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Defining the phase of memory processing most relevant to this form of amnesia, and the roles of physiological and structural pathology, requires further research. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

[…] demonstrate the diagnostic value of a nonvisual fMRI task to lateralize MTLE despite congenital blindness and may therefore contribute to the risk assessment for postsurgical amnesia [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

The second patient showed a sudden fearful expression, followed by oral automatisms, staring, and amnesia for the event. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Transient Ischemic Attack

Noncerebrovascular Conditions Misdiagnosed as TIA GPs Emergency MDs Syncope 4 4 Convulsion 1 2 Transient global amnesia 1 2 Posttraumatic amnesia 1 1 Dementia 1 … Sedative [doi.org]

Vertebro-basilar artery syndrome G45.1 Carotid artery syndrome (hemispheric) G45.2 Multiple and bilateral precerebral artery syndromes G45.3 Amaurosis fugax G45.4 Transient global amnesia [icd10data.com]

[…] simultaneously) in TIA Other diagnoses to consider: Hypoglycemia (it CAN cause focal symptomatology), subdural hematoma, brain tumor, labyrinthitis/neuronitis, transient global amnesia [emergencymedicinecases.com]

Migraine

Some children also experience recurrent episodes of transient amnesia and confusion. Episodes typically last less than 6 hours and are followed by deep sleep. [emedicine.com]

Retrosplenial amnesia. Brain 110, 1631–1646 (1987). 42. Donchin, O., Gribova, A., Steinberg, O., Bergman, H. & Vaadia, E. [doi.org]

Transient global amnesia: a review emphasizing pathogenic aspects. Acta Neurol. Scand. 2000; 102 :275–283. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ] 5. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Preeclampsia

Headache (80%), usually frontal Generalized edema (50%) Vision disturbance (40%), such as blurred vision and photophobia Right upper quadrant abdominal pain with nausea (20%) Amnesia [emedicine.com]

Examples of symptoms include intrusive symptoms, flashbacks and nightmares, as well as symptoms of avoidance (including amnesia for the whole or parts of the event), problems [en.wikipedia.org]

Dementia

As arteriosclerotic brain disease progresses, amnesia tends to extend further into the past,… Read More [britannica.com]

Graveline, for one, is certain that Lipitor was to blame for his 1999 amnesia incident. [scientificamerican.com]

When Graveline’s memory returned some six hours later in the hospital, he racked his brain to figure out what might have caused this terrifying bout of amnesia. [scientificamerican.com]

Benzodiazepine Overdose

CONCLUSION: Anterograde amnesia is present in suicide attempters who take overdoses of benzodiazepines. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

It provides anxiolysis, sedation, hypnosis, skeletal muscle relaxation, anterograde amnesia, respiratory depression and an anticonvulsant effect but has no analgesic properties [dentalcare.com]

One hundred and thirty patients responded positively to flumazenil, characterized by improved response to painful stimuli, and decreased amnesia. [mjiri.iums.ac.ir]

Diffuse Brain Injury

[…] whether those outcomes could be predicted by: time, gender, age, relationship, education, employment pre-injury, occupation, GCS, cause of injury, length of post-traumatic amnesia [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Outcome measures were AIS incidence, duration of posttraumatic amnesia, Functional Independence Measure, and Disability Rating Scale, at rehabilitation discharge. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

age, years of education), injury characteristics (Glasgow Coma Scale score, MRI findings such as traumatic axonal injury (TAI), or duration of posttraumatic amnesia), symptoms [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Epilepsy

[…] the second case report a 21-year-old female was referred with a typical history of narcolepsy type 1, but also with atypical episodes of gazing and automatic behavior with amnesia [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

transient global amnesia All Submit all pertinent medical records, current status report, to include name and dosage of medication(s) and side effects Requires FAA Decision [faa.gov]

Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis

Myoclonic epilepsy）头痛偏头痛家族性偏瘫型偏头痛（英语：Familial hemiplegic migraine）丛集性头痛紧张性头痛（英语：Tension headache）脑血管疾病短暂性脑缺血发作一时性黑蒙（英语：Amaurosis fugax）暂时性全面失忆症（英语：Transient global amnesia [beichengjiu.com]

Epilepsy with Generalized Tonic-Clonic Seizures

Total amnesia of the seizure. [dentalcare.com]

Blue skin color After the seizure, the person may have: Confusion Drowsiness or sleepiness that lasts for 1 hour or longer (called the post-ictal state) Loss of memory (amnesia [medlineplus.gov]

[…] breathing Blue lips Arched back After the seizure the patient may experience: Confusion Feeling sleepy or drowsy for 1 hour or longer (post-ictal state) Loss of memory (amnesia [cedars-sinai.edu]

Subdural Hematoma

Trauma Cause(s) In most cases, an injury to the top of the skull Symptoms Loss of consciousness, irritability, seizure, pain, numbness, headache, dizziness, disorientation, amnesia [house.wikia.com]

[…] injury Loss of consciousness or fluctuating levels of consciousness Irritability Seizures Pain Numbness Headache (either constant or fluctuating) Dizziness Disorientation Amnesia [neurolaw.com]

He complained of a headache and inability to recall specific events involving his transport to the emergency department (anterograde amnesia). [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Parkinson Disease

All subjects were asked about all types of head injury before their diagnosis of PD, including head injuries that had caused loss of consciousness, subsequent amnesia, or [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Mayes, Evidence of an amnesia-like cued-recall memory impairment in nondementing idiopathic Parkinson's disease, Cortex, 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.06.021, 71, (85-101), (2015) [dx.doi.org]

0.67, 1.17), duration of loss of consciousness ( 1 minute: OR 0.93; 95% CI 0.58, 1.49; 1–5 minutes: OR 0.74; 95% CI 0.51, 1.08; 5 minutes: OR 0.81; 95% CI 0.53, 1.24), or amnesia [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

General Anesthesia

The patient moves from analgesia without amnesia to analgesia with amnesia Stage 2, or excitement stage: The period following a loss of consciousness, characterized by excited [medicalnewstoday.com]

It has 3 objectives: - Avoid pain; - Induce deep sleep and amnesia -- that is to say, a hypnotic state; - Induce muscle relaxation to make the surgeon's work easier. [youtube.com]

Under general anesthesia, the patient is unable to feel pain and may also have amnesia. [medicalnewstoday.com]

Transient Global Amnesia

An isolated prolonged episode of transient amnesia can be a major manifestation of transient global amnesia (TGA) and transient epileptic amnesia (TEA). [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

[…] as transient global amnesia. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Trinka, Transient global amnesia or transient epileptic amnesia? [doi.org]

Electrical Injury

A 30-year-old lady developed amnesia and spastic paraparesis with loss of pin prick sensation below the second thoracic spinal segment following electrocution. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

developed left hemiparesis, mutism and retrograde amnesia after a high-voltage electric shock without evidence of lasting brain lesions. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Once she regained consciousness after 24 h, she was found to have amnesia about the event and weakness and loss of sensation of lower limbs. [nature.com]

Intracerebral Hematoma

CT and magnetic resonance imaging showed that this lesion enlarged with repeated hemorrhages, associated with progressive amnesia and headache during 3 years follow up. [jstage.jst.go.jp]

Determine if the patient experienced momentary loss of reflexes, momentary arrest of respirations, and possible retrograde or antegrade amnesia (loss of memory for events [medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com]

Minor head trauma (the definition of this in the anticoagulant literature seems to be different than most other head trauma lit, they actually define minor as NO LOC and NO AMNESIA [emcrit.org]

Schizophrenia

[…] and Cognitive Deficits" Electroconvulsive Therapy Causes Permanent Amnesia and Cognitive Deficits [schizophrenic.com]

Information obtained included the socio-demographic characteristics, type of injury, durations of unconsciousness (LOC) and posttraumatic amnesia (PTA), psychiatric and psychoactive [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Memory, Amnesia, and the Hippocampal System, Cambridge, The MIT Press. [doi.org]