After I saw ‘You, Me Aur Hum’ (a Hindi movie based on Alzheimer’s), I felt that I too suffer with memory loss at times. Often, I forget things like many of us do. Losing track of time after a couple of hours in the garden is understandable. But when your husband asks what time it is for the third time in just a few minutes, you naturally get concerned. The puzzling form of memory loss (amnesia) is called transient global amnesia.

UNDERSTANDING AMNESIA
Basically memory is broken down into three broad types:
1. Immediate memory- This refers to the recall of information just seconds after learning it.
2. Recent memory- This is the recall of information several minutes or more after encountering it.
3. Long-term memory- This is the recall of events months or years after their occurrence.
There are more specific kinds of memory processing. For instance, procedural memory helps you remember how to do something, such as drive a car. Declarative memory involves calling up memories of past information and experiences. The intricacies of memory can be interrupted by almost any disease or injury that affects the brain. Common memory thieves include stroke, brain injury, seizures and dementias.

When amnesia occurs, it generally fits into two large categories:
1. Anterograde amnesia which is identified as difficulty forming new memories. It’s the most common type of amnesia. It’s the type of amnesia seen in people with Alzheimer's disease.
2. Retrograde amnesia which is the loss of past memories. It encompasses memory loss from as little as a few seconds ago to several months back. It’s typically seen after head trauma.

There is another kind namely Transient global amnesia which is a combination of both types of amnesia. In this, sudden loss of recent memory occurs and there’s also an inability to learn new information that forms the basis for new memories. Typically, transient global amnesia begins and ends abruptly, taking place in a compact time frame. During transient global amnesia, you typically remain alert and experience no signs or symptoms such as numbness or weakness. But due to the inability to learn new information during transient global amnesia, there’s a tendency to ask the same question many times over, even after the question has been answered repeatedly.

The cause of transient global amnesia remains unclear. Transient global amnesia attacks tend to occur following emotional stress, strenuous physical activity, or after temperature change from immersion in cold or hot water. Even though transient global amnesia is temporary, but one may see a doctor without delay.

Typically, a detailed medical history physical exam, including a neurological exam, is done. Blood tests and diagnoses imaging tests like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and an electroencephalogram (EEG) — may be done to check for any possible abnormalities in the brain. These tests are done to help rule out other possible conditions that can produce memory disruptions loss, such as stroke and seizures. As it turns out, like me most people who experience transient global amnesia find to be nothing more than a singular event that they are unable to recall.