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Author Topic: If you didn't have memories, what would you think about?
starlooker
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Okay, so I call my mother today to tell her that my root canal went fine. She utters those dreaded words, "I have something to tell you." I start to panic, thinking something's happened to my brother or father until she tells me... a friend of ours from church has amnesia.

Really. Amnesia. Doesn't remember the church, doesn't remember her kids, doesn't remember her friends or her mother, doesn't remember that she knits... nothing. Well, almost nothing. She remembered feeding her cat before the amnesia hit.

Yeah.

So, anyhoo, Mom went to visit her over lunch and is very worried that she have someone there with her all the time. And I thought about that and became very concerned because...

What would you think about if you didn't have any memories?

I immediately started asking mom if people had brought her books. That would be my preferred solution. Still, that would be awfully boring, though, wouldn't it? To live in a mental universe populated by... you.

On the other hand, I suppose with meeting her husband and kids and mother and friends, she has quite a bit to think about regarding impressions of them all. *shrugs*

That is the weirdest thing. I've never actually known someone with amnesia before.

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Joldo
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You make new friends every day . . .

That is sad though .It hurts more for the family, I think. Give 'em all the comfort you can.

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rav
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You should watch Memento.
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rav
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Remember Sammy Jenkins...
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King of Men
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Now, this is actually quite interesting as an experiment in sociology. Having no memory of being religiously indoctrinated by her parents, will her former faith still make sense? If not, what does that say about how much rationality is contained in religion?
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starlooker
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It's different from Memento in that she can remember events that occur after the amnesia began and can acquire new memories.

*glum*

I can't imagine being 12 or 17 and having my mother lose all memory of me. It's just... WEIRD. Apparently, her personality is still very much herself.

I wonder if she remembers song lyrics or television episodes.

Probably not if she doesn't remember what kind of food she likes... although she remembers the NAME of it.

Also, Mom introduced herself as being from ____ Lutheran Church. The lady was like, "Oh, Lutheran? Everyone keeps talking about the church, but no one's said it was Lutheran before."

Apparently, she remembers what Lutherans ARE.

I don't know why, but this is seriously blowing my mind.

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starlooker
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Well, KofM, she remembers social conventions. It's not like she doesn't know what a husband is or what a child is or what friends are. It's just her personal history that's gone. So, I'm guessing even if she doesn't remember her faith, faith could still make sense conceptually or as an institution.
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Bob_Scopatz
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Strange. From your description, she's lost memory of people (herself included) and yet has her memory for connections of facts or working vocabulary is just fine. She knows what a Lutheran is, but not that she is one (assuming she is one...).

Her experiences are gone, but her functional database is there and accessible.

I imagine this is all very puzzling and frightening for her. Like a person who has studied a foreign land and finally gets to visit it. No connections, but lots of working knowledge.

And what happens if she learns things about people while in this state and then remembers conflicting things about them from the past?

Wow.

It's very sad, and fascinating at the same time.

I hope she gets better soon.

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Dragon
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Wow, that is really scary. And also strange. Brains are really wierd.

[Frown]

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Verily the Younger
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Wow, KoM managed to take this tragic situation and turn it into religion-bashing for his own amusement. Just watch my big surprised face: [Roll Eyes]
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Talison
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Most of my family was involved in a car accident last December, both my mother and little sister received brain trauma. My sister's was considered severe (she spent 11 days in a coma, and the Doctors were telling us not to have any expectations that she would ever come out of it).

Although Jolie’s brain injury was considered more severe then my mothers, Mom shows more symptoms (or simply more apparent symptoms). Both have trouble remembering things, recalling the right word or how to pronounce a particular word. They have mood swings and tend to feel one way or another one hundred percent (not just happy, ecstatic. Not sad, suicidal). Their tastes, from food, clothing, to music have changed.
While these symptoms are nothing compared to total amnesia they are still hard to deal with and leave the rest of the family feeling like we don’t know them any more on the bad days.

Your friend and her family need as much support as they can get.
And whatever you do, PLEASE discourage anyone from telling their own horror stories to the family.

Speaking from experience: "bad" is plenty. They don’t need to dwell on the worst possibilities [Frown]

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quidscribis
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Been through the whole amnesia thing. It can be confusing. Mine was a bit differnt, though - incremental, meaning I lost memories as they happened, so I only ever had a few days or perhaps a week or two of memory to work from at any given point in time. It ended when I was sixteen, and that's a whole other story.

I had no problem with facts - I got through school just fine, and didn't know myself that I had amnesia. My brain was far too scrambled to figure that out. But memories of events - gone. Completely and totally. But since I had a few days or a few weeks of memory, it was enough to keep straight who was who.

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Anna
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quote:
Although Jolie’s brain injury was considered more severe then my mothers, Mom shows more symptoms (or simply more apparent symptoms). Both have trouble remembering things, recalling the right word or how to pronounce a particular word. They have mood swings and tend to feel one way or another one hundred percent (not just happy, ecstatic. Not sad, suicidal). Their tastes, from food, clothing, to music have changed.
While these symptoms are nothing compared to total amnesia they are still hard to deal with and leave the rest of the family feeling like we don’t know them any more on the bad days.

I hear you. My mother died from cancer, and a few month before she dies, she became all weird, pretty much like you described, swinging moods, changing tastes, trouble to find the good word.
Not surprisingly, the metastases were "pressing her brain" (that's what the doctor said) and make her behave that way.
I didn't last long, because her cancer was very bad, and she died quickly after that, but I remember this time as one of the most unsetling of my life. It can seem horrible, but it was harder to deal with it than with the actual grief, in a lot of ways. So it must be really hard to deal with for a long time.
(((Talison)))

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