What could cause sudden, severe memory loss? | members only

A 24-HOUR SCARE Margot didn’t have a TIA. She had TGA, or transient global amnesia — a “pretty classic” case, her primary care doctor commented. It’s a rare condition that, when it does

strike, mostly affects people 50 and older, according to a 2022 article in the journal _American Family Physician_; actor Liev Schreiber, 57, and _Survivor _host Jeff Probst, 63, have both

spoken about recent episodes of TGA as well. Its key symptoms are an inability to form new memories, some loss of previous memories, and confusion for up to 24 hours. The physiology behind

TGA is unclear, and there’s no established treatment. If you have it, you just have to wait it out. The trigger of TGA is often a physically or psychologically stressful precipitating event,

according to researchers. This might include emotional stress, significant physical exertion, exposure to extreme temperatures, high-altitude conditions, acute illness or sexual

intercourse. Margot checked three of those boxes: emotional stress (a relative’s medical crisis), acute illness (vomiting) and extreme temperatures (back-to-back visits to the spa’s cold

plunge pool and steam room). It was no wonder that identifying her TGA took some time. That’s because the age group most susceptible to it is the same age group most at risk for a stroke,

says David Sealy, M.D., a professor at the Medical University of South Carolina and founder of the Sports Medicine Fellowship in Greenwood, South Carolina. Another problem is that the

condition isn’t common knowledge, even among health care professionals. “In the medical world, I’d guess that 80 percent or more are not familiar with the diagnosis,” says Sealy, who

co-authored the _American Family Physician_ article. Sealy has had a glimpse of that unfamiliarity himself. More than a decade ago, he had his own onset of TGA while on a ski trip in

Colorado. (Physical exertion, extreme temperatures and high altitude: Check, check and check.) “It was a mountain I’d been skiing on a hundred times, and I didn’t know where I was,” he says.

But when he was brought to the hospital, he says, “the neurology fellow there missed the diagnosis.” Awareness of TGA, however, doesn’t mean you can identify it on your own. “It is good to

seek emergency care if it’s an older person with amnesia,” Sealy advises. In general, the appropriate course of action is to get a brain MRI, he says. If that shows no signs of a stroke and

the person with amnesia shows no motor or sensory deficits, he says, “you’re safe.” (The CT scan that Margot got likely wouldn’t have caught a smaller stroke.) Happily for Margot and most

other people hit by TGA, the chances of a repeat episode are minimal. (The risk is higher, however, for people with a history of migraines or an episode of TGA before turning 50.) Sealy, in

fact, has been out on the ski slopes more than 50 times since his TGA with no worries about a recurrence. “I like my odds!” he says.