Hi, my name is Jackie. Thank you for inviting me to the TGA Clubhouse. I am a 66-year-old grandmother of 12 and mother of 6. I recently had Transient Global Amnesia for the second time. The first time was 15 years ago.

 

 

At that time, I was going to a local college. It was the end of the year and I had been working on the last projects to be turned in. I had not slept more than a few hours in like two or three days. I was completely stressed out as I had a neighbor who kept interrupting me. I did not eat or drink much either. The last day of school, I went to my classes, turned in projects, gone grocery shopping, and changed the spelling of my name on my checking account and ordered new checks.

 

Problem was I was in the throes of TGA! In the afternoon, I apparently knew something was wrong and called my best friend. She called my children, and we got to the doctor later around 4:30. Around that time I started to come out of it, and I was wearing something I did not like. They diagnosed me with TGA. I did not find out about my name change until I got the new checks in the mail. I was also not sleeping enough, and I was also stressed out for different reasons. I do not like where I live and it was not my choice. I have two German Shepherd dogs that I cannot exercise them properly because of where I live. 

 

My second TGA happened in the same exact way. At some point, I realized I had lost hours, became distraught, was on my way to work, and my son called me and talked me into going to my doctor who then sent me to the hospital. Same exact symptoms same exact amount of time. I started to come out of it two hours earlier than the first time. The hospital released me the next day and since then I have had an EEG, echocardiogram with bubble study, two MRAs (different than MRI) and a heart monitor for 30 days. The heart monitor identifies the only thing that shows anything. But it does not show any reason for the amnesia.  

 

It was TGA again. They say you cannot get it twice but I beg to differ. So only now 6 weeks later am I feeling good. I am terrified for it to happen again though. I remember what I did before the episode started and when I began to come out of it. This is scary stuff to know I was driving around.