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Friday, February 20, 2004In his letter to the journal, Marinella, a clinical associate professor in the internal medicine department, said the 61-year-old patient came to the emergency room with his wife, who was alarmed because he could not remember what he did the night before. Also, he was unable to keep new memories for more than a few minutes. Doctors ran a series of tests, including a brain scan, and could find no reason for the patient's amnesia. 'He repeatedly inquired, 'Did I have a stroke?' and stated, 'I can't remember anything,'' Marinella reported. He said that on the second day at the hospital, he was able to remember his nightmare. He had dreamed that his son, who was contemplating joining the military in reality, went into the Marines and died in combat. In the dream, the father vividly saw his son in a casket draped with an American flag. The father woke up screaming. Other doctors aren't so sure that the nightmare was the cause: Other specialists were skeptical of the Ohio doctor's report. They said a tiny stroke or some other undetected physical event in the brain was a much more likely cause of the amnesia. But it sounds like a case of transient global amnesia to me. NOTE: One hypothesis of the cause of transient global amnesia is that something causes a backward flow of blood in the veins of the neck to the brain, causing some temporary brain congestion that stuns the neurons. That could be what happened in this case when the man woke up screaming. posted by Sydney on 2/20/2004 08:47:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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