Temporary amnesia?

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I've never had any memory loss, but I rarely dive deep. Loss of some memory, or details if really narced certainly makes sense--like being very drunk....I suppose. I've never heard of TSA--if you haven't been deep diving and can't remember stuff it makes sense to see a doctor. I guess this TSA happens topside as well, but you didn't say that happened.
I must have had a bout of something close to Transient Global Amnesia when I wrote the post. I somehow abbreviated it as TSA rather than the obvious TGA. I have since corrected it.
 
Interested who has had a dive and not remembered significant portions of it. Uniquely dive related, what causes do you believe are responsible?

I've had shallow water black outs a few times freediving but that's unconscious. Otherwise my recollection of a dive matches my buddies or my photos and I don't think I've had lapses in memory while functioning normally.

Regards,
Cameron
I have never had this happen.

BUT: towards the end of a week of repetitive diving (over 4 hours a day underwater) we often get confused about which fish we saw over the last few dives, especially if we repeat sites or are on very similar sites.
 
I must have had a bout of something close to Transient Global Amnesia when I wrote the post. I somehow abbreviated it as TSA rather than the obvious TGA. I have since corrected it.

It worked for me as I would like to forget TSA (the airport kind).
 
It worked for me as I would like to forget TSA (the airport kind).

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Medically this can occur as Transient global amnesia. Sometimes it can be serious. You don't want it to happen during a dive (shallow or deep).
 
Transient global amnesia is a well defined medical condition (although still not fully understood) and I would suspect life threatening if occurring underwater. Even though people affected by it don't become physically disabled in any way, the loss of short term memory is absolute; they can't remember where they are, where they are going or what they are doing, repeating the same questions every 5-10 seconds over and over again. Because of this they are usually unable to plan or execute any actions that take more than a couple of seconds. They very often become panicked and their behavior can become irrational. Finding yourself in an alien, immediately life-threatening environment and being unable to escape it unaided sounds like a perfect recipe for disaster to me. Keeping a fistful of plastic in their mouth isn't something most people would be instinctively inclined to do either. My view on this is biased as I see these people basically on a weekly basis, but I don't feel like it is all that rare a condition. In fact I have been somewhat surprised how this condition is not better documented in divers. Then again, there are a number of unexplained fatalities due to rapid ascent or drowning, so who knows...

The symptoms of TGA typically last about 3-6 hours and can last up to a day, but practically never less than an hour. I believe you have experienced amnesia due to nitrogen narcosis, which is easy enough to avoid in the future :)
 
Transient global amnesia is a well defined medical condition (although still not fully understood) and I would suspect life threatening if occurring underwater. Even though people affected by it don't become physically disabled in any way, the loss of short term memory is absolute; they can't remember where they are, where they are going or what they are doing, repeating the same questions every 5-10 seconds over and over again. Because of this they are usually unable to plan or execute any actions that take more than a couple of seconds. They very often become panicked and their behavior can become irrational. Finding yourself in an alien, immediately life-threatening environment and being unable to escape it unaided sounds like a perfect recipe for disaster to me. Keeping a fistful of plastic in their mouth isn't something most people would be instinctively inclined to do either. My view on this is biased as I see these people basically on a weekly basis, but I don't feel like it is all that rare a condition. In fact I have been somewhat surprised how this condition is not better documented in divers. Then again, there are a number of unexplained fatalities due to rapid ascent or drowning, so who knows...

The symptoms of TGA typically last about 3-6 hours and can last up to a day, but practically never less than an hour. I believe you have experienced amnesia due to nitrogen narcosis, which is easy enough to avoid in the future :)

Thank you.
 
I've never had any memory loss, but I rarely dive deep. Loss of some memory, or details if really narced certainly makes sense--like being very drunk....I suppose.

What if there is no memory made. I know a guy that can read a book and remember every page, I'm lucky to to remember the main characters, the plot, and some details. Does that mean that I have a loss of memory, since we read the same book? Now if I were to give him say Nitrous Oxide and he read the book and only remembered the same things I did, does that mean he had a loss of memory or that the process of memory was changed and some of the memories were never made?

My theory is that the memories are not even made due to the narcosis and the narrowing of perception as I concentrate on not violating the dive plan parameters when my mind is in molasses. From my experience some dives are better than others and I can remember more. Air was the only choice when I started diving deep, and since I don't do a lot of it anymore I stick with what I know. In any event, it is not something I do lightly.


Bob
 
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