The lingering two questions that follow a TGA event are will it happen again and how did it affect my family? To the first question, we can report statistics from medical articles with varying rates of reoccurrence at 3% to 20% in a five year period. However the second question does not seem to garner much attention.

 

“Regardless of the causes behind TGA it is widely felt to be a benign condition requiring no further treatment. The mainstay is reassurance to the patient and family. Naturally patient concerns centre around ruling out tumors and strokes. Family members are often very distressed and perturbed upon witnessing their loved one go from “normal” to being unable to remember anything so acutely.” (Mandiratta, M. Transient global amnesia. Neurology. GM Journal. July 2012; 27-29.)

 

To put some comparison by numbers, in 2015 there were 42.4 million strokes and 6.3 million stroke related deaths (Wikipedia). TGA has an incidence rate of 2.9-10/100,000 or 100 in a million with zero deaths reported. Therefore the possibility of having a stroke is a whole lot higher and of much worse consequences. The family member witnessing the TGA event has little choice but to fear a stroke is happening to their loved one. The ambulance crew will always treat as if a stroke to follow protocol and establish an IV, hook–up a heart monitor, and probably a nasal oxygen mask. When arriving at the hospital the family will be prepared that it is a stroke until tests are run, exams are given, blood is drawn, and further tests ordered (CT, MRI).

 

An interesting side note for this article is the medical research regarding TGA events in more than one family member called Familial Transient Global Amnesia. Very few articles or research papers have been written on this topic. Two are provided here to give the reader further reading if interested: 1. Davies and 2. Dupuis.

 

In a college essay by Amee Baird, she notes, “It is important to provide psychological support to the individual and their family members during a TGA attack as it can be highly distressing to witness a previously competent person suddenly lose their ability to remember something that was said only a minute ago. Harrison 2007.”

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So the search for more information for family members continues as there is very little out there for our families other than "it most likely won't happen again" and we should be glad "it wasn't a stroke." Now I agree I was glad it wasn't a stroke. That death was not imminent. Yet the TGA event did change my life in a deeper way than I could visualize when it happened.

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Is it going to happen again?

Is my memory decline increasing?

Will I start getting lost when driving?

Will I forget my loved ones forever?

Will I not be able to babysit my grandkids?

Am I going to be on Px meds forever?

Will I end up in a locked nursing home?

Am I over reacting?

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I continue to see changes in myself, and I catch conversations my family has when they think I don't hear. Nothing too scary but I know they are worried and don't want to further worry me. They just give dad room, extra time, repeat what they tell me, and laugh with me.

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I hope you are learning to deal with these issues too. Or maybe your TGA event wasn't so drastic. Either way we need to help and support those new to our club.

 

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