Contents
- Introduction
- What is memory?
- What causes memory problems?
- Memory difficulties in people with epilepsy
- How are people with memory problems affected?
- Neuropsychological memory assessment
- Memory enhancement strategies
- Specific memory problems
- Hints for helpers
This information was written by Epilepsy Action’s advice and information team with guidance and input from people living with epilepsy and medical experts.
See a presentation about memory and epilepsy by Gus Baker
Introduction
A self help guide for improving memory functioning in people with epilepsy.
It is widely recognised that people with epilepsy commonly complain about memory problems. This information, written by Professor Gus Baker and colleagues at the University of Liverpool, is a clear self-help guide to memory problems in people with epilepsy. This information is also useful for carers. It explains the difficulties that can be faced and provides simple strategies that may help the individual to overcome them.
What is memory?
Memory is the ability to recall past experience and knowledge. It is divided into short-term memory and long-term memory. Short-term memory deals with information that is to be remembered over a period of a few minutes, and long-term memory deals with anything that is to be remembered for longer than this.
Recording the memory in the first place is called encoding. The information is then passed from short-term to long-term memory for storage. Long-term memory is divided into three types.
- Procedural memory
Activities which are carried out almost without thinking, for example, riding a bike. - Semantic memory
Knowledge that has been acquired but we are not sure when, for example, capital cities. - Episodic memory
Personal memories of everyday life.
Memory can also be divided into verbal and visual. Verbal memory is the ability to remember information which is perceived aurally, for example, words and sound. Visual memory is the ability to remember information that is provided visually, for example in terms of pictures and faces.
When we want to remember something, the information we need is brought back from long-term memory to short term memory. This is called retrieval.
If we have forgotten something it could be due to problems with:
- recording the memory in the first place (encoding)
- the storing of the memory (storage)
- recovering the memory from long term memory (retrieval).
What causes memory problems?
Everybody will experience some minor lapses in memory. These can occur when we are:
- under stress
- trying to concentrate on a number of things at once
- feeling unwell
- feeling tired.
Also, as we get older, lapses in memory can become more common. This variation is perfectly normal and nothing to be concerned about.
However, memory problems can be much more pronounced and long-term. They can be caused by a number of things, for example:
- a dementia type illness such as Alzheimer’s disease
- an infection of the brain, for example encephalitis
- a shortage of oxygen to the brain, as in cerebral palsy
- head injury
- certain types of stroke
- a brain tumour or brain haemorrhage
- epilepsy, on its own or with one of the above.
It is worthwhile noting that the cause of some of our memory problems may be due to another problem, which is resulting in impairment in memory. Here are some examples.
- An attention problem. If we do not pay attention to the information we are presented with then this information is not recorded by our memory.
- A language problem. Sometimes in conversation we find it hard to find the word that we are looking for. This can be misinterpreted as forgetting words.
- Anxiety and depression. People with an altered emotional state often experience memory difficulties. Those who experience anxiety can find their mind is too occupied with worrying thoughts to concentrate on things around them. Those who are low in mood can also feel lethargic and low in motivation, therefore lacking the attention needed to record a memory.
- Sleep disturbances. If we are not getting enough sleep then we can experience difficulty concentrating, which again disrupts our attention to information.
We can provide references and information on the source material we use to write our epilepsy advice and information pages. Please contact our Epilepsy Helpline by email at helpline@epilepsy.org.uk.
Our thanks
This information was originally written by Professor Gus Baker, Amy J Hothersall and Jenna E Mallows. It has been updated by Professor Gus Baker with guidance and input from people living with epilepsy.
Because this information is written by an epilepsy healthcare professional, it falls outside the requirements of the Information Standard.
Disclosure
Professor Gus Baker has no conflict of interest.
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Updated January 2013To be reviewed January 2015
Comments: read the 4 comments or add yours
Comments
Hi ive only recently been diagnosed with epilepsy after a grand mall seisure that happend in my sleep,didnt have any kind of warning what so ever.went to bed and woke up in hospital two days later,dont remember any of it,still dont and that was in january,my memory is what ime finding the hardest to cope with,going to do some thing then forget what it was,where ive put some thing,forget what ime talking about,some times the words just come out wrong,spell words back to front,used to be a really good speller,now ime asking the children for help.ive learnt to just make a joke of it,ime a right puddle duck,thats my hubbys nick name for me,who has been my rock these past weeks.i do get upset who wouldnt,problem is the doctors dont seem to know much about epilepsy,and go on what loved ones tell them.my son came home from work today and told me bluberrys are supposed to help memory,dont know but its worth a try.i just say to people i have epilepsy ime not ill,its a condition,i put post it stickers of things i need to do around the house,my family actually wore them stuck to their clothes when i first came home from hospital,i couldnt remember who my own family was.
Hello,
i think I am repeating the same as all of the other comments. I was diagnosed with a brain tumour when I was 28,(10 yrs ago) this has left me with the epilepsy, like many of you, its easy to cope with the cause in my case tumour, but the epilepsy really gets me down, i cant remember places we have been on holiday or films. very frustrating. But I can remember long term things like child hood memories, the registration of my first car and things like that but short term is a nightmare, Post it notes are a must in our house, the tip on writing on the hand is a very good one.
The epilepsy has runied my work life i left my office job and now a cleaner, brilliant as i get regular customers and I know I can do the job. not very glamarious, but brings in some money!
I have a driving license but I still get the odd aura but seems to go very quickly its more of a tingle than a fit or any more than that. I am on lamotrigene but a high doseage of 700mg. I am going to ask for this to be changed as this drug does not 'store' in the body it a bit like Vit C. So i have to take it on strict times and could never miss a dose in the day.
Also as a suggestion get your blood levels checked i found I have a slow absorbtion. which does not help with the medication and any fits etc. blood tests at regular times in one day like 10am 2pm and 5pm so they can monititor how quickly they stay in your system. Worth a try.
Take care remeber you are allowed to be angry and say why me. but life goes on and we cant do much can we.
hi,
I've had epilepsy since I was 18 mths old (now almost 50) and like a lot of other people, also have memory problems which are extremely frustrating. I'll be talking to someone quite happily and then suddenly stop in mid sentence when I can't remember or think of an appropriate word. That's really annoying. I get depressed too as I seem to be slow in 'catching on' to things or understanding sometimes.
i am 79 yrs & had a brain tumours for for 12 years that i know which are benign but cause me a lot of problems Epilepsy being a very big one. my memory is very short term but yest. sunday a friend woke me & i really thought it was saturday, today she rang me & i thought it saturday now is monday. i do have nocturnal seiziers & others where i have an aura & have to get to my reclining chair where i am out of it for nearly 2 hours. i have been known to have seizures where i go very rigid & nock people about but these don`t happen very ofton usualy when i`m in stressful conditions [ when in hospital recently suffering from a thrombosis. i have been under a lot of stress.