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After simple dental surgery, William lost his ability to form new memories

bbc.com

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Re: After simple dental surgery, William lost his ability to form new memories

#11

Post by csomar »

The doctors initially suspected that he’d reacted badly to the anaesthetic, causing a brain haemorrhage – yet they failed to find evidence of injury. So he was discharged with the mystery still hanging over him, and the family moved back to England, where he was referred to the office of Gerald Burgess, a clinical psychologist in Leicester.

Scouring the medical literature, he found five similar cases of mysterious memory loss without brain damage. Although none occurred during a trip to the dentist, they do seem to follow other periods of physiological stress during a medical emergency.

That doesn't prove that the anaesthetic isn't the root cause. The article title sounds link-baity.

Re: After simple dental surgery, William lost his ability to form new memories

#12

Post by cristianpascu »

csomar wrote: post #11

The doctors initially suspected that he’d reacted badly to the anaesthetic, causing a brain haemorrhage – yet they failed to find evidence of injury. So he was discharged with the mystery still hanging over him, and the family moved back to England, where he was referred to the office of Gerald Burgess, a clinical psychologist in Leicester. Scouring the medical literature, he found five similar cases of mysterious me…

Not only link-baity, but also blaming the doctor. Large percentage of the large percentage of people who won't read the article will move away with a inconsciouss (at least) fear of medical interventions.

Re: After simple dental surgery, William lost his ability to form new memories

#13

Post by bitJericho »

cristianpascu wrote: post #12
csomar wrote: post #11

The doctors initially suspected that he’d reacted badly to the anaesthetic, causing a brain haemorrhage – yet they failed to find evidence of injury. So he was discharged with the mystery still hanging over him, and the family moved back to England, where he was referred to the office of Gerald Burgess, a clinical psychologist in Leicester. Scouring the medical literature, he found five similar cases of mysterious me…

Not only link-baity, but also blaming the doctor. Large percentage of the large percentage of people who won't read the article will move away with a inconsciouss (at least) fear of medical interventions.

Well yeah all medical interventions have can have side effects; they should be considered.

Re: After simple dental surgery, William lost his ability to form new memories

#14

Post by bashinator »

HappyTypist wrote: post #10

Most people took a little bit of time to get familiar with smartphone UIs, especially for someone who's jumping from no smart phone at all to the latest version of iOS and Android. I wonder if he has been slowly learning how to use a smartphone like the other condition, or if he has to rediscover the UI every time.

I believe the memory used to retain skills is separate from other types of memory. There was a famous patient, Henry Molaison[0] who was the first person to suffer this condition and participated in some really amazing research. He was able to learn new skills, albeit slowly.

"His ability to form long-term procedural memories was intact; thus he could, for example, learn new motor skills, despite not being able to remember learning them."

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Molaison

Re: After simple dental surgery, William lost his ability to form new memories

#15

Post by joezydeco »

csomar wrote: post #11

The doctors initially suspected that he’d reacted badly to the anaesthetic, causing a brain haemorrhage – yet they failed to find evidence of injury. So he was discharged with the mystery still hanging over him, and the family moved back to England, where he was referred to the office of Gerald Burgess, a clinical psychologist in Leicester. Scouring the medical literature, he found five similar cases of mysterious me…

Earlier this year I had a medical procedure and was given "twilight" anesthesia. I was explicitly told "you need to have your spouse or a friend here because we're going to give you instructions afterward and you probably won't remember it".

And, sure enough, my memory was pretty much wiped for the hour or so after the event. Later that evening I had a conversation with my wife that went like this:

"Um, did you help me with putting my clothes back on?"

"Um, no. You did that."

"Did I talk to you and the doctor?"

"Sure. Normal conversation."

I have no recollection of these events at all. It gave me an uneasy feeling for a day or so. Nothing traumatic but every time I tried to reach back and think about that post-op period I drew and continue to draw a complete blank.

Re: After simple dental surgery, William lost his ability to form new memories

#16

Post by toolz »

cristianpascu wrote: post #12
csomar wrote: post #11

The doctors initially suspected that he’d reacted badly to the anaesthetic, causing a brain haemorrhage – yet they failed to find evidence of injury. So he was discharged with the mystery still hanging over him, and the family moved back to England, where he was referred to the office of Gerald Burgess, a clinical psychologist in Leicester. Scouring the medical literature, he found five similar cases of mysterious me…

Not only link-baity, but also blaming the doctor. Large percentage of the large percentage of people who won't read the article will move away with a inconsciouss (at least) fear of medical interventions.

mistakes in medicine are one of the leading causes of death in america. It's not an unwarranted fear.

Re: After simple dental surgery, William lost his ability to form new memories

#17

Post by Tyr42 »

bitJericho wrote: post #13
cristianpascu wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only link-baity, but also blaming the doctor. Large percentage of the large percentage of people who won't read the article will move away with a inconsciouss (at least) fear of medical interventions.

Well yeah all medical interventions have can have side effects; they should be considered.

But they should be considered proportionally to their probability times severity, and in this case, the probability is small enough to be a rounding error, so you really should worry about other things first, like getting killed when driving to the dentist's.

Re: After simple dental surgery, William lost his ability to form new memories

#18

Post by schrodinger »

toolz wrote: post #16
cristianpascu wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only link-baity, but also blaming the doctor. Large percentage of the large percentage of people who won't read the article will move away with a inconsciouss (at least) fear of medical interventions.

mistakes in medicine are one of the leading causes of death in america. It's not an unwarranted fear.

Huh? Are mistakes in medicine responsible for cardiovascular disease, infectious diseases, or cancer?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading_causes_of_death

Re: After simple dental surgery, William lost his ability to form new memories

#19

Post by saulrh »

joezydeco wrote: post #15
csomar wrote: post #11

The doctors initially suspected that he’d reacted badly to the anaesthetic, causing a brain haemorrhage – yet they failed to find evidence of injury. So he was discharged with the mystery still hanging over him, and the family moved back to England, where he was referred to the office of Gerald Burgess, a clinical psychologist in Leicester. Scouring the medical literature, he found five similar cases of mysterious me…

Earlier this year I had a medical procedure and was given "twilight" anesthesia. I was explicitly told "you need to have your spouse or a friend here because we're going to give you instructions afterward and you probably won't remember it". And, sure enough, my memory was pretty much wiped for the hour or so after the event. Later that evening I had a conversation with my wife that went like this: "Um, did you help…

Yep, I've had that. Sitting in a hospital bed after my appendectomy:

"Hey, I'm awake! That was easy."

"You've been awake for two hours."

"...Oh. Huh."

Re: After simple dental surgery, William lost his ability to form new memories

#20

Post by to3m »

toolz wrote: post #16
cristianpascu wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only link-baity, but also blaming the doctor. Large percentage of the large percentage of people who won't read the article will move away with a inconsciouss (at least) fear of medical interventions.

mistakes in medicine are one of the leading causes of death in america. It's not an unwarranted fear.

Where do you get your figures from?
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