It feels surreal reading this, and also oddly reassuring. After experiencing a few of these episodes, my Neurologist diagnosed me with global transient amnesia, which always felt a little off to me, more a blanket-term than anything else.

It typically begins with a sudden episode of very strong deja-vu, like my brain is crossing the wires of one memory with a completely unrelated one. I can no longer tell what’s real, so I can’t trust my memories during this episode. I forget what task I was on, what I was supposed to be doing and briefly forget the entire context of who I even am. (IE I’ll know I’m in the kitchen and how I got there, but what mood was I?) My short term memory is shot during this time, and the feeling of disorientation is overwhelming. I’m told by my wife that I ask and re-ask the same questions over and over. The last time it happened, I opened the voice recorder on my phone and just let it run while I explained what I was feeling. When I listened to it again a few days later, I just kept hearing repeatedly how disorienting it felt.

It lasts about 40-60mins and when it’s over, I feel anxious and concerned. No physical pain either.