Amnesia Support Group

My name is jazz, im18 years of age, I lived in Zimbabwe and I've been suffering with an extreme case of Amnesia since 6 October 2011. All of my memories got wiped out. I didn't remember who I was, what I was and where I was. It was absolutely terrifying! What really happened was I had an epileptic seizure, but no one in my family knew I even had it because nobody in my family had epilepsy. The ambulance came 2 hours late and when I was finally treated in hospital it had been 6 hours since my seizure so the doctors said the loss of my memory was due to a combination of lack of oxygen and the seizure.

I joined this group because I really need support that I'm not recieving. I was about 2 weeks away from taking my final exams for the IB programme and I had my seizure. Ever since then, I've been pretty much shunned because about 90% of the people who were my schoolmates and friends all think I was faking to get out of writing exams, which I don't really understand. Yes i have my family but i know they're also hesitant around me, I can sense it. Since my collapse I've been trying to get my life back on track but with each day it seems to be getting harder and each day I'm getting closer to giving up. I don't have any friends because they all think I'm faking, or I have people who are nice to my face when they see me but then I hear them talking about me. I don't know what I did to deserve this kind of treatment from people but from what my relatives told me, I was a person who's was always there for people when they needed it. But when I needed it most, everybody shunned me.

I think I really need help I'm considering giving up entirely, how much can I cry myself to sleep? It seems that something out of my control ( my amnesia ) has caused such havoc in my life. It may be better if I just ended it.

Does anybody have any suggestions how I can overcome these feelings? And I think I should mention that i am seeing a clinical psychologist but that doesn't seem to be helping.

Thank you

Jazz

The best piece advice I can give is don't ever give up! I've been down that path and it didn't work. I agree its very hard to get help for amnesia and things haven't exactly worked out for me. I actually didn't know I had amnesia for several years. It was so strange because life was great and then all of a sudden it just started falling apart. I was at school and lost all my friends, I couldn't learn because it was like my head wouldn't work properly. I quit school in the end. At least that let me get away from the teasing, bullying & thinking I was stupid.

It's been a few years since I got amnesia, but even though I've remembered what happened I still have to deal with it. Family doesn't really understand - they go on like I never told them about it... they used to say, "Why are you so different?" but now they know and it's like I'm a burden or they just don't care.

I hope you are ok. Welcome to the forum, by the way.

OH MY GOSH! I'm so sorry you had to go through all that! Nobody deserves that kind of treatment but you're back on track right? Hopefully you are

Thank you for your advice but honestly, I don't feel like there's anything to live for. I hate not knowing who I was and that overly so heavily on people to tell me what happened before my seizure. Everyday is the same old thing. Nothing changes, nothing improves, it's like if I'm stuck in a damn rut. I have no idea how to stay positive because there's so much negativity in my life at the moment.

Thank you

I'm hearing what you're saying, too - nothing changing, no improvement, everday is the same. I don't know how I kept going but I am still here. I hope you can find the strength to keep going too.

Do you mind me asking, have you heard of dissociation? I'm not sure if it's a common side-effect of amnesia. Anyway, might be worth looking into.

Post edited by: ladymaria, at: 04/09/2012 05:39 AM