Amnesia Risk and Migraine

Today we’re talking specifically about a condition known as transient global amnesia (TGA). TGA is diagnosed when someone suddenly becomes disoriented – they don’t know where they are or what they were doing. You may tell them something repeatedly, but they keep forgetting.

It’s a frightening condition, but it only lasts a few hours. However, your doctor will need to rule out possibly related factors, such as stroke or seizures.

We have long known that there is a relationship between transient global amnesia and migraine, along with other types of memory loss.

The Journal of Neurology published a meta-analysis of recent studies this year on TGA and migraine. Although the biological connection between the two is not known, it appears that migraine patients are almost 2.5x more likely to suffer from TGA than the general population.

Writing about the recent study, Dr. Alexander Mauskop mentions another study from last year that suggests that migraine patients are also more likely to suffer from more than one episode of TGA, which is certainly concerning because most often people only experience it once. Family history of migraine also increased the odds of repeated TGA.

Transient global amnesia is still largely a mystery. Although it doesn’t usually seem to cause future problems (except possibly an increased risk of dementia in older patients with diabetes – see Dr. Mauskop’s article above), it’s disturbing to say the least and can have major life consequences. Migraine is, in fact, one of the only known risk factors, along with age (it’s most common between the ages of 50 and 70).

The Mayo Clinic has done work with TGA, so if you’re interested check out their fact sheet here: Transient global amnesia