Man Suffers Memory Loss 10 Minutes After Sex, Here’s What Transient Global Amnesia Is

This is not what’s typically meant by having mind-blowing sex. Five doctors from Limerick, Ireland, recently published a case report in the Irish Medical Journal (IMJ) that described how there once was a man from Ireland, who had sex and then soon suffered memory-loss first hand.

Now, depending on who are you are, you may have particular strategic reasons to claim that you have no memory of having had sex. But in this case, this 66-year old man’s afternoon delight, his shaking of the sheets, his knocking of the boots, or whatever you want to call sexual intercourse had presumably occurred with his wife. And telling your wife that you don’t remember the sex probably ain’t the best thing for marital bliss.

Nonetheless, just 10 minutes after their afternoon encounter, the man essentially said what have I done? He had noticed the date on his phone and thought that he had completely forgotten his wedding anniversary the day prior when he, his wife, and their family had actually celebrated the anniversary on time. In fact, the man seemed to have no recollection of what had transpired from the day before up through that morning. This led the man to repeatedly question his wife and daughter about the events that had transpired over the past day.

This obviously was not a great situation. Forgetting your anniversary is one thing. Forgetting that you just celebrated your anniversary is something totally different. So off the man went to the emergency department at the University Hospital Limerick, Dooradoyle, in Limerick, Ireland.

There doctors did not find anything wrong on his neurological examination besides what’s called retrograde amnesia. Amnesia is when you lose your memories. Retrograde amnesia is when you can’t retrieve memories that may have been stored prior to whatever might have led to the amnesia as opposed to anterograde amnesia, which is when you can’t form new memories. With retrograde amnesia, typically only recently-stored memories are lost rather than those that were formed earlier. Indeed, this man had no trouble remembering who he was or his past history prior to the previous 24 hours or so.

Otherwise, the only abnormality that doctors could find was on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of his brain that was performed within 24 hours of the incident. This case report in what’s the official journal of the Irish Medical Organization described this abnormality as a “tiny punctate area of diffusion restriction within the left mesial temporal lobe.” This meant that a very small area of the left side of his brain was lighting up on the MRI. However, this finding was no longer present in a repeat MRI conducted after 72 hours. Eventually the man’s memory returned.

With all other more serious possibilities effectively ruled out, the doctors diagnosed the man as having transient global amnesia (TGA). Transient means temporary. In the case of TGA, memory loss shouldn’t last longer than 24 hours, typically persisting for only six to eight hours. While a person affected with TGA can’t form new memories or recall the recent past for a period of time, there is no loss of more distant memory, ability to identify oneself, or to think and reason. Moreover, TGA is a diagnosis of exclusion, meaning that all other possible causes such as epilepsy, bleeding, stroke, head injury, or any other clear damage to the brain have been excluded already. With TGA, memory also should return eventually, albeit often gradually.

While TGA tends to be a one-off event, it may recur. This was actually the second time the man had experienced such an event, having suffered a similar loss of memory seven years earlier after having had sex. After suffering TGA, a person may have a 6% to 10% rate of having it again each subsequent year.

As seen by this case, sex can trigger TGA. So can other things such as other types of strenuous physical activity, sudden immersion in cold or hot water, invasive medical procedures, mild injuries to the head, and emotional stress, according to the Mayo Clinic. It’s not clear whether going through multiple triggers simultaneously would bring additive risk. In others words, if you happen to be having sex while being immersed in cold water, and arguing at the same time, you may not necessarily be at higher risk for a TGA. TGA is more likely to occur in either those age 50 years and older or those with a history of migraines.

Although TGA itself is benign, it can be quite disconcerting when your partner starts saying, “what am I doing here” or “how did we get here,” right after sex. Plus, such symptoms could be the sign of other more serious problems such as a stroke, a brain hemorrhage, or an anvil falling on your head. Therefore, don’t ever say, “there goes that TGA again.” Instead see a real doctor as soon as possible whenever such memory loss happens. TGA won’t require any specific treatment but other conditions might necessitate urgent interventions.

The fact that this incident was a case report should tell you that TGA after coitus, which is a fancy but very unromantic way of saying sexual intercourse, is not common. Therefore, you probably don’t need to keep wondering, “am I going to remember this, am I going to remember this, am I going to remember this,” the next time that you have sex. After all, repeating such things, especially when you do so out loud, could kind of dampen the mood.