As you may have heard, a few months ago Katie experienced an episode of transient global amnesia. Since then (and, seemingly, forever more) she's unable recall anything that had happened over the course of about eight hours. It happened when she was at Aspen Ideas Festival — she finished two panels, not remembering either discussion, and went to the hospital, where she was later diagnosed with TGA.
The good news, as a neurologist explained to us, is that TGA is not believed to be serious or to lead to other brain issues like stroke or dementia. The less-comforting news is that although experts believe there can be certain triggers — like heavy lifting, vigorous exercise, straining, coughing, sexual activity, or emotional shock — we still don't know exactly what causes it.
Katie recently sat down with emergency physician Dr. Jeremy Faust, who wrote a 2016 paper on TGA, to better understand the condition. He had an interesting theory, which he admits might sound "wackadoodle": "We filter out 99 percent of the information that comes into our brains, and then for just this one little period [during TGA], we filter out 100 percent." He posits that during an episode of TGA, "the threshold we have for forming memories isn't quite reached."
He gives a common example of the little, non-threatening ways memory can fail us regularly: "This morning after I took my medicine, I thought, oh, geez, did I take my medicine today? I obviously did. But there's that moment where you just don't know. I think TGA is just one of those moments where our normal suppression for most memories just takes over."
But just because TGA may not be life-threatening doesn't mean that it should be ignored. "One of the things I want people to understand as a medical educator is that yes, the condition is benign, but let us in the ER determine that. Don't not call 911."
To see their whole discussion on the condition, check out their interview on Substack below — and for more on this strange condition, read up on our readers' personal experiences with TGA.
A day Katie Couric will always forget. With Katie Couric! by Katie Couric Media
A recording from Katie Couric and Jeremy Faust, MD's live video
Read on Substack