The Notebook - For Real

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Rare Disorder Wipes Woman's Memory Clean Every 24 Hours

Michelle wakes up every morning thinking it’s 1994 and cannot remember anything from the past 16 years.
She even has to be reminded by her husband Ian, 46, of their 1997 wedding day and has to be shown the album of the big day to prove it happened.

Well, not exactly, but close enough.


I understand about what the article is saying about how she functions from day to day. But, I'm not sure I could function like that.


Has anyone else heard of something similar to this?

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Wow, that's amazing. I like her attitude. I'd be terribly frustrated all the time.
Reminds me of the movie Memento.

 

[TheBrew]

Sounds like 50 First Dates to me.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Right... how many movies are based on this idea?!

 

[TheBrew]

Probably too many

I haven't seen "The Notebook", so I can't compare.

The "Groundhog Day" reference in the article is a poor one as she should be living the same day over and over again and be the only person who can remember what happened.

 

[scout]

Susan Corkin, the neuropsychologist who worked with H.M. (inspiration for Memento) had to introduce herself to him every morning despite meeting him nearly every day for several years.

There is also another much more extreme example (a British man who only had an episodic memory of 15 mins) but I unfortunately can't remember his name at the moment. He described it as being in a constant state of being born, prior to the 15 minutes, there was just blackness.

He lived with his wife and children but couldn't recall his children (no memory of their birth or lives). There must have been some event which caused him to have (very severe) antereograde and retrograde amnesia. I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been for his family.

http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2009/03/amnesia_in_the_movies.php

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Just 15 minutes? I don't know how you would deal with that. Sticky notes would really work in that case, would it?

 

[scout]

I'm not sure Adm_Hawthorne.

Here he is: Clive Wearing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Wearing

According to the wiki, his memory length is even shorter than I remembered.

All that from the cold sore virus?

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

That is freaky.

 

[RJDiogenes]

In addition to the movies, there was an episode of Enterprise where something similar happened to Captain Archer.

 

[Owain Taggart]

That's really interesting. I like her outlook on life, and I wonder if they're studying her to find out why this is happening.

 

[Holdfast]

Right... how many movies are based on this idea?!

I tried counting them all once late at night to help me sleep, but forgot the total by the next morning...

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

 

[Holdfast]

Good, aren't I?

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Yes, you get points for allowing are reason to post that pic.

 

[clint g]

In addition to the movies, there was an episode of Enterprise where something similar happened to Captain Archer.

Yep. One of the finest episodes of Star Trek if you ask me