Strange incident at school when I was a child- what can I do about it?

[Flamingo49]

This is a bit of a weird one. I'm in my 40s, and every so often a memory pops into my head of something that happened to me when I was at school in London, during the 80s. I get two images in my head. In each one I'm in a room in an area of the school that we would never normally go to unless it was sanctioned by a teacher. In the first image, I am sitting with an adult going through one of those psychological tests- a stack of cards which each have lots of coloured dots on them, and you have to try and pick out a number which is hidden amongst the dots in a slightly different colour. The other image is more disturbing. I am sitting in the same room with a young Asian man, some kind of mask is put over my mouth and I'm asked to take a deep breath in. It tastes sharp and peppery and unpleasant. These memories make me feel.... strange. I'm not sure if something untoward was going on but I find it very difficult to hold onto these memories when I have them. In that, I'll say to myself "I should investigate this further" but then my brain immediately blocks it out until it pops back into my head many months later. I suppose my question is, does anyone know why the mask test might have been carried out? An innocuous reason like checking for asthma or something? Or did anyone else have a similar experience? The memories feel so slippery that the closer I try to examine them the harder it is to hold onto them, and I wonder if my brain is playing tricks on me.

The first one is a test for colour blindness. No idea about the second though!

The colour dots test I remember, and was for testing colour blindness.

The other sounds scary

The first one is a test for colourblindness and sounds normal. The second one, no idea. Can you ask any old school friends?

No idea about the mask, but the coloured dots are a test for colour blindness.

I also had the colour blindness test at school. The other sounds like a peak flow test perhaps ?

First is the check for colour blindness. The second sounds like you were having a general anaesthetic by gas.

The second might be an anaesthetic (but why in a school room?). Or it might be something for asthma? My daughter used to have a spacer device with a rubber face mask.

I don't know and hypnosis might help, but don't forget that dentists used nitrous oxide routinely when we were kids and you've just described that as far as I'm concerned. It may be that you are conflating two memories.

Was the second one gas at the dentist ? I remember it having a horrible smell/taste

Thanks everyone, sounds like the first test was for colour blindness and was kosher. I haven't kept in touch with any of my primary school friends to ask unfortunately. The second memory- it definitely wasn't at the dentist. I've had a general anaesthetic at the dentist once before and have a really clear memory of it, and this isn't it. I will look up peak flow test.

I can remember being in the headmaster’s office and me and a couple of other children were asked to go up a very narrow hidden staircase to an area which was presumablyan attic. I think we were carrying things but I remember feeling anxious and that we shouldn’t be doing it and no one would know where we were. The entrance to the staircase wasn’t obvious, more like a cupboard.
I still feel uneasy and can’t make out why.
Sorry I know this isn’t helpful but like you it was an area of the school we didn’t go in. There was also a room with a swimming pool in it allegedly but no one ever saw it. I understand the feeling.

The first one is colour blindness, I’m not sure about the second one.

I do remember going into the staff room for tests at a similar age/era.

There was one I had to strip to my underwear to be weighed, but I also remember my mum being there for that one. I also remember having to slap the desk with a ruler when I heard a sound.

I think there were lots of health tests back then that were done at school.

Could the second be a teeth extraction using gas?

Did you have any fillings as a child, OP? I had loads and was given some kind of relaxing gas beforehand, via a mask.

Do you have a parent you can ask if you ever eg had gas and air for something

@Malibuismysecrethome your comment made my tummy go funny as our headmaster's office was also up a tiny wind-y staircase that looked like a cupboard door. You didn't go to school in London did you?!

I really don't think the second memory was to do with teeth extraction. It was definitely in the same school room, not at the dentist. I wonder if there's any records kept anywhere, but they would have been paper records (I presume) so can't imagine they'd still be kept.

Maybe there would be something in your medical records?

Dentist used to come to our primary school back in the 80s.

I can't think what the second memory could be.
Do you have any friends going back to those days, or parent/ sibling you could talk to?

I remember the tests for colour blindness. Back in the 80s we had a lot of health checks at school, I remember the nit nurse rifling through my hair, and also having eye tests at school. Maybe it was some kind of asthma test?

it is possible to conflate memories so that two things which happened separately are remembered as one memory with parts of each situation mixed together. I have personal experience of this where I remembered a staircase as being in my primary school when its actually in Wells Cathedral!

I have some weird memories from probably age 5/6. I often think I should try hypnosis but I don't think I dare. Sometimes we have blocked things out for a reason. Horrible feeling.

When I was at primary school, the dentist used to visit and put something that tasted weird on our teeth. Could have been fluoride maybe? I'd forgotten all about it actually until I read your thread. This was in the 80's. I remember the dot test too. I think these type of things were sometimes done in the staff room or medical room at my school, so this could be why it felt unfamiliar to you.

I agree that it is very possible that you are conflating two memories here. Or even that you are remembering something that you had as part of a dream. I used to have bad dreams about the shed in our garden and when I try to remember my childhood garden now the memories are all a bit confused because I am mixing in the images and feelings about the shed that I had in my dreams. When you’re a child the images from dreams are often more vivid than actual memories.

Also note that the majority of psychologists agree that children can easily develop “false memories” where they have talked about something or maybe seen photos of something and then they remember it as being something that happened to them. This isn’t the same as saying children have just “made it all up” because they do then genuinely believe those memories to be real. But our memory systems are very underdeveloped as children and they are prone to interference. So don’t worry too much or read too much into it.

I'm an 80s child and there definitely were lots of medical exams done at school in offices. We had hearing tests, got weighed and other things as well. I remember that some of the people doing the tests weren't very nice and snapped at people.