Sudden Inability to remember stuff, physical health issue or not?

[JacobReesMogadishu]

This is about 19yo Dd. She is quite a bright girl, did really well in her GCSEs.

She was poorly In year 12/13 and was diagnosed with coeliac disease in year 13. Some of the physical symptoms she has such as ongoing stomach issues, chest pain, muscle ache, numb toes can’t be explained by the coeliac and she has been referred for a rheumatologist appt.

However the thing which is troubling her the most is brain fog/inability to remember anything. Even simple stuff. She pretty much bombed her A levels. She had an unconditional offer for uni and is struggling now as she can’t remember stuff. She says that she doesn’t feel her brain works the way it used to at all but she can’t explain it. Her B12 was normal last time it was checked about a year ago and her vit d was about 40 when it was last checked which was like 2 years ago. She does take Vit D every day though. She was taking 3000iu but I’ve realised the dr has given her 1000iu now and I’m suspicious she doesn’t take them every day but she swears she does. I’m ordering another bottle of 3000iu and am going to make sure she takes them.

Anyway, she also experienced something emotionally traumatic in year 13. And she seems to think it stems from this. The GP has referred her for trauma counselling. He’s said if this doesn’t help he will refer her to a neurologist.

I’m at a loss to know what to do and she’s worried she’s going to fuck her degree up and have no qualifications and shit prospects. She’s doing quite a tough degree and I’ve gently suggested changing to something not as tough/more course work but she reckons any degree will be as bad.

Meant to say has anyone come across anything like this before?

She needs another blood test.

B12/folate
Thyroid function test
Vitamin D
Ferritin

Is she strictly sticking to coeliac diet or occasionally lapse?

She’s very strict about her gluten free diet so it’s not that. The markers in her bloods for coeliac were down from 200 plus to zero or maybe just above 0.

She had ferritin, thyroid checked with her B12.....I think it was actually less than a year ago, maybe last Oct. They were fine then and she had the memory loss then.

GP mentioned possible lupus and I know brain fog can be a symptom of that.

She says it was literally like a switch flicked in her head one day....before that she was fine, then she wasn’t.

And it’s not just academic stuff she forgets. She says she barely has any childhood memories now. She forgets conversations. She’s been seeing a boy and he will remind her of something they did a few months ago and she doesn’t remember it.

The only similar trauma related symptom to exclude is dissociation - if she is zoning out very frequently it could have this effect I suppose, but it does sound more like the brain fog I get with Meno and another condition I have. Get her to check out PTSD symptoms and dissociation in particular to see if she recognises the description.

Right, I just looked up disassociation and went and showed a website to Dd. She immediately said that’s what she thinks she has, she already thought it was this but hadn’t wanted to tell me. Apparently she has a telephone appt with a counselling type person tomorrow. Dd reckons she’s had it for two years!

Does CBT help? I can pay for Dd to have private counselling.

Dd mentioned about some clinic where they do magnetic impulses into your head to rewrire your brain......but it’s 3k a course and people need 2 courses. I can’t afford 6k easily and I’m not sure the treatment sounds authentic.

Can you get her actual thyroid and B12 results from the surgery and post them. Within normal limits is not good enough for many people. My TSH was normal but my GP had already started treating the symptoms with thyroxine when the results came back. It was life changing for me and she agrees to carry on.
B12 range is also way out for many people and ideally, without medication, the top half of the range is closer to optimal and less than that causes symptoms in some people.

I’ll ask Dd to get the actual numbers and post them. Thanks.

For trauma, look for a therapist who does CBT and/or EMDR (not sure about the wires thing but EMDR involves tapping or eye movement and is recommended for some trauma in the NICE guidelines. CBT for PTSD is also very effective. Look up BABCP 'Find a Therapist' page for accredited practitioners in your area. Good luck.

Poor sleep quality. She might sleep enough hours but if it's not deep sleep it will over time affect her memory.

Yes, she’s struggling sleeping. I’m looking at buying her a weighted blanket.

CBT needs to be trauma-focussed, not the regular sort, of age does that. She needs someone who has experience working with trauma. There are a few different modalities. The most important things are that she likes the counsellor/therapist and that this person knows what they're doing.

In the meantime, tell her not to worry. She's not sick. She went through something traumatic and her body is trying to protect her from it still. It's not fun but it's a healthy response. Imagine going through something traumatic and it not having any impact. That would be worrying!

EMDR can be a relatively quick way of dealing with trauma. There are many studies on it and it's been widely used on many populations, including war veterans. It also doesn't require talking about it over and over again. It's not easy but to be honest, there's no easy way out of this. She will need reminding that she's doing it - the hard work of processing it - really well.

CBT needs to be trauma-focussed, not the regular sort, of age does that. She needs someone who has experience working with trauma. There are a few different modalities. The most important things are that she likes the counsellor/therapist and that this person knows what they're doing.

In the meantime, tell her not to worry. She's not sick. She went through something traumatic and her body is trying to protect her from it still. It's not fun but it's a healthy response. Imagine going through something traumatic and it not having any impact. That would be worrying!

EMDR can be a relatively quick way of dealing with trauma. There are many studies on it and it's been widely used on many populations, including war veterans. It also doesn't require talking about it over and over again. It's not easy but to be honest, there's no easy way out of this. She will need reminding that she's doing it - the hard work of processing it - really well.

Sorry for the double post (no idea how that happened!) and the first sentence should read
" CBT needs to be trauma-focussed, not the regular sort."

No idea where "of age does that" came from! 😂

Thanks, if she starts CBT now will she hopefully have seen some improvement by next March? She’s hoping to restart uni then. I know everyone is different but on average?

Nobody online can answer that I'm afraid and it may be difficult for a therapist to answer that in person too.

It would be better though that she focussed on working through it and then taking a short break before uni pressure arrives, than jump straight into uni before it's all done and end up needing time off again.

Thanks, guess we’ll have to see how she is in March.