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Brain Oddities / Neurology

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pipistrelle
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Brain Oddities / Neurology

#1

Post by pipistrelle »

MN-Skeptic wrote: Sun Oct 23, 2022 1:01 pm
MN-Skeptic wrote: Sat Oct 22, 2022 10:27 am My niece has the form of synesthesia in which she perceives numbers as having colors. I find it odd that it’s common enough to have its own name. Brains can be strange things!
That niece's sister can remember anything that's happened on any day she was a member of. For example - she's 24 years old - if you ask her what happened on Christmas 2008, when she was 10 years old, she will remember who was gathered together for that day, what they wore, what was served for the meal, what day of the week it was, etc.

[Oops, this is getting to be a thread jack. But it is showing how common brain oddities are but how functional people are with them.]
Marilu Henner forgets nothing. She's said in interviews it can be a curse.
https://www.brainandlife.org/articles/a ... -memory-a/
https://thecore.uchicago.edu/Summer2013 ... cord.shtml
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#2

Post by Foggy »

I wonder if there's a storage limit. :think:

And it's nice to remember everything, but you also need to be able to access your memories when you need them. That's the thing about starting to lose memory as you start aging, at least for me.

It isn't that I've actually forgotten a lot of stuff, because I haven't forgotten anything. Honestly, you know that after an indeterminate amount of time - might be ten minutes, might be a week - I am going to remember that thing that's on the tip of my tongue right now, which means that no, I haven't forgotten it. I just can't remember it right now, is all. :biggrin: Access.

That's totally different from forgetting something because you're old. I'm not old. Write that down so you can remember it later. :point:
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#3

Post by Kriselda Gray »

My memory seems to be shot full of holes, and has been for a long time, so it's not just me getting old.

I barely remember my childhood through High School years. I have some strong memories, but most of it is just little glimpses of things, or feels more like I'm remembering hearing my parents tell a story about something that happened rather than remembering the event itself.

My post HS memories are more numerous, but there's still a lot missing. I have one boyfriend, who I dated for 2 1/2 years, that I can't even picture in my mind anymore. I know he had light colored eyes, but I'm not sure what shade, and longish, brownish hair, but the rest of his face is always obscured. I've got a couple guys that I dated for several months who's names escape me.

There's also a lot of emotional detachment for many of the memories i do have. I might know that I was very happy during an event I remember, but when thinking about it, I don't feel any of the happiness that went with it.

In a lot,of ways, my memory feels like a book I've read rather than something I've actually lived. It really kinda sucks.
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#4

Post by Slim Cognito »

I had a lot of problems with memory which I discussed with my doctor. She asked if I read and I told her I read a lot of news articles. She suggested, after my morning reads, I write down everything I just learned, in my own words, which is how I started posting a journal on Facebook. I lost a lot of friends(?) but it did wonders for my memory. Something about processing what I read into my own words kick started my memory. Maybe that's why multi-lingual people do better with age-related decline.

I have what I thought was an unusual condition. I wasn't born blind in my left eye but I had no fusion between the eyes. I saw double my first few years because it made sense to me, two eyes, two pictures. My ophthalmologist tried for several years to fix the fusion problem. They gave, or maybe parents bought, one of those cool old wooden stereoscopes, with a bunch of flash cards, boy with hand up on one card, balloons on the other card, and I was to stare and concentrate in an, ultimately fruitless, attempt to pull them together. It caused me severe headaches and even when I could almost line them up, they didn't really line up. The axis was off between the eyes so there was a tilt, the balloons, or the boy, wasn't straight up. Eventually the doc gave up, sat me down and explained to me I'm not supposed to see two of everything and, after a period of time, my brain adapted and blocked my left eye because vision was considerably worse in that eye, although at that time it was correctable.

The vision deteriorated in the left eye from nonuse and now, even with correction, it's no better than 20-40 but that brings back the double vision so I function as a mono-sighted woman. But I've had 60 years to adapt so it's not an issue for me. I have enough peripheral vision to drive, although I drive like an old lady, picking a lane and sticking to it.

After moving here, and arranging for a new eye doctor, I gave him my long, complicated history, only to be told, Yeah, lots of people have that.
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Post by Kriselda Gray »

Slim Cognito wrote: Sun Oct 23, 2022 7:14 pmAfter moving here, and arranging for a new eye doctor, I gave him my long, complicated history, only to be told, Yeah, lots of people have that.
My husband has a lazy eye, so he's mono-vision, too. They tried to do surgery on it but it didn't correct the problem. He's so used to it he doesn't really think about it much. The thing he considers the worst effect is that when he's talking to someone, one eye will be focused on them, but the other will be looking over their shoulder, and they often end up turning and looking behind themselves to figure out who he's talking to before realizing he's talking to them. It was a bit trippy to me when I first met him, but by the time we became a couple (6 years later) I didn't even notice it anymore
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#6

Post by Slim Cognito »

Luckily for me, my eye only wanders if I'm very tired or have a headache but I found a pair of 1.00 readers from Dollar Tree brings it back in line. Has he tried that?
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Post by Kriselda Gray »

No, he hasn't, but I'll mention it to him. Thanks!
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#8

Post by Azastan »

Migraineurs, like me, have a lot of brain oddities.

Rapidly moving images which flip between light and dark (driving on a tree lined road in the summer is horrible) will trigger migraines.

Listening to music on radios not properly tuned will trigger migraines (something having to do with the fuzziness of the sound). A subset of fuzzy sounding music is rock music which has a lot of 'thrashing' guitars, another migraine trigger.

Strobe lights.

Like Kriselda Gray, I have a lot of holes in my memory of my younger days. It seems that the migraines essentially cause me to black out. People used to think I was a raging alcoholic, or a drug user (I don't drink alcohol, and I don't use drugs) because I wouldn't remember being horribly mean to them. I finally realized this after my spouse told me that I would say things right after taking my Imitrex, and I'd have no idea what he was talking about. After that, I would tell people I was going to take my medication for my migraines, and that they should not talk to me, nor bother me for at least half an hour. But they would, and I'd be mean and shout at them, and it used to routinely get me into trouble even after I explained the issue.

I could probably think of more, but those are some of the bad ones.
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#9

Post by Patagoniagirl »

This is a fascinating thread. I wore glasses from kindergarten until I was an early teenager because I was "cross-eyed". When I joined the Army, my eyesight was 20/20 and I was a crack shooter and expert marksman.But now that I am iny sixth decade, I have double vision in my right eye. People think I'm nuts, but it's true. Weird.
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#10

Post by AndyinPA »

I have only recently noticed that driving on those light and dark roads has started to be a real problem for me. I feel like I'm being blinded. It's actually scary, but it doesn't lead to migraines.

I do, though, get auras. I always thought that it was my eyes until I talked about it with my optometrist. It turns out I get the auras that people get before a migraine, but I don't get migraines. But he said it has nothing to do with my eyes and everything to do with my brain.

I don't know if that will change when I get my cornea transplants. Probably not, since it's not my eyes.
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#11

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medica ... smsnnews11
1st nasal spray treatment of its kind for migraines gets FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Pfizer's newest drug on the migraine market, Zavzpret (zavegepant) -- the first and only migraine treatment of its kind to be offered in nasal spray.

The drug has shown in clinical trial data to provide rapid pain relief in as fast as 15 minutes for migraine sufferers, with relief lasting up to 48 hours, Pfizer said.

Migraines are one of the most common debilitating medical conditions, said Dr. Leah Croll, a board-certified neurologist at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. Nearly 40 million Americans suffer from migraines, according to the National Headache Foundation.

"They often interfere with daily functioning, keeping patients away from their work and unable to enjoy time with their loved ones. The faster we can bring relief to people suffering with a migraine attack, the sooner we can give them back that lost time," Croll told ABC News.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, migraines are a type of headache caused by activation of nerve fibers in the wall of brain blood vessels that cause recurrent attacks of moderate to severe throbbing and pulsating pain. CGRP, short for calcitonin gene-related peptide, is a chemical messenger in the brain that plays a role in pain modulation and inflammation.

At least 60% of migraine sufferers also experience nausea, making pills difficult to swallow. By the time you take a pill, it's often too late to quash a migraine because the digestive system shuts down, said Dr. Kate Mullin, a board-certified neurologist at the New England Institute for Neurology and Headache who helped conduct the trial for Zavzpret.

"You can't absorb oral medications when you've got what's called gastroparesis of migraine. Your gut pretty much falls asleep and is not in a place to absorb medications effectively for many migraine sufferers. A nasal spray helps bypass the gut altogether to optimize absorption," Mullin told ABC News.

Currently, the other non-pill rapid migraine relief medications on the market are in injection form and a nasal spray, but those are a class of medication known as triptans.

"If you have the option of a nasal spray or an injection to stop your headache and you're already miserable, doing an injection is the last thing you want to do. The nasal spray is far more appealing," Mullin said.

Unlike triptans, there is no current evidence that CGRP-related medications can't be used in people who have problems with their blood vessels, including people with coronary artery disease, according to Mullin.

Data from the trial doesn't show evidence of rebound headaches or medication overuse headaches — headaches ironically caused by using migraine medication too often — another added benefit of this formulation, Mullin said.

The most common side effect experienced by participants in the trial was a temporarily altered sense of taste known as dysgeusia, experienced in about 20% of the nasal spray users, she said.

If you are experiencing frequent or abnormally painful headaches, experts say to talk with your doctor.

According to Dr. Croll, "Anytime someone is experiencing headaches that are interfering with their ability to function normally, in their regular life, they should talk to a neurologist about what the treatment options are."
My migraines now rarely cause pain. I experience severe fatigue though. This drug likely won't help me. DAMMIT!!!!!
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#12

Post by Flatpoint High »

this is great - I have a friend who suffers continually from migraines, and nothing has helped him
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#13

Post by raison de arizona »

I’ve used lidocaine nasal sprays for migraines, I guess that wasn’t approved use though.
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#14

Post by Frater I*I »

Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: Fri Mar 10, 2023 5:35 pm :snippity:
My migraines now rarely cause pain. I experience severe fatigue though. This drug likely won't help me. DAMMIT!!!!!
Have you thought of a little bump of cocaine to get you through the rough spots....







Yeah, yeah, I know the way out.... :bag:
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He's got the answers to ease my curiosity, He dreamed a god up and called it Christianity"

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#15

Post by Foggy »

Cocaine isn't for fatigue. :fingerwag:




Methamphetamine is for fatigue. :biggrin:

Do you know, there are 4,120 pixels on this monitor ... oh, wait, that's just one row, gimme a minnit here ...

Oh, wait some more, those days are long behind me. I don't miss 'em, neither. :daydreaming:
Out from under. :thumbsup:
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Post by RTH10260 »

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#17

Post by keith »

RTH10260 wrote: Thu Sep 07, 2023 8:23 pm
There aren't enough :thumbsup: on the internet to give this project.
Has everybody heard about the bird?
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