What Causes Intermittent Forgetfulness Of Names?

Posted on Sat, 27 May 2017

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 27 May 2017 Answered on

Fri, 16 Jun 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : I had bypass surgery about 18 months ago. I had excess fluid drainage a couple of hours after getting to recovery, so I had to be opened up a second time to fix that problem. Two days after that, I developed ARDS and had to be intubated for two days. My recovery since then has been fine, but I've had troublesome short term memory loss. I understand that this is common following bypass surgery, but it doesn't seem to be getting better. I can have a conversation with someone, then 20 minutes later, remember that we talked, but have no idea what we talked about. I have trouble thinking of words while I'm talking, so I'll stop talking mid-sentence for several seconds to find the word. What might I be able to do to help fix this?

Answered by Dr. Noble Zachariah (16 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Discussion follows

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Welcome and thanks for your query.
As you know, this problem of loss of recent memory and amnesia especially for names is due to impairment of brain cell function resulting from decreased oxygen delivery to these cells. It may take variable time to return to previous state and there can be residual deficit if some permanent damage had been done.
If you believe in natural substances, some of my patients have reported improvement of their brain function with the use of Ginkgobiloba.
Do get back to me if you have further questions.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar