My friend has Transient Epileptic Amnesia: Looking for info

So weird about short term memory. I am 72 years old. I remember sentences from shows like the Honeymooners (Jackie Gleason), 3 stooges and others, before the actors say the words.

Hi @wendywoo
Welcome to our group on Connect - glad you found us!
I'm really pleased to know your husband's Transient Epileptic Amnesia responded well to lamotrigine.
The weird smells really resonate with me — I have temporal lobe epilepsy myself, and unusual smells are a symptom I know well too. Memory issues are also quite common with temporal lobe epilepsy.
Could you tell me more about what his episodes look like? How has his memory been since starting lamotrigine — have you noticed any improvement? And how are you both doing with the day-to-day of it — is there anything in particular you're hoping to find here in the group?
Chris

Hi @bongo
I've not heard from you for a while. How has your friend been doing?
Chris

@royanthony
Hi Roy,
The same happens to me — just to remind you, we have the same type of epilepsy syndrome: temporal lobe epilepsy on the left side. I remember so many things from the past so clearly, yet I often struggle with my short-term memory.
Nowadays, I make notes of everything important and rely on lots of reminders on my calendar and phone.
Curious to know, how do you cope with it?
Chris

@santosha
But do you remember to look at your notes? That's my biggest problem. I was putting notes on my front door but they never registered even if I read them, go figure. Recently I started putting them on my car windshield in my line of sight & on the steering wheel.
Jake

@jakedduck1
Good morning, Jake!
I mainly rely on my computer, using Outlook and Word, which I check daily, starting first thing in the morning.
In Outlook, I use the calendar to note my appointments (medical appointments, meetings with friends, exams, etc.), and I also make a weekly "To Do" list, which has been very helpful in keeping things on track.
In Word, I keep more detailed notes: what's been discussed in my medical appointments, my epilepsy diary, what came up in each session with my neuropsychologist, my reading on epilepsy, yoga, and other topics. For example, before every new session with my neuropsychologist, I look back at the Word document to remember what we discussed in the past 2 weeks and see if I've jotted down anything in that document that I would like to bring up.
If I'm out and need to jot something down, I use my phone, and once I'm home I move it over to my computer.
In the past, I used to leave notes on the fridge, but I noticed I kept missing a lot of them. My computer works best for me.
To remind me of my medications, I use an alarm on both my mobile and my smart watch, as I shared in this discussion: "How do you guys remember to take your medication?" — https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-do-you-guys-remember-to-take-your-medication/
I know this can add some extra work, but I feel it brings me more advantages than disadvantages and keeps me at peace with myself.
Have you already tried using a computer to help you out?
Chris

@santosha Thanks for your comments. So helpful! I really appreciate your noticing the source of our motivation to do things differently in order to live a full life.

“It keeps me at peace with myself.” —taping this one into my notebook! 🙂

Seeking that inner peace helps me get through trouble and worry when things within and around me get hard. Blessings to all for today!

Thank you for your comments, @marianne72! 💜 Happy to know they were useful to you.
Accepting my condition and making adaptations to my life were crucial to having my smile back!
As it's well known, stress is one of the most common seizure triggers, and the one I find the hardest to manage. Knowing that I have a cognitive deficit, which was a large source of stress to me in my first years of epilepsy treatment, having ways that help me remember or retrieve details forgotten was a relief to me. My neuropsychologist and also the Andrews-Reiter approach have been very helpful in managing that better.
By the way, I've started a discussion on our triggers that are our hardest battle: Which Seizure Trigger Is Your Hardest Battle? - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/which-seizure-trigger-is-your-hardest-battle/. If you haven't yet seen that discussion, it might be helpful to you.
Wishing you a beautiful day!
Chris