My friend went out on her horse on Saturday morning & when she got back she had total amnesia for the previous 18 hours & was talking nonsense  At 1st we thought she must have had a fall & banged her head, but bearing in mind its been wet here for days, there was no sign of any mud on her where she would have landed, neither is there as much as a scratch on her hat & its a fairly new velvet type so marks very easily if you so much as touch a twig!!  The horse didnt look like it had fallen over or anything & she simply cannot recall a thing from that day & even the day before is a bit hazy. She has none of the aching pain I regulary associate with falling off either! She is fit & young non smoker & my thought was maybe a mini stroke. She was kept in for observation over night & promised a brain scan in a feww weeks, but meanwhile there is the worry of what if it hapens again, maybe if she were driving or something?  Anyone any ideas?

My MIL had something very similar earlier this year. It happened twice the second one not as severe perhaps as bad as your friends sounds but the first one she got all wobbly & slurred & was in fact treated for stroke initially. They did tests after test & after quickly establishing it was not a stroke they were at a loss as to what it was, after a week in hospital she was sent home with no  definitive answers. The 2nd was milder & she seemed to come round quicker but they still don't know what it is - have done scans & things I know nothing about. I think they were then talking about stress related or something. She also has no memory from around the times it happened & although perhaps past the first flush of youth she also is a fairly fit non smoker. She has been fine ever since though.Sorry no answers just a similar experience. It was a very worrying time.

This can happen secodary to a fit. Does she have a history of fits?

Wouldn't venture an idea over the net as to what might be going on but perhaps it would be wise for your frind not to drive or ride until she is seen at the hospital again.

I'm thinking perhaps a TIA. (Transient Ischaemic Attack). It's a circulatory problem in the brain. Sounds a possibility anyway.

Dawn R.

I had a friend with something similar and it's so scary, not only for the person involved as they have no clue what all the fuss is about but for friends and family it's really upsetting. 
He had GTA (Global Transient Amnesia). 
His lasted for almost four weeks but it normally last for 12 to 24 hours.  He lost total memory of the last four years.  It came back in dribs and drabs but it can come back instantaniously. 
There are several things that can cause it including medication (build up in the system or adverse reaction), stress, a fall or bump on the head (doesn't have to be hard) among other things - and the weirdest (apparently because of all the muscles tensing and hyperventilating) is that it can be caused by sex!  It normally has no lasting effect and there's still a lot to be learned about it. 
I have to say your friend sounds like a classic case.

Debs

My husband had this a few years ago.  He came into the house after working and continually repeated the same questions over and over again.  I knew there was something wrong and thought he had had a stroke but then realised that it was memory loss he was suffering from and that was why he kept asking the same question over and over.  We took him in to A&E and he was admitted for tests.  He was kept in for four days, but all the tests were O.K.  He saw the consultant six weeks later and was told that it may never happen again.  A few people have since told me that they have had or know someone who has had the same thing and it is associated with  over exercising, becoming dehydrated, or working in strong sunlight.  If you look up 'Transient Global Amnesia' on Google, it will explain it all.  My husband hasn't had it since, but I must say that we both were very worried at the time and it did take a while for us to get our confidence back!!

My sister-in-law had meningitis, (sorry no idea what it is called, but it was the mild one not the dangerous one) it happened to her on a night time she got up and was talking complete gobbldee guke for a few hours with slurred speech and remembered absolutely nothing, my brother also thought she had had some sort of stroke, but after a brain scan etc, it showed to be meningitis, it took her a long time to recover and get back to normal, perhaps it is worth looking into that also, it is quite frightening whatever has happened to her.

How strange, there's an article in my paper this morning about a man with amnesia whose family finally identified him after a TV appeal.  Apparently he'd had an episode years before as well.  No details were given as to why this happened to him but he was under medical supervision during the six months the second episode lasted.  Pardon me, just because he has been identified doesn't mean he remembers himself so there is no telling how long it will last.

The daughter of a lady I worked with had amnesia and disappeared for week before she was found.  I don't know the outcome, if she regained her memory, but it was determined that she'd had the Flu beforehand and the fever was thought to play a part.  Poor Jo, she got a phone call from the daughter's roomate asking if the daughter was with Jo.  Of course she wasn't.  A parent's worst nightmare.