The swimming pools had finally reopened after a hiatus of 2 yrs and for me, waiting for even a day longer would be nothing short of drudgery. My club pool hadn’t lost its glory, albeit the members were a mere ten percent. Mumbaikars tend to be a little more sensitive to cold temperatures but I have always been hyper-sensitive to the same. But being a Scuba diver, I always felt that lately, I had overcome that fear of cold water. But little did I know that those fears of mine would resurface very soon….
After a cold shower, I dived into the pool. The strokes seemed to be coming off well, or so I thought. 15 mins into the swim, my wife started noticing some irrelevant behaviour of mine. I seemed to be a little confused and kept repeating things. Initially, she didn’t pay much heed but when I told her I was feeling a little weird in my head, she decided that we should leave the water. I donned my clothes and left the club, but not before hearing the coach say that I was behaving a little odd in the pool today.
I knew something was amiss and driving back home, I decided to call my Neurologist and speak with him. His instructions were very clear - “Just come to the hospital straightway”. After a thorough examination, he had a provisional diagnosis ready. But he needed to run a few tests and an MRI Brain to be sure. I seemed to have forgotten the incidents of the last couple of hours. Idly lying Inside the MRI machine for close to 45 mins, few things seemed to be coming back. And once I was out, the Neurologist and Radiologist were there to inform me that ‘all is well’. But I had to spend the night at the hospital.
In the morning, the Neurologist visited again and prepared for the discharge. The papers mentioned the final diagnosis - “TRANSIENT GLOBAL AMNESIA most likely due to hypothermia”.
A very similar case has been reported earlier by a swimmer, coincidentally a doctor himself. https://fitnesssoul.co.uk/transient-global-amnesia-and-cold-water-swimming/
And as I write this post, the amnesia may not be troubling me as much, but the fear of amnesia sure is.
Transient global amnesia manifests with a paroxysmal, transient loss of memory function for recent events. Many patients are anxious or agitated and may repeatedly ask questions concerning transpiring events. Upon mental status examination, language function is preserved. Attention is spared, visual-spatial skills are intact, and social skills are retained. Symptoms typically last less than 24 hours. As the syndrome resolves, the amnesia improves, but the patient may be left with a distinct lapse of recollection for events during the attack.
Hypothermia is usually readily apparent in the setting of severe environmental exposure. Mild hypothermia may cause most people to shiver vigorously, usually in all extremities.
As the temperature drops further, a patient may develop altered judgement, amnesia, and dysarthria.
And later may develop cardiac arrhythmias and stupor with increasing severity of cold.
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