I have often wondered that myself. A picture someone posted from under the pier in old orchard beach Maine a week ago brought back memories I was sure were gone. The pieces of an important memory that were missing. Our brains are a fickle thing. Sometimes I think art and music and abstract thought let our overloaded processing systems find different pathways to access information.

Based upon where my seizure activity is taking place, left hand side, it does have an effect on cognitive memory. Cognitive memory stores many types of data and it is used on a daily basis. The or our in this case memory is cognitive and it is a function we will use frequently. A great example of how this memory is used is if someone were to ask what is your phone number and we answer them with those seven numbers for local or ten numbers for long distance whomever we are speaking with at the time.

Another example of using cognitive memory, if we have a need to grocery shop, we don't have the list available at the moment but are aware of needed items like a gallon of milk, chicken breast, two green peppers, and two red peppers. Another example of this type memory can be when we recall how we have made something such as a recipe such as what we purchased items for. Sometimes we can do things easily without needing any guidance of a recipe just like those items were purchased in the grocery store.

There are ways to help guide the memory recall or even remember when having difficulty. I do have difficulty at times because there are weekly things going on that need to be kept straight. So with that being said, I will use a reminder on my cell phone for one set of items daily, then I have another reminder for errands to be done so I am always on time. Sometimes I will create a reminder using Google calendar just so I will not forget about an important issue should there be a busy week taking place. I hope the above information helps because that is how I have been able to manage my daily activities.

My short term memory is about shot ... I can remember facts from high school / college, and even my phone # from the early 70s when I was living w/ Mom and Dad (I'm 66).

But I often struggle remembering movies I saw the night before, or names of people that I've known for years, or even a common word. It snowed lightly a couple days ago, and a could not remember the word "flurries".

Is it the epilepsy or the meds? Who knows at this point ...

I just live with it the best I can and celebrate the fact I'm nearly a year seizure free.

Thank the Lord for that!

Sonya, I experience the same things, recalling memories from childhood, and not remembering what happened yesterday! SueElvins, I too experience the cognitive memory difficulties from my head trauma that injured the left hemisphere. When I was in rehab after the coma, I learned methods to retain and recall by using mental tools. But the epilepsy has made my “working memory” worse, so it’s a constant challenge! You all are definitely not alone!

Remembering songs is long term. But not recalling what you did or forget instructions had to do with memory loss. Comes with sections of brain that stores memory.