Rare disorder wipes woman's memory clean every 24 hours

By Matt Roper 11/06/2010

A woman stuck in a real-life Groundhog Day lives the same 24 hours over and over again – because her memory is constantly wiped clean.

Michelle Philpots, 47, suffered severe head injuries in two separate road crashes and has been left with no short-term memory since 1994.As in the Bill Murray comedy Groundhog Day, she keeps “repeating” the same day as all memory of the day before is lost.

Michelle wakes up every morning thinking it’s 1994 and cannot remember anything from the past 16 years.

She even has to be reminded by her husband Ian, 46, of their 1997 wedding day and has to be shown the album of the big day to prove it happened.

It also means she finds every joke hilarious because she can’t remember hearing it, she never gets bored with repeats on TV and, even though she enjoys EastEnders, she has no idea who the characters are or the plot.

Michelle uses hundreds of Post-It notes and logs reminder alarms on her mobile phone to try to deal with her condition.

Anything she has done and anyone she has met or spoken to is completely forgotten by the time she wakes up the next morning unless it is immediately written down.

She rarely leaves her home town of Spalding, Lincs, and has to use satnav just to get to the local shops half-a-mile away as she can never remember the route and gets lost.

Often when she does leave the house she will forget where she is going and will arrive at destinations with no idea why she is there.

Yet brave Michelle says there are some benefits. As well as never getting bored with jokes or TV programmes, every day she must rediscover everything that has happened and fall in love with her husband Ian over and over again.

Michelle, who volunteers at her local disabled charity, said: “I can really relate to the film Groundhog Day. When I wake up everything outside my window is the same. It’s hard to explain, but every day to me is the same normal day. It’s like I am living the same day – day after day.

“I love to watch EastEnders but if I’m reading the magazines showing what happens in upcoming episodes I have no idea what is going on.

“Although I can’t remember the characters or any storylines I know I like it. But if someone asks about what happened on EastEnders last night I wouldn’t have a clue what they are talking about.”

Michelle was diagnosed with epilepsy 16 years ago, caused by brain injuries in a 1985 motorbike crash and car accident in 1990.

Her condition deteriorated until she began suffering fits – and by 1993 she became “absent-minded”, leaving things like tea bags in the fridge. In a more serious sign, she was told to go home from her office job at a solicitors’ firm after she spent all day photocopying the same document.

Dead and damaged brain cells were removed during a major operation at London’s QE2 Hospital in 2005 to prevent seizures. But, sadly, neither her short-term nor long-term memory will return.

She added: “My memory has gone and there is no way it will come back. I understand the change in my life. I know I can’t have my old life back but I find it hard to accept that.

“Sometimes my house becomes my prison and I find it very depressing.”

Husband Ian, a fencer, said the secret to his happy marriage is patience. He said: “The only thing I can do is be patient and I have to make sure she is writing everything down.

“Sure it can be very frustrating for me but I have to be patient and understand and accept that she struggles to remember.

“I get frustrated but I have to keep calm because I love her. I’ve known her about 25 years so I am lucky we met before she had the accidents because she can remember me.

“She generally knows we are married but forgets about the wedding. Luckily, we have lots of photos to remind her otherwise she would forget it all. She still remembers when we first met. It’s just the day to day things she struggles to recall.”

Rehabilitation specialists are helping Michelle to cope.

She has even been put in charge of fighting the corner of other disabled people in her town as a three-day-a-week volunteer.

Michelle has also passed a series of computer exams with flying colours – although, of course, she always needs the manuals on hand whenever she logs on.

From: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-world/2010/06/11/the-real-groundhog-day-rare-disorder-wipes-woman-s-memory-clean-every-24-hours-115875-22325155/