A British woman has to keep a regular diary with a detailed daily routine due to memory loss from encephalitis. The tabloid The Mirror writes about it.
Clair Bennett from Swanley, Kent, England, has been a longtime website tester. In January 2015, the girl complained of severe headaches and attacks of fever. The doctors decided that the 29-year-old patient had flu symptoms, prescribed paracetamol and sent her home.
A few days later, the British woman's condition deteriorated significantly. Claire did not show up for work, and when a colleague visited her at home, she could not determine the country in which she was. The girl looked lost, which pretty much frightened her father. She was admitted to a London hospital with suspected encephalitis.
During her first time at the medical center, Claire had difficulty recognizing her parents. After undergoing serious medication, the British woman began to recall events from the past and recognize her relatives. She was discharged two weeks later, but it was evident that the patient's memory was severely damaged.
“Her short-term memory has suffered. Sometimes friends came to visit her, and after a while she forgot about it, - says the 60-year-old man. “And one morning she went down to the first floor, staggering, as if she could fall at any second.” Then her father sent Claire to a local hospital, where she was again diagnosed with encephalitis.
She spent more than two months in the clinic, and every day her short-term memory deteriorated. After systematic examinations, doctors concluded that memory would not be restored. Now Claire is under the supervision of specialists and keeps a daily diary, where she writes down a detailed plan for the day, so as not to forget to shower and eat. “If you dictate a number to her and ask her to repeat it in ten minutes, it’s not even that she cannot remember. She will forget that, in principle, she was asked for something,”explains the father.
Claire said that despite her memory loss, she "takes the maximum out of life and remains positive." On World Encephalitis Day, February 22, she asked her father to tell her story to the media so that people would know about the consequences of the disease.