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I can't make long-term memories

Hum Fleming has epilepsy. A side effect means her memories mostly fade after six months.

When British woman Hum Fleming was 13 she had her first epileptic seizure. It took a while to work out that she has temporal lobe epilepsy, and that the seizures had left a scar on her hippocampus - part of the brain that's involved in forming new memories and storing them longer term. This means that most of her memories fade after around six months. Hum hid her condition for years because she was afraid of people's reactions but started talking about it recently to try to raise awareness of epilepsy.

Hum Fleming
Credit: David M. Benett/Getty Images

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16 minutes

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