Dear Dr. Roach: My husband suffered a grand mal seizure about six months ago. He was in the hospital for seven days. When he came out of the seizure, he was very combative and experienced memory loss. He still deals with short-term memory loss, and his neurologist says that it could take a year for him to get back to normal. My question is: Is there any I can do to help him? — L.H.

Answer: Seizures can happen for many reasons, and there are different types of seizures. When a person has the type of seizure that is often shown on TV or in movies, where they have uncontrollable shaking movements and aren’t conscious, it’s called a generalized tonic-clonic seizure, which used to be called “grand mal.”

Most people have memory loss in the minutes before and after a generalized seizure, and they are often confused for a period of time afterward. However, prolonged memory loss and personality changes can happen due to damage to the brain during the time of the seizure because of low oxygen and excess brain activity.

What happened to him is similar to a stroke, and the recovery period is variable. Being older and being male will cause him to have a slower recovery period, but I agree with the neurologist that recovery is possible for up to a year after the event.

You can help him recover by making sure that you discuss any treatment he might be getting for his seizures with his neurologist, as some treatments are more likely than others to cause memory problems. Of course, preventing further seizures is critically important. You can also ask about memory rehabilitation programs, although these are specialized and aren’t easy to find.

Dr. Roach regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but will incorporate them in the column whenever possible. Readers may email questions to ToYour

GoodHealth@med.cornell.edu.