A WOMAN with a rare disease claims she can remember 95% of everything that has ever happened to her – including being in the womb.
Rebecca Sharrock, 34, lives with highly superior autobiographical memory (H-SAM) – a neurological condition that leaves people able to remember most of their life in intricate detail.
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It is extraordinarily rare and Rebecca is just one of 62 people in the world who have been diagnosed with the condition.
Research shows that for the average person, the earliest memory they can recover will be when they were around two and a half years old.
As for Rebecca, her earliest dated memory is from when she was just 12 days old – but she claims she also remembers being a fetus in her mother’s womb.
Despite needing therapy for the illness, Rebecca says she “makes good use of it” and has managed to become fluent in two languages in just the last 10 weeks.
Rebecca, author and speaker from Brisbane, Australia, said: “My mind is simply unable to let go of the rubbish of the past.
“My earliest memory is possibly when I was a fetus in the womb.
“The interesting thing is that I don’t need to have any personal meaning associated with a memory.
“They don’t have to mean much for some reason.
“Right now, I’d say I can remember 95% of everything that’s happened to me in my life.”
INTENSE FLASHBACKS
Rebecca was only diagnosed with H-SAM at age 21, on January 23, 2011.
She says she was originally diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) at age 16 because she “obsessively” relived past experiences.
Her childhood memories – such as having toys taken away from her at school – caused her real disturbance, despite how “trivial” they seemed.
“I always attribute my flashbacks to OCD,” she said.
“When I had a flashback, my emotions would also remember.
“I don’t just remember the past – I receive all the sensory information I had at that moment.
I have this memory of being curled up, with my head buried between my legs. Researchers told me this could have happened when I was in the womb.
Rebecca Sharrock
“When I relived a moment from my childhood, I felt immature emotions.
“Often this happened because of something that happened when I was very little.
“I would get upset over trivial things – like when someone stole my lollipop at primary school.
“Or when I built a Lego tower at preschool and a kid came and knocked it over.
“Now I would call that trivial – but I would be very angry about it.
“And of course, when you’re very small, it’s not trivial.”
EARLY MEMORIES
Rebecca says her first dated memory was December 23, 1989 – when she was just 12 days old and took a photo.
“I can remember everything from when I was 12 days old,” she said.
“The earliest I can date, I took a photograph – and spent many years later telling my mother about that experience.
“I actually have some memory before that – but I couldn’t date them because I was too young to understand the concept of the calendar.”
Rebecca claims her “true” earliest memory was from when she was in the womb – or potentially minutes after birth.
All these flashbacks that run through my mind are constant and during them I feel insomnia. My mind will never be quiet
Rebecca Sharrock
She said: “The first memory I have I can’t date because I was so young.
“I have this memory of being curled up, with my head buried between my legs.
“Researchers told me this could have happened when I was in the womb.
“Or it could have been right after birth.”
A BLESSING AND A CURSE
H-SAM can cause significant mental health problems and Rebecca says she struggles with insomnia and needs therapy for trauma and anxiety.
Often plagued by intense flashbacks at night, she tries to alleviate her insomnia by listening to classical music at night and has been prescribed Valium to help her relax.
She added: “This memory condition is essentially a medical condition that causes problems in my daily life.
“All these flashbacks that run through my mind are constant and during them I feel insomnia.
“My mind will never be quiet.
“I have to listen to classical music before bed – it keeps my mind off flashbacks.
“But sometimes, if my mind is too chaotic, classical music doesn’t work, so I take Valium, which was prescribed by my doctor.
“I have to go to therapy, because H-SAM causes a lot of anxiety and depression.
“There are very few therapists who can treat my condition – so they have to borrow things from PTSD therapy. It’s quite experimental.”
What is highly superior autobiographical memory (H-SAM)?
PEOPLE with highly superior autobiographical memory (H-SAM), a superior ability to recall specific details of autobiographical events.
They tend to spend a lot of time thinking about their past.
The neurological condition is incredibly rare and only 62 people worldwide have been diagnosed with it.
H-SAM was first identified by researchers at the UC Irvine Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory in 2006.
Professor James McGaugh and colleagues reported the first known case of H-SAM in a research participant known as “AJ,” later identified as Jill Price.
When given a date, Jill could specify what day of the week it fell on and what she did that day.
Since then, more people with this bizarre and extraordinary ability have been identified.
So far, studies conducted at UC Irvine suggest that individuals with H-SAM have superior abilities in autobiographical memories, but are no different from others on standard laboratory memory tests.
Brain MRI studies also show that specific regions and networks may be different from the average person, although this work is still in its early stages.
Source: UCI
Rebecca tried to use her condition for something positive and started learning French and Spanish 10 weeks ago.
She went from beginner to almost fluent in two months.
“My French teacher is from Marseille and now I can talk to her in French,” she said.
“I can watch Spanish and French TV without subtitles.
“Everything I learned in class I now know – it’s just a matter of practicing my pronunciation.
“I hope to learn Italian next.”
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
