A man suffered amnesia that meant he forgot his credit card PIN and could not remember if his mother was alive after entering a state-of-the-art cryo-chamber.
The unnamed male, 63, believed to be from Switzerland, was hospitalised after presenting with sudden memory loss and repeated questioning, known as transient global amnesia (TGA), 30 minutes after leaving a -140C ‘cryo-chamber’ to relieve his shoulder pain.
Although tests results revealed no serious cause for concern, doctors were worried by the patient’s inability to recall recent events, as well as his slightly raised cholesterol levels and vitamin deficiencies.
After spending the night in hospital, the patient made a full recovery but is still unable to remember the hours surrounding his cryo-chamber ‘treatment’ one year later.
The cause of his symptoms are unconfirmed, however, the cryo-chamber is suspected to be at fault due to sudden memory loss being associated with exposure to extreme temperatures.
Although not medically recommended, cryo-chambers, which are favoured by athletes, expose users to extremely cold temperatures for up to five minutes in an attempt to reduce inflammation and ease pain.
