--- "J. van Baardwijk" wrote: Ronn! wrote: [Jeroen wrote] > >>Well, I *did* have a major concussion once (kept > me out of school for six > >>weeks), but that was some 25 years ago... > > > >Goodness! Six weeks? Do you mind sharing what > happened? <some snippage> > My memory of that time is fuzzy at best and has some > major holes -- > actually, there's more hole than memory there -- but > here goes. > > After having been beaten unconscious (sp?), found > lying on the grass just > outside the school grounds, and carried home by my > mother (which means I > must have been unconscious for at least half an > hour)...[Their family doc wasn't available, so another doctor] examined me, and apparently said I > should be okay after a > few days of rest. After about ten days my condition > still hadn't improved, > so my mother called our family doctor, who...ordered > immediate hospitalisation. They kept me in the > hospital for another ten days or so, after which I > was released and ordered to keep a few weeks rest...
> Are any of our medically-trained members familiar > with the usual effects on > a person's brain after such an experience? Three > things to consider: I must > have been no more than ten years old (probably > closer to eight years), the > lights were out for at least half an hour (possibly > longer), and my memory > isn't exactly what it should be... <snip> ...there are a > handful of people I work with four days a week, but > when I need to mention > one of them in a conversation with someone else, I > sometimes just can't > rembember that person's name... > Believe me, it's scary when that happens. I > sometimes joke that my memory > is so bad that I need a map to be able to go home > after work -- but I > sometimes wonder if and when the time will come that > it will no longer be a joke... Having had several major concussions myself - the worst from a car-vs.-pedestrian encounter, from which I awoke in the Neuro ICU - I can empathize with your memory problems. Before it, I had an essentially eidetic memory; since then, I have to read articles or text 3 or 4 times in order to retain significant information. As I noted previously, this last TBI also affected my anger control, an effect which collegues who have also experienced severe head injuries confirm in themselves. Poor impulse control in other areas (finances, relationships etc.) has been documented in some TBI cases (not any of my problems, for which I am very grateful). As for faces, if the person is "out-of-context" (frex from the office but we meet in the grocery store), I frequently cannot remember their name or where I ought to know them from... but if I talk with a person about their dog/cat/horse, I will remember the animal's name, breed and usually something else about them - yet still not recall the person's name! Annoying and often embarassing, as several (I skipped ahead and read posts re this topic/morphage to ADD/ADHD) have said about their memory deficits... So, could your childhood head injury have caused your memory problems? Yes. But not all severe concussions cause memory deficits, and certainly one can have a poor memory for faces or names or figures without having had any head injury whatsoever. One of the problems with diagnosing just what deficits traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause is the inability to image the injury(s); what is believed to cause some of these deficits is "shearing damage" to individual nerve axons and/or dendrites. IOW, the acceleration/deceleration of the brain inside the confines of the hard skull can cause not only bruising of brain tissue (which can show up on CT or MRI as altered tissue density), but also tearing of individual nerve fibers, which does not register on CT/MRI as the resolution is not sufficient. Multiple contiguous tears which aren't 'captured' by conventional CT/MRI might be diagnosable with functional imaging like fMRI or PET or SPECT scanning, or with sophisticated neuropsychological testing. (For completeness' sake, I will add that bleeding from head trauma usually is seen on initial CT or MRI, unless it is a tiny amount or is delayed; which is why doctors may order a repeat head scan even if the first was 'normal,' if the person's condition warrants it.) [Aside: Bob Z., could you post a link to your group's work on imaging of head injuries? TIA] One of the things we are learning is that brain/spinal cord injuries, once thought essentially permanent, are not absolutely so. While we have known that re-training of uninjured tissue to 'take over' for the damaged part is frequently possible, especially in young children, it now appears that actual regrowth and healing can also take place, albeit very slowly. (FREX, somebody posted Christopher Reeve's recent improvements WRT breathing and sensation, as well as some arm movement, IIRC.) For both re-training and healing, it currently appears that repetition, stimulation and self-will or perseverence are required; in the future there will be drugs or recombinant nerve growth factors that greatly speed this process (research is ongoing). As with ADD/ADHD, education is really important; unfortunately, from reading others' posts and my own experience, much if not most of that has to be self-taught (although support groups are a great resource!). WRT ADD/ADHD, I think that - just as for dyslexia, autism and many other brain 'dysfunctions' like depression or bipolar disorder - there is a huge spectrum from the glaringly obvious to the nearly invisible. Right now, choosing which drug to use is at best a guesstimate, and one may have to try many before finding the one/combination that works. Some will not need any medication, and some will not benefit from any of the ones we currently use. Some of these kids just need parental attention (which, sadly, they seem unlikely to get). If we would research which children require different teaching techniques (classroom vs. 'real-world,' auditory vs. visual, thought-experiments vs. hands-on work, etc.) for their particular brain structure/chemistry, I think there would be less need for drugs. But there are very definitely those who *do* improve tremendously with medication. Physical modalities like exercise, nutrition, and meditation/focusing work (I count things like tai chi and yoga in this category), which others have written about, are also essential; in quite a few cases, they are sufficient therapy. Debbi There Is No Gift Without Its Price Maru `:} __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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