On February of last year I was in a scooter accident where I suffered head injury and was even in a coma for a little while. Since then I've had many memory problems, I notice some slowness in my speech sometimes (or maybe it's all in my mind) and I like to talk about it as often as I can because sometimes I feel I may never recover from the memory issues I still have. It's very frustrating at times and though I've been dealing with it better, I have mood changes, etc. I appreciate contact with anyone with knowledge of this. Thanks.

Anabelle

When I was 19 I fell off of a scaffolding and landed on my head. I was hospitalized with amnesia. My memory was shortened to 60 seconds or so. Lots of demerol too. After a day or so my memory began to improve. I guess I'll never know just what I can't remember to this day. My equilibrium and driving skills all changed. There will be challenges
I'll help in any way I can.
Hang in there.
Dave

Thanks Slim. It's very frustrating for me at times. I would appreciate any tips or additional knowledge you may have that might help.

Anabelle

Maybe ten years ago, I reconnected with one of my friends I'd grown up with - just in time to get an email that said, "He proposed - I said yes - Oh my god!". With that, I went to the wedding and met her now husband and it turns out a few years before that he had been involved in a very serious car accident and had sustained massive head and brain injuries and was considered at the time to have little chance of recovery. When I met him, he looked and acted and sounded like nothing had happened, and I learned he in fact had also sustained heavy memory loss and had to relearn eveything. But his body and mind healed through a lot of his own fighting. Another fellow I met had fallen from some scaffolding, also sustained head injury and had to re-learn his memories from scratch with the help of his friends - again, you wouldn't have know to look at or speak to him.

But the healing as far as it went was not necessarily overnight for either of them, and your own progress over one year since your accident actually sounds quite positive and encouraging.

And I also wish you continued recovery.

Charley

I friend of mine had a severe head injury when another motorcycle collided with his. His short term memory was really bad, had mood swings and sometimes difficulty with his speech. He went into some type of physical therapy (I will try to find out which one) and it helped him a great deal. He still has some issues with short term memory, but he is getting better. I know he would take notes of things he felt were important (short term things) so he could reference them later. I think by doing that it helped train his mind it recall information on the topic he wrote down.

Sorry to hear about your injury and hope all goes well.

Thanks for taking the time to write. Mood swings are big with me. My personality has changed some as well I've been told which frustrates me to no end. I feel I take some steps forward and two back. I do things that I'm sure don't help me progress, but it does help me cope. Thanks again.

Anabelle

TBI are the awful.

Are you seeing a Neuropshycologist and any speech therapy?
How are your processing skills?

Do you know where specifically in your brain where you injury
was most affected?

Right side is physical and Left is speech/aphasic area.

There are also TBI support groups. They are probably not
not as bad as some of the stroke support groups that I seem
to have run into.

You might want to read Stroke Connection magazine which is
a stroke orientated magazine however it is still considered
a TBI. There's an article about my family and a side feature
in there about me and my music in the March/April issue.

To those of you who had injuries on a vehicle or, as one post indicated, scaffolding, how many were wearing a helmet or some other piece of safety gear?

I was in an accident in which my car was totalled. While I managed to walk away without any severe injuries, I was wearing my seatbelt, which I feel helped me to survive. In the end, I consider myself very lucky to be here today. It could have ended up very differently if I hadn't been so obsessed with "buckling up" for safety.

I'm writing a 15 part series
about caregiving for a stroke.
people just don't get it.