My friend had an accident 2 yrs ago and now is quite forgetful and not the same person. Nothing shows on CT?

Question

Has anyone experienced this, or has a friend or relative who has? She had a car accident, a few bruises and shaken up and seemed fine but immediately following started losing things, confused, trouble word finding, etc yet medical testing shows up with nothing injured in the brain...please comment if you have any experience and if so, what did your or your friend do in terms of treatment?

Answer 1

Hi,

Unfortunately, I am WAY too familiar with this.

I had this happen 3 years ago. I worked in healthcare, and I was assaulted, punched repeatedly on both sides of my head. I only recalled being hit on the one side, and the back of my head, but, it was partially witnessed by a police officer, who pulled the attacker off of me, and he saw the guy hitting me on the other side of my head.

Afterwards, I swore I had no loss of consciousness, as I was with my partner then, and 2 cops, and SOMEONE would have told me, and I managed to finish working the scene I was one.

I started to have a headache, I was a little shaken up too.

By the time 2 hours had passed, I was trying to write up my report...I was having problems--I was confused, and having nausea, and a headache, and trouble word finding. I finally went to the ER a few hours after that....nothing showed up.

I had figured I had a slight concussion, no big deal.

2 days later, it was worse...the headache didn't end, I was stuttering REALLY bad. I couldn't remember things...again...CT came back fine, and a neurologist blew me off at the ER.

on day 7, I saw my doc....he noticed right away, the stutter, the dilated pupils, the change in my pulse and blood pressure. I had a closed head injury, even though nothing was showing on the CT scan.

I am still out of work. I have migraines almost daily. Sometimes medicine doesn't even work on the migraines. I have vision problems....my eyes go outwards, I have twitching of my eyes, and I have vitrous floaters that will never go away I am told (since 2 years have passed without change). I have worked on the stutter, it is better, but, still have times of word finding trouble, sometimes, my spelling and grammer is HORRIBLE, sometimes, it is tolerable. I have weakness on one side of my body, and I have an ever so slight facial droop (which gets worse randomly, and then resolves to it's "normal droop". not sure if it is related to migraines, or if there are seizures going on with todd's paralysis....this is something we are still trying to figure out). I have a severely impaired memory...can take my medicine, and walk right back over to take it again, as I have no recollection of it (no short term memory unless I write or speak something, and even then, it is limited). And, my personality is changed, and so are my emotions....unfortunately, so, I am not the same person I was 3 years ago.

I have had surgery to fix a hole in my inner/middle ear, this was causing vertigo from the fluid leaking out....this was from when I got hit on the side of the head.

I have seen MANY docs....and only a few have impressed me. Unfortunately, this doesn't show up on Xrays, blood work, or EKG. It DOES show up on NEURO-PSYCH testing. I have significant difuse damage to various parts of my brain....this was caused by the tearing of the AXONs and mylon sheaths....that is why it got worse after the first hour......hard to explain, but, some things DID get better, but, now it is slow go.

I have done speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy. NOT ALL therapy places are the same....I had speech therapists that were AWFUL. My last one was GREAT!! He totally understood what was going on, and when I explained that I don't always "get jokes" or what "pictures or statues" are about. He pulled out a book, and we looked at a few things, and he totally understood what I meant within a few moments. He gave me ALOT of pointers on what I can do......

I have a VERY high IQ and unfortunately, some docs can't see past this....they think that since I am smart, I CAN'T have a brain injury.

I hope this gave some info on what you were looking for.....if you want to chat further, I will be willing to email you. (just leave me info to your email---but, only if you want).

Good luck to you and your friend.

ps....I lost ALOT of what I thought were friends after my injury---since they couldn't SEE the injury, and they didnt understand it. Even my mom keeps asking WHEN my head injury will be going away, since she had a lung disease go into remission....

Answer 2

Your friend is showing the classic signs of post-concussion syndrome. Nothing will show up on either CT or MRI, as the condition is due to neuronal stretching and shearing.
Your friend's best bet is testing by either a neuropsychologist or speech pathologist. Speech pathologists actually treat patients with this brain-injury condition, and improvement CAN be measured and quantified, even so long post-injury.

Answer 3

She should see a therapist. It maybe be psychological.