hi Joanne

welcome I see you have the link to our PCS forum ,please remember, we have many different levels of injury and are at different stages of recovery, please join in , we understand what you are going through . writing things down is good ,I have a wee recorder for notes to self , looking at photos can help with rebuilding the minds eye memory

look forward to getting to know you

Hi,

Thank you so much!

I think that this site is going to be so helpful. I have felt quite alone so these notes and bits of information make me feel like there is hope.

I look forward to reading about what has been tried and what is suggested.

Many thanks
Joanne

Just wanted to add my welcome to Neuro Talk!! Hope you can feel at home and know we are all to assist in anything we can...sometimes the best friend is someone who listens!! Take care!!

Hi Joanne and welcome to NT!

Funnily enough, another PCS survivor and I, Mark from Idaho, have just been discussing visual memory deficits. When I took my neuro-psych test I couldn't do the block test because I'd forget the pattern I was supposed to replicate in the time it took to look from the paper to the blocks. I seldom recognize people I've met since my accident and I can't copy accurately information from one sheet to another. It's very frustrating.

Not dreaming is something that can happen to folks with brain injuries. You've attributed this to your visual memory problems. That could be - but you'd think your dreams would still have an "audio tract."

Dreaming is a fairly complex cogntive state, and damaged brains sometimes can't get there. It took over two years for my brain to heal enough to dream at all. Now my dreams are the pre-REM literal type. Like many folks with tbi, I can't get into REM. Do you find you wake often in the night? I wake everytime my mind tries to enter REM. Some members have tried new medications designed to deal with this specific issue.

I would suggest that you post this question on the PCS Forum where more members of our brain boo boo club will see it.

Cheers

Hi Hockey,

I didn't "dream" for about 2 months after the MVA, but then started to, however prior to this accident I remembered virtually every dream in great detail. I know that I dream, but can't remember anything from it. I am guessing that it has to do with the lack of information processing.

I wake up a lot at night, but with this med I tend to get back to sleep quicker than all of the other ones we tried. When I was on the 10mg dose, I got to be awake for 4 nights so that convinced my doctor to up the dose.

My last big concussion led to sleepless nights for about 8 months but that one I couldn't read a book. I am thankful that this one I can (as long as there is no noise anywhere near me). The first concussion I had I had amnesia for a few days and couldnt see a foot infront of my face.

Weird how each one is different. I think that the struggle is that the symptoms last so much longer with each concussion.

Good to know that info about the visual memory, but that is sad to hear the frustrations of not getting into REM sleep.

Thank you so much for the input, what a welcoming place to be!

Mind if I ask a dumb question? I've been reading about the various concussions that people get. How do people keep getting concussions?

Thanks for clearing this up for me.

Melody

Hi Melody,

Concussion is one of the most common forms for injury. A concussion occurs every four minutes in Canada. In fact, traumatic brain injury (a more descriptive word for concussion) is the number one killer and disabler of Canadians under 44.

Traumatic brain injuries have many causes including sports injuries, car accidents, falls and domestic violence.

Sadly, once a person has had a concussion the injured brain is much more at risk for another injury. Some folks with Multiple Impact Syndrome can sustain a new concussion from something as seemingly harmless as a big sneeze.

Cheers