Getting back to "normal" with a PCS friend. Help!
 

My friend/co-worker Owen was recently in a car accident. Luckily, the car accident was minor, but he hit his head and suffered a concussion.

He went to the doctor and had scans. He has PCS, but has very isolated symptoms. He is suffering from dizziness, but mostly: memory loss. I've seen him once since the accident, and while he physically seems okay, and his personality is about the same, every now and then he blanked on major and minor things (everything from the name of one of his closest friends, to what he had for lunch). We would be having a regular conversation, than all of a sudden he forgets something.

I've been trying to learn and research as much as possible.

While I understand every case is different, I would appreciate any advice. I don't know how to approach the situation-- as he seems the same as always, until you start conversing.

Based on what i've read, this seems like a mix of retrograde and antegrade amnesia. Is this possible?

But, my biggest question is: how long will it be before he can go back to work, or hang out with all of his friends "regularly"? I don't want to overwhelm him.

giselle,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. I am sorry to hear about your friend.

There is no way to prognose how long his recovery will take. You did not say how long ago he suffered the concussion. Most heal to their maximum level within 45 days. Those that don't fit the prolonged Post concussion Syndrome category. Then the time line can vary greatly.

His zoning out or locking up is not uncommon. You may notice it is more prevalent when there are other stimuli to process. His brain struggles to sort through background sights and sounds to focus on and process the relevant sights and sounds.

If this condition persists, there are skills many of us learn to help us ignore those external distractions so we can focus better.

It will help him if friends make a focused effort to not talk over each other. His brain can only process one voice at a time. It will also help if he is in a quieter environment.

You may notice his eyes darting around. This is his visual processing getting distracted by the various visual stimuli.

He has a while to go before hanging out with multiples of friends. Some of us never regain that ability, especially those of us who have had multiple concussions.

He will likely be less tolerant of alcohol and should be careful with it.

There are lots of other things he should consider based on his symptoms. You may not notice many symptoms he is struggling with internally. We are know as the invisible wounded.

There is a great video series on You Tube called "You Look Great" that discusses the recovery of a man who walked into his office and they responded, "You look great." he knew than he was still struggling. It can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Xso...ature=youtu.be It is 6 segments that take about an hour total. The first segment should explain a lot.

He is fortunate to have friends like you who are willing to consider and help him with his struggles. Anything you can do to spread the word to his other friends will help.

My best to you.

Re: continued
 

Mark, thanks for your response. You have been SO helpful. Can you clarify 2 more things for me?

I know very little about PCS and find the internet to be confusing.

1. Is it possible for someone to suffer both retrograde and antegrade amnesia?

2. Can you clarify what you said by: "There is no way to prognose how long his recovery will take. You did not say how long ago he suffered the concussion. Most heal to their maximum level within 45 days. Those that don't fit the prolonged Post concussion Syndrome category. Then the time line can vary greatly."

Owen suffered his concussion 2 weeks ago. Does he not qualify to have PCS? What is prolonged PCS?

It is definitely possible for a person to suffer from anterograde and retrograde amnesia - my mother is recovering from viral encephalitis and has had both of these conditions for years. Both have improved over the course of those years - and she is expected to get even better in the next few years.

If he suffered his concussion 2 weeks ago, then he is well within a normal healing timeframe for a concussion. If he doesn't heal within about 6 weeks, then it starts to be considered post-concussion syndrome.

The symptoms are pretty similar, just with post-concussion syndrome they persist for longer than normal. Some people on this board have been having post-concussive symptoms for multiple years.

The best thing is to be there for him, but not to demand that he watch out for himself. At least this is true with me. I knew I was not well and I knew that I did not want to hurt myself further, but having people who were worried or telling me what to do and how to do it only made me rebel.
I know that that was the wrong reaction, but I am still doing it. If someone says "Oh, you really should take it easy." Well, I just want to prove them wrong, and then I will go back to my room and sleep for three days where no one can see me. The best friend I had was someone who would say, "Hey, I was thinking of doing this, if you would like to come that would be great, or if you would rather do something else." Then I could just say, no I'm not feeling up to that or yeah, why not.
As far as the memory thing goes, making a joke of it was the way my friends and I handled it. They would pretend that I had said something or done something horrible and then I would really say something to knock them off their rockers.
People who are going through this feel isolated and weird, it is really nice to be around people who make you feel normal and OK while not explaining away or discounting what is going on.

Good Luck!