Something new happened yesterday with my son Mark who has a TBI - he was in the car with his friend Nicole. He has know her for about 5 months. They were driving home and all of the sudden he looked at her like he had never seen her before and said "I don't know your name". She said he looked at her like he wasn't "there". After that he had to be reminded of her name several more times.

He seems fine in every other way. Not sure what to make of this.

Who was driving?

The name forgetting and even loss of recognizing her face is not uncommon. It can be brought on by stress or something that startled him, etc.

I have been married 31 years and often have to stop to think to say my wife's name. It is like I have to sort through a list to find hers. I usually call her Sweetie because it comes to mind quicker and easier. My brain identifies her as a sweet person easily. It struggles to attach an abstract name to her, even though I have know it for 32 years.

I was discussing distance runners with a TBI friend and was trying to tell him about a runner from Kenya from the early 1970's. The name that came out was Kunta Kinte of Roots. I had to stop and work a bit harder to come up with the other name that had 2 Ks. It was Kip keno. My brain just short circuited to the other name with 2 K's. We call that a brain fart.

Your son may have had a seizure like event, too. The "he wasn't there'' can be a petit mal or absence seizure. It is where the brain literally checks out for a brief moment. I had these throughout elementary and high school. Some times it looked like I was day dreaming. Other times, like I just was not there.

He should not be operating a car or bicycle or anything like that until he is free of this symptom for at least 6 months. It is not epilepsy even though some epileptics have similar episodes. Mine were treated with anti-seizure meds for a few years. The meds quickly controlled them. Be sure to tell his doctor about this. Also, be aware of him when he appears to be spaced out or such. He will not likely recognize or remember these events unless someone else gives him a reference. You and Nicole can quickly see it in his eyes. Note the situation when these events happen. There may be triggers.

My best to you.

Two weeks after my accident, I was signing into the Dr office and forgot MY name. It seems brain farts come with the territory.

My son doesn't drive. He had his learners permit before the accident and never got to get his license. Nicole was driving.

It is funny - nothing else like this has happened. He won't remember because his short term memory is not good right now. He doesn't remember what he ate for breakfast by the time he gets to lunch. He is starting to remember some things though.

Nicole is a friend that has been around for a few months. He has another friend named Melissa who has been around about the same amount of time (a little less). They both come over to hang out with him. They are both the same age (19) and about the same size. Different color hair and one wears glasses. Melissa came over tonight and he wasn't sure if it was Nicole or Melissa. So - this seems to be centered around the two of them. He was definitely "there" when Melissa came over but was confused as to who she was.

I did call his doctor and am waiting on a call back. We will see.

If you can help Melissa and Nicole understand some of his symptoms, it can be helpful. If they can help him accept and even joke about some of his foibles, it will help him lower his stress levels. Laughing can be excellent therapy. It is good at oxygenating the brain.

He is fortunate to have friends willing to hang around.

When in stress, he needs three things from others: The three H's: Hush up, Hang around and Hugs. Playing simple card games can be good as a simple brain exercise.

There is actually a disorder where people can't recognize faces. I forget what it is called, but I heard a few pieces about it on NPR within the last year.

Prosopagnosia?

I think there are two varieties of this dysfunction. The prosopagnosia is a failure of the brain to process the multiple features of the face as a unit to be recognized. The other is a failure of the brain to connect the recognized face to the name. I struggle with the second. I can often recognize a face but struggle to connect it to a name or situation.

Some with prosopagnosia can learn to use a specific facial feature as the recognizing point. This is not necessarily the same technique as connecting a facial feature to an image to a name.

Visual recognition memory is based on the brain establishing an index of images. If the index is mixed up or has weak links, linking the current image to the indexed image will be difficult. The more copies of a specific image/face are stored and indexed, the better this visual memory system will work. If the brain is not filing these images properly and orderly, it is like trying to use a file cabinet full of mixed up files. The brain gets lost.

A speech therapist or even occupational therapist may teach some memory skills to help with this problem. It is common to brain injury.

Weird I randomly watched a new movie on Netflix (2011) and a Psychological Thriller which specifically deals with prosopagnosia. In the story main character has a TBI and goes through this condition.