Hello!


I was wondering if any of you have experienced some kind of confusion or disorientation following your head injury?

Before my injury I had derealization/depersonalization from time to time when my anxiety was very high for long periods of time but never to this extent. Now, almost four months past my second concussion, I am healing quite well but still having lots of neck issues and brain fog. I have started to feel really detatched from my environment, my family and when I see faces of family and friends for a second I don't recognize them, and then I realize "oh that's you", but they still feel unfamiliar although I know it's for example my sister but it just feels wrong like she is not, but I know she is.

I also feel like I am at other places than I really am, like places from my childhood or just weird places I don't know I feel very confused from time to time and like I'm on the verge of getting Alzheimers or something. I do feel somewhat anxious but not overly anxious. Have anyone experienced this kind of issue after injury or something like it? Could it be neck related? Any suggestions for what to do?

Thank you so much for reading!

Hi! Thanks for posting! I haven't felt exactly what you have (I fell 6 months ago and suffered a concussion) but I do know that I've felt detached and not totally grounded and walking around in a fog. . . I do have memory lapses . . . What helped me? I saw an osteopath (with four years of education - this is important as some only do a weekend workshop) that really helped to ground me and to make me feel more normal. I see her every 1 - 2 weeks for two months now and she has really helped me. I'm soo much better now than I was before I saw her . . . so much so that I am back to driving, and doing my photography sessions . . . she is also working on helping my neck and jaw injuries that I sustained during that fall.

Funnily enough, earlier today, in another post, I asked the other TBI forum members if they ever feel detached.

Problems with facial recognition is one of the things they look for in a neuro-psych exam. Have you had one?

When in the hospital the first few weeks after my injury I had confabulations as you describe but these resolved long before my other deficits cleared.

I'm with Hockey, I'd ask for a referral to a clinical neuropsychologist for a neuropsychological assessment.

Thank you all for answering, it means a lot to me! I have an appointment with a regular psychologist on monday and I will ask her what she thinks. The thing is that the symptoms come and go and I can have days without them and then days with them so it is weird. It is a new symptom development which makes me connect it to anxiety and stress but when one has pcs there is no telling to where the symptoms really stem from I guess. It is very frightening to look at your sister and see another person for a second before her face kind of morphs into the one I recognize.. I am also kind of in a huge crisis in my life right now and maybe I am under more stress than I would like to admit to myself, dealing with childhood and family issues maybe brought this dissociation on..hmm..

Stress and anxiety can manifest in many strange ways. Some professional help would be beneficial, especially with family stresses looming over you.

I'm not the original poster, but what does it mean if you trouble recognizing faces? I went through this for a couple of months, but I feel better now. I hope this isn't a symptom that can return.

At first, I felt like a stranger when I looked at myself in the mirror! Hard to explain, but it was a very scary feeling. I would get like an inch away from the mirror and just stare at myself in confusion. I feel weird admitting that lol.

Thanks Mark and MomWriterStudent for answering!!

I have had trouble recognizing my own face before during high stress times of my life and it really scared me. I think it was some kind of depersonalization back then but when it happens after a head injury I guess it could have other reasons than just anxiety but I am not sure. The feeling I have when I don't recognize someone elses face is different than what I felt when I could'nt recognize my own face, like I looked at myself in the mirror and I saw that it was me and I knew it was but it just didnt feel like me at all, when I look at someone whom I at first dont recognize I don't see that it is them for the first moments like I am looking at someone I have never seen before and then they start looking familiar. When you looked in the mirror and did not recognize yourself, did you feel like you were looking at a complete stranger or did you feel like it was someone you had seen before but it didnt feel like you? Hmm I hope this makes sense haha

If you are interested I'll let you know what my psychologist thinks of all of this when I see her!