Few experiences of my life were as frustrating as the times when part of my brain was on the fritz and I possessed enough introspection to say "This behavior is not normal!" but wasn't capable of correcting it.
Example: Back in high school I once got severely ill with drug-resistant something-or-other and got put through the ringer for a month, eventually getting moved on and off four different antibiotics, including two which included the side-effect "mildly psychotropic".
I was a very quiet guy in high school. Bit of an introvert -- had some close friends, kept my emotions in check, generally did not run through the hallways singing Christmas carols at the top of my lungs. Except there were presents out for Give-a-thon and presents mean Christmas and Christmas means I'M SO HAPPY hey that was loud DECK THE HALLS.
After running a the length of a football field to biology I burst in the door and saw a rather pretty female classmate who I had, perhaps, spoken two words to in four years. She said "Oh, Patrick, nice to see you back in school." "ITS GREAT TO SEE YOU TOO KATIE. tackle hug THIS IS NOT LIKE ME AT ALL IS IT."
It felt... I don't even know how to describe it. Like my normally tightly-functioning sense of self-control was on, operating, and evaluating things perfectly normally and I was appalled with my own behavior and yet that was totally unconnected to me at the same time.
I also had another incident in middle school where I had full control of my faculties but could not stop laughing for about an hour during a history lecture. This was despite the fact that it was disturbing the Civil War re-enactors who were explaining, e.g., that gangrene smells like nutmeg. (That set off a gale even though I thought "thats not funny" and moreover "that is monstrous to laugh at".) I excused myself to the bathroom and spent the better part of an hour with my brain terrified to go back to class for fear of what I would do and the rest of me laughing at the patterns cracks made on the toilet walls.
I played ice hockey since I could walk until I turned 21. At the end of my senior year in HS I was getting mildly recruited to play in college. I got a bad concussion when a guy but-ended me in the chin w/ his stick. I was out cold but went back to playing a few days later b/c I didn't want to loose my chance. I started getting concussions from mild hits and I ended the season w/ about 4.
The worst was the nausea and the headaches. A few times I went completely deaf and a few others I lost peripheral vision. Every time I would forget basic words and common phone numbers (pre-cellphone.) It was incredibly frustrating but I think it's worse in your head than in reality. You actually don't need to talk fast and effectively to be a competent human. Take a few weeks and go really slow. Make it a goal to just get by. You'll be normal before you know it. No doubt get the EEG's and MRI's just to make sure, but chances are you just have to ride it out. While your experiments are fascinating I think they'll drive you nuts in the end. Load up your netflix and relax. Hope you feel better soon...
I'm a rugby player and unfortunately concussions in our sport are a far too often occurrence.
In the spirit of HN, this season our training staff required us to get baseline concussion tests done before the season began to keep an eye on everyone and gauge severity and recovery time more accurately. It's a software based tool that they boot up on the sidelines when needed that uses a few different cognitive tests to determine the next steps to take as far as treatment is concerned, and each player does a initial "baseline" test before the season so on-field results are relative to the player.
"Back in the day" they used to just give us the ol' "what day is it?" question, which, as everyone knows is easy - if I'm wearing rugby gear, it must be a Saturday! (Just don't ask me the date).
Appreciate the kind words. They're not really experiments, just observations. Can't help but notice. I've also been experiencing the hearing loss bit, so its nice to hear that.
After 2 CTs, an MRI of my brain, and an MRA of my head and neck, and an ultrasound of my carotid arteries... conclusion is that its all just symptoms of a concussion from the double impact of the accident.
The slurring has gradually improved, as have my attentiveness, word recall, and memory. Headaches actually got worse after my last post, and it was really effecting my ability to work, but after weeks of monkeying with different drugs with my neurologist, we finally arrived at a combination low-dose tricyclic anti-depressant (no longer used for sad folks, now used at lower doses for pain management) for the daily pain, and a triptan for the bad ones. So the headaches are under control which is a great relief. When I have a bad one, between the 'aura' and the triptan I feel like I'm on, or coming off acid but its so much better than the pain and I can still work.
The aphasia happened as recently as last week (word queue 5 big), but seems to be strongly connected with exhaustion as I was going on no sleep and it was the first attack in a week.
All in all, it was a painful and costly recovery but I'm mostly better. And I think I learned a lot about how my brain works in parallel. It was very strange, and educational to have some parts work and others not.
Will do. I thought I was better this morning until it hit me again with a vengeance. Doctor tomorrow. Neurologist Monday. Should have more data and better chart soon :)
Example: Back in high school I once got severely ill with drug-resistant something-or-other and got put through the ringer for a month, eventually getting moved on and off four different antibiotics, including two which included the side-effect "mildly psychotropic".
I was a very quiet guy in high school. Bit of an introvert -- had some close friends, kept my emotions in check, generally did not run through the hallways singing Christmas carols at the top of my lungs. Except there were presents out for Give-a-thon and presents mean Christmas and Christmas means I'M SO HAPPY hey that was loud DECK THE HALLS.
After running a the length of a football field to biology I burst in the door and saw a rather pretty female classmate who I had, perhaps, spoken two words to in four years. She said "Oh, Patrick, nice to see you back in school." "ITS GREAT TO SEE YOU TOO KATIE. tackle hug THIS IS NOT LIKE ME AT ALL IS IT."
It felt... I don't even know how to describe it. Like my normally tightly-functioning sense of self-control was on, operating, and evaluating things perfectly normally and I was appalled with my own behavior and yet that was totally unconnected to me at the same time.
I also had another incident in middle school where I had full control of my faculties but could not stop laughing for about an hour during a history lecture. This was despite the fact that it was disturbing the Civil War re-enactors who were explaining, e.g., that gangrene smells like nutmeg. (That set off a gale even though I thought "thats not funny" and moreover "that is monstrous to laugh at".) I excused myself to the bathroom and spent the better part of an hour with my brain terrified to go back to class for fear of what I would do and the rest of me laughing at the patterns cracks made on the toilet walls.
And then a switch flipped and I was me again.