Enjoyed this episode and agree that 'concussion' is very confusing word as is the current classification systems! Curious... why does post-traumatic amnesia occur and why does that increase the risk factor?
Hi Pamela, thank you for asking this question! Dr. Diaz-Arrastia wrote the following answer for you: "This is a great question. Amnesia is different from consciousness. Certainly everyone who is unconscious (due to disruption of the key brain circuits that are required for consciousness) is also amnestic. However, (and TBI is one of the most common examples of this) there are situations where patients are conscious (i.e. they are able to give their names, follow comments, even have some very short-term memory) but are not able to lay down medium and long-term memory. This is due to dysfunction of a set of brain circuits that are required for consolidating memory, which are different from the neural circuits underlying consciousness. It turns out that the duration of post-traumatic amnesia is a more reliable predictor of long-term outcome that duration of unconsciousness. The other issue is that amnesia is not like in the movies, where someone turns on a switch and memory is completely normal after a certain point. In real life, there is a period of time where some short and medium-term memory is present, but not completely. That is explains why some patients report that they have several years of post-traumatic amnesia, even if during those years they were working, fulfilling their family responsibilities, etc." We hope this helps! With love, Melanie
Thank you for explaining it more! It is another piece to my puzzle. My memory didn’t begin to return for 6-months and I recalled additional details up until about 16-mo post injury. It helps to understand the “why” as I navigate this journey. Thank you for all you share!
The "why" is so important, because as we make sense of what's happening to us, we can not only understand deeply - nurturing acceptance and psychological healing - but also find clues as to what's needed to heal our brains and entire bodily systems from injury. Keep on moving forward dear Pam, your curiosity and drive to understand are your strengths!
Enjoyed this episode and agree that 'concussion' is very confusing word as is the current classification systems! Curious... why does post-traumatic amnesia occur and why does that increase the risk factor?
Hi Pamela, thank you for asking this question! Dr. Diaz-Arrastia wrote the following answer for you:
"This is a great question.
Amnesia is different from consciousness. Certainly everyone who is unconscious (due to disruption of the key brain circuits that are required for consciousness) is also amnestic. However, (and TBI is one of the most common examples of this) there are situations where patients are conscious (i.e. they are able to give their names, follow comments, even have some very short-term memory) but are not able to lay down medium and long-term memory. This is due to dysfunction of a set of brain circuits that are required for consolidating memory, which are different from the neural circuits underlying consciousness. It turns out that the duration of post-traumatic amnesia is a more reliable predictor of long-term outcome that duration of unconsciousness.
The other issue is that amnesia is not like in the movies, where someone turns on a switch and memory is completely normal after a certain point. In real life, there is a period of time where some short and medium-term memory is present, but not completely. That is explains why some patients report that they have several years of post-traumatic amnesia, even if during those years they were working, fulfilling their family responsibilities, etc."
We hope this helps!
With love,
Melanie
Thank you for explaining it more! It is another piece to my puzzle. My memory didn’t begin to return for 6-months and I recalled additional details up until about 16-mo post injury. It helps to understand the “why” as I navigate this journey. Thank you for all you share!
The "why" is so important, because as we make sense of what's happening to us, we can not only understand deeply - nurturing acceptance and psychological healing - but also find clues as to what's needed to heal our brains and entire bodily systems from injury. Keep on moving forward dear Pam, your curiosity and drive to understand are your strengths!