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Severe memory loss almost a year after concussion

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lizb28
lizb28

Hi everyone! Honestly, I have no idea what's been happening to me but I'm going to try really hard to explain it. Please bare with me, please give me advice, please share personal experiences, please just help me figure out what's going on. In summary: I suffered from a really bad concussion from a head-on car collision last June and I've been having neurologically and psychologically concerning symptoms since then. Symptoms go as follows: mental fog, dizzy, off balance, lack of spatial awareness, hazy, dissociative, can't concentrate, memory loss, weak, light-headed and all of that causes me to have really bad anxiety. 

Here's my story:

Long story short, I got into a head-on collision with another car going around 35mph and although I didn't hit my head, I got really bad whiplash and a really bad concussion. I had the usual concussion symptoms: PIERCING headache, light sensitivity, weak, dizzy, mind fog, hazy, etc etc etc for 1-2 months. After that, something really weird started happening to me... I started getting these dissociative dizzy episodes soon after I decided to return to work. In the first few months (maybe until November-ish) that these episodes started happening, it was triggered by something as simple as me turning my head too quickly or standing up too quickly, then it became physical activity, and now it's become driving. I'm having a really hard time pin-pointing the trigger(s). Anyway, my symptoms/triggers now go as follows: I'm driving and I notice that everything around me is moving really fast and I can feel that I'm moving really fast (I'm usually on the freeway) and I start to get dizzy/lightheaded and nervous at the same time and both feelings keep getting worse and worse until I feel like I'm in a haze, I feel like I can't concentrate on anything and because I can't concentrate on anything, I can't keep track of my thoughts or even my actions - it's hard to form new memories. I begin to panic and try to calm myself down. I find a way to get myself back home or to my boyfriend's and I have to rush to lay down and close my eyes and try to take a nap or else I start having a full blown anxiety attack. What do I mean by anxiety attack? I mean I start freaking out that I can't remember anything that I start forgetting more and more things (like today when I had one of these episodes, I couldn't remember where I put my keys once I got home and when I tried to backtrack and retrace my steps, I realized I couldn't even remember the details of how I got into my house - like I know I did and I have a general idea of how I did but I don't remember my specific actions. I don't remember looking for my keys in my backpack or finding them or putting them into the doorknob or turning the doorknob or opening the door or taking my key out of the door or walking inside of my house or setting my keys anywhere or any of my specific actions to where I got myself in that moment) and then I start freaking out about how I'm losing my memory and that makes me wonder if I'm losing my mind and I start thinking about every emotionally traumatic thing that's ever happened to me and I can't stop my thoughts from racing! The haziness, the mental fog, the memory loss mixed with my racing thoughts from the anxiety feels like I'm wired off of caffeine or adderal or something! 

So... All in all, this was very hard for me to admit to you right now. I've become embarrassed of my symptoms because I haven't been able to see someone that can help me and if I told the average person (which I've tried), I feel like I sound completely insane! I'm aware that I've somewhere along the road to recovery from my concussion, I've developed some sort of anxiety but the mental fogginess, the memory loss, the dizziness comes before I feel the anxiety. It's those symptoms that give me anxiety.

P.S. I've been trying since JUNE to see both a neurologist and a psychiatrist for these symptoms but I have the lovely MediCal insurance and every professional I even try to make an appointment with either has to put me on a waitlist of at least a month or won't even consider making an appointment with me because it's MediCal. It's like, because I have MediCal, my symptoms don't matter.

0 likes, 2 replies

2 Replies

  • Tarhealing
    Tarhealing lizb28

    Posted

    Don’t let others make you feel bad about what you know you are experiencing. I had similar symptoms but for a different reason. It gave me lots of anxiety. Both because the symptoms were so self-limiting and I couldn’t get the help I needed at first. I had the miller fisher variant of GBS and it affected my balance, made me to have dizziness and caused that weird dissociation. I saw a physical therapist that specialized in balance disorders. I took 6 weeks to fix but it worked. He gave me exercises to help overcome this. Took about 6 weeks. You may want to check. This helped me so much. He said he helped lots of people with this from many different causes. My sister actually found this specialist online and my insurance covered a portion. You may want to check into this. You may still need to get in with the other healthcare professionals but this may help you with these symptoms. The muscles in my face were affected and the tracking of my vision was slightly thrown off and this was undetected by my previous neurologist, my previous primary doctor, and my previous eye doctor. He could measure the change with special equipment that he had. Even a slight change can cause your brain not to be able to process the image exactly right, cause vertigo and then cause that weird dissociation. I thought I was going crazy or had brain damage but it was just the nerve damage in my face. The therapy and exercises I did was an amazing fix. I just wanted to let you know that problems like this may have a fix. Wasn’t getting better with time, I needed the therapy. Check around. Even when I had to pay out of pocket they worked with me. Hope you feel better soon!!!
    • maureen96953
      maureen96953 Tarhealing

      Posted

      I too have dizziness and then anxiety. I have tingling in my face and pressure along with twitching. My therapist said I have PTSD with dissociative disorder.. I am glad someone else out there has the same issues and there is something I can do. I see a psychiatrist in march. Thank you for your reply. It REALLY helps when people come on here and have had the same symptoms and have found help 
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