Why are my scores so off?

[Negeen]

As many of you know my injury was a result of medically untreated alcohol poisoning. When I recently took a neuropsych eval I returned extremly low scores on every level. I'm slightly confused because it's not like I was run over by a big truck and in a coma for a month. So i'm not sure why! Jenna Giese had rabies and she was able to graduate with a bio major! Why, is my brain failing so pervasively over a poisoning insult???

[hayabusa]

Everyone of us is effected very differently and recovers very differently.

I used to be an intelligent guy, but I struggle now with basic things.

I can sometimes speak quite coherently but that hides major problems with thought processes.

You might think I sound smart and together? But writing doesn't show the problems.

I empathise with you a lot for struggling so.hard to obtain a proper diagnosis and staying so committed to fairness and justice. I picked that up from you fairly early on.

All respect to you and I know just how hard a struggle it is to obtain proper diagnosis and treatment.

It is shamefull how people are treated.

Denied access to treatment and support, it sickens me. I know how painful it is to be treated badly and have to fight tooth and nail against unhelpful and uncaring people.

They add to your health problems and compound the injury.

I know you will not give up!

Keep slugging away x

[hayabusa]

Have you discussed neurological hypoxia with the Doctors?

It's oxygen starvation to the brain. Check.it out online?

The longer the time you are unconscious the more brain damage is likely. Recovery becomes more difficult the longer you are unconscious for etc.

It's just common sense.

[shortly]

Three years ago my son was in a hostel for people suffering alcohol problems after his wife threw him out. He spent an evening drinking with another resident and was injected (or injected himself) with a large dose of insulin belonging to the other resident. No ambulance was called until lunchtime the next day. He was in a coma for 2 weeks on ventilation then went into a vegetative state, breathing for himself without the ventilator.

This poisoning deprived his brain of oxygen and the glucose to use it for over 12 hours. The consultant neurologist believes that if he had been brought to hospital as soon as it happened the effects could have been reversed, but the affected brain cells have shrivelled like currants.

From 30 years service as a nurse and midwife it is clear to me that there is more about the human body that we don't know than there is that we do. Even when doctors know the mechanisms of injury or damage they often do not have the means to correct it. The neurologist knows from the early scan that the damage is scattered in large patches all over my son's brain rather than in one place (as it would more than likely be from a physical blow), he cannot predict how far he will be able to recover from this. There is no treatment at present that will accelerate recovery but in ABI terms he has come a long way and is now clinically in a low awareness state.

My son has been living at home with us now for 6months and some days are better than others. He reacts positively to going out where there are people and things to look at, especially sparkly lights. His room is decorated with fairy lights and pictures. We use a projector and music to give sensory stimulation when he has gone to bed but isn't ready for sleep (there is some research to suggest that Mozart music is effective, it certainly relaxes my son very well). He loves it when visitors come and follows peoples voices and movements.

The reason for telling these things is to encourage you to believe that improvement can be made. It is known that the brain can develop alternative nerve pathways. Perhaps finding sensory stimulation will enable you to improve from the problems that you now have.

All the best for your recovery

[RogerCMerriman]

It's a fragile thing, it does seem to be very personal to ones self, as to why?

[gr33nmind]

Everyones injury is different. All the neuropsych test shows, is where you are now, and what you have to improve. Hold on to your results, because the next time you are tested, you will improve, and it feels good to have something to compare your improved results against

[gr33nmind]

Negeen, I know that you say you did poorly in every area, but was there an area that you did less poorly then the rest? Those areas will be your God-send in your recovery. Injury or not, I can tell that you are still a bright young woman, and as time goes on, things will become a lot easier.