Being confused

[Dondags07]

Hiya

My partner had surgery 6 months ago to remove a colloid cyst. He has had post op complications such as Epilespy and short term memory loss. Epilespy is under control and the short term memory is improving slowly with therapy.

I have picked up more recently that my partner seems to misinterpret things that have been said but to the point where he has completely made up a totally unreal situation in his head and convinced himself of it. Some of the things he convinces himself of causes him stress so I have to reassure him a lot and make him see that what he is thinking isn't actually true.

Not sure if I'm explaining it very well but anyone had experiences with this? Should I be concerned that it could be another complication?

Thanks in advance x

[Bradybunch35]

Hi I think this is quite common.

We recently went to a wedding when we came home my husband said I really don't like Bob when I asked why he said he leant across me to greet someone else and didn't even say hello. I said that someone else was me he leant across to kiss hello and then he shook your hand.

It is very early days for your husband and it depends on the area damaged.

Maybe see if your husband can have speech and language therapy. The more therapy your husband receives the better his outcome.

Best of luck xx

[sammm2k]

My mum makes up things she believes to be real since her Tbi, some bits are real but in her mind where her brain is trying to piece it altogether, it becomes real to her. As for misintepret things, chances are he has CCD ( cognitive communication disorder ) speech and language therapy will help. If you need ask me anything please feel free & I will see if I'm able to help in anyway. I'm not professional but being a survivor of ABI myself & suffering CCD & my mum with TBI I have bit knowledge

Take care x

[cat3]

Dondags, this is a very common occurence after any type of brain injury. I had a brain haemorrhage 5 years ago and had everyone in stitches when I confabulated (once they knew it was an after effect of brain trauma, and temporary).

Funnily enough, I'm reading a new book ('Dancing with Annie') where confabulation is mentioned over & over in the earlier months after a brain injiury.

It isn't a complication as such, more of a memory issue which seems to resolve itself with time. It's apparently caused by gaps in the memory (common post BI issue) which our subconscious mind feels compelled to fill with all manner of nonsense.

Hope it resolves soon. Cat x

[Towards_Healing]

Hi. sorry to hear about your partner. It takes time to recover from any hit/surgery to the brain. May I ask why he had it removed? Was it causing problems? Do you know the size it was? I am asking because I found out via a brain MRI that I have a pineal cyst. Thank you, and good luck to you both.

[Dondags07 in reply to Towards_Healing]

Hiya

He was in the gym one evening as normal and suddenly collapsed. Completely out of the blue with no symptoms. He's a type 1 diabetic so initially paramedics thought he must have had a hypo but blood readings were fine. When they got him to A&E, he was really confused. When he collapsed he had knocked his head on a piece of equipment so they thought it was just the knock causing confusion but luckily they did a CT scan and they found a Colloid Cyst, was 1.5cm at that time but I know they can be bigger. Unfortunately his brother suffered the same thing but was never found until too late and the cyst burst and he passed away.

My partner had to have it removed as it was obstructing hydrocephalus. They found it was already causing pressure behind the eye so if left he would have probably died.

Some Colloid cysts can be in people forever without any problems, just depends where in the brain and if they effect the movement of hydrocephalus.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask as I'm more than happy to help x

[Towards_Healing in reply to Dondags07]

Thank you so much for taking the time to get back to me. Mine doesn't seem to create any problems at this time, although I am weary about it bursting, of course. I already had surgery for breast and colon cancer this year; frankly I was relieved that my doctors decided to wait on this issue. Hopefully I can go through life without having it caused any issues. One day at a time, right? Again, best of luck to you two. xoxo