I was in a car accident in 2012 leading to me having serious head injury. I have never been able to remember the accident so I guessed I was unconscious through it. I remember driving along the motorway which is where the accident happened so I guessed I remembered most of the time I was conscious.
Only I have found papers about my accident and read I had GCS of 13 at the time I had the accident so I guess that means I was conscious and aware of what was happening. It dropped down to 8 sometime after which is when I was in a coma.
I remember my mum was told when I was in the coma it was possible I may or may not remember what happened as the brain sometimes blocks out trauma to protect you. So I was wondering if it was common to remain conscious through an accident then lose consciousness? If anything I guess it is better I don’t remember the accident as I lost my dog in that accident and definitely wouldn’t want to remember him being killed.
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keeley24
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my partner has no memory of his accident. 5 years on. He has no memory of 6 weeks in hospital either. I think it is a blessing not to remember a trauma. We remember though!
Hi, sorry hear about what happened to you and your late dog. I totally understand what you are saying about not understanding what happened on the accident as I have gone through similar thinking about my accident which happened 5.5 months ago. I have no memory of what happened that night and I all I remember is being out with some friends and saying I had to go to toilets. I have no idea what happened to make me fall down stairs and have a TBI, which included 2 skull fractures, 3 brain bleeds, a fractured left hand side of eye socket, a massive chunk taking out of my head. I have no idea of what happened until my friends on the night out told me what had happened and what my partner has told me. I have no clue of being at deaths door twice, being in resuscitation, being on operating table or in a coma. All I remember is being in hospital 2 and a half weeks later. I asked my doctor and mental health nurse and you are right about brain stopping you from having trauma. I will never remember. The only thing that affects me now is when I hear or see and ambulance with sirens and blue lights on I get a shiver. That according to doc is my brain remembering only that part but still activates me to shiver as a trauma. I know you might think I'm not understanding you but I do. It's just your brain trying to help you cope with with happened and your consciousness was probably making you forget it too. I hope you feel in a lit of ways that are helping you and you manage to get the help you need to understand. Sorry if I was out of line. X
I was in a car V cycle accident. I had a GCS of 15 but have no memory of the accident or for around 48 hours afterwards and even then the memories are sketchy. I am told I was chatting and gave consent for the operation but I cannot remember any of it or of family and friends who came to see me in the those first few days. Eight years on that remains the same.
I have no memory of walking to the ladder and stepping on it .I was unconscious for a few minutes with Agonal breathing . I did eventually start to breath better and talked but don’t remember anything for a week Including one of the nurses who I had know 40 years from school and we are still friends now .. she was one of the nurses who were putting my neck brace on as I kept taking it off .. strangely enough I so wanted to remember all of this as I felt like I was in someone else’s body .. 2 years later and the want to remember has declined .although a small bit of curiosity still there unlike I was desperate to know for over a year …
I was told that the memory side of your brain isn’t needed at a time like this while it is working on recovery .. my memory day to day is still improving .. thank god for my diary ( my new brain ) sue x
I remember the accident I was in. I did not pass out and I did not go to the hospital. It seems I had some inflammation / axonal shearing - didn't show up til quite awhile later though, since I lived alone I didn't have the capacity to call an ambulance when I should have.
From what I understand the swelling after the incident can cause more damage/intense symptoms.
I didn't realize I had been in a coma at some point - home alone -til some years later, and only because I made a joke in a meditation session lead by a health professional , about experiencing being in the perfectly balanced blue twilight dome and not wanting to leave.
There were more memory gaps at first - like I completely forgot an ex husband. I knew I had been married before but didnt remember him. (So remembered some facts but no visuals or emotions to go with them.)A lot came back over time but there are still gaps. The 4 to 8 month period before the accident seems seems especially patchy but that might be because there were more clues around. (Receipts and such. And a couple of objects I don't remember buying.)
And then remembering things incorrectly due to gaps- like giving someone a previous phone number instead of a current one.
There are all sorts of variations as it depends on where the injuries are. Some people have major issues after going over a curb awkwardly on their bicycle slightly wrong, and some people crack their skull and leave the hospital 6 weeks later with no apparent dysfunction.
It is ok not to remember things. In some areas I think of it as a bit of a house cleaning, and definitely you don't want to remember some things.
I do not remember my accident (GCS 8, induced coma, etc.) nor do I remember my life before. I know my history but don’t remember it.
The 25 years since? Don’t remember any of it really, I know what has happened and if prompted can tell people, Clinical Psychologists, etc. - it's like going fishing, drop a hook and usually I will retrieve an answer.
In some ways this is good, there has been quite a lot of unpleasant stuff gone on the last 5 years or so, and as a result I am less effected. On the other hand there is important stuff that has to be done like appointments so I have to keep the letters in front of me for maybe a month or 2. It's a good job so much of life is automated nowadays, it's an even better job I seem to have been fairly lucky in accidentally ending up where I am.
It is unusual to remember anything about a TBI. The brain seems to block the traumatic event to protect your concious mind. I think that all the GCS stuff is pretty meaningless when it comes to your qualitative mental experience. Not remembering the death of a pet is evidence of that. Based on what you said it sounds like you do not have a proper memory of the event which I think is a mercy. I remember waking up a the bottom of the stairs with a fractured skull, but I don't remember falling down the stairs. I only remember getting the train a couple of days prior to waking up!!!
Whilst mine was a bleed, due to a AVM, the question of memory is still there.
From my experience it seems that having a memory may not be a good thing.
I recall my bleed happening but after that I do remember going upstairs, as I thought it was a migraine.
After that, apparent hallucination, with the vaguest memory of rushing to the bathroom, where I was found collapsed on the floor.
I find those memories can be very disturbing, as they are so dream like.
I was told by my consultant that I was assed as having no chance of survival when I was admitted on the specialist ward, well the equivalent of winning the National Lottery on 2 consecutive weeks.
However I recall becoming aware when I heard my name being spoken but I was unresponsive to light, pain etc.
I know this 'impossible' memory whilst very vague is accurate, as I was able to tell the doctor and nurse what questions my wife was asked.
It's not something I care to remember, so perhaps no recall may be best
My neurologist has written somewhere that gcs was between 10/15 moderate/severe I’ve been told I was speaking to ambulance crew if not making sense I was speaking and hospital induced coma but I have no memory of incident. My memory didn’t kick in until about a week or so after I woke from coma, I’d been walking around hospital talking to people but I have no memory of that?. It’s all just black , very strange sensation. i did recognise everyone but I still can’t remember incident.
hi I suffered a brain injury in 1992 apparently whe I was hit I kept repeating my nannas phone number over and over I was in a coma for months when I woke up didn’t have any memories of my life before the accident don’t know what they call it. Sorry to hear that you lost your dog they are so special to us take care
How do we know if we are conscious if our brain blocks us from trauma? I don’t have much recall of the day & night if my accident. It is patchy like holes are poked in the memory. I also don’t know why they let me drive home injured… I have zero recollection. I think I blacked out a full day or so. I can barely recall the 5 years before the accident & the last 6 years of my life. I still cannot figure out why I randomly black out during some movies (mostly those superhero ones my fiancé likes 🦸♂️ - maybe they suck Haha but since I blank out watching I’ll never know).
With a brain injury there is damage to the brain and depending on the type and location of the damage memory can be affected in many weird ways I’ve learned. It’s all so complicated since professionals don’t even really have the right tools to know what is really going on in our brains… a lot of that knowledge is evolving in the last few years and some things people have been told many years ago are completely wrong.
We do know the brain can protect you from trauma but in most cases it is the damage to the brain itself that likely stops us from realizing & later recalling what the heck is going on when it is in self-preservation mode (as the brain shuts down what it thinks is unnecessary at the time to fight to save itself). Hopefully as technology advances we will one day find out!
I often wonder when people look back on this current state of neurology & neuroscience 100 years from now if they will doctors are all idiots. 🤣 That’s how we look back at how every woman 100 years ago was ‘hysterical’ when they actually had many different illnesses or diseases.
hi I cant read all replies at the moment but your was closest to mine. What you say is interesting.
You reminded me of what it is like when watching tv. I also seem to blank out. I have to ask for it to be paused and ask a question. also if I re-watch it I do not remember seeing a lot of it. Ive got used to it now.
Awful for you Keeley 😪 You might be interested to know that the cause of my brain injury was very different to yours, I didn't have a traumatic accident like you, I had a mishappen at home, yet what i have to say about being conscious might be helpful in seeing how strange it seems to be... although I am not sure if it will be helpful... I will tell you and you can see!
At the time of injury I was not taken seriously and no scans were given. I was put on a long waiting list for a scan. Over a 3 month time span I gradually became iller and iller losing functioning until I collapsed. I was then scanned and they found bilateral acute and chronic brain bleeds. I became unresponsive and was operated on urgently. I had a few weeks in hospital. Throughout that 3.5 month period I lost a lot of memory yet on paper I was conscious. At home I have no recollection of being taken to places or having conversations or much of anything. In hospital I do not even remember a hospital transfer and second ride in an ambulance. I have no recollection of changing wards a few times and cannot remember the people I was talking with. It is confusing as I was conscious. Nowadays I have memory issues which I am told are more processing issues. The mind is so complex.
The impact of your injury and shock and coma has affected your memory and probably protected you at a horrific time. Your consciousness was not in the healthy range of consciousness so while you might even have spoken, you were not experiencing a normal consciousness. Imagine a bang to the head with concussion, concussion alone can make a person feel a surrealness to their reality, their consciousness is impacted. In your case, the GCS shows your deterioration which I guess would be a common response in this type of accident, to be conscious at the time then not.
It does give you food for thought when you have been through something so traumatic. But, I hope it isn't tormenting you. Very sad that you lost your dog.
after I left hospital was called to see a D.W.P inspector/ doctor. Asked my name date of birth? Because I could answer, signed me fit to work! 18 months later at appeal i wine 2x what point were required for long term illness benefits!! Seem normal until I either walk into something or speak?!! The buggers are laughing still, though thank god they declined me at the pearly gates!! Take care all..SMILE!!
I really do feel for people these days having to fight the ignorant and having to justifying everything to the finest detail. Although I'd rather not have had a TBI and carried on as the original me with the life that I was enjoying, it does seem that, compared to today, I had a no pressure run through the 80s with out of work benefits and then the 90's and beyond with DLA (until the dreaded PIP arrived). This all helped me get back to work in my own time (10 years in my case) and stay in work for 30+ years until Covid Lockdown happened and I chose not to return as I was passed 60 when I could retire from the Civil Service anyway.
I have no memory from about 22 hours prior to my TBI. The last thing that I remember is coming home at about 8pm Sunday evening (Motorcycle RTA returning home from work 6pm Monday). Next thing I was in and out of consciousness in Addenbrookes which must have been a week or so later after being transferred there? I wish I could recall what happened because I could handle the Honda 90 I was on (racing motorcycles at the time as I did which I had been doing on the Sunday) and on a sunny summer's day at low speed it was highly unlikely that I'd fall off without outside interference? Funnily enough my mum said that she did get a call from someone anonymous asking how I was (as a local sportsman my accident reported in the local papers at the time). Never had a similar call again. It sure leaves one of those loose ends as Lieutenant Columbo would say.
welcome, can go one better I actually made the Sun!! 4 weeks in intensive care again at Adambrooks back in 2000, 6 months in various hospitals. Hope u find support, humour here!! It’s a brain?! Saver keep safe & come back soon
Coma s ore? Who desides it? I was assaulted. I was knocked out. But not noticed I was missing. Only one witness . She say I was out for a couple of minutes . But how long before she found me in floor. ? Ambulance man asked me if recognised anyone looking over me. I says a name. So I was ok?. I was treated as drunk. I choke on my vomit in ambulance. But it's coz I was drunk they treated me like a drunk. . I was heamorage ing. You sound drunk when your brain is bruised. So if my score is low how can they determine the seriousness of the outcome by a score that could be unreliable?.
I was hit by a car doing 80mph while crossing a road can’t remember anything I woke up in hospital 6 months later thought I was at home still can’t remember anything life’s so cruel taking away your life and memories hope you are ok
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) sue x
Lyrics for those with a head injury
Post severe head injury 
