Concussions
and Memory Loss
By: Andy Stewart
Long-term Memory Loss
Long-term memory loss is a little more severe. Long-term is when it takes you days, weeks, or potentially years to recall a memory or an incident. According to doctors, though, long-term memory loss tends to be a good thing because the patient won’t remember the incident. I still suffer from long-memory loss where I wake up and it seems to me as if the day just flew right by, but it is actually my brain not being able to process what has happened during the day which is why I take a lot of pictures and I take a lot of notes because I am very aware of what is happening to me. After my second concussion I started noticing that my memory of a day was a little fuzzy. It is almost like my concussions have been sort of a blessing, though, because with this memory loss I only take in the information that is most important like what I learned in a class or if I have an important meeting.
Concussions have many effects on your mind and your body. Most of the time there is some type of amnesia that is endured.
“Anterograde amnesia (the inability to retain new information) and retrograde amnesia (inability to recall what happened before the head injury)” (Johnson 2010). Many times these symptoms are present either both or just one. I have experienced both of these multiple times. I have even witnessed my friends experience one of them. One of the soccer games in my junior year of high school, we were playing one of our biggest rivals and I was matched up with a kid about one to one and a half feet taller than me. Every time the other team would play a through ball in the air to him I would be the first one to touch it with my head. Not only was this good for me but it was good for him because every time we went up against each other in the air he would hit me either in the head or the back of the neck. The first time this happened he hit me and kind of threw me to the ground. I had blacked out for a second and was back up to take the free kick. The next time was during the second half. We went up for a header and he had one the one before but I had jumped just a little higher this time and won it. He hit me in the back of the neck and this time I knew something wasn’t right because I blacked out for a couple seconds this time and my head and neck hurt. So this was the point where I said I was done and stayed down. This concussion was one of those where it didn’t affect me except for the fact that I couldn’t remember what happened during the game before the second time I got hit. Amnesia is a serious effect that I have experienced too many times and I still experience it.
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White, James. "Education." Minnesota Epilepsy Group CONCUSSION Short and Long
Term Impact Comments. Minnesota Epilepsy Group, P.A., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.