# Can you get amnesia from a blow to the head? April 16, 2004 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 16, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396 "2004-04-16T17:57:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/1 "2004-04-16T17:57:48Z")
[Today’s Column:](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040416.html) Reading today’s column, and specifically the section about events triggering a total recall of sorts, something occured to me… Many mornings, when I wake up, I can’t really recall my dreams from the night before - I know I had them, and like a word on the tip of the tongue, they seem to be dancing just out of my memory’s reach. The more I think about it, of course, the less likely that I’ll remember. But very often, later in the day, something will trigger the memory for me. For instance, if I dreamed of driving down the road in an old baby stroller, the sight of a baby stroller will suddenly bring this crashing back to me. Or, more often times than not, upon seeing the stroller, I will realize that a stroller was in my dream, but it will take more “work” for me to get the rest of the dream to work itself out. The “trigger” is definitely a noticeable phenomenon for me - I’ve been walking down the street, totally focused on something else when a trigger (like said stroller) will present itself, and I will actually falter midstep while my brain processes this sudden burst of input - kind of like a mental “Whoa!” After a second of thought, I realize it’s related to “last night’s” dream, and start working on what it was the dream was about. At any rate, this long and ciruitous post really meant to ask… is there a relation between that type of dream-memory trigger and the amnesiac kind? Does anyone even know what I’m talking about? \ ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/2 "2004-04-16T20:16:26Z")
I got a closed-head injury in an automobile accident in June 1995. I was 32 years old at the time. I could not remember most of my life from 1985 until 1995 and what I did know was often delusional and I could not trust it. I also could not read or do math. I learned to walk without assistance and dress myself and feed myself over the next two years. My wife, God bless her, was my nurse and therapist and advocate. We live in a rural area and other than put me in a home there was no other choice. She helped me learn to read and do math and live independently again. I pretty much have a normal rage of memories, now. They returned in spurts that happened from time to time. In August 2003, I returned to school and I am studying civil engineering. I lost all of my working skills and accepted that I would have to start entry level. I have set the level higher than it was when I was twenty. I appreciate having been profoundly disabled and to have recovered so well. It has been a great adventure, an enormous opportunity for growth and personal achievement. Sometimes, I wish I had died by the side of the road. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/3 "2004-04-17T11:29:33Z")
Whereas I had the other sort. Playing football my senior year in college I took a shot to the head and my memory stopped writing for about 18 hours or so. The injury happened between 6 and 7PM. The last thing I remember is deciding to skip my 2PM class just at 2PM and then (other than some confused blurs) suddenly it was noon the next day and I’m in a hospital. I’m told I was awake most of that time but without short-term memory. I’d be continually surprised at being where I was and with who I was. Now, 15 years later the status of that hasn’t changed. It appears to simply be a part of my life edited out of my record-keeping mechanism. ---
**Author:** ![ehymel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@ehymel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ehymel)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/4 "2004-04-19T13:22:29Z")
My beef with Hollywood and closed-head injuries is that a single blow to the head often renders the victim unconscious. After a conveniently short time, the victim recovers fully. How severe a blow is required to knock someone out? Since this requires damage to the brain, how likely is it that the damage will be permanent? ---
**Author:** ![SlowMindThinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@SlowMindThinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlowMindThinking)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/5 "2004-04-19T20:24:37Z")
I can’t answer anyone’s questions here, but I do have a humorous story involving memory loss. Back when I was a graduate student in physics, a professor and we TAs were going over the students’ scores and assigning grades. The prof looked at one name, and said it looked familar. It turned out that she had taken the class before, from the same prof, but had been in a car accident and suffered a closed head wound. She had completely forgotten that she had taken the class before. She managed to get the exact same grade, a B+. I told her to double check her transcript for similar memory losses of other classes. Turns out, physics was the only thing she had forgotten. 😛 Might have been a blessing, if she hadn’t taken it again. ---
**Author:** ![watsondog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@watsondog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watsondog)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/6 "2004-04-21T00:49:39Z")
What’s especially annoying about Hollywood’s treatment of illnesses is that once a condition gets a lot of publicity, suddenly arrogant know-it-all boneheads come out of the woodwork claiming that the condition is all in the sufferers’ heads. I am constantly shocked and disgusted by people who think that any condition they don’t personally suffer from must be ‘imaginary’ or ‘psychosomatic’. My niece died because somebody thought her allergy was psychosomatic (“if we don’t tell her there are peanuts in it, she’ll never know!”). Yes, some people falsely claim they have allergies, but some (a lot of!) people falsely claim they have cancer, heart disease, etc. ---
**Author:** ![SlowMindThinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@SlowMindThinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlowMindThinking)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/7 "2004-04-21T18:53:50Z")
> [@watsondog](#): > > I am constantly shocked and disgusted by people who think that any condition they don’t personally suffer from must be ‘imaginary’ or ‘psychosomatic’. My niece died because somebody thought her allergy was psychosomatic (“if we don’t tell her there are peanuts in it, she’ll never know!”). Stories like yours always rip my heart out. I can’t believe anyone would be so insensitively self-centered to risk someone’s life because they “know better”. Your family has my heart felt condolences. I know it shouldn’t matter, but how old was she? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/8 "2004-04-23T01:25:12Z")
From Cecil’s article: > [@](#): > > Anterograde amnesia, by contrast, is a failure of the recording mechanism–new information never gets stored away. Memories that don’t get recorded are gone for good, but it’s possible to get lost pretrauma memories back. “Who am I chasing? Oh, this guy.” \ “No, he’s chasing me.” ---
**Author:** ![watsondog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@watsondog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watsondog)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/9 "2004-04-23T01:53:35Z")
> [@SlowMindThinking](#): > > Stories like yours always rip my heart out. I can’t believe anyone would be so insensitively self-centered to risk someone’s life because they “know better”. Your family has my heart felt condolences. I know it shouldn’t matter, but how old was she? Four years and three months. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/10 "2004-04-23T02:28:11Z")
No words. Just ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/11 "2004-04-23T12:46:32Z")
> [@hlanelee](#): > > I got a closed-head injury in an automobile accident in June 1995. I was 32 years old at the time. I could not remember most of my life from 1985 until 1995 and what I did know was often delusional and I could not trust it. I also could not read or do math. I learned to walk without assistance and dress myself and feed myself over the next two years. My wife, God bless her, was my nurse and therapist and advocate. We live in a rural area and other than put me in a home there was no other choice. She helped me learn to read and do math and live independently again. I pretty much have a normal rage of memories, now. They returned in spurts that happened from time to time. In August 2003, I returned to school and I am studying civil engineering. I lost all of my working skills and accepted that I would have to start entry level. I have set the level higher than it was when I was twenty. I appreciate having been profoundly disabled and to have recovered so well. It has been a great adventure, an enormous opportunity for growth and personal achievement. Sometimes, I wish I had died by the side of the road. **hlanelee** – you got guts. And I hereby nominate **hlaneleeWife** for SDMB Sainthood. ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/12 "2004-04-23T13:50:01Z")
**Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor** I got a good one didn’t I? We’ve been together now for 17 years, I would gladly kill or die for her. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/13 "2004-04-27T04:13:12Z")
> [@hlanelee](#): > > I got a closed-head injury in an automobile accident in June 1995. I was 32 years old at the time. I could not remember most of my life from 1985 until 1995 and what I did know was often delusional and I could not trust it. I also could not read or do math. I learned to walk without assistance and dress myself and feed myself over the next two years. My wife, God bless her, was my nurse and therapist and advocate. We live in a rural area and other than put me in a home there was no other choice. She helped me learn to read and do math and live independently again. I pretty much have a normal rage of memories, now. They returned in spurts that happened from time to time. In August 2003, I returned to school and I am studying civil engineering. I lost all of my working skills and accepted that I would have to start entry level. I have set the level higher than it was when I was twenty. I appreciate having been profoundly disabled and to have recovered so well. It has been a great adventure, an enormous opportunity for growth and personal achievement. Sometimes, I wish I had died by the side of the road. Good for you, bud. A question for you. Did you at any time post-accident not know your own name? Did you always recognize your wife? I ask because these sorts of things tend to be at the heart of soap opera amnesia plot twists. I took an undergraduate course in learning and memory and can remember the prof stating that a complete loss of personal identity is virtually impossible. I’ve had two episodes of post-traumatic retrograde amnesia, both of ten, or so, minutes in duration. You’re in an entirely different class and I salute you. ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/14 "2004-04-27T12:00:42Z")
Well **Monkey** , I am **TOLD** that I knew who I was but not what I was. For instance, once I thought I was a spy being held prisoner in the Soviet Union, for a couple of days I was an admiral on the starship Enterprise, I was a crewman aboard a submarine, I was a volunteer receiving artificial gill implants so that I could live underwater, get the picture. I trust that these stories are true, I do not know in 1995 the month of June did not exist. I knew who my wife was, I am told, she was the only person I would trust and she was asked to stay at the hospital because I became unmanagable in her absense. I was in the hospital 6 and a half weeks and she slept on a cot beside my bed for 6 and a half weeks. Last night, she asked me if I still loved her! I did believe that the woman down the hall, whose husband was recovering from a stroke, was my mother. Just to brag some, I am a recovering alcoholic, 17 years sober. I’m crazy, I have manic depression, which sometimes makes life difficult (I was diagnosed before the accident). And I have been brain damaged in an automobile accident. I do no have luck, I try to be prepared. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/15 "2004-04-29T01:02:48Z")
> [@hlanelee](#): > > Well **Monkey** , I am **TOLD** that I knew who I was but not what I was. Thanks for the note, **H**. I know what you were: You were a strong-willed human married to a champion. > [@](#): > > I’m crazy, I have manic depression, which sometimes makes life difficult (I was diagnosed before the accident). Well then here’s to the crazies! I’m a long-term chronic depressive (under effective medication, now), with a serious funny bone, and a techno-geek designer to boot. I wouldn’t have it (nor could I imagine it) any other way. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/16 "2004-04-29T02:58:48Z")
> [@SlowMindThinking](#): > > Stories like yours always rip my heart out. I can’t believe anyone would be so insensitively self-centered to risk someone’s life because they “know better”. ? Problem with allergies (and I believe it’s worst over here because there is much less fuss made about them) is that there are many different degrees of allergies. Nobody is going to take lightly “I’ve a cancer” or assume it’s a minor, unimportant cancer. But on the other hand “I’m allergic to whatever” will be assumed by many people as “I could have a couple pimples tomorrow if I eat whatever” not as “You’ll have to call an ambulance within five minutes if I eat whatever”. Statements to the contrary notwisthanding. I don’t have an allergy myself, but a former gf did, and having it taken seriously by strangers was always a major pain. Most just didn’t get it, or even were pissed off. ---
**Author:** ![robsawatsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@robsawatsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robsawatsky)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-amnesia-from-a-blow-to-the-head-april-16-2004/240396/17 "2017-01-24T17:31:16Z")
Re-starting comments on a re-visited article on amnesia. I’ve had two concussions that caused memory loss. 1. Minor concussion playing football (away from home) that caused just momentary loss for a few minutes (and a serious headache for a few hours). Couldn’t remember where I was and how I got there - but it returned. 2. Serious concussion due to a collision on a toboggan hill (so I’m told). Woke up in the hospital the next day and still couldn’t (and never did) remember the events several hours prior to the accident including immediate events for a few hours after I awoke in the hospital. The next several days I had this weird sensation when driving my usual routes that while I knew where I was going that the visual recollection of landmarks, buildings was of unfamiliarity. I also believe my spelling ability was affected even though nothing else intellectually seems impaired.