confused - Brain & Nervous System Disorders Message Board

bagsey · 08-20-2009, 08:33 AM

hi there everyone its my 1st time so be gentle, i am 46yrs old and prior to this i was a stroke rehab nurse ironicaly, i July of 08 we had a rear end but at an angle if that makes sense accident we were stationary and the other driver used the accelorator rather than the brake, i was thrown about in the car in what i can only discribe as a flag waving motion i was knocked out and only came round in the ambulance when i thought another person was there as my speech was very slurred and my right side would not move double vision fitting , on getting to a+e and usual test done a dr tod us that i had probably had a clot but that it disipated before getting to the hospital, he then said oh youve had a stroke by the way.

6 hrs later my husband was told to take me home,yes i no i can hear you al screaming from england but that is the way we were treated my husband bless him tried his best but they just said because by this stage he was angry they said leave or we will cal security, so between him and my son they lifted me of off the bed and carried me out and home.

To cut a long story shorter i have been left without any form of rehab other than what ive done myself due to my previous job , within the last month i have finally been picked up by rehab to little to late but hey i have been left with right sided hemiplegia fully speech problems bladder function problems epilepsy mood swings a poor gait to name but a few walk in house with quad stick but drag my leg outside need wheelchair and only yesterday i fell trying to do the things i think i can still do but cant so my face is a bit of a wreck at mo.

For 13 months weve been told stroke stroke but now have had letter to say no no to stroke and my brain has had a shock can anyone please explain to me whatthis is and means as i have never heard of this terminology before today but apparently it gives the same symptoms as a stoke ANY infomation would be of great help i wish all of you the very best in the world and loads of possative thinking

feelbad · 08-20-2009, 10:12 AM

wow, what a freaking nightmare. can i ask just what real testing was done after in the ER to determine your real true extent and source of just what that doc "told you"' at that time was even a stroke and not something else brought on by trauma? just what types of real solid testing have you had done since this incident? i have absolutley no clue as to what a 'brain shock' actually is as far as what is it and how does it affect and impact you? i have worked EMS and was a firefighter for 14 years and have never once heard of this very pronounced type of symptomology you now have and did present immediatly post MVA actually.

now brain "trauma/injury" would fit much better and possibly, depending upon really the most here if you were or were not actual under your seat belt when this occured could be much more responsible for what you had as far as symptoms when you simply presented in the ER that day following the MVA. depending upon just how fast the other driver was going when you were hit and stationary too would really be the most critical part of just what your body and the brain actually absorbed as far as the kinetic energys involved when something going really fast just stops suddenly when it impacts a stationary object. you/and your body were that stationary object that the forces of that hit would have been transferred to, you know what i mean? this other driver could be solely responsible for what you are now left to have to deal with here.

it really sounds like the ER you went to was really sloppy at best when it came to really defining extent and overall mechanism of injury and allowing you to actually even leave that hospital at all given the condition you were in then. that really IS crazy in and of itself. i am wondering just what this "letter' was all about that simply gave you a totally different mechanism for your brain injury? was something tested or what here that finally gave them a clue that you did NOT actually have a freaking stroke after this time?

have you had at least a contrasted MRI done that actually shows just what is injured at the brain level at this point? have they ever bothered to also check out at the very least here your c spine area to jusdt see what is going on there that could also be injured just given how this occured in the first place?

like i mentioned above,i have NEVER ever in all the years i have actually worked trauma ever heard of having a brain bleed called some type of "brain shock". thats really insane to me. unless you do not actually even have any level of real brain bleed going on but actually even have these very pronounced symptoms? now THAT would be crazy.

i guess this begs the question here, did you actually suffer any level of true brain bleed? it is also very possible to have real bleeds within the c spine or the cord area too that could have impedded/impaired bloodflow to the brain? like you here i am just kind of confused as to how this whole thing has played out for you and what you just ended up with as far as losses/impairmens along the way from something called "brain shock"???????

what do you know definitely at this point as far as hard findings within your brain and the c spine area too? what has actually been tested with at least MRI and confirmed here as hard findings? and most importantly,do you yourself actually have all copies of every single type of testing result that they did on you? if not, you seriously NEED to obtain everything(just a matter of making some phone calls here). and i would also start with also obtaining ALL medical records from any and every doc/specialist that has laid hands on you since this MVA actually occured, including all ER records from that hospital.

just having all the docs/clinic records REALLY can be a goldmine of info for any patient when it comes to just finding out things that get placed in the dictation notes that are what your ongoing records actually consist of in a very big way. but more importantly, every doc has to give an overall 'impression" of that days visit and how they really see your situation. this is really what you need to see, the docs notes made after every single visit any doc actually has with you. i just have to do this for myself only becasue i have to see five seperate specialists to treat all my crap. it does help tons with trying to understand 'me' since my spinal cord injury kind of took 'me' away and changed everything about me and my life.

you just do deserve some real answers here and to find out the true extent of real damage and a good specialist who can just rx the appropriate types of ongoing therepies for you. alot of how this all goes would really depend upon your level of true injury. and i am just DYING to know exactly what IS a type of brain shock that could even begin to create what you have been living with here. that one i just do not get at all myself either. whoever it actually was who wrote you that letter simply OWES you a real explanation as to what that actually means.

i DO understand the complexities of various types of shock, that is what makes this so incredibly confusing. most types of shock get 'righted/resolved" with proper intervention or once the major reason is resolved. this is a whole different type of thing i have NEVER ever heard of, ever in all my years working trauma and actually dealing with different forms of shock. it just makes NO sense from that shock point of view, at all. i do hope you can get some answers here and things will still be able to get much better for you. pleasse keep me posted on all things, K? marcia

bagsey · 08-21-2009, 06:55 AM

hello and many thank yous for your reply, to answer a few of your questions re tests i had in a+e your er well i had bloods as usual and ct scan and that is that no xrays nothing oh just to let you no my husband says no neck brace or stiff neck was ever used on me on extracting me from the 4x4 i have been told i have brain damage with mild volume loss posteriorly in the left pre central gyrus and a widening of the adjacent sulcas with loss of definition of the adjacent cortex however now this will make you even more confused a report that i have states that on a sagittal brain view there is a hint of the sucal widening .

Other than this i am still suffering as well as everything else with neck pain shoulder pain and because it has affected my right side which i suppose is a blessing a i am left handed all the shoulder pain is affecting my left arm as im having to use it to compensate for no use in my right .

I was very much wearing my seat belt and i was aware of that tightening then nothing else the car that hit uswas a BMW3series new model so a powerful car my husband has told me that the driver admitted at the scene that he has been used to driving an Automatic however this car he was diving was a Manual gearbox hense he put his foot on the accelorator and not the brake , our only saving grace was that we were in a 4x4 the driver admitted to police that he was already speeding when hitting the accelorator , even the police say had he hit the brake a he should have he would have ended up under our jeep.

one of my blood tests came back with a raised level of Carbon Monoxcide however wwe are a non smoking house hold and were not sat in a smokey room but again this was never explained to us .

I am of the same opinion as you in not never ever hearing the terminology Brain Shock before , the NHS over here is not all that if you get my meaning at least its not anymore i worked for them since 1988 and you just watch the decline happen however as i find myself on the other side of the fence now doors are getting closed and ranks are being pulled yes they have admitted they have failed me however trying to prove it well thats another ball game and i am sure you will be aware of how the systom works within any medical establishment.

Getting back to your answers NO my C spine was not nor have they ever checked it to this day i was wondering that but over here you just cannot say i want a CT SCAN or MRI youd get laughed out the surgery however take this piece of information and see what you makee of it , i was sent to have some Physio NOT i may add for all my major problems but for the shoulder and arm and neck well had 1 session just info seeking 2 session this guy started to manipulate my neck /shoulder and i wnt out like a light he refused to see me or do anymore with me for fear of causing ANOTHER stroke as said for 13 months ive been told youve had a stroke and without a blink of an eye its now this mysterious brain shock.

Anyway i will have to end it there for today as my eyes are playing up great to chat to you and seriously many thanks for your input if you hear of or want to no more dont hesitate all the very best ....