I began a short story based on a dream, racing in a truck through mud. I was a younger man, 18 or so, with a friend driving. Ended in a crash. The problem is not thinking of a brain injury or problem from the crash, but a potential reversal of a previous mental issue...why do I need that? Because when I started writing the story, the voice I used (1st person) has been widely thought to be the voice of someone who is mentally handicapped. And I can see it, very simple lines of thought and interpretations of situations, not without clear insight, but with a voice so simple it makes the MC seem either many years younger or mentally handicapped. So...if I want to keep the unique voice, I need to fix him toward the end or explain it in some way...Anyone know of any potential long term (if untreated) cognitive block causing syndromes, diseases, can it happen with a brain injury and be reversed quickly? Should I just hang the sense of it and make it work? Thanks.
you're asking in the wrong place... need to ask a neurologist... you can find plenty of better places to be asking this if you simply google for 'neurology forums'...
Then what specifically is this the purpose of this subforum? What you said could probably be said about every question in this subforum. How many baseball bat blows until death and blood and brains, find a criminalistics forum. Habitable moons, find an astrophysics forum. Burn victim, get burned. Seems kinda irresponsible to join a forum just to ask one question, that's why you can't even post a story here until you've posted two reasonable critiques and 14 other posts, so we don't just have people looking for critiques, no one wants a forum member who does not contribute. Wikipedia and the other neurology places I've looked are pretty deep, and I couldn't find much during my couple hour breadth-first search. Just wanted to ask here before I dug into textbooks worth of information that might not be of use. Was hoping someone might have something constructive to say. A mod is free to delete this thread if they really feel it won't go anywhere.
I'm a psych student, I've taken stuff about neurology, so I'll weigh in. What you're describing is pretty much impossible to happen neurologically. Brain damage can recover, but most recovery occurs right away, and by 6 months later what you've got is pretty much what you're always going to have. And certainly a second brain injury is only going to make things worse, not better. A few thoughts, though. Firstly, you may want to research somatizing disorders. Some of the symptoms can mimic neurological problems, but will spontaneously disappear as soon as the psychological need for them has passed, regardless of time. Although the tendency towards somatization (turning psychological problems into medical issues) will remain. Secondly, what if he's drunk or high? Maybe that could explain the simple voice. It could also account for the crash, if his friend was similarly impaired. Thirdly, maybe you could go with that and write a mentally disabled protagonist. Could be interesting. Fourthly, what if you make it a fantasy story and something supernatural happened during the crash? Maybe the crash awakened some kind of hidden powers in him, including new mental powers that correct his mental disability.
Ah, thanks a lot for the reply. As for that last part, it was my original intent to have something supernatural during the crash...should probably go back to that. I appreciate your input.
I work in a rehab hospital that deals specifically with brain and spinal injuries. I'm going to agree that what you see is pretty much so what you get by six months, but there are some phenominal processes the body goes through during healing. I also know that medicine is an art sometimes, not a science and that humans shock doctors often. I could regale you with examples, but you may want to PM me for those, as this is such a public venue and HIPAA makes me cautious and overly protective of my patients.
There are many cases of stroke victims who have speech problems and will make a complete recovery, without explanation, in around 3 - 4 months. But like the above said after a 6 month period, what you see is what you get. In any case it requires extreme therapy at all times. I studied to become a speech language pathologist for about 2 years and we studied stroke victims a lot, since the field has become important in their recovery.
The brain is an interesting organ that acts like the computer to the human body. There are several different disorders and happenings that can cause memory loss and also damaging effects. Some of them are 99% reversable and some of them are only less than 80% Injury to the head or to the brain can cause amnesia and lack of function to different parts of the body. Depending on what you are looking for when it comes to disorders will point you in the right direction. Start researching on brain disorders and/or injury that lead to brain and nervous system disorders.
