Symptoms after concussion

[StrikeBack]

Hello,
I'm trying to figure out what happened after a series of concussions I suffered over the summer (late July). Since none of my symptoms seem to line up with anything, it would be great if you could help.

Over the summer I had two concussions one day apart for each other. The first was a blow to the front of my head and I was unconscious for 3 1/2 hours. The second was a blow to the back of my head, were I was dizzy immediately afterwards (then it went away). After a few hours the dizziness came back and I had lost all memories of those few hours has well has my short term memory for the following 5h (according to a friend I was with).

The tricky thing comes with everything else that happened afterwards. I noticed after a couple days that my colorvision seemed off, that I wasn't seeing all the shades of all the colors. Example if you lined up 10 shades of grey I'd only see 6 if I was lucky. But its like that for every single color not just a select few. Which has made art class extremely difficult has well has reading on the whiteboards in my school. My other symptoms deal with memory lose. I noticed that for a couple months following the concussions I had lost parts of my vocabulary. Really simple words like "book" or "wait". Its gotten better but I still notice it. And also short term and long term memory lose. I randomly lose "chunks" of time, like days or sometimes weeks at a time. Typically it will be 3-4 days that will disappear with the longest noted time being 3 weeks (my friends and I can figure this out by tracing back the only gossip I can remember). Two other neat things are the short term and long term memory lose. After a certain amount of time events are completely erased or I have a very hard time recalling them. For example I was almost raped and I had no memory of this (again friends and journals). But that could just be "trama lose" or what ever its called. Though its more like I'm forgetting everything that happened 6 months back - to events that happened before my concussion (about a year and 1/2 ago).  And short term is well short term haha.

So to recap, symptoms were:
~strange color vision
~vocabulary lose
~disappearing time
~short/long term memory

If you could help that would be greatly appreciated.
~Thanks

[EdwardPB]

Your impressions, and Dr. Nee's comments, are a little misguided and misleading.
A concussion is not a diagnosis, it is an effect. A concussion is a description of the mechanical motion, and common associated symptoms, of general head trauma.
It's like calling an intestinal issue "IBS" or Colitis.
Those are very general terms covering a multitude of diagnosis.

If a concussion has occurred, it's important to determine any underlying injury. All potential issues as mentioned by myself, and DR. Nee, are possible as a result of a concussion. (or illness, or many other factors)

Your test for "serious" head injury is extremely inaccurate and dangerous. I can't even begin to list the many reasons why, and important factors missed.
However, any loss of consciousness, is considered major.

[StrikeBack]

I diagnosed concussion because I had pretty much all the symptoms of one. And I didn't go to the hospital for two reasons 1) I didn't feel like trusting my driving skills after that 2) I did a  typical test for "serious" head trama (watching what your eyes do, how long you can focus on things ext) so I knew it wasn't "serious" so I didn't think to go. I know thats bad but what can I say.
  
And your right I'd have to get some actual testing done before anything could be confirmed. But you still helped none the less. Thanks  

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
What you probably have is not concussion but damage to frontal lobe of the brain. Damage to the frontal lobe of the brain causes frontal encephalomalacia. This lobe is associated with mood and memory. Thus any damage to this lobe can lead to long term memory loss, mood swings, talking too much, and energy bursts leading to over activity. Long term complication is chance of schizophrenia.
Encephalomalacia is not an illness. It is basically a softening of the brain matter as a result of an ischemia or infarction, degenerative changes, infection, craniocerebral trauma, or other injury.  In your case it could be the blow to the front. Usually this is not reversible. Treatment is just supportive. If there is a clot blocking the blood supply then this can be treated. Please discuss with your neurologist. A MRI of the brain should be done. The blow to the back could be the cause for color changes and an examination of eye with focus on retina is a must.
It may also be concussion but chances are less. It is difficult to comment beyond this at this stage. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!

[EdwardPB]

First of all, where you hospitalized?
Who diagnosed concussion?
3 1/2 hours unconscious is a long time.
After the 1st, especially if unconsciousness and duration are accurate, you should have been in the hospital for at least 2 days. (actually ICU) MRI should have been taken immediately.

Epidural hematoma is almost completely ruled out, as you would almost definitely be dead after the 1st 36 hours. However, a subdural hematoma could have been present.

While there are too many questions unanswered, there is also too much that needs to be tested.

What you describe has a strong possibility of being post concussion syndrome.
However, X-rays-MRI-CT need to rule out fractures, previous bleeds, lesions, etc..