Blacking out

OK, i have a close friend who was thrown against the side of a concrete pool and she had serious head trauma, resulting in temporary amnesia, she went into the hospital and fell into a light coma, when she woke up they performed surgery and had to remove the excess fluid around her brain because it had swelled really bad and had caused amnesia, speech deficiencies and loss of motor skills, after she was released she seemed fine and everything went back to normal but just recently she started passing out at random again; in the middle of conversations, sitting in the classroom, walking around, shes not anemic, and she doesn't have low blood pressure, no rapid movements or sudden changes of position. My question is, first, is this normal after a head injury and it just takes a while to go away? or could there be more to it, if so please give details. Im really worried about her so if anyone can help you can ask how to contact me

[PaulMD]

Hi.

It is very hard to pin this new series of events solely on her previous history of trauma but it is a possibility.  During the injury, some blood vessels supplying blood and oxygen to the brain may have sustained injury causing narrowing of their lumen.  This will make the person prone to sudden loss of consciousness.

Other arteries supplying the brain would also have to be checked, such as that of the carotid arteries passing on both sides of the trachea.  These vessels can usually be evaluated by using an angiogram, the classical angiogram or through magnetic resonance angiogram (MRA).

Another possibility is that this can be a form of seizure.  In this situation, she may have to be evaluated through an EEG and receive medications if indeed these are seizure equivalents.

Regards.