Shw Remembers!

[AsianMusicGuy]

My girlfriend has lost her memory after a hard fall on her head and does not remember me at all ir anythung else for that matter is there anything i can do to spark her memory?

[MusicallyInspired]

Holy cow, AMG, your friends haven't had the best of luck lately have they? That must be hard on you. First you lose a friend and then your girlfriend can't remember anything.

[AsianMusicGuy]

It has indded been a tough year and I am not sure how I can help her its hard not being able to tell your gf you love them how can i help her and remind her

[JonWW]

The only thing I can offer as advice is, take things slow. Take her to places you have been before, like your first date. Don't rush her back to the level your relationship was at before, she will need time... I wish you the best of luck my friend.

[Spikey]

Depends on what the diagnosis is. Is the amnesia caused by traumatic stress or by physical damage to the brain?

[Blackthorne519]

Traumatic Brain Injury and memory loss is a gray area. The best you can do is to be available, I suppose.

Make sure to educate yourself to her condition as best you can.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traumatic_brain_injury
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesia

Here's some decent places to start.

Bt

[eriqchang]

OH my goodness- I just read this and my heart dropped. I feel so bad for you AMG! Please let me know if there's anything I can do to console you or help you in this time of need. I can't even imagine.

xo
- eriq

[DrJones]

This is so seriously sad and at the same time that cartoon-esque that it's hard for me to believe that things like this might happen to anybody.

Hope something can be done about it

[Solarkid]

Hmm, my mum went through something similar during her recovery from meningitis. She suffered complete memory loss for a while but slowly it came back to her. We were told by our doctor at the time that the best thing was to do and say things that we used to all the time before she lost her memory, sometimes repetitive tasks can unlock something buried deep, and once something is unlocked, a lot more stuff begins to come quickly. For example, i used to ALWAYS say "oh my word", so after she came out of hospital i said it as much as i possibly could and then one day she said to me "you say 'oh my word' a lot don't you?" and i laughed and said yes and then she suddenly described a scenario before she lost her memory during which i had said it, and i knew her memory was returning.

My mum didn't suffer from amnesia as such, we were told clearly by the doctor that she would definatly get her memory back, and that it was simply a temporary side effect of the illness, but we were told there were things we could do to speed up the process. Now I expect your girlfriend's memory loss may be more severe but i would have thought that the same techniques would help with her too.

I wish you the best of luck
Dave

[AsianMusicGuy]

OH my goodness- I just read this and my heart dropped. I feel so bad for you AMG! Please let me know if there's anything I can do to console you or help you in this time of need. I can't even imagine.

xo
- eriq

well i like to make or show her her memerys somehow your creative maybe you can help

[Fender178]

Sorry to hear about your gf. The only advice I could also add to what other people have said that if its a friend that you knew in highschool and you could show her a yearbook to show a picture of you which might help a tad. Or any recent picture of you will do but I thought that by showing her the yearbook might trigger something. Also like someone mentioned about the places you have been with her maybe if you had a favorite hangout place where you and her went all the time. Also keep repeating to her who you are.

[Klytos]

Just try to get her to fall in love with you every day, in a different way each day. Maybe you'll stick in her memory.

[Spikey]

BTW, I assume she is seeing a neuro-cognitive specialist who is assisting with the revalidation?

[Klytos]

ie: head shrink

[Spikey]

sorry, more a brain-nervous-system-shrink.

[Gronagor]

Heh. Brainiac should be able to tell us a bit more.

I'm assuming the doctors said it is ok to 'put pressure' on her this way?

Depends on which theory you believe in regarding how memory works.
I would personally go with the constructive type of idea.

If she has any memory of anything (no matter how small), you should work from that.
Show things relevant to that thing she remembered, and build from there. Everything is connected in some way.
(But remember, don't tell too much... she should remember it herself... she may have experienced it differently from her point of view)

Oh, and lastly, a lot of rest is important. Don't overdo it... the brain is still recovering.

[Brainiac]

Heh. Brainiac should be able to tell us a bit more.

Not really. My expertise is on the genetic level, not the physiological. Spikey's probably the better one for info in this regard.

[Alanor.]

Just try to get her to fall in love with you every day, in a different way each day. Maybe you'll stick in her memory.

+1

Sorry to hear that mate Can't give any medical advice, the doctors are probably looking after her right now and giving better advice. Just continue caring for her if you really love her for the rest of your life.

[Spikey]

Spikey's probably the better one for info in this regard.

Indeed, I've studied a lot of neurobiological psychology before I decided to go into the social psychology direction.

I know that it may be dangerous to 'put pressure' on somebody with amnesia if the nature of the amnesia is more on the side of posttraumatic stress than physical damage (though it's never really black and white), probably what Gronagor meant. Since we have not been given any information about the circumstances of of the accident, nor from what the specialist.

If it's more the physical damage which is causing the problems, the neural 'shortcuts' have to be established anew, which is quite a copmlex process to explain neurologically.

[AsianMusicGuy]

A update: we had biggest break through last night and she has some of her memory back and remembers me we are very happy now

[Fender178]

Congrats Mate. Hope the rest of her memory returns.

[DrJones]

Great to know she is better. I hope she recovers and you live merrily thereafter.

[Solarkid]

Thats really cool and im sure thats just the first step.

I'm so glad that shw remembers!

Dave