Let me begin by saying that I don't know if my answers are "common" and happen to every TBI victim. But I do know that I suffered from them after my own injury, and there is substantial research available online for them, so clearly the symptoms aren't solely isolated to me alone. Specifically, the first symptom is (1) memory loss. After asking I had zero memory capacity for about 5 months. Then very poor memory for up to 2 full years. Even still, 6 years later, I'm not confident my memory is fully restored. (2) The most noticeable side effects for me is my right side peripheral vision loss, so I can longer drive or play most sports. (3) Third most noticeable are muscle spasms and involuntary muscle flexion. (My left bicep, shoulder, and ring finger, as well as my jaw all flex involuntarily throughout the day, every day). (4) Perhaps most concerning for third parties is the reduced emotional control and stability. These days I can get really irritated by seemingly irrelevant, almost unnoticeable factors. What's more, during my five months of no memory, apparently I flew into uncontrollable rages for no reason whatsoever and thus alienated some of my best friends from college. (5) Lastly, I incurred seasonal allergy symptoms despite not ever having allergies to anything before. I take some OTC allergy treatmen meds that do seem like they work, so unclear if it really is allergies or not. Also I think that this last symptom is the least likely to be a common problem for TBI victims, but I bring it up because I think alterations in a person's immune response and general body functioning is likely quite ubiquitous. Hope that helps!

Answer transcribed from the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.brightwayhealth.org/podcast-episodes/10%3A-symptoms-%26-approaches-to-care-after-brain-injury-with-speech-language-pathologist-amber-kloess" target="_blank">Brightway Answers interview with speech-language pathologist Amber Kloess</a>: As a speech-language pathologist, I see a number of symptoms unfortunately but I'll talk about the most common ones. The biggest thing I look at when I first meet a patient is their attention - so are they able to focus on one thing at a time.&nbsp; It could be two minutes, it could be a half hour.&nbsp; I look at if they’re able to switch between tasks, like if you were working on an email, could you pick up the phone and call someone and then go back to writing that email after.&nbsp; There's also multitasking.&nbsp; So if you're cooking dinner, are you able to hold a conversation with your spouse or significant other? Secondly, memory is a huge component of cognitive communicative functioning.&nbsp; There are different types of memory: immediate, short-term memory, or delayed recall can be a huge challenge and then also the long-term memory side. For cognitive communication, executive functioning skills are huge, and this is where I see a lot of deficits.&nbsp; Executive functioning skills are housed right in that frontal lobe of the brain and can encompass a lot of skills: planning, initiation, problem solving, organization of thought, judgment.&nbsp; Being able to judge a situation is very important in life and often brain injury survivors aren't able to do that.&nbsp; Reasoning, impulse control, time management, and awareness.&nbsp; There’s also metacognition, which is the awareness of one's own thought processing, so like knowing what you know - and that can be a challenge too. Another big thing I work on with survivors is working memory - being able to take in information, manipulate it in your mind, and then express it in a different way.&nbsp; So for instance if you read a news article you can hold on to that information and maybe you're able to answer questions about it later - that's working memory. Two other common things are cognitive rigidity and cognitive fatigue.&nbsp; Cognitive rigidity is the inability to be flexible, so adapting to new situations or understanding the perspective of others.&nbsp; That's one of the biggest things that I see in my rehab practice.&nbsp; Cognitive fatigue is if we work a muscle hard enough we're going to tire it out.&nbsp; Our brain is like a muscle, so we can get what's called brain fog.&nbsp; I’ll talk to my patients about when to take a break and for how long in order to recover to be able to go back to what they were doing.

Speech-Language Pathologist

What are the most common cognitive symptoms caused by brain injury?

First, like Mrs. Mayya, it would be helpful to know what type of injury he suffers from. Secondly, assuming his vocal chords are fully healthy, the only other possible physical disablement that may be causing him to not speak would be his breathing and lung capacity. However, if that's alsi fully functional and his lack of speech is purely voluntary, an unwillingness, then there's only two things I could suggest. (1) The first, less aggressive, approach would be to simply play some music he likes and sit in the room with him and start singing along. This would encourage him to start singing as well, and that would work as a way to get him to restart using his vocal chords, but without any obligation. That is,  just by singing along, his words don't have any "consequences", so he shouldn't be afraid to say them. (2) The alternative, less pleasant and more aggressive approach would be to give him two options, but he needs to speak to tell you which he chooses. Along the same lines as the music choice, that could be as simple as telling you which band/CD he would like for you to put on. And don't hold up the CDs, but just lost the options and ask him which he'd like best. Then, instead of just pointing at his choice, he would actually need to speak and tell you his choice! Worst case scenario he still refuses to talk, you might need to use some more aggressive mean. For example, the two music choices are one band he really likes, and one he really hates. If he refuses to talk, then put in the one he dislikes, and let him kno that he can simply tell you to switch, but only by using his voice. Of course, you should only use this option after trying the other ones, and even then, only once all physical inability reasons have been definitively ruled out.  Hope this helps, and best of luck Moniquebtown!

Thank you for the question. May I ask what type of injury? That would lead me in the right direction to answe. is there voicing? How is his comprehensio? respiratory status? Looking forward to your response.

speech language pathologist

My 20y/o son is 22 months out from date of injury and is still nonverbal. His vocal cords have been scoped and show no sign of injury. He can communicate with his hands. How can I help him to regain speech???

How to help with return of speech

One of the only known ways to improve memory capacity in the large picture is by doing daily meditation. It's been scientifically proven that meditation increases brain health, both for memory capacity and for problem solving. For more immediate memory results, simply repeat to yourself in your head (or by saying it out loud if there's no one around) the thing you want to remember. And for somewhat intermediate-term memory, simply write down all your thoughts on other, unrelated topics so you can clear your mind and focus only on remembering the things that are most immediately needed.

I read a lot. It uses my memory muscles and helps improvement.

We need to view the brain as a muscle, and unfortunately short-term memory is often the thing that goes first.&nbsp; With brain trauma, long-term memory is usually preserved and short-term memory is the one that's affected most. I recommend external aids like calendars and writing things down.&nbsp; I would use color associations - let's say writing something in one color and another task in a different color.&nbsp; This allows you to use the artsy ability of the right visual hemisphere and we're applying it to memory.&nbsp;&nbsp; I would also use verbal reminders.&nbsp; For example, you could tell Alexa to remind you about a certain thing. And I know it seems vague and open, but try to be aware and take down notes to help yourself memorize a little bit better. There are a lot of apps that you can try.&nbsp; There's something called Tactus Therapy, which is a wonderful app that lets you work on a number of different disorders.&nbsp; You could try Lumosity, which is a cognitive type app.&nbsp; You can also check out Brain HQ and Constant Therapy.

It seems like I can't remember or retain information, especially when trying to remember, problem solve, train people, run a business, etc.

How do I improve my memory, problem-solving, etc.?

So, although I did suffer from short term memory loss for quite a while, and unfortunetly do still on random occasions, one thing I've practiced that helps is daily meditation.  Whether or not meditating can truly target the underlying problem is unknown to me, but it is well known that meditation helps improve memory in general.  So whether or not it cures the underlying problem, at least it should help remove the undesired memory loss symptoms.

My husband is also 2.5 years out from being diagnosed with TBI. It went undiagnosed for a little over six months because I could not get doctors to listen to me. Something wasn’t right. A neurologist told me he just needs to take a nap every day.&nbsp;&nbsp;Finally we found a wonderful doctor and my husband has brain injury therapy twice a week. His biggest issue is short term memory loss. The therapies twice a week have slowed it down.

I am 2 1/2 years out from severe TBI and memory is my most profound Disability… In many other ways I can cope but when I just don’t know what’s happening everything falls apart. I think what you may be experiencing is now you are becoming aware of a lot more and becoming more normal and you’re noticing how much of your day you are not remembering… Because there is more in it? I have the same experience where I feel like some of my symptoms are more pronounced recently and they were before… And I think it is just because I am awake for a lot more of the day and I’m trying to do a lot more and so I tired myself out… Which is another profound affect is constant fatigue at least for me.I am so sorry that you have join this club but I am glad that you are learning about stuff in a way that is useful I hope

I am a survivor of a TBI, almost 4 months have passed since my incident. It seems as if my memory was not bad when coming out of the hospital but as days go on its becoming worse and worse...quickly. If anyone else has experienced this and has found some way to control it/slow it down/exercise my memory to help please let me know...i think all of us can say that we have gotten fed up with atleast one side effect from our TBI...well i am with this, its affecting my entire life down to gettinh arrested a few nights ago without ANY recollection of what happened leading up to my arrest. Its hard to tell people you really dont remember......but i really do not remember!! Please what did you do without sounding like your losing it??

AveryCave's Answers

What are the most common cognitive symptoms caused by brain injury?

How to help with return of speech

How do I improve my memory, problem-solving, etc.?

Does anyone else experience severe short term memory problems?