TBI and dementia

Last week I noticed a news topic about Traumatic Brain Injury and Dementia, and posted it on my blog.

This is a topic which has concerned many people over the years, but no one seems to know whether there are any links or not, so I guess the jury is still out on this one

Taken from an old blog

In the late 1970s, I fell around 15 feet and hit my head on the ground, and vaguely remember lying on the ground  thinking that my head had exploded before I passed out.

I don't have a clue as to how long I was out, but somehow managed to get up off the floor and staggered back to the office to see my boss,   and then went home, where my wife took me to the doctors

Later that day, I had the mother of all headaches, and was taken to hospital,  but after a few x-rays, I was sent home.

My wife said that the doctors did not seem too concerned, because she had rushed me in by car rather than calling an ambulance

The hospital that night was also very full, of people waiting to be seen, and these two doctors were rushed off their feet.

However sometime later, I was asked by a different doctor, why I had not been sent for a scan to look for brain injury, but it appears that this never happened

The following day I looked like a panda according to my wife, as I had two enormous black eyes, and a headache which felt as if my head was splitting open.

After contacting the hospital, I was told to take paracetamol.

A few years later I drove through a set of traffic lights, and had no  knowledge of what I had done, which was very distressing because my young  daughter was in the car at the time.

I had driven for two miles, but had no memory of having done this at all, however after speaking to our family doctor, I was then referred to our local neurological hospital and had a lot of tests, after which I was diagnosed as having absence seizures, which caused havoc at work, because of my electrical work etc

I found myself restricted in everything I was allowed to do.

When the Lewy Body Dementia was diagnosed around 10 years later, we were told that there was no sign of me ever having these seizures which came as a shock.

This left me a little concerned, as I could not understand how you could be diagnosed as having something, and then the same hospital department overturned the original diagnosis.

We were told by one doctor, that it could have been the Lewy Body Dementia in its early stages, something that another consultant later over ruled.

Last week

Last week we had some friends staying with us, and this topic raised its head.

I was amazed to hear that this old friend had,  had the same experience years ago, and has had seizures etc which are now controlled, but also has dementia.

Her husband and my wife were talking about the day after each accident, when we had both woken up with huge black eyes?

Although we had not met at the time of our accidents and they were not linked, it was strange to hear this, after all of these years.

I was on medication for two years to control these seizures, and had been told to stop driving etc, and take things very easy, because a bang on the front of the skull could be dangerous.

Whether there is a link between TBI and dementia, we may never know, but only time will tell, but I have heard of many people who had head injuries who went on to get dementia.

These days we are hearing quite a lot about sports personalities like rugby and football players going on to get dementia after head injuries, so I am starting like others to ask if there is a link

     

Coincidence or what?