Asperger's and Brain Concussion

[Sportster]

. . .

 

[tlc]

Not sure specifically about AS, but I've seen many documentaries that describe how injuring your frontal lobe can totally change your personality, to something like being autistic. This is often the part that gets injured in a car crash or whatever.

I've taken some good hits over the years but never ended up in the hospital for anything. But it's very likely possible that things have gotten cumulatively damaged. For example I've been hit in the head with steel beams at work enough to bleed. (It's not a hardhat job.) I've been hit in the head by a car wheelwell that came down when the piece of suspension holding the jackstand failed. I've taken some pretty hard punches in the head from school bullies. And the worst is when I was a teen, I was stupid and took a corner too fast with my bike, hit a curb and got thrown off over the bars. I could actually feel my brain slamming around inside my head as I rolled quickly over and over. Somehow my bike didn't bend the rim and I didn't bleed and was able to ride away.

I am pretty sure now that I was AS from a young age, but perhaps these things just added to it.

 

[Ereth]

If you really want to be sure, Sportster, you could try consulting the appropriate doctor . . . but I don't know if one news report is reason enough to go on.

 

[Sparticus]

3 weeks in the hospital...if you had serious trauma to your brain that could be something you can look into.

Great question/s and not sure I can add to this conversation in a scientific way. Not sure how many concussions I've had. When I was 16, a 6'6" policeman "helped" me understand his "polite" words by breaking my nose and eventually I went to the hospital for surgery. In boxing I suffered one [ or two.] Got knocked down in the ring a few times though usually I stayed on my feet. Had headaches and sharp pains in my head for weeks after tough sparring sessions with my trainer [a Golden Glover 2nd place winner who occasionally used me as a sparring partner when he was tuning up for a fight.]

Don't think I ever had a concussion from football or all of the other dangerous stuff we did. Jumping off bicycles going down a hill, smashing headfirst into a brick wall because our snow sled leapt over a sidewalk...we couldn't stop the sled.

In another altercation, a larger opponent picked a fight & sucker punched me breaking my nose [again] and my cheekbone. I covered up and didn't fight back because he was a family member and I was afraid the fight would get worst if I fought back [in the future he attacked me again & lost-I regret that to this day because I kicked him down 3 flights of stairs.] I don't think I had a concussion but I had 2 black eyes from that and went to the hospital.

I fought off a gang when I was about 25 but wasn't knocked out. I was in the wrong area at the wrong time and got punched in the head though I was able to cover up and block most of the punches. I didn't go to the hospital.

In another fight [duh] after a car cut me off and the guy gave me the finger, at a red light, I jumped out of my car and smacked him in the face [me? I'm usually a peacemaker but was a young man who had a bad day at work] with a larger guy who I found out later was both a wrestler and street fighter. He grabbed my sweater and pulled it over my head while throwing solid punches at my head. Then I threw him off of me. Ripped my shoulder throwing him off of me but the fight ended. When I got home I had a headache/felt numb and needed to recover in bed. He hadn't knocked me out so I guess it was no concussion.

Maybe the only concussion/s I've had was from boxing. I believe part of my memory might have faded a little from trauma to the head. Aside from broken ribs, I never got knocked out in Karate. One time on my brothers motorcycle I had an accident & flew off the bike headfirst into a metal fence pole. It wasn't a concussion but I needed surgery on my face.

This could be something you could ask your doctor especially the truck and motorcycle accident. Wow you had some life Sportster! Sporster you have the concussion record here. A medical person might have said the dangers accumulate after every concussion?

 

[Aspieistj]

Wow!!! Are all Aspie males so prone to getting into tuff situations? My mother often told me that when I was an infant my brother dumped me out of my carriage and onto the ground or possibly the sidewalk.

 

[Sparticus]

Nightstick-ouch! Half a nightstick in your hands...double ouch! That could have been a concussion. I had an amateur nightstick that was pretty strong wood. Maybe you are just a large fella with a hard head? Once when I was 16 my friends and I were camping. Suddenly a few older guys appeared and partied with us. They told us they were living on top of the mountain.

As they were leaving the largest guy slipped while crossing a small stream. Fell very hard on his head. Said "ouch" and continued walking! Most people would of been ready for an ambulance. Love your stories. Hope no permanent damage happened.

ROFL!!! I'm not the only one that has had "some life." It sounds like yours was quite colorful. The incidents I posted were just a few. I left out all the other stuff, though one of the most amusing was the night I knocked myself out with my nightstick. You've probably seen cops twirling their nightsticks as they walk the beat. My dad used to do it. Well, I came in liquored up one night and decided to practice. My roommates found me lying on the floor wearing only combat boots and boxer shorts with half a nightstick in my hand. Somehow I twirled the thing up and hit myself in the back of the head. They put me in bed and left me there. As far as I know, that could have been another concussion.

Seriously, I've never been checked, but I'm sure I'd probably benefit from getting a brain scan or something to see if there is some permanent damage. I see people like Muhammad Ali, pro football players, etc. that have had brain injuries throughout their careers and what they're like today and it makes me wonder.

 

[tlc]

Oh yeah I forgot about the time when I was about 2 or 3 I tried playing horseshoes like the big people. Ended up swinging it up and dropping it on my head.

Then this time I was running through grandma's closet (it spanned 2 rooms and was cool) like I wasn't supposed to, and hit my head on the corner of her cedar chest. I just remember seeing a flash of light when it hit, then the area above my eye was black. No blood either case. Guess I've been lucky that I just hardly ever bleed.

 

[Sparticus]

Oh come on! I saw a picture of you and I think you said you were 6'1" or so. Hmmm; anyhoo you make me laugh.
Embarrassment-whenI was a photographer for a newspaper, the reporter went with us on a rafting trip with 100 people. Really good guy but he drank too much. 3 guys wanted to beat him up and when I saw one of them throwing a kick at him I stopped them.

Next morning when I woke up he wasn't in my tent-I had room for 4 people. Instead he was sleeping around the campfire as everyone was eating breakfast. I took a picture of his sleeping figure around the campfire. But decided not to show the editor the picture. I didn't want to embarrass the writer. Sportster you would have fitted right in with my neighborhood!

Nah, I'm a small fellow with a big head . . . a bony, thick head. The most bothersome thing of that incident was the embarrassment of being found in that condition by my roommates. If that were to happen today, it would show up on Facebook, YouTube, and who knows where else.

 

[Loomis]

I was unconscious for three hours and went into convulsions from an athletic injury when I was 16; an ambulance took me to the hospital. I believe I recovered completely without any residual effects but I can't really say with any conviction there was no change.

 

[Nitro]

I got a bit past a concussion with my TBI...my studies of the brain led me to autism as I searched for answers about my speedy recovery...The AS and TBI have many parallels.
I have read that a TBI can "enhance" autistic abilities...I actually think being autistic has helped me thru my recovery.

 

[Autism]

Autism does help, I am always amazed how I find new labyrinths in my brain I was not aware of. So many areas not known to myself and certainly knowledge I would not share with the ones who have no clue in the first place.

 

[Daniel]

Wow, this is neat that this thread came up... I gave myself a concussion and whiplash four days before the first post in this thread! I had just moved into my new basement apartment, which has some low ceilings. I was expecting my new bed from Ikea to be delivered, and when the phone rang I was busy on the other side of the apartment. I ran to answer it and smashed the crown of my head on a dip in the ceiling. I managed to answer the phone, but it took me three hours to build the bed and finally lie down.

I slept for most of the next day, and I was in pain for most of the next three weeks. It wore me out to read or think too much. I'd have to leave work early to come home and nap for a few hours in the afternoon.

I'm not in pain anymore, though my neck is in rough shape. Weirdest part--my short-term memory is unusually bad. I had a three-day weekend, and when I went back to work, the previous three days were a total blank. My mind is still kind of sieve-like these days, but I think it's getting better. Or maybe it's not and I just forgot.

If Asperger's made any difference, it was probably in the areas of sensitivity to light, sound, and being around other people. I'm already sensitive to those things, and the concussion amplified it.

I was telling my family about it today, and it turns out that when I was two years old, I was in the backseat of a car that stopped suddenly, I was thrown headfirst into a metal bar. I also had a concussion when I was five--I slipped on ice and struck the back of my head. We went tobogganing, and on the way home I threw up all over myself. (I remember that day quite vividly! Still remember the pain and nausea.) I had headaches in the back of my head for a few years after that.

According to my chiropractor, I've had whiplash multiple times. I can also recall a couple of times I got hit in the head by baseballs, but only this recent one and the one when I was five really felt like brain-bruising concussions with lasting effects.

 

[Time of the Butterflies]

I have gotten two what have been called "minor concussions" while snowboarding. It probably did something to me, but I don't really know.

 

[Progster]

I had a mild concussion once when I was knocked down by a car, but I really don't think it had any lasting affect on me.