How to Experience Long-Term Recovery From Concussion-Related Memory Issues

Do you have trouble remembering what you did a week ago? Maybe you can’t even remember what you did a few hours ago. Tired of having to write everything down to remember it all? If you’ve had multiple head injuries in the past, you may be experiencing memory problems. Cumulative head injuries affect our memory centers, and the more injuries we suffer, the worse it can become.  

We know it can be scary (and embarrassing) when you can’t recall as quickly as you used to or even recall at all. It can also be frustrating if you’ve received treatment for multiple head injuries but you are still symptomatic. This can also lead to concern over the possibility of your memory declining which can make you anxious and fearful for the future. 

There is hope though. You are not a lost cause and you are not too far gone. Our brains can repair themselves given the right tools. Let’s take a look at how our memory centers work and how brain injuries directly correlate to memory loss and other issues, along with the best options for lasting recovery.

Your Brain Can Rewire and Repair

The wonderful thing about the brain is that it has the ability to form new connections. We call this neurogenesis or neuroplasticity. Your brain is constantly forming new connections and building new brain cells.

Now, imagine how active your memory centers are—they are rapidly building new memories all the time! This is great news but it comes with a caveat. Since our memory centers are the most involved with neurogenesis, they easily become an issue with cumulative brain injuries.  

Now the degree of plasticity issues determines the degree of memory issues, so it’s not so much a decline or excessive breakdown of memory you are experiencing, but a problem with buildup.

You see, buildup and breakdown happen all the time, even in healthy brains. This is called anabolism (buildup) and catabolism (breakdown). Both are okay in a normal brain; in fact, we want them to be equal. Ideally, buildup should happen a little faster than breakdown. But when you suffer multiple head injuries, the buildup and breakdown are imbalanced and you’re not building things as well as you could.

But, it goes a little deeper than this. Brain injuries are actually causing an imbalance in the hormones that are supposed to tell the brain to build new connections.

The key to long-term recovery then is balancing the hormones that manage neurogenesis so you can get things building again.

Emotions All Over the Map? It Could Be Your Limbic System

We’ve talked about how concussions can affect your memory centers due to imbalances in neurogenesis, but another dynamic is at play here.

Do you ever have days where you feel like you’ve lost the quality of your life? Frustrated that you’ve lost your brain function and can no longer enjoy your life? One day everything seems good and the next you are hoping to have enough energy just to get out of bed and into your normal routine. 

First, we want you to know that this is perfectly normal and you are not crazy. What you are feeling is real and it makes sense. Here’s why this may be happening…

Let me introduce you to the limbic system, the emotional or trauma center of the brain.

The limbic system’s job is to protect you from reliving a past trauma (kind of like an overprotective mother who followed you around every day to make sure you were okay!). While protecting you is good, the limbic system (like your momma) goes into “overprotective” mode during what it considers a trauma. 

If you’ve had a concussion, you may have felt like you lost your life—which is actually a trauma. A trauma is defined as an event that causes us to lose function or lose a sense of who we are. 

Your limbic system is like a robot that is programmed to protect you at all costs, even if that means hijacking your memory center. Yes, that’s right, when your limbic system detects dangers and threats, it becomes overactive in an attempt to keep you safe by preventing you from reliving (and remembering) that traumatic memory again. But this protective mechanism goes too far and affects your memory centers. 

That’s why people with post-traumatic stress suffer from fragmented memories around the event and even after. These memory issues can alter:

• Conscious memory retrieval
• Word retrieval
• Episodic memory (you don’t remember where you put things)
• Long-term and short-term memory
• Prospective memory (loss of memory around carrying out future events)

How do you know if your limbic system is hijacking your memory centers and contributing to memory loss? You can actually measure this. Here’s how…

How to Restore And Repair Memory Problems From Brain Injuries

So, here’s the good news and the bad news…

The good news is that here at Neurvana Health we have had a lot of success with clients restoring their memory. You really can regain your memory (and your life) back and we are thrilled to be able to help our clients do this.

The bad news is that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all way of repairing your memory. We can’t just throw all of our clients in a room and give them all the exact same advice to help them recover from their memory issues.

Actually, we wouldn’t want to do this anyways. The reason is that how we help you may differ from another client, even if you both have the same symptoms. Just like we are all physically unique with different personalities, etc., we all have different underlying issues and genetics. 

Imagine you took your car to a mechanic and he diagnosed what was wrong with your car just from listening to a noise it made. But, he never looked under the hood. 

This is what many protocols are like; they offer advice based on general information but they don’t get deep enough to figure out what is actually going on “under the hood.”

Therefore, getting help for memory issues or concussion-related symptoms requires more than just sending you off with five supplements and a hopeful smile. And if you have been actively searching for answers and working with different practitioners, at this stage of your health journey, you already know that this one-size-fits-all protocol is not the answer and seldom works. 

You need help for your unique body! 

This is where Quantitative Electroencephalography (qEEG) comes into play. Using qEEG, we can pinpoint exactly where the limbic system is hijacking the brain, whether it’s your memory center or other places. From this data, we can develop a customized plan for recovery.

There is Hope for You…

Here at Neurvana Health, our approach to helping someone like you will depend on what’s going on inside your brain. This is the first step. We can only fully repair the brain when we know exactly what is going on. We will check on the balance of your buildup and breakdown and see if we need to address any trauma.