United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I'm in on this one too. I've never taken neurontin, at least not for long, and I thought it was just age. But maybe not. It's a complete blank on the simplest of words. People look at me like I'm an idiot, and I feel like one too.

I did hit my head, but that was 20 years ago. I read a book called "Phantoms of the Brain" that examines phantom pain and looks at the migration of brain cells in compensation for the loss. My bpi/ampuation is right side and that part of the brain is next to the part for the right side of my face. When I rub my right cheek, I can feel the tingle in my non-existing fingers. The cells for my face and brain are co-mingling. The brain does funny things in compensation, so maybe the speech loss is connected to that somehow.

MMmmm. There is probably a word for that but I cannot think of it right now.

This Is Susan,(aka punchy sue). I might have a reason for speech,communication problem.I myself was not on a motorcycle , but still hit the ground at @ 40MPH. So I had no helmet to protect me and thus fractured my skull in three places.
My background is in Biology and massage therapy. There is a modality of massage called Craniosacral Therapy. It's based out of Florida at the Upledger Institute. A lot of people around the world know of this technique.
this is how it works. The skull bones in your head are attached by sutures. You have,for example, a frontal bone, temperal bone, sphenoidal bone, etc.. For a long time docters thought that the sutures between the skull bones were like glue holding the different parts together. John Upledger was one of the first docters to question this. He found out that the head and spine are all connected by cerebrospinal fluid. This fluid is under hydrolic pressure which then cause the skull bones and all your bones to move as the fluid flows up and down the spinal column and into the skull. Craniosacral therefore is a whole other system of the body, just like the respiratory, circulatory,lymphatic, etc. The movement of the fluid also dramatically affects the nevous system since it's flowin thru the brain and the spinal column. Problems occur when the skull bones become slightly misaligned. The outcome is that the body will mimic neurological problems such as speech, memory, hearing, muscle tics, vertigo, seisures, TMJ ,etc.
Craniosacral Theropy might do some of you out there with trauma to the spinal cord nerves and skull damage. Even if you were wearing a helmet, your skull bones could have moved enough out of alignment to be causing some speech/ communication/ memory problems.
Hope I at least interested/entertained some of you out there to Craniosacral. I have studied this technique and have more info for anyone interested.

THANX SUSAN

Excelent topic! I too have difficulty finding words, simple words, in a normal conversation. I'll be talking to someone at work and then suddenly draw a blank. I get hung up on the simplest word. And sometimes I forget stuff I would never have forgoten before my crash. I've been blaming it on the neurontin. I've been on it since the third week in the hospital. They had me pretty wacked out on morphine prior to that. I know my head hit the car somewhere because my new bike helmet cracked. But maybe its the pain. Or maybe its the nerve damage. It may sound petty, but its more frustrating than not having full function in my arm.
All right, lets take a survey. If your normal speech pattern has changed, speek up.

I can't believe what I'm reading here. This is exactly what I've been going through since my accident 3 1/2 yrs. ago. I have been so worried about it that I wondered if maybe I had early stage Alzheimer's. I went for testing to see if that is what it was. They told me it wasn't.(Thank You Lord!)

While I'm sorry you all have this difficulty, I'm thankful to know I'm not alone with this. I was kept unconscious with medication for 4-6 weeks after the accident. I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not.

Wishing you all clearer thinking,

SusieKaye

Yep, me too. it's mostly individual words that won't come. Sometimes I can describe in great detail what I mean but not come up with word no matter how simple. I also was on neurontin, stopped about 2 weeks ago - pain is quite manageable now - no pain killers of any sort. Will be interested in seeing if I get "smarter" again.