Short Term Memory after Brain Injury

or “I Already Told You…”

By Donna Sue Hurst

The answer “I already told you” doesn’t help me – I have a brain injury.

This is a comment I often get in response to my questions.  It can leave mefeeling so bewildered and frustrated that it is easy to explain isolation from family and friends. 

A survivor of brain injury needs support and understanding

I can remember telling my sons the same thing over and over again when they were growing up, but with love and persistence some of the lessons got through.  It seems that people have some tolerance and patience when someone first suffers from a head injury.  But as time goes on, that fades.  Even the ones we expect to understand can’t understand what we do not understand ourselves. 

Brain injury changes short term memory – I can’t remember the answer

One of those things is the loss of short term memory.  I find myself asking the same question over and over again, simply because I cannot remember the answer.  It has to be important to me, otherwise I would not bother to ask more than once, so you would think I could remember the answer.  That is the most frustrating part for me.  Maybe that’s why I don’t get an answer after the first couple of times.  Maybe the people around me think I am playing a game, or trying to irritate them.  I’ve stopped trying to guess what I don’t understand. 

Just answer my question if you want to help me live with my brain injury

I just know that it would be so much easier to answer a question with a simple “yes” or “no” instead of “I already told you.”  Even if the answer were a little longer and contained a few more words, it couldn’t take much longer than, “I already told you.”  Those words are very cold and leave you empty and wondering. 

The next time someone asks you something you have answered before or happens to repeat themselves, please be patient and kind.  It will be greatly appreciated by the person who forgot you already told them.

December 2010