Long term effects from being in a coma

[AnotherOne4]

Was wondering if anyone had any experience or advice on this.

I was in a car accident seven years ago, and as a result was put into a medically induced coma for three days. I've recovered from all my injuries, but I've never felt the same since. I have terrible memory problems. I can't remember anything and it's starting to worry me.

Do you think the previous head injury/coma could be the cause of the memory problems?

I think it's more likely to be the result of the head injury.

I wouldn't have thought the induced coma contributed to memory loss. My EXH was in an induced coma for a month and in a coma for another 2 months. I was told he'd suffered severe brain damage and would be totally dependant. He was back in full time work 6 months later and has no memory loss. I have had short term memory loss for 25 years. I had a build up of fluid at the base of my brain, which was caused by a viral infection and my memory has never improved.

A friend was in an induced coma and has memory issues. She was told that it's a common effect. She was "out" for 3 weeks though.

What was the nature and severity of your head injury, OP? Were you put into an induced coma right away, or do you know how long you "naturally" passed out for?

3 days is a long time for being sedated, intubated and ventilated. 'prolonged ventilation' is more than 24 hours. However, the effects of it shouldn't persist 7 years later, so it is more likely that your head injury is responsible. Have you had any therapy regarding your accident? Trauma can have lasting effects, and it can help to talk about it.

You could contact the intensive care unit and ask for a 'debrief' of your stay there. They will most likely have an ICU Outreach team who follow up patients after extended stays, and although 3 days isn't 'extended', I presume you had some HDU time after they took you off the ventilator, too.

Thank you so much for the replies.
I was conscious to begin with, had emergency surgery (laparotomy), and then put into icu/medically induced coma. After that I had spinal surgery. They always suspected i had a brain injury.

I've always had memory issues since the accident, I put it down to the hard blow to the head I had. I know seven years is a long time to wait, but I do feel it's all getting progressively worse.

I'll go to my gp and talk about it.