rod123 Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Hi been a while now since i posted anything but need a little more help if you can please has anyone experienced confabulation having memorys that don't actually exist as merrill my wife does this quite a bit i know they are not true but she will insist that she's been down the city the day before or that someone called to see her when iwas'nt there cause i'd gone out when i know this is not so. i was told that this is called confabultion and that it only occurs when two particular parts of the brain are involved. Has this happened to you and if so what parts of the brain were involved with you Thanks Rod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Hi Rod, I've heard about this problem from other Carer's too, but mainly in a private capacity and not forum based ..... so, I'm not sure if you do a "search" on this site, whether it will bring up any posts.... I will have a look in a second. It wasn't something that I had ever heard of, until a few months ago, but as always I'm on a learning curve with this site and the problems that brain injury can bring on..... You're not alone though .... and I believe that if the frontal lobe of the brain has been affected, then confabulation can occur for some people. I hope that those that can help you, will see your post and contact you..... I'm sure that they will be happy to help if they can and share their experience. We could certainly do with some more information on the forum about this condition and hi-lighting it, as it must be pretty distressing for the carer and SAH survivor alike. Good luck Rod ...xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Hi Rod, I can tell you a little about our experiences. My husband suffered SAH Septemeber 08. The area of the brain that was involved was the anterior communicating artery frontal lobe, which he had successfully coiled. He suffers from many things, the usual dreaded fatigue, headaches almost all of the time, strange weird sensations in his head, pain behind his eyes, short term memory loss, cognitive problems, confusion, not being able to understand verbal instructions, concentration, mood swings, not always being able to make new memories, and the confabulation you speak of. It is hard seeing your partner change so much and have so many problems and the confabulation at times might add to your own frustrations as it did to mine until I understood what it was. I asked him at one stage was he making up things to fill in the gaps for things he didn't remember, but his answer to me was I am not making things up it is true. I did a little research and will post the url for you to read if you would like to. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19225720.100-mind-fiction-why-your-brain-tells-tall-tales.html http://www.memorylossonline.com/glossary/confabulation.html http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Confabulation_theory It can be extremely hard for a partner to deal with these things and I have at times found it very hard especially when I have to take over the things he is unable to deal with any more, but as time goes on it does get easier, you have to come to terms with what has happened to. I have found that when he is excited about something or gets into intense conversation with someone the confabulation can be a lot worse and sometimes extreme, I am often amazed at what comes out, and I do find it amusing sometimes (Yes it is OK to laugh and smile about it) I only ever interrupt or bring it to his attention if it is something serious or something important that needs attention brought to it. Many a time I have come home and have been told about a telephone conversation that didn't exist or he had been somewhere that he hadn't. I never usually check unless it is of importance. It is something we have come to accept and learn to live with and laugh about. It may or may not get better no ones seems to have that answer. One way I try to help is if we are away on hols or been out to somewhere special, I take pictures and write a kind of diary, then when he has no recollection of something we can still look back at the notes and photos and chat about it. Sometimes it jogs his memory sometimes it doesnt but at least he can see what I am talking about. I have found for the most part accepting what has happened to your partner helps but it can take time. They might have changed to what they were before but underneath it all they are still the same person, they just might have a few problems. You can both get through it together but I know it is hard. Recently he has been given early retirement from his company due to ill health as he is unable to do his job or any other, again that takes time to come to terms with. But sometimes good comes from bad and you have got to turn it all around, we have bought a motorhome put our house up for sale and in a couple of months we are off to tour Europe........... How scary is that. We just dont want to sit by and let the world pass us by........... When something like this happens it makes you stop and take stock of things. I hope this helps Rod, please feel free to pm anytime if I can be of anymore help, but it does get easier I promise. poppy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perrycornish Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Rod, I have only read about confabulation but I reckon that for you to have such great support from Poppy should help no end, so I will just wish you lots of luck and promise to think about you and you too Poppy, it must be tough. For you Poppy Bon Voyage and go have a ball;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Thank you for your reply Poppy and it's a condition that really needs to be hi-lighted here and I'm sure that your response will help many people that are looking for information or advice on how to deal with the situation and what coping mechanisms have worked for you. It's also heart warming to see, that you've managed to keep a sense a humour and that's something that I feel we all need to do, whatever problems we're left with post SAH ...... however, I know that a sense of humour, can often take time to find... xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perrycornish Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Me again I'm afraid, I was talking over your problem with confabulation with my partner, Rod, she was very interested and told me that I have been doing that quite a bit since my SAH (I had no idea I was) so this has helped Alison enormously ( and me come to that) although I had not known I was telling tall stories, which is the only way I can put it, she found out as she was amazed that as we have been together for almost thirty four years I told a friend of an occurrence in earlier life, that Alison had never heard before, she was surprised as she reckoned that in all that time I had probably told her more or less everything! We talked and Yep, I too am experiencing confabulation, it was a bit of a shock, but at least I now know and with help should be able to avoid any tale a bit too extreme! ( I wonder now, did I really climb Everest all those years ago? ;-) sorry sometimes my sense of humour gets up and bites! I am more than pleased to have discovered this, I shall try to keep you posted. In the meantime, Rod Good Luck, I too can study Poppy and Karen's advice :redface: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Bless you Perry, you did make me laugh with Mount Everest!....you're going to have to make Alison take a few more photos, when you go out on your adventures!... On a more serious note, confabulation is something that seems to be little talked about ..... maybe it's because it's only something that is noticed by Carer's or people that are close to us and not the survivor. We could certainly do with more information and more Carer's/Partners signing up to BTG, as it would help. x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rod123 Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 Hi have just read your bit perry that you too suffer confabulation I've read quite a bit about confabulation now and one article i read stated that in order to recover from confabulation you must be aware that you do it, so from a carers point of view it is our job to make our partners ect aware. Confabulation has created some very funny moments for us and we both laugh all the time about it maybe these things are necessary to get us through it. I also read that everybody confabulates in one form or another anyway thats it for now got Angelina jolie popping in for acuppa in a mo so bye for now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Well done Rod for bringing confabulation into discussion, it looks as if it might be an active topic for a while, and if it helps others on the way it is a job well done. Poppy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rod123 Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 yes i think many people have confabulation but its recognised as confusion or not recognised at all i was lucky that a guy called mike hope from templehead put a name to it for me Rod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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