Sign-in to Ask A Doctor - 24x7
OR
Sign in with Google
Suggest Treatment For Long-term Memory Loss And Conversion Disorder After Injury
Question: A year ago, September 14, my daughter was running at a school cross country meet. When crossin the finish line, she landed very hard on her rip hip (her head did not hit the ground. The true nature of her injury was not diagnosed until December 6 by a 4th orthopedic. During this time frame, she developed Conversion Disorder. At the end of October, she lost her long term memory. To this day, still, no long term memory. She spent time in numerous hospitals due to the hip injury being misdiagnosed and we ended up taking her to the Mayo in XXXXXXX MN. They said she is 1 in 1000 to develope long term memory loss as long as she has.
Brief Answer:
Details regrading her current treatment is needed.
Detailed Answer:
Hello ma'am,
From the information provided, I can understand that you have following problems
1) your daughter has sustained a hip injury, on accident, in school a year ago
2) she has a long term memory loss since a year ago, and has been diagnosed as Conversion Disorder by a psychiatrist.
I presume, that there was no head injury or any kind of brain trauma confirmed on investigation following the accident.
In this regard, it would be of a great help, if you could provide any BRAIN scan investigation reports, which you must had done then. My point here is to confirm, that the diagnosis of conversion disorder has been made only after ruling out any organic cause.
Nextly, I would need to know if she is on any medications for her amnesia. If yes, kindly provide the details of medications.
Also, if she has had any sessions of psychotherapy by a psychiatrist. And what opinion does the psychiatrist have for her status of memory loss.
I shall prefer to comment on the management on further information regarding above issues.
Waiting for your reply.
Thank you.
Regards,
Dr Pankaj Borade
Details regrading her current treatment is needed.
Detailed Answer:
Hello ma'am,
From the information provided, I can understand that you have following problems
1) your daughter has sustained a hip injury, on accident, in school a year ago
2) she has a long term memory loss since a year ago, and has been diagnosed as Conversion Disorder by a psychiatrist.
I presume, that there was no head injury or any kind of brain trauma confirmed on investigation following the accident.
In this regard, it would be of a great help, if you could provide any BRAIN scan investigation reports, which you must had done then. My point here is to confirm, that the diagnosis of conversion disorder has been made only after ruling out any organic cause.
Nextly, I would need to know if she is on any medications for her amnesia. If yes, kindly provide the details of medications.
Also, if she has had any sessions of psychotherapy by a psychiatrist. And what opinion does the psychiatrist have for her status of memory loss.
I shall prefer to comment on the management on further information regarding above issues.
Waiting for your reply.
Thank you.
Regards,
Dr Pankaj Borade
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Ashwin Bhandari
The Mayo Clinic did extensive testing on her. We were at the Mayo for a month and a half and all imaging tests of the brain showed no injuries to the head. I am confident that any organic causes have been thoroughly looked at. She was actually diagnosed by Children's Mercy in Kansas City and then again at the Mayo as having Conversion Disorder. Her psychiatrist has not diagnosed her, but uses Cognitive Behavior Modification to help her. The psychiatrist has not experienced anything like this before in a patient. She takes no medication for amnesia.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Brief Answer:
Hypnosis is a treatment option
Detailed Answer:
Thank you, the information you gave is very helpful.
Considering the above details,
It is a case of dissociative amnesia(complete amnesia) a rare condition to come across.
The patient represses the memory associated with the trauma accident deep into her unconscious brain, which lead to loss of memory and also the events that was prior to trauma resulting in long term memory loss.
Treatment-
Drugs won't work much.
Psychotheray will.
The crux here is to help her recall the traumatic memories, i.e., to retrieve her memories from unconscious mind. That can be done via technique like hypnosis, however an experience psychiatrist is needed.
Therefore I suggest, sessions of hypnosis that can assist her to recall her memories of the trauma experience.
Multiple sessions are usually required, once an improvement is seen we can go for Cognitive Behavioural Therapies.
Hope you find my advice useful.
Happy New Year
Dr Pankaj Borade
Hypnosis is a treatment option
Detailed Answer:
Thank you, the information you gave is very helpful.
Considering the above details,
It is a case of dissociative amnesia(complete amnesia) a rare condition to come across.
The patient represses the memory associated with the trauma accident deep into her unconscious brain, which lead to loss of memory and also the events that was prior to trauma resulting in long term memory loss.
Treatment-
Drugs won't work much.
Psychotheray will.
The crux here is to help her recall the traumatic memories, i.e., to retrieve her memories from unconscious mind. That can be done via technique like hypnosis, however an experience psychiatrist is needed.
Therefore I suggest, sessions of hypnosis that can assist her to recall her memories of the trauma experience.
Multiple sessions are usually required, once an improvement is seen we can go for Cognitive Behavioural Therapies.
Hope you find my advice useful.
Happy New Year
Dr Pankaj Borade
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Ashwin Bhandari
Answered by
Get personalised answers from verified doctor in minutes across 80+ specialties
